Lost in translation

Pay-as-you-go translation software

2010-06-10T14:59:00.000+02:00

At first sight, it does not look such a bad idea. A CAT tool which does not require a very high investment, nice if you are starting out. But a translation agency that wants its freelancers to work with an on line tool for which they have to pay as well? Ok, SDL International require you to work with their products, but then again, almost all agencies work with SDL/Trados. The initial investment is not overly cheap but the software is yours and so are the TMs you generate.

Lionbridge has come up with a tool that is online, so you cannot just work on your pc (and use your own TM and add to your own TM) without worrying about the internet connection- bad enough but then you are required to pay for its use. If you'd be wanting to use it for other projects (the advantage of "pay as you go"...) the initial price of EUR 10 a month only covers 5,000 words a month. That is about two days of work. Even with 30,000 words my support contract for SDL is a lot cheaper on an annual basis, plus I have it on my own pc.

Needless to say, for the moment I'll stick with SDL and Déjà Vu...

Offer for freelancers

Royal blooper

2009-11-08T12:44:00.005+01:00

It is just sometimes advisable to check out what you are saying if you are the Dutch crown prince delivering a speech. A dictionary would come in handy - or even your wife's knowledge of Spanish as Máxima is from Argentina. But no, "our" Willem-Alexander wanting to say that a sleeping shrimp would be washed away by the tide (camaron que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente) actually said it would be taken away by "la chingada". It's derived from the verb "chingar" (which basically means "to fuck") which is rather offensive - especially in Mexico! But it means the same in all Spanish speaking countries.

The Dutch public broadcasting company tried to soften the blow saying that "chingada" meant "tide" in any other Spanish-speaking country except in Mexico. Which goes to show that journalists obviously do not consult dictionaries either!

Even just checking the Spanish-Dutch dictionary immediately indicates that "chingada" is maybe not the word he was looking for:
chin·ga·da (v.) (Latijns-Amerika; vulgair) 1 (jodienda) pesterij, verneukerij context2 (polvo) neukpartij, wip, nummertje 3 (puta) hoer, snol

I really wonder who was his "translator"....

More references:
http://etimologias.dechile.net/?chingar

DRAE (diccionario de la lengua Española)
chingado, da.1. adj. malson. Méx. Que ha sufrido daño.2. f. malson. Méx. prostituta.ah, chingado.1. loc. interj. malson. Méx. U. para expresar sorpresa o protesta.a la ~.1. loc. adv. malson. El Salv. y Méx. a paseo. Me mandó a la chingada. ¡Váyase a la chingada!de la ~.1. loc. adj. malson. Méx. pésimo. U. t. c. loc. adv.

PD A colleague suggested it may have been a Google/Wiki blooper:

http://www.proz.com/forum/off_topic/150191-blame_the_translator_bad_language_alert-page2.html

Referring to this Wiki quote page:

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:-ehoK7wJLlUJ:en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mexican_proverbs%20

Rates again - now that we are in a financial crisis

2009-05-09T00:16:00.008+02:00

It's like giving a donkey strawberries

Yesterday I had a bit of a run-in with an outsourcer who had posted a job asking for "legal experts". I sent him my details including my rates. I even offered a discount when he said they were too high. Obviously they were still too high.

I received this reply:

"Thank you, Anjo. It is good that you can find plenty of work at those rates. Our best lawyer/linguists do not charge that, however. We have a specific budget for this one."

I almost started worrying until I got another job in several hours later - at my usual rate. It always happens but in this time of doom and gloom I sometimes start worrying.

The English saying does no justice to our donkeys - Flint here says he loves strawberries, and apples, and alfalfa.

The times they are a-changing - or are they?

And yes, it had been quiet for a few weeks in January. I attended a workshop on annual reports, corporate governance and financial translating which was extremely interesting considering the recent developments. Then things picked up again, although it has not been as busy as last year with multiple requests every day. On the other hand, I now sometimes have time for smaller quite enjoyable projects. I am aware that as a legal and technical translator who has been established for a number of years, things are easier for me than for someone just starting out.

Highly recommended reading (the entire blog is very interesting, I just found it on Proz.com)

http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2009/03/17/lowering-your-translation-rates-whywhy-not/

Just my thoughts!

A translation process nightmare - terminology

2008-10-15T10:50:00.007+02:00

Translating an operator manual for an industrial computer network from English into Dutch does not seem too much of a complicated task. That is what I thought, too. However, the translation process caused some headaches.

Terminology
I had to translate a termlist with 120 terms, but the list was not approved until the project was almost finished, so I was still in the dark about what the right terms would be. I submitted extensive query lists, but they never reached the end client - the German agency replied, and the answer was always: Please use the proper Dutch term for this concept. See original PDF for reference. Context is automation technology.

