Early in my freelance career, I failed two translation tests in a row for two different agencies. Both of these tests were marketing/PR-type pieces, and the agencies' comments went something like this: Agency 1: "Your translation was too faithful to the original. The French text was not very well … [Read more...] about "We just translate"…or do we?
Translation technique
Link: Tips for translating corporate communications
Corporate communications materials are some of the most difficult and most business-critical documents out there when it comes to translation. The company culture, the target audience, the spin that the company wants to put on its news, the most-used grammatical structures of the source and target … [Read more...] about Link: Tips for translating corporate communications
Paper dictionary to the rescue
Web-based terminology databases are a wonderful thing for translators. As compared to the research tools of times gone by, we now have access to resources that are vast, free, and easily updated when new terms arrive on the scene. A few of my favorites are: Le Grand Dictionnaire … [Read more...] about Paper dictionary to the rescue
How to do an acceptable job on a rush job
First, note that the title of this post is not "How to do a good job on a rush job," because often the two concepts are mutually exclusive. Realistically, no translator does her/his best work under extreme time pressure, but the nature of the industry is such that deadlines are often tight. So, when … [Read more...] about How to do an acceptable job on a rush job
Translating into non-standardized languages
The Google Alert for "translation" was all abuzz today with the controversy over translating the Bible into Jamaican patois. Here's hoping that the Bible Society of the West Indies reads Translation: Getting it Right before forging ahead with the project, which it estimates will take 12 years and … [Read more...] about Translating into non-standardized languages