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Common issues I see from translators, as an outsourcer
Thread poster: Mark Hemming
Charlie Bavington
Charlie Bavington  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:27
French to English
One possibility? Jun 19

Rachel Waddington wrote:

Christopher Schröder wrote:

Robert Rutledge wrote:

I have noticed in particular a lot of translators tend to literally translate everything that comes their way, even proper nouns,

Why would an agency work with such hapless translators? I mean, we’re talking the most basic requirements any translator should meet.


Because competent translators are more expensive?


That there AI thing everyone's talking about will often translate proper nouns unless you tell it not to, which you can do, but if you're penny-pinching, why would you waste time like that?
If said penny-pincher then offers sub-minimum wage rates for PEMT, and the poor (in all senses) bugger doing the editing fails to spot it, well, there you go.


Chris Says Bye
Philip Lees
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Kay Denney
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Rachel Waddington
 
Daryo
Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:27
Serbian to English
+ ...
Also Jun 20

Robert Rutledge wrote:

Hi Mark,

As a multilingual DTP specialist who is currently trying to wrap up a 20-language project, a few of the points you brought up are quite relatable.

I have noticed in particular a lot of translators tend to literally translate everything that comes their way, even proper nouns, which can make my job somewhat frustrating having to go back in and change things back to how they were in the first place.

I think while it may be the translators' responsibility to pick up on what should and shouldn't be translated, in some cases the translation agency needs to tell them what needs to be translated and what shouldn't be. Maybe they should come up with a list of words to not be translated, as you suggest in your video. This would also save the translation agency money because they could also exclude these proper nouns from the overall word count if they wanted to. Or they should at least make these proper nouns "locked" inside the CAT tool so that translators couldn't translate them if they wanted to. If that makes sense.


Also, if you go through Kudoz questions, you'll find translators unfamiliar with the logic of programming languages who can't figure out that only the text strings that will be displayed of the user's screen need to be translated, and try to "translate" the computer code - which may well be written using English words, but is definitely not meant for human consumption and must be left untouched.


 
JaneD
JaneD  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 07:27
Member (2009)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Use the transcript! Jun 21

Christopher Schröder wrote:

Tbh Mark, I think they’d probably help us more in written format.



I'm not sure they'd help in any format, as if you aren't doing these things you aren't much of a translator anyway.

But for future reference, many (all?) YouTube videos now have an automated transcript that you can access by clicking into the video description and scrolling to the bottom. It's usually not terribly good, but you can skim-read it and get the gist of what someone's saying instead of having to watch them slowly plodding through all the same points.


Rachel Waddington
Chris Says Bye
Agnes Fatrai
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
Basic Jun 21

The video is indeed about
Christopher Schröder wrote:

the most basic requirements any translator should meet.


Meeting these basic requirements will not make you a good translator, let alone an excellent one.


Rachel Waddington
P.L.F. Persio
Chris Says Bye
Lingua 5B
Agnes Fatrai
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 07:27
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Leave ... Jun 21

...the video to Keki & Associates, the experts in monetarizing any translation assisting issues! Succes will follow immediately.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Rachel Waddington
Baran Keki
Kay Denney
 
Daryo
Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:27
Serbian to English
+ ...
And also Jun 28

Rachel Waddington wrote:

Christopher Schröder wrote:

Robert Rutledge wrote:

Hi Mark,

As a multilingual DTP specialist who is currently trying to wrap up a 20-language project, a few of the points you brought up are quite relatable.

I have noticed in particular a lot of translators tend to literally translate everything that comes their way, even proper nouns, which can make my job somewhat frustrating having to go back in and change things back to how they were in the first place.

I think while it may be the translators' responsibility to pick up on what should and shouldn't be translated, in some cases the translation agency needs to tell them what needs to be translated and what shouldn't be. Maybe they should come up with a list of words to not be translated, as you suggest in your video. This would also save the translation agency money because they could also exclude these proper nouns from the overall word count if they wanted to. Or they should at least make these proper nouns "locked" inside the CAT tool so that translators couldn't translate them if they wanted to. If that makes sense.

Why would an agency work with such hapless translators? I mean, we’re talking the most basic requirements any translator should meet.


Because competent translators are more expensive?


And also far more difficult to find.

Each text is different, there is no "best/worst translators" in general, there is only "the best translator for this particular text". Or sometime "the best combination/team".

Going through the background noise of marketing BS to find the best translator for a specific text is no mean feat. If you're bothered only about making a quick buck, that's too much trouble ...


Rachel Waddington
 
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Common issues I see from translators, as an outsourcer







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