Off topic: Test Translations – A tool to identify the right translator for texts about medical devices? Thread poster: Anne Diamantidis
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A little game for our English/German colleagues...
In the past few weeks, we have seen some translations done by self-proclaimed qualified translators and agencies that were extremely bad. So, to get an idea whether a test translation will help us (and maybe you!) identify qualified translators, we came up with an idea (...)
Before anyone jumps or anything, this is not an actual test and this is not some new mean agency trick to exploit translators. The goal is not to exploit anyone. We have the correct translation. This game has two aims: look which proposals are made and explain why a given translation is not quite correct - and more importantly, prove that translation tests are often set up fully incorrectly and are difficult to interpret.
For those interested - this way...
Cheers!
Anne
[Edited at 2012-03-05 17:13 GMT]
| | | | | And where would I send it? | Mar 5, 2012 |
This is not clear for me...;-)
Sibylle
| | | | | As a comment ;) | Mar 5, 2012 |
Hi Sibylle
At the bottom of the post you'll see an option "leave a comment", just click on it
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[Edited at 2012-03-07 15:35 GMT]
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| Upps, had it posted here, so on the Blog itself?! | Mar 7, 2012 |
Did that then...
| | | | | | | What a strange exercise! | Mar 15, 2012 |
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the purpose seems to have been to trick people into making a mistake.
| | | | | Possibly for their own good | Mar 15, 2012 |
My German was not up to it, so I was not able to take part, but it has set me thinking.
Far better to learn this way than to lose a client over something you should have known.
Participants were allowed to give pseudonyms, and there was no penalty, and no exposure. Simply an exercise, followed by the right answer, so you could see how it SHOULD have been done, and then congratulate yourself or hide your blushes as appropriate.
I would happily join in someth... See more My German was not up to it, so I was not able to take part, but it has set me thinking.
Far better to learn this way than to lose a client over something you should have known.
Participants were allowed to give pseudonyms, and there was no penalty, and no exposure. Simply an exercise, followed by the right answer, so you could see how it SHOULD have been done, and then congratulate yourself or hide your blushes as appropriate.
I would happily join in something like that in my language pairs. ▲ Collapse
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| | | Standards and norms | Apr 21, 2012 |
I agree that it is of no use to re-invent the wheel, so existing terminology and phrases should be used. But...the problem is that a lot of standards and norms are NOT free and are sometimes even pretty expensive. If the company for whom I am translating (or the agency as an intermediary, for that matter) is unwilling or cannot be bothered to provide me with the material of which I simply know that it exists (which has happened to me!), then I don't think that it is part of my job to spend subst... See more I agree that it is of no use to re-invent the wheel, so existing terminology and phrases should be used. But...the problem is that a lot of standards and norms are NOT free and are sometimes even pretty expensive. If the company for whom I am translating (or the agency as an intermediary, for that matter) is unwilling or cannot be bothered to provide me with the material of which I simply know that it exists (which has happened to me!), then I don't think that it is part of my job to spend substantial amounts of money on this.
Companies an/or agencies sometimes (I admit that this is rare, but it does happen) cannot even be bothered to clarify dodgy sentences or paragraphs in the original. It is usually "up to the translator" to come up with a plausible explanation. Sorry, that is not how things work!
That said, these little exercises like the one this thread is about, could be beneficial to anybody who actually cares about delivering quality work. Testing oneself is always a good thing to do! Nobody is infallible.
[Edited at 2012-04-21 12:13 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-04-21 12:14 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-04-21 12:14 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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