If the translation will not be completed... Thread poster: messagerra
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Hi All
I'll be appreciate for your opinion about incomplete translations.
So far as I understand, translation is a complex task, but relatively close process to the standard writing - the style, the wording and sound depends on translator's manner of speech, linguistic knowledge and experience. Which means, that the whole translation is must be completed by one translator, not started by one, then proceed with another and finished by third. Otherwise the text will be s... See more Hi All
I'll be appreciate for your opinion about incomplete translations.
So far as I understand, translation is a complex task, but relatively close process to the standard writing - the style, the wording and sound depends on translator's manner of speech, linguistic knowledge and experience. Which means, that the whole translation is must be completed by one translator, not started by one, then proceed with another and finished by third. Otherwise the text will be somewhat weird to read. Say, you've started to read Shakespeare and ended up with Goethe.
Am I right and have you anything to say about it?
Thanks,
Messa ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:13
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Difficult to understand | Jan 25, 2016 |
Your English is poor, so I find it very difficult to understand your point.
What you describe (or rather, what I think you are trying to describe) is called proofreading or revision.
I never accept that type of work, because a translation done by somebody else will never be exactly as it would be if I had done it myself.
[Edited at 2016-01-25 09:30 GMT]
| | | | | Done by several translators | Jan 25, 2016 |
Hello
I would say that your example is not an incomplete translation, but a translation done by several translators (in a team or not). This can be done ***only if*** the first translator ellaborates a glossary of his/her decisions on terminology etc. that can be adopted and completed by the rest. This is the view of a translator.
The point of view of the agency or the client is that they have an incomple... See more Hello
I would say that your example is not an incomplete translation, but a translation done by several translators (in a team or not). This can be done ***only if*** the first translator ellaborates a glossary of his/her decisions on terminology etc. that can be adopted and completed by the rest. This is the view of a translator.
The point of view of the agency or the client is that they have an incomplete translation . They have to cope with it and solve it.
I suppose you are in this case with NO glossary. Am I right?
[Edited at 2016-01-25 09:32 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-01-25 09:32 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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messagerra wrote:
Hi All
I'll be appreciate for your opinion about incomplete translations.
the style, the wording and sound depends on translator's manner of speech, linguistic knowledge and experience.
In my opinion, the translation are processes to reflect the statement into another language as accurately as possible. Personal preferences of one translator should never change the source text styles or contexts. This is done in the quality control processes e.g. use of a series of translator, proofreader, reviewer, localizing person etc. Or the one translator had better not complete the entire translations.
Soonthon L.
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Kristina Cosumano (X) 
Germany
Local time: 10:13
German to English
| Since you mentioned Shakespeare, | Jan 25, 2016 |
I'll use him in my example: one would not wish to publish a work by Shakespeare which has been translated by more than one translator, unless, for example, they are a pair working very closely as a team, or if this variety of translation styles were the whole point of the publication – the translation world's version of the tribute album, if you will.
In product user's manuals, the kind of work where one most often finds the multiple-translator situation, you are not going to find... See more I'll use him in my example: one would not wish to publish a work by Shakespeare which has been translated by more than one translator, unless, for example, they are a pair working very closely as a team, or if this variety of translation styles were the whole point of the publication – the translation world's version of the tribute album, if you will.
In product user's manuals, the kind of work where one most often finds the multiple-translator situation, you are not going to find Shakespeare. Well, you many find Shakespeare's style of writing normal business correspondence – which may indeed be very close to Goethe's if you compare those. (Well, if they were in the same language...) ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 10:13
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Do readers really notice, or only us? | Jan 25, 2016 |
messagerra wrote:
The style, the wording and sound depends on translator's manner of speech, linguistic knowledge and experience.
True. This is why ten translators will produce ten different translations. This is also why we can sometimes identify translators by their translations (e.g. when doing proofreading/editing without having been told who the translator is).
Which means, that the whole translation is must be completed by one translator, not started by one, then proceed with another and finished by third.
Us translators will often notice it, but I'm not sure how many ordinary readers would notice.
One can test it by combining multiple translations of a source text into a single test text, and asking people (including translators) if they can identify at what point in the text the author changes. Optionally, you can also ask why they think so (though sometimes it may simply be intuition).
If you tell us what your language combination is (or: what your native language is), then I can compile such a test text for you and everyone else in this thread to see this in action.
| | | | | I would think readers notice | Jan 25, 2016 |
I proofread a very large document that to my mind was translated by two different people. On querying this, I was told it was the same translator but I don't believe it was so. There was a huge discrepancy between the two that I don't think could really be explained by saying sections were merely rushed. The difference was so obvious I should think a non-translator would have spotted it straightaway.
| | | | | It depends... | Jan 25, 2016 |
Hi! And let me start by saying I understood your post perfectly!
I think a lot depends on the text type. Literary translation depends heavily on style and subtle shades of meaning, but that is not necessarily the case for an informative text, such as an instruction manual.
That doesn't mean that it's ok for an informative text to be full of inconsistencies. If a large project requires more than one translator, the project manager should ensure consistency of terminology... See more Hi! And let me start by saying I understood your post perfectly!
I think a lot depends on the text type. Literary translation depends heavily on style and subtle shades of meaning, but that is not necessarily the case for an informative text, such as an instruction manual.
That doesn't mean that it's ok for an informative text to be full of inconsistencies. If a large project requires more than one translator, the project manager should ensure consistency of terminology, by providing a glossary (or terminology database) and obviously the final translation should be thoroughly reviewed to iron out any inconsistencies of style.
[Edited at 2016-01-25 14:21 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Thank you All to participate.
The thoughts are similar to my own.
Cheers.
| | | | | I do not necessarily agree | Jan 26, 2016 |
messagerra wrote:
So far as I understand, translation is a complex task, but relatively close process to the standard writing - the style, the wording and sound depends on translator's manner of speech, linguistic knowledge and experience.
I do not really agree. Notwithstanding each translator's style, different professional translators with similar levels of training will translate very much the same: all will understand the source text accurately and will convey exactly what is said and how it is said, with a wording that will be very much the same.
Your statement would make more sense if you are saying that the same project is shared between translators with very different knowledge of the source and target languages or very different levels of training and education in translation.
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