| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Starter: accepting an in-house job outside of your "specializations" and native language Thread poster: Nele Van den Broeck
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| I'm starting to feel more and more like not accepting it, but trying to propose a different path... | Jun 20, 2015 |
I have been thinking about this the past couple of days, and at the moment (although I might think differently about this on Monday, after having heard your opinions on what I am going to say next) I start to feel like it may be better not to accept this offer.
Reasons for this: I have heard from other people in the company that I cannot rely on anyone to proofread, because our lawyers simply don't have the time.
Then there's the thing that over 70% of the documents that I would have... See more I have been thinking about this the past couple of days, and at the moment (although I might think differently about this on Monday, after having heard your opinions on what I am going to say next) I start to feel like it may be better not to accept this offer.
Reasons for this: I have heard from other people in the company that I cannot rely on anyone to proofread, because our lawyers simply don't have the time.
Then there's the thing that over 70% of the documents that I would have to translate would not have to be translated into my native language and +- 40% of the texts would be from foreign language into foreign language.
I would probably be translating it without too many big mistakes, but it would never reach the same level as translating into my native language.
I was talking about it to a friend who has started as a translator a couple of months ago, and we agreed that there might be another option.
The person who had to translate these documents before had too much work. 70% of the translations are into French. 30% are into Dutch (my native language).
I would try to propose HR to look for a native French translator and I could still help this translator with the translations into Dutch and combine it with my current job (which is in the same company anyway).
Like this, I would still learn things, avoid the big risks, and the company would have their translations translated by a native speaker.
And about if I would like to translate legal texts: not really, most of the times I think they are a bit... boring...
I prefer to translate medical texts for example (they keep on fascinating me!), or the "lighter" texttypes, and I'm fairly good at it as well...
Why should I specialize in legal if I have other fields I'm good at?
(And yes, I do know how to translate standard legal documents like birth certificates etcetera, but for me those aren't the real specializations) ▲ Collapse
| | | | Michael Beijer 
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:49
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
| It's hard enough translating into my native language … | Jun 20, 2015 |
Nele Van den Broeck wrote:
What would you do if you were me?
It's hard enough translating into my native language, so if I were you, I'd politely decline and focus on translating into my native language.
I've been around a while and have witnessed the damage & confusion caused by Dutch people translating into English more often than I care to remember
Michael
[Edited at 2015-06-20 23:46 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-06-20 23:48 GMT]
| | | | | Know it first! | Jun 21, 2015 |
I speak as a French man. It's not just the language, it's the fact that the law is different and there is not always a perfect correspondance between the concepts and structures in the source and those in the target. You will have to provide the mapping on the fly, dictionnaries won't be there to help. French work law is quite more complex than coporate law. The latter derives from Napoleonic code + some development. The former from 70+ years of social conflicts. Unless you know the whole struc... See more I speak as a French man. It's not just the language, it's the fact that the law is different and there is not always a perfect correspondance between the concepts and structures in the source and those in the target. You will have to provide the mapping on the fly, dictionnaries won't be there to help. French work law is quite more complex than coporate law. The latter derives from Napoleonic code + some development. The former from 70+ years of social conflicts. Unless you know the whole structure of those things in source and target country you're setting yourself up for nightmares... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Problem solved | Jun 22, 2015 |
I just solved my dilemma today.
HR again asked me what I wanted to do.
I told them that I didn't think I should be translating legal texts into one of my foreign languages.
I suggested that they should look for a native French translator (since the majority of texts would have to be translated into French). The translator should speak French, English and Dutch and I offered to help him/her by checking the translations into Dutch...
This way, I can learn a couple of... See more I just solved my dilemma today.
HR again asked me what I wanted to do.
I told them that I didn't think I should be translating legal texts into one of my foreign languages.
I suggested that they should look for a native French translator (since the majority of texts would have to be translated into French). The translator should speak French, English and Dutch and I offered to help him/her by checking the translations into Dutch...
This way, I can learn a couple of things as well, but won't take the risks and won't have to translate into my foreign languages.
HR was very happy with my decision, they told me they thought I took a very professional decision (then again, why did they ask me in the first place?) and were very pleased that I still offered to help out with the translations whenever they needed a translation into Dutch.
This morning they had an interview with a native French translator, who declined the offer because of the translations into Dutch. I think it will take a lot of time to find the "perfect" bilingual translator though. ▲ Collapse
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