| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | I have no any references. Would you pls help? Thread poster: Kirill Usoltsev (X)
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mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 17:03
Spanish to English
+ ...
| No problem - that's ... | Aug 9, 2006 |
translatinglady wrote:
Yes, I am sorry to interfere in this discussion.
... what the forum is here for!
I also want to start a career as a translator, and I worked hard for this, I studied English and German at the university and believe me, the levels were very difficult to reach, but I did reach them.
Congratulations! You have achieved a lot already, but apparently you did not study 'translation' as such, for if you had done so you would probably not have made some of the following statements:
... when I read that a translator only has to use his/her own language and not any other, that completely drives me mad.
What is the point in learning other languages, in being passionate, if this means not to use them any more later on? Why?
A translator is always using at least two languages - a source and a target - and may draw upon his/her knowledge of other languages to help in establishing the true meaning of the source text. What previous contributors have been at pains to explain is that it is seen as 'good practice' in this profession to translate into your native language. But, doing that, you will still be making very extensive use of your English and German skills. You surely don't imagine you could translate a German text into French if you had never studied German at all?
I'm a French native, and a few translators who got in touch with me to, according to their own words, "help" me, did nothing but discouraging me. I expected all kinds of answers, but I didn't expect to be criticized and judged on my abilities.
That last comment indicates a major difference between you and Kirill, who started this thread. Several experienced translators - including myself - 'criticized' his skills in English, which he says is a target language.
On reading our responses, Kirill wrote:
Many thanks for your kind notes and suggestions. Im really highly appreciate them all! (...) So, I'll try my best with native language firstly,
Kirill got what he asked for - advice. He shows modesty and gratitude in the face of the barrage of criticism he received from long-established translators who know this business inside-out. Good luck to him!
You added:
If ... (I can translate into French only) ... this is definitely not the right job for me!
That may be true, as you seem not to have understood that the translator is in most cases just one part of a chain of professionals whose work fits together to deliver to the final reader a valid representation in language X of the author's intended meaning in language Y. Don't forget that after you, the translator, there will (usually) be a proof-reader, an editor, and maybe other 'controls' yet further along the chain, ending up with a reader. All those people will take your output and judge it (often quite ruthlessly) not in terms of source language Y but according to the rules of language X. All those downstream professionals, and the final readers - perhaps many thousands of them -, will judge your work and criticize it as and how they see fit. If you can't handle criticism, don't ever become a translator!
And if you really do want to become a translator, and if you insist on using English as a target language, then let me offer one last comment: your English very good - indeed, it is far better than Kirill's. But I, as a native English speaker, have detected at least 5 errors in your post, all of which jarr my nerves to a greater or lesser extent, and signal to me that the text was written by a non-native. That doesn't mean you can't earn money working into English, but you should always make sure your clients are aware of your limitations, especially if - as often happens - their own knowledge of English, and their understanding of the technique of translation, is less than perfect or even non-existent.
Good luck with your languages! As you say yourself, they can be a source of passion. And language skills applied 'à bon escient' can earn good money.
MediaMatrix
[Edited at 2006-08-09 13:47]
| | | | Galina F
United States
Local time: 17:03
English to Russian
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To Mediamatrix,
Eventhough your answer wasn't addressed to me I want to thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience (as I'm greedily seeking all things that could help me in starting my translator career).
Best wishes,
Galina
| | | | mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 17:03
Spanish to English
+ ...
Don't mention it - The pleasure's mine!
Good luck!
MediaMatrix
[Edited at 2006-08-09 23:20]
| | | | Galina F
United States
Local time: 17:03
English to Russian
+ ...
Really, I found it very useful - especially the words of being humble and adequate in accepting the criticism (not my strongest point yet:) The hardest lessons are the most helpful.
A small curtsey:)
Galina
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| The first rule of translation is that you should translate only into your mother tongue. | Aug 15, 2006 |
The notion that it is possible to translate into a foreign language, is exactly what is undermining both the translation business, the prices, and the respect for the translator as a highly skilled professional. I would never dream of putting in my profile that I'm bilingual, even though I have lived in an English-speaking country and I have a Masters degree in translation from Spanish and English into Swedish. If other people get the impression that anyone with a bit of knowledge of a foreign l... See more The notion that it is possible to translate into a foreign language, is exactly what is undermining both the translation business, the prices, and the respect for the translator as a highly skilled professional. I would never dream of putting in my profile that I'm bilingual, even though I have lived in an English-speaking country and I have a Masters degree in translation from Spanish and English into Swedish. If other people get the impression that anyone with a bit of knowledge of a foreign laguage can do a good translation job, then why would they pay skilled professionals more than they pay a high school student they know?
Best regards, Isabelle Yngveson, also starting out ▲ Collapse
| | | | mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 17:03
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Three reasons ... | Aug 15, 2006 |
Isabelle Yngvesson wrote:
If other people get the impression that anyone with a bit of knowledge of a foreign laguage can do a good translation job, then why would they pay skilled professionals more than they pay a high school student they know?
I don't think I quite fit the description of 'anyone with a bit of knowledge of a foreign language' and I'm certainly not a 'high-school student'. Nonetheless, although my mother-tongue is English, and my only formal qualifications in languages are 'O' levels in French and Latin won laboriously around 40 years ago, I frequently translate into French and Spanish.
Why do people pay me good money to do that?
3 reasons:
- They know from experience that I can deliver good-quality translations (I don't say 'excellent') and in many cases that is sufficient for them - for example, if they are using the translation only for internal purposes and it will not be made public. And in many cases the texts I'm translating are only drafts anyway, and both the source and target texts will be re-hashed by the client, possibly many times, before they are used 'in anger'.
- They need a translation of a technical document in my specialist field, and they prefer to have a translation that is 'excellent' on the technical front, even if it is only 'good' from the linguistic point of view. They accept that they might need to spend a little time on it afterwards, to 'tidy up' the French/Spanish, but that is a small price to pay for getting a translation that is factually correct.
- The client knows the source document is poorly written and will require the skills of a native English-speaker, knowledgable in the subject-matter to get any meaning out of it at all. When clients don't realise this we end up with dozens of questions in Kudoz from non-English-speaking translators trying to understand quasi-English gibberish - translators working into their native language who don't have a bat's chance in hell of decyphering the source text and producing a decent translation. Having me do it, they not only get a sensible translation - they get a corrected version of the source text too, all for the same price!
It may come as a surprise to Isabelle that when I got my first job as an in-house French --> English translator in an international organisation (then) based in Brussels, I could not speak French. In the job interviews, conducted entirely in English, they explained that their main requirement was wide knowledge and experience of broadcast technology, backed up by relevant engineering qualifications and good references (I had all that, having spent the previous 7 years in BBC Engineering) and it would be sufficient to learn French 'on the job'.
They gave me a couple of texts to translate from French - which I translated using my vague recollections of schoolboy French that I'd already deliberately written off as 'irrelevant' 10 years earlier, and some Spanish that I'd picked up (and mostly forgotton) 2 years earlier. I got the job - and doubled my salary overnight as I quit my job as an engineer at the BBC and travelled to Brussels.
There are many ways to enter the translation profession - and many reasons why texts need to be translated. In this business, as in any other, if you can make a living out of doing it 'your way' then that's reason enough to carry on - even if you are constantly transgressing the most sacred 'rules' taught to those such as Isabelle who have chosen to get here via formal academic study of translation.
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