Warning, British irony: no, you probably don’t need “a translation”.<\/p>\n
What you need is a text in English that fulfils a certain purpose. This text is likely to be based on the content of another text, in a different language, and will probably satisfy the definition of a translation. Some translations, for example in the legal sphere, must be absolutely faithful to the original text, warts and all. In the technical sphere, this is less common, and the measure of quality for the translation is the purpose that it serves in its own right.<\/p>\n
In short, you don’t need “a translation”. You need a text in another language that meets your needs, and if you’re reading this, that language is probably English. Translation may be the process by which that text is produced, but the outcome, if it is done properly, is not a translation, but a solution to your needs.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Translation? Isn’t there an app for that?” tab_id=”1598530555443-95eda43e-76e0″][vc_column_text]\n
Machine translation (or perhaps more accurately “machine pseudo-translation”) has