I talked to all my family who (lucky me) is involved in computer technology, industrial computers and process technology and even called an engineer specialised in OPC - and they all confirmed that most of the specific terms were not to be translated.

So I plodded on, inventing terminology and trying to do something with clearly company-specific concepts, such as Asset Optimization which I did not translate in the end. OPC-specific terms such as "subscription update rate" I explained between brackets: (verbindingsactualisatietempo).

Two weeks later - just before the deadline - I received the approved termlist. About 30 of the 120 terms had to stay in English. Several Microsoft terms such as Application Bar or Status Bar even had to stay in English. Even terms followed by the threatening remark this term must be translated, such as Application Scheduler had to stay in English. Luckily, only about 4 terms had to be changed.

What went wrong
The German agency had not arranged for direct contact with the Dutch branch of the company. They should have realised that there are huge differences in translatability of terms.

It was also not clear which part of the company-specific terminology had to be translated and which part had to be considered as brand names or untranslatable concepts.

I am used to extensive glossaries with company-specific terms and friendly engineers answering my queries if there is no terminology available, to create a translation that is consistent with the language the company uses. The German agency saw this as a reason to doubt my capabilities as a translator. They were clearly not used to this working method.

I should have refused the job as soon as I found out there was no reference material nor any way to contact the client directly and that the Dutch agency that contracted me just acted as a middleman or called the end client to ask for reference material, even if that is usually "not done".

The source text had apparently been translated from German into English which did not help either.

But it was challenging and my cousins now know a little bit more about the difficulties of translation. Thank you Jaap Kramer and Roelof Hadders.

Deadlines and other challenges

2007-02-04T11:09:00.000+01:00

As a translator, you attempt to deliver quality. One of the biggest challenges consists of delivering a good translation in very little time. When a translation agency calls with an urgent job, you always have to read between the lines. When you are busy with another job, you do not always pay sufficient attention.

"I have a legal job of about 6,000 new words and the total job is about 11,000 words." This means two things: there are 5,000 words, about half the assignment, in a translation memory (TM) and these are partly 100% matches - some sentences may have been translated previously by another translator and before seeing the actual matches you do not know if you agree with the terminology used in the previous translation. The remaining matches are partial matches. In a legal translation a partial match is a bit of a joke, as it is often quicker to re-translate the sentence than play a game of "spot the differences", even without considering terminology issues.

Last week I realised I had to re-check and double-check the jobs I am offered, as I found myself doing a legal translation without being able to change the 100% matches. This often happens in technical translation work and as long as the reviewer checks the matches it is just a bit of a pain, as you still have to read them through to see where the story goes. In legal translation this is of course 100 times more so!

To make a long story short, this translation into British English concerned a company's Articles of Association. Previously, this had been translated as Articles of Incorporation, which is the term generally used in the US. The result was that the draft translation contained a mix of the terms Articles of Association and Articles of Incorporation. To make matters worse, the proofreader could not work with the translation software, and thus would not know which parts of the text had been pre-translated. I added my comments on a separate sheet, so she would know which terms to watch for, but it must be quite frustrating to see such an inconsistent translation - about as frustrating as having to submit a translation that is not finished.

That is about as bad as it can get, you would think. Well, not quite. The client actually needed the translation before the weekend - they always do, no matter how big the translation is. So he coaxed the project manager from the agency to send him the draft translation - including the inconsistencies....

Milking robots

2006-11-05T10:22:00.000+01:00

After tractors, balers and earth-moving vehicles I have now moved on to another element of farming - be it only translating: milking robots. My neighbouring farm has not moved on to this invention yet, so we still see the fifty-odd cows walk past our house in the morning and in the evening. I still find that rather nice, although it does mean a lot of work for the farmers.

The funny thing about the translation of the manuals is that the Dutch company writes their manuals in English. The manuals are then translated into other languages (including Dutch) while the master version is the English original manual. If there are any doubts about the other language versions, they refer back to the English version.

Of course, this makes sense as English is an international language and the robots are sold to countries as far away as Japan. Still, it is strange to translate a manual into Dutch that was written in English by a Dutch company...

http://www.cornesag.com/eng/milking/parts.html

How to weld a can

2006-08-27T23:14:00.000+02:00

My next project was a can welding machine. I had already translated an operator's manual before, in close collaboration with a colleague on an island in Greece - the Internet certainly made a difference.... This project was an instruction video which had to be translated. So I finally got to see the machine in real life! I would have loved to see the video before we started on the manual, as it took me ages to find out what part of the machine went where - just to be able to decide on the best translation for terms such as 'chain dog' or 'sucker head' or to understand the term list the customer had delivered. Even term lists are not always correct!

