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Category Archives: Doc Byrne’s Miscellany

Who makes the best translator?

It’s now June and in one of those rare moments of calm between supervision meetings for my dissertation students, marking essays and going to various other meetings I started doing some reflection on that age old question of who makes the best translator: the subject matter expert or the professional translator?

Of course most people will be biased towards their own particular background but realistically, is it easier to learn how to translate and write or to learn about science and technology (for example)? I once asked this same question on Proz and opinion seemed to tip in favour of the expert-turned-translator (ETT). This surprised me a little because the ETTs almost unanimously said that the only way to gain all of the specialist information necessary in order to translated technical texts, you needed to have a degree in it. But then they would though, wouldn’t they? I don’t have a degree in science or engineering yet I’ve been translating texts in these areas for years with nothing but praise from clients so obviously I think they’re wrong as wrong can be. Not only were the ETTs a little more dogmatic, dare I say even fundamentalist, but the fact that they seemed to be heavy users of Proz makes me wonder now, in light of my previous post on rates, whether they are part of the problem when it comes to the devaluation of the translation profession.

If people haven’t gone through formal training as a translator, but instead have taken a degree in engineering, for example, have they had a chance to develop a bond with translation as a profession and for many of us as a way of life? It’s obvious that they won’t have had the chance to develop at least some of the skills needed before they start taking real projects. It also occurred to me why would someone with a degree in something like science, business or whatever would decide to throw it all in and become a translator? Do they hate the work that much? Do they see translation as an easy way of making a quick buck or two? You could also argue that subject matter expertise is, by and large, “just” declarative knowledge and the main challenge is just remembering it. Translating and writing, are skills which require procedural knowledge and as such take time to develop and perfect.

Seriously! Do I really need to be a welder to translate a text about welding?

Seriously, do I really need to be a welder to translate a text about welding?

On the other hand, can you really expect people with degrees in translation or worse still, languages, and nothing else to have the sufficient expertise in a particular area to call themselves “specialised” translators? Few, if any, translator training programmes include tuition in specialised areas such as science, technology or economics so where to these translators get the knowledge to allow them to understand and translate complex texts? In my own case, my training at DCU did involve a couple of years of science and economics and in any case, I have always had a profound interest in technology and as a child invariably had my nose stuck in an encyclopaedia.

So how come professional, career translators still manage to provide high quality translations? My own feeling is that an interest in a subject combined with the excellent research skills you develop on a reputable translator training programme are more than a match for a qualification in some engineering or scientific field. In fact, I’d probably go as far as to say that professional translator training is probably the better approach because it gives you the flexibility to move into new areas and the linguistic and research skills which will allow you to deal with the new and ever-changing challenges that present themselves each day. Ultimately, I’m not saying that a professional translator is better than an ETT but I do know that proper training in translation makes the job a whole lot easier otherwise it will take many years of trial and error and numerous mistranslations before you get it right.

Feel free to comment, challenge or just share your thoughts…

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Do you speak Google-ese?

Nearly missed amid all the talk about the impending controversy about Google’s plans to digitise millions of books, possibly violating authors’ copyright in the process, was the announcement last week by Google that its instant translation function is to be available to users of its Gmail service. The idea is that if you are using Gmail you can instantly get a translation of an email into any of 41 languages at the click of a mouse button. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? The horrible thing is that it is actually rather good. Google’s instant translation technology is based on statistical machine translation which, rather than using rigid rules to define how sentences should be translated, performs statistical analyses on large corpora or collections of natural text to tell it how to translate. The result is better translations and fewer mistakes.

Just because you get the gist doesnt mean its alright (not a Google translation incidentally)

Just because you get the gist doesn't mean it's alright (not a Google translation incidentally)

I’ve used Google for various things over the past year or so: in my translation technology classes to demonstrate how far MT has come over the decades, to quickly decipher websites in languages I don’t speak and even to book hotels by email and I’ve been impressed by some pretty decent quality translations even though it still gets some things spectacularly wrong or simply doesn’t translate them at all. Google is the first to admit that its system isn’t perfect but that at the very least, users will be able to get the gist of a text. Fair enough. At least they’re honest and realistic about the capabilities and limitations of their product. I am slightly worried, however, about the possibility that over time people will settle for “pretty decent” and that they won’t demand high-quality translations. Obviously nobody in their right mind would dream of using a machine translation for important texts, but if clunky, unidiomatic and incomplete translations become the norm for the small things, we might become blind to these foibles and start to consider MT for important things? Just look at how the “text speak” used in SMS messages has made its way into normal writing. Could mangled, machine translated language – Google-ese if you will – eventually become accepted as “proper” language usage? So while I’m all in favour of the advances in machine translation, both from a linguist’s point of view and from a nerd’s point of view, maybe it should come with a health warning against overuse.

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The curious case of the sleep-walking students

This seasons must-have for the serious student

This season's must-have for the serious student

Here in Sheffield we’re just coming into the exam period and the crowds of students swarming in and around the various university libraries makes them resemble Red Cross food distribution centres as they desperately try to commit every last piece of useful information to memory before the exams. It also marks the start of what I’ve come to know as “sleep-walking student season”  because take a stroll into our main library and you’ll see students wandering around as if dressed for bed. Seriously! You couldn’t make this up. The library in question is a very swanky and award-winning 24 hour study centre which even has a shower room – it really is a marvel of library design even if it is a bit like the set of Friends. But wander in late at night or first thing in the morning and you’ll see the occasional smug-looking student with a book in one hand and a takeaway coffee in the other shuffling around, bleary-eyed and waiting to be noticed in their slippers. Not even sensible, discreet old man slippers, don’t you know, but the kind of fluffy animal slippers teenage girls wear at slumber parties. More recently the ante has been upped somewhat and pyjamas now make an occasional appearance.

Proud students on their graduation day

Proud students on their graduation day

I’m not one to criticise students for showing commitment to their studies. Heaven knows so many of them seem to think that they don’t need to study… I mean, like, hello… I’ve paid, like, mega-bucks for this degree – why should I, like, study or whatever? It is actually quite heartening (if a little sad) to see students in the library on a Saturday night but this slippers malarkey seems to be an exercise in “über-studentness”. It’s almost like they are saying “I’m more of a student than you… I SLEEP here. I’m so committed to my studies, I’m so much more intelligent than you.” God be with the days when the sign of a true student was a supermarket trolley full of really cheap booze, experimenting with Mother Nature’s medicine cabinet, a funny accent, puking in a front garden on the way home from the pub and joining the Socialist League of Paragliding Rabbits and Scarecrow Restoration Volunteers.

A cynical man might be tempted to ask whether the fact that they have to spend so long in the library that they need to wear their jimjams and slippers means they’re a teensy bit dim, like a 5 Watt light-bulb. That their poor old brains aren’t wired up properly so that they can’t get information into their heads in anything approaching a reasonable period of time. But I’m not that cynical. In fact, I like the fact that students are still as weird, silly and downright bonkers as ever. It’s what makes universities interesting places to work and I don’t think I’d like it if they suddenly started acting normal. If they start coming to class like that I might have to change my mind though…

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Just what do you take me for?

I recently resurrected my Proz account out of curiosity and to check up on a new agency client who had approached me to do some work. Later, as I looked through the job listings I quickly realised that the vast majority of jobs, in my language pairs at least, pay absolute peanuts. There are two basic types of project on the likes of Proz: one where translators bid and suggest a price and another where the client specifies the price from the outset. I haven’t been monitoring these jobs for long but the rates being offered on Proz always seem to be at best half the typical industry rates… sometimes they’re a third. Obviously someone is taking these jobs and accepting these ridiculous rates but who? And more importantly why? How little do you have to think of yourself, your skills and your profession that you’ll basically prostitute yourself for a pittance? Maybe it’s the only way unskilled and unqualified translators can find work. I thought that maybe it’s just Proz that attracts bargain basement jobs so I signed up for Translators Cafe. Surprise surprise, the jobs are every bit as cheap and nasty as on Proz and on Aquarius too.

Then, the other day an email from Proz landed in my inbox with a job ad… well I say job ad but it wasn’t. Some cheeky so-and-so in Germany wanted 11 pages of gynaecology texts translated from German into English, wait for this, FOR FREE! What does she take us for? I mean seriously, what is the world coming to when someone can send an email to at least two professional translator forums (it appeared on Translators Café as well) asking someone to do a highly specialised medical translation for free without so much as the tiniest twinge of shame? The lady who posted the ad, you can see it here, kindly pointed out that “This is a great way for aspiring translators to gain more experience and practice“. A great way of taking advantage of gullible gobdaws methinks and heaven knows what she was going to use the translation for. I certainly hope it wasn’t being given to a paying customer. What really annoys me is that by the time bidding closed for this job, no less than 9 people had submitted bids! I keep trying to imagine the thought processes involved in seeing this ad and thinking “OK, I’ll do it. Who needs money anyway?” I believe the technical term is “jackass”.

Mr. Jack Ash, CEO of Havent a Clue Translation Services

Mr. Jack Ash, CEO of Haven't a Clue Translation Services

But once you get over the rage and righteous indignation, the whole incident and the lack of decent rates on forums makes you wonder whether these forums have a case to answer because it would seem that they are complicit in, or at least guilty of facilitating, the grave underpricing of translation services.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we should impose unrealistically high rates just because we can. I have just as much contempt for agencies that charge astronomical prices as I have for the cost cutters. I know of one high-profile agency who quoted over £250 for a 1000 word semi-technical document. This is well over twice the normal price and a damn sight more than the £60 the translator will see from this job. But if someone were to use these forums as their sole source of finding work, would they be actually able to earn a decent living or would they have to work 20 hours a day, seven days a week, just to make ends meet? Is it really possible for a translator to negotiate decent rates when they are involved in a bidding war with other translators? I like the forums for the sense of community they create but I’m really sickened by the exploitation that seems to go on and the sheer stupidity of some “translators” who think so little of themselves that they’ll put up with this.

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Will Work For Beer

As I was trawling through the Internet looking for odd and interesting t-shirts (a bit of a hobby of mine, don’t ask!) I stumbled across the Cafepress.com website and, having gotten tired of browsing through the thousands of designs, I started throwing random words into the search box. Don’t ask me why but somehow the word “translator” made an appearance. Lo and behold it actually turned up 4160 results. Insane, I thought. Madness, even! There is no way you can put translation on a t-shirt and make it even remotely cool. I was kinda right, lots of them are only tenuously linked to languages while some of them are buttock-clenchingly cheesy and twee with silliness like “Super Translator” or “Translator with Attitude” or even worse “My Mommy is a Translator” but then I found this one…

Translator - Will Work for Beer (Cafepress.com)

Translator - The "Will Work for Beer" Tour 2009 (Cafepress.com)

I really like this, a lot! OK, in the scheme of things it’s not the funniest t-shirt in the world and you certainly won’t have swarms of adoring and morally questionable groupies basking in your reflected multilingual, rockstar-like glow if you wear it, but it’s nice to see that at least someone thinks translators could have a sense of humour, and dagnammit, a liking for beer… could this be the coolest thing ever to happen to translation? Probably.

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