[Framers] OFF TOPIC, Translation Need.

[Steve Rickaby]

At 21:52 +0000 26/7/17, Craig, Alison wrote:

>Professional translators are supposed to live in the country where they speak the translation language. ISO certified firms will have this as a hiring requirement.

A slightly curious criterion, but I consider myself duly informed.

By 'translation language'. I guess you mean target language.

As someone who has danced around translation for many years, I accidentally developed a small specialization in rewriting technical material originally written in English by authors who did not have English as their first language. I am very relieved that I never had to subcontract translation services, because I have never been able to reconcile the correct balance between expertise in the source and target languages and expertise in the subject matter. Clearly both is the ideal, but such animals are a rare species indeed. I would be interested to know what process in ISO certification of an LSP verifies subject matter expertise.

For example, as a result of previous work on textbooks, I have recently done 'translation' of technical material written in German. I only have a smattering of German, but I do understand the subject matter. So the 'translation' process involves transliteration using freely-available online services, followed by rewriting the copy so that it makes both linguistic and technical sense in the target language, in this case English. The latter is the huge bulk of the work, with a fair bit of ironing out of idiom in the source material.

I absolutely could not perform the reverse operation. So I guess I fit Alison's criterion, in that I live in England: certainly my clients seem happy, but in no way can I claim to be a professional translator. Conversely, someone with good German skills but little or no understanding of, say, software development methodologies, might well flounder. Leaving translation aside, I know of English-speaking copy-editors who claim to be able to work on any material: this makes me worried.

So what is the ideal balance between source/target language expertise and subject matter expertise? I suspect this question is at the heart of LSP specification, and Alison's suggestion of a 'test package' seems a very sound one.

-- 
Steve