Anyway, welded cans will never be the same from now on. I'll be scratching the seam to see what was the leading and the trailing edge of the blank and I'll be checking the colour of the welded area, not to mention the occurrence of extrusion. Was it a hot weld or rather a too cold weld? Nah, I'd have to do a rip test for that and I might hurt myself...

Next week I will have to prepare my trip to Burgos as we are collecting 'useful things' for the Burgos animal shelter.
See: http://protectoraburgos.googlepages.com/home
All the mistakes in those pages are mine, but they did not have a web page yet - so I made this first one until their own site is ready.

How flame-proof becomes pressure-proof

2006-08-15T15:59:00.000+02:00

Last week I translated a manual with ATEX installation instructions for sensors. I now know that ATEX stands for ATmosphères EXplosives:
"Since 2003, manufacturers across the European Union are obliged to comply with strict new EU directives governing safety in explosive atmospheres. Called ATEX (from the French ATmosphères EXplosives), the ATEX directive has an impact not only on European manufacturers, but also on the makers of industrial equipment wishing to sell to manufacturers in Europe."
http://www.bureauveritas.com/services/atex_directive.htm
For some reason, such areas are referred to in English as 'hazardous areas'...

In such atmospheres, equipment should be mounted in enclosures which are certified as: EEx 'p', EEx 'd', EEx 'e' and EEx 'i'.
My sensors and transmitters were either EEx d, EEx e or EEx i certified: a flameproof (or flame-proof) enclosure, an enclosure for increased safety or an intrinsically safe one.
The translation of the latter ones was not a problem - they are literal translations.
My Translation Memory mentioned 'vlambestendig' as a translation for flameproof in this case, but I found a range of different translations for the term itself in the usual sources (Eurodic, technical dictionaries). I could not find many hits on google for the combination 'vlambestendig' and 'EEx d'. I found out eventually that the translation was one you would not expect: the translation into Dutch is something like 'pressure-proof' and it actually describes better what the idea behind this type of protection is - the enclosure contains the 'explosion' which might occur inside.
" EN 50 018 - EEx d (drukvast omhulsel)
Een drukvast omhulsel kan onderdelen bevatten, welke onder normaal gebruik vonken, lichtbogen of hoge temperaturen kunnen veroorzaken, welke op hun beurt een explosie zouden kunnen inleiden.Het explosieve gasmengsel wordt geacht ook in het drukvaste omhulsel aanwezig te kunnen zijn, maar een eventuele explosie binnen het omhulsel kan zich niet voortplanten naar de buitenliggende atmosfeer."
http://www.bartec.nl/inhoud/explosieveiligheid/en-ontwerpnormen.shtml

Room with a view

2006-06-14T13:41:00.000+02:00

It's not a job...
it's a passion

As a translator I work from home and at home. I do not have to get into my car in the morning to be at an office at a specific time. I do not have to get dressed smartly, I do not have to conduct endless meetings... I do have to be there though, in my office, at the computer(s), often working late against tight deadlines.

Translating is not just typing a text into another language though! That is why it is always a challenge, there are always new terms to be researched. As I specialise in technical and legal translation, terminology is very important.

My customers are mostly international translation agencies, based in different countries in Europe or even in the US. I meet them on the Internet and they contract me via e-mail. I have spoken to only some of them, 'in person'. They know me, or rather of me, through a referral or by contacting me because they need my type of experience, as mentioned on one of my profile pages at translator's portals or through my website: http://your-translation.eu.

EN - Winter in Asturias

2005-12-28T14:57:00.000+01:00

Early in the morning the temperature in the office is about 12ºC! As all our heating needs a human interface (solid fuel central heating, a solid fuel stove in the kitchen), I use a small electrical heater next to my desk. So that's why I am not starting work too early! Temperatures during the day vary: if it's sunny you can have lunch in the sun outside, if the fog stays on or or if it is just cloudy, it's best to stay next to a heater!
We have already had some 'heladas' (frost), having to scrape the ice off the car windscreens in the morning.
Most houses here are just heated with the solid fuel stove in the kitchen. That is also the only stove we keep on day and night. It keeps the house reasonably warm and dry.

EN - Snow on the mountains

2005-11-29T14:46:00.000+01:00

We had our first snow last weekend. We're not high enough to have snow (although it was rainy and windy!) but look at the view out of my office window!

We may have to check out the regional ski resorts, although access is often restricted to cars with snow chains.
http://www.valgrande-pajares.net/
http://www.san-isidro.net/