Guest posts

François Lavallée, a certified translator (OTTIAQ) since 1985 and founder of Magistrad, a professional development school for translators, is now Director of Training at Vencomm, a linguistic services company located in Québec City, after having worked on his own for 20 years. He has also taught general, commercial and legal translation at Université Laval (Québec City) since 2002, and he is the author of two collections of short stories, a collection of fables in the style of La Fontaine, and a translation guide entitled Le traducteur averti. He has an honors degree in translation from Laval University. François’ books can be ordered on-line, among other places, at www.renaud-bray.com. François recently took a moment to answer a few questions from Thoughts on Translation.

Note from Corinne: François answered in French and I translated his answers, so address any complaints about the English to me, not him…

–François, can you tell us a bit about your background and how you became interested in translation?

J’ai toujours été intéressé par les langues. Dès l’âge de 11 ans, j’apprenais l’espagnol par moi-même dans un vieux livre poussiéreux ayant appartenu à mon grand-père (que je n’ai jamais connu). Au cégep [college level specific to Québec, two years long, between high school and University], j’ai opté pour les langues et la littérature, par goût, même si, en raison de mes bonnes notes scolaires, tout le monde me conseillait de me diriger vers les sciences. Au moment de choisir un programme universitaire, j’en cherchai un qui pût me donner un métier (ce que ne serait pas allé de soi avec un diplôme en littérature ou en allemand, par exemple) : c’est là que j’ai découvert le programme spécialisé en traduction de l’Université Laval, à Québec. Travailler avec les mots tout en découvrant des choses nouvelles à chaque jour, passer mes journées le nez dans les dictionnaires et les ouvrages de référence… et être payé en plus pour le faire, pour moi, c‘était presque trop beau pour être vrai!

I’ve always been interested in languages. I started teaching myself Spanish when I was 11, using a dusty old book that had belonged to one of my grandfathers, who I never knew. When I got to cégep (a college level specific to Québec, two years long, between high school and University), I decided to study languages and literature because I enjoyed them, even though everyone told me that because of my excellent grades, I should go into the sciences. When it came time to pick a major in university, I wanted to find something that would be a good career path (which wouldn’t have been easy with a degree in literature or German, for example). Then I found out about the translation program at Laval University in Quebec City. Working with words, learning new things every day, spending all of my time poring over dictionaries and reference books and getting paid to it…it almost sounded too good to be true!

–What inspired you to start Magistrad? What are some of your favorite elements of running a continuing education school for translators?

Je traduis depuis 25 ans. Au fil des ans, à force de chercher des solutions originales, de réfléchir aux faits de langue et d’observer l’anglais et le français tels qu’ils existent, j’en suis venu à faire un certain nombre d’observations que j’avais envie de partager avec mes collègues traducteurs. C’est là que j’ai écrit Le traducteur averti, dont le succès m’a montré à quel point il existait un besoin. J’aime beaucoup l’enseignement en général aussi, et je me suis dit que ce serait intéressant d’enseigner non seulement aux jeunes qui s’inscrivent à l’Université, mais aussi aux traducteurs chevronnés, pour que, tous ensemble, nous puissions améliorer l’activité traductionnelle dans un pays – le Canada – où tant de textes de la vie courante nous arrivent en traduction.

I’ve been translating for 25 years and during that time I’ve had to look for creative solutions to translation problems and I’ve had to think about linguistic issues and look at English and French as we know them today. This led me to some observations that I wanted to share with other translators, and for that reason I wrote Le traducteur averti. Its success showed me how great the demand for translator resources was. I also really enjoy teaching in general and I thought that it would be interesting to teach not only young university students but also experienced translators; together, we can improve the entire translation profession in Canada, a country where so many documents that we come across in our daily lives are translations.

Quand je donne des cours, j’adore rencontrer des traducteurs professionnels comme moi qui travaillent dans des contextes si différents, et qui peuvent ainsi tellement m’apprendre, et discuter avec eux de nos problèmes communs… et des solutions qu’on n’ose parfois pas utiliser. Les dimensions « rencontre » et « utilité » sont certainement celles qui me motivent le plus à continuer.

When I teach, I love to meet other professional translators who work in a wide range of environments because I learn a lot from them too. I enjoy talking to them about the issues that all of us face, and especially about those solutions that we’re sometimes hesitant to use. The interpersonal and problem-solving aspects of the job are definitely the main factors that keep me going.

–What types of translation work do you do when you are not teaching?

La traduction administrative (soit la traduction de textes gouvernementaux et de textes de communication interne des entreprises) a occupé la majeure partie de ma carrière. Toutefois, je fais aussi des textes à saveur marketing, et aussi du juridique, une autre de mes grandes passions. Durant certaines périodes, j’ai aussi fait du technique et du financier. J’aimerais bien me mettre à la traduction littéraire un de ces jours, but hey, there are only so many hours in a day…

I’ve spent most of my career doing administrative translation (meaning translating government documents and internal corporate communications documents). However I also translate marketing materials, and I’m really passionate about legal translation. Over the years I’ve also done technical and financial translations. Someday I would really like to try my hand at literary translation, but hey, there are only so many hours in a day…

–You recently published a book of modern fables written in the style of La Fontaine. Can you tell us a bit about the process of writing this book and some of the challenges?

J’ai toujours été passionné par les textes écrits en vers. Je trouve dommage que cette forme ne soit plus utilisée par les auteurs d’aujourd’hui. Un jour, j’ai décidé de faire un pastiche de La Fontaine en traitant d’un sujet qui faisait l’actualité à l’époque. J’ai tellement aimé l’expérience que j’ai décidé d’en faire d’autres, sur divers sujets contemporains. Ce que j’aime le plus, dans cet exercice, c’est de se donner des contraintes (rythmes, rimes) pour se dépasser, et arriver à un résultat qui fait jouir le lecteur aussi bien pour la forme que pour le fond. Je peux réécrire et réviser une fable des centaines de fois après un premier jet… Et je n’ai pas l’impression de tourner en rond : j’ai toujours l’impression de l’améliorer. ‘

I’ve always been fascinated by texts that are written in verse and I think it’s unfortunate that modern authors don’t make more use of this literary form. So one day I decided to write something in the style of La Fontaine, but dealing with a subject that was in the news at the time. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to write some other fables about different modern-day subjects. To me, the best thing about this exercise was forcing myself to use the rules of rhythm and rhyme in order to be creative, and to create something that was enjoyable for the reader as much in terms of its form as of its substance. After I write the first draft, I sometimes rewrite and revise a fable hundreds of times, but still I never feel like I’m going around in circles; I feel like I’m perfecting it.

–You recently took an in-house job after a lengthy career as a self-employed translator; what are some of the advantages and challenges of working in-house?

Avant de travailler en entreprise, j’étais fier d’être assez polyvalent pour m’occuper de tout dans mon entreprise individuelle. C’est quand j’ai commencé à travailler comme salarié que je me suis rendu compte à quel point tout cela était lourd finalement, et comme il peut être utile de pouvoir partager une charge de travail et certains types de décisions avec des collègues en qui j’ai confiance. En revanche, travailler en équipe m’oblige à apprendre à négocier et à faire valoir mon opinion, au lieu de m’en tenir à mon vieux réflexe, qui consiste à faire les choses tout seul à ma façon. Il y a aussi un autre effet inattendu au travail salarié : il est plus facile de blâmer les autres pour nos malheurs, alors que le travailleur autonome ne peut jamais s’en prendre qu’à lui-même. ‘

Before I worked in-house, I took pride in being able to multi-task and handle every aspect of my freelance business. But since I’ve been an employee, I’ve realized what a burden all of those tasks put on me and how helpful it is to be able to split up the workload and certain types of decision-making with colleagues who I trust. At the same time, working as part of a team means that I’ve had to learn how to negotiate and how to support my point of view instead of doing things as I did before– on my own and in my own way. One thing that has surprised me about being an employee is that it’s easy to blame other people for your problems; as a freelancer, you have only yourself to blame.

–What are some of your plans for Magistrad in the coming year?

Magistrad peut enfin prendre son envol grâce au travail de mes deux coéquipiers, Mathieu Foltz et Éliane Massicotte. Pour les prochains mois, je compte offrir un nouveau cours sur la traduction des contrats, et aussi des cours sur les outils d’aide à la traduction. La difficulté consiste toujours à trouver des formateurs à la hauteur des attentes créées par Magistrad. Et à moyen terme, la formation à distance me semble être une voie très prometteuse.

Magistrad will finally be able to reach its full potential thanks to my two colleagues Mathieu Foltz and Éliane Massicotte. In the upcoming months I’m planning to offer a new course on contract translation and also some courses on computer-assisted translation tools. The hardest part is always finding trainers who are up to Magistrad’s standards. In the longer term, I think that distance education is a really promising possibility.

The recent guest post on Translator pet peeves generated so much interest that I thought it would be interesting to let other players in the industry vent, I mean share their thoughts as well. The following guest post is by Paula Dieli; her bio appears after the post.

These pet peeves include my own project management experiences as well as those of a fellow PM who prefers to remain anonymous.
1. The #1 complaint — Translators who don’t read instructions.
Some examples:
– You ask for the translations to be in the same format as the source files and the format comes back different.
– You ask for highlights in yellow and you get them in green.
– You get only a cleaned file from the translator when you have specifically asked for him/her to return both the cleaned and uncleaned file.
– You specifically state that the files should not be renamed and they all come back renamed with the translator’s initials appended to each filename.

2. Translators who never confirm that they have started a job.
It would be great if you could just quickly reply to confirm receipt of the source files and/or PO and indicate to the PM that the work is underway.

3. Translators who never ask questions.
We begin to worry when we don’t hear anything from you. We appreciate even a little communication during the project (“Just checking in to say that everything is going fine…”) to know that the project is on track.

4. “You mean you wanted the footnotes translated too?”
Everything should be translated unless otherwise specified by the PM and if you’re not sure, don’t hesitate to ask your PM!

5. “I know the translation is due today but I just wasn’t able to get it finished.”
We know that estimating how long a translation will take is not a perfect science. That said, numerous other people (editors, proofreaders, graphic designers and of course the end client) are lined up and waiting for your completed translation so if you can give us a little notice, it really helps!

6. “I wasn’t able to find this term so I’ve left it in the source language, hoping you’ll be able to figure it out.”
If you are stuck on a term, consider asking your colleagues or posting to a forum. If you are still stuck, please consider asking us before you deliver the final translation and we’ll be happy to consult with other translators in your language pair for guidance.

7. A client asks for a detailed plan for handling a large volume of work but hasn’t specified exactly when the work will be handed off or how large it will be.
It’s difficult (read impossible) to provide exact estimates for a project whose specifications are vague. Give us the project details and we’ll be happy to provide you with a detailed plan.

8. Clients who tell you they “absolutely need something done on Tuesday.”
You deliver the project and you get an out of office response! Enough said.

9. You deliver a translation and the client never confirms receipt.
We’re not expecting a thank you (or we would have quit this job long ago) but just a simple email confirmation so we’ll sleep better at night.

10. Clients who ask you and your team “to work this weekend so you can deliver on Monday morning.”
PM’s have many great skills but groveling is one we prefer not to use so if you can give us a little notice, even a day, it would be much appreciated!

Paula Dieli is a Localization Project Manager at Adobe Systems Inc., managing the localization of a large and complex software project into 15 languages. She also works as a French to English freelance translator specializing in information technology and business. Paula holds an M.A. in Translation from Kent State University and a B.A. in Computer Science and French from the State University of New York at Potsdam. Her previous experience includes project management at a language service provider and software engineering and program management at several software companies. She is the author of Essential Project Management, a blog on translation/localization project management.

This is a guest post by Interpres incognitus, a US-based freelance translator who prefers to remain anonymous.

“The client doesn’t want a translation, he just wants to know what it says.”

This is a direct quote from a project manager at a translation agency and the perfect way to introduce my guest post. We were discussing translator pet peeves at a recent networking lunch of the Colorado Translators Association and Corinne invited me to write a post for her blog. Here are some of the things that drive me crazy about working with agencies:

Remember, I am not on staff at your company.
I was recently asked by an agency to do a translation sample for free because they were trying to win a new client and wanted to provide the sample to them at no charge. I am always amazed at these kinds of requests, the expectation that the translator should bear all the risk. It’s not like the project manager or the sales manager at the agency will be donating the time they spend working on this project, putting fewer hours on their timesheet that day because they are handling a sample job, but they routinely expect the translator to be willing to do so.

Don’t expect me to bear the brunt of fixing your mistakes.
If you have failed to properly assess the scope of the job, it’s not my responsibility to pick up the slack. I was once asked to work on site because no time had been allowed for file conversions from an unusual file format. They decided the solution to their dilemma would be my working from their facility in the original file format, being paid by the hour rather than by the word, and commuting one hour each way to their office, unpaid of course. Thanks, but no thanks.

I don’t give discounts for numbers and common words.
A couple of times in my career I have been challenged about charging for numbers because they are not really words. My response to that is “I’ll leave them out and you can insert them where you think they go.” I have also had agencies complain about ifs, ands or buts being included in the word count. Again, I’ll be happy to leave them out.

Don’t provide misleading information about the scope of the job.
Don’t tell me the document is 140 pages and then expect me not to notice that it is actually 290 when I get it. And no, under these conditions, I can’t be expected to meet the original deadline.

All translators are not created equal.
Sending a query about a job to “Undisclosed recipients” or “Dear vendor” is basically a “first come, first served” approach to assigning a job. This tells me as a translator a lot about how your company operates. If you were hiring a new employee to work in your office would you really hire the first person who answered your ad sight unseen without checking to see if they had the requisite experience?

Common courtesy.
I have received queries about my availability and when I respond, I never hear back again. How hard would it be to give the translator the illusion of respect by sending a quick e-mail that says, “Sorry, we placed the job elsewhere” or “Thanks, but no thanks.” Are you actually so busy that you can’t write back or so sure that you will never need to contact me again in the future?

This list is by no means meant to be comprehensive 😉