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Your favorite saying/quote(s) for a translator?
Thread poster: Linh Hoang
Linh Hoang
Linh Hoang  Identity Verified
Vietnam
Local time: 20:46
Member
English to Vietnamese
+ ...
Dec 6, 2016

Dear my fellows,

You may have been working as a translator for years. What's your favorite saying/quote(s) about a translator? Could you share it?

Do you think this one true: "The reason why you should date a translator: they can stay up all night if you want them to."?_^_
 
Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:46
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Bad translator's reply to query Dec 6, 2016

"Don't ask me what it MEANS, I only translate this ruddy stuff!"
 
Aleksandra Romanova
Aleksandra Romanova
Russian Federation
Local time: 22:46
Japanese to English
+ ...
Definition of a good translator Dec 6, 2016

"A good translator leaves no work for a reviewer. A good reviewer findes room for improvement even then."
Some words I try to live by.

But sometimes it looks like what I said about a project where the source was written extremely bad (by a barely literate non-native, if you need some assesment). "I'm gradually turning this pile of horse s**t into a masterpiece."
 
Kateryna Bilyk
Kateryna Bilyk
Poland
Local time: 15:46
English to Ukrainian
+ ...
Favourite quote for a translator Dec 6, 2016

"When I have problems, I escape into translation" - I don't know its author. I've found it in the space of the internet.
 
Gerard de Noord
Gerard de Noord  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 15:46
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Translations (like wives) are seldom strictly faithful if they are in the least attractive Dec 6, 2016

Translations (like wives) are seldom strictly faithful if they are in the least attractive.
Roy Campbell 1901–57 South African poet: in Poetry Review June-July 1949
 
Rosalind Haigh
Rosalind Haigh  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:46
German to English
+ ...
Good grief Dec 6, 2016

Gerard de Noord wrote:

Translations (like wives) are seldom strictly faithful if they are in the least attractive.
Roy Campbell 1901–57 South African poet: in Poetry Review June-July 1949


An unpleasant enough statement even over 60 years ago, but in today's climate? You have got to be joking.
 
Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 15:46
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Somebody please explain this to her Dec 7, 2016

"A cuarantevot ains, no ise ore che tu cjatis un lavôr?" ("At 48, don't you think it's time to get a job?")

My 75-year mother on the phone the other day, after I've been doing this for 19 years.
 
Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 15:46
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Here's another one (don't tell anybody or we will all be jobless) Dec 7, 2016

HER - So what do you do?
ME - I am a translator.
HER - Like when they show in TV like Putin meeting like Angela Merkel and there's someone in the middle translating what they say to each other?
ME - Well, technically that's called an interpreter. I do written stuff.
HER - Who would need that? It sounds useless.
ME - Well, next time you buy a new cell phone and you find the instructions in Italian, it's because somebody translated them from English.
HER - Would... See more
HER - So what do you do?
ME - I am a translator.
HER - Like when they show in TV like Putin meeting like Angela Merkel and there's someone in the middle translating what they say to each other?
ME - Well, technically that's called an interpreter. I do written stuff.
HER - Who would need that? It sounds useless.
ME - Well, next time you buy a new cell phone and you find the instructions in Italian, it's because somebody translated them from English.
HER - Wouldn't it be easier to just write it directly in all the languages?
ME - ...

(Yes, she was blonde, and, no, I am not saying that all blondes are like that.) ▲ Collapse
 
Linh Hoang
Linh Hoang  Identity Verified
Vietnam
Local time: 20:46
Member
English to Vietnamese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Like good translator! Dec 7, 2016

I like good translators, of course.

Aha. It would really take time to turn such s**t into a masterpiece. It certainly makes us crazy!!!

Aleksandra Muraviova wrote:

"A good translator leaves no work for a reviewer. A good reviewer findes room for improvement even then."
Some words I try to live by.

But sometimes it looks like what I said about a project where the source was written extremely bad (by a barely literate non-native, if you need some assesment). "I'm gradually turning this pile of horse s**t into a masterpiece."


 


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Your favorite saying/quote(s) for a translator?







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