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The ethics of translation tests Thread poster: Dylan J Hartmann
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What do you do if you find the original text of the translation test that you've been asked to do?
The original was in English. The company gave a linguist the source to translate into a second language. The company then gives this second language text to new translators to translate into English and assesses their translation against the original.
[Edited at 2016-03-08 15:28 GMT]
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Inga Petkelyte 
Portugal
Local time: 15:38
Lithuanian to Portuguese
+ ...
DJHartmann wrote:
... I passed (of course) and don't feel ashamed...
DJH
And now you need us to hold your hand and tell you "Goood boy, good..."
Right, sleep well, nothing happened! If your translation was really good, that was mostly important for yourself, for your own self-approval and reconfirmation. We also need that from time to time, don't we?
I have done, tried to do, the same only to find out that my translation was actually better, readable easier.
I don't do that anymore, I want to see myself where I stand.
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Dylan J Hartmann
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...
MODERATOR TOPIC STARTER | It's about ethics | Mar 8, 2016 |
I don't know whether I need a reaffirmation but if you have to question the ethics of something, it's most likely unethical. This is why I came to the forums.
[Edited at 2016-03-08 13:34 GMT]
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| Clinical trials | Mar 8, 2016 |
Isn't back-translation what you were supposed to do in a clinical trial translation?
Not discussing the ethics of translation tests here (I rarely accept them), but if it's for clinical trials, I think the point is to do a real back-translation, not just copy the original. They want to check how the translation is back-translated, especially in very risky trials where they want to be very sure there's no loss of meaning.
I wouldn't accept doing a back-translation *test*... See more Isn't back-translation what you were supposed to do in a clinical trial translation?
Not discussing the ethics of translation tests here (I rarely accept them), but if it's for clinical trials, I think the point is to do a real back-translation, not just copy the original. They want to check how the translation is back-translated, especially in very risky trials where they want to be very sure there's no loss of meaning.
I wouldn't accept doing a back-translation *test*, but I don't think I would want to make that point in a clinical trial where human life is involved.
I'm quite sure it's not your resourcefulness they were testing by giving you something to translate that was already a translation of a text written in your target language. There are very good reasons for back-translation in certain fields, medical being one of them.
[Edited at 2016-03-08 13:47 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Inga Petkelyte
Portugal
Local time: 15:38
Lithuanian to Portuguese
+ ...
| For what, then? | Mar 8, 2016 |
DJHartmann wrote:
I don't know whether I need a reaffirmation but if you have to question the ethics of something, it's most likely unethical. This is why I came to the forums.
[Edited at 2016-03-08 13:34 GMT]
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Dylan J Hartmann
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...
MODERATOR TOPIC STARTER | That was just an example | Mar 8, 2016 |
Annamaria Amik wrote:
Isn't back-translation what you were supposed to do in a clinical trial translation?
Sorry, this was just a previous example... the test was software related and wasn't a back translation. It was the test translation to be accepted as a translator for a certain agency. It was 4 sentences long.
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Can't understand what you are on about.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:38
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Alvaro Espantaleon wrote:
Can't understand what you are on about.
Nor I, and I have no idea what "purposely" means.
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Dylan J Hartmann
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...
MODERATOR TOPIC STARTER | A storm in a teacup? | Mar 8, 2016 |
Tom in London wrote:
Nor I, and I have no idea what "purposely" means.
purposely |ˈpəːpəsli|
adverb
on purpose; intentionally: she had purposely made it difficult.
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Alvaro Espantaleon wrote:
Can't understand what you are on about.
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Dylan J Hartmann
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...
MODERATOR TOPIC STARTER
OK, one question with no background explanation.
What do you do if you find the source text of the translation test that you've been asked to do?
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 16:38
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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Alvaro Espantaleon wrote:
But you already had the source text, didn't you? That's the bit that's confusing me. They gave you a source text (A) and asked you to translate it into English, then you found the source text (A) somewhere else. So what, you already had it, didn't you?
Same here, I don't understand the question. What can I do with the source text I had found and why would I care?
You mean I found the source text within a bigger unit and then I will revise the broader context of my source text?
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Dylan J Hartmann
Australia
Member (2014)
Thai to English
+ ...
MODERATOR TOPIC STARTER | The original 'source' | Mar 8, 2016 |
The original was in English. The company gave a linguist the source to translate into a second language. The company then gives this second language text to new translators to translate into English and assesses their translation against the original.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:38
Member (2008)
Italian to English
DJHartmann wrote: Tom in London wrote:
Nor I, and I have no idea what "purposely" means. purposely |ˈpəːpəsli| adverb on purpose; intentionally: she had purposely made it difficult.
Ah- you mean "deliberately".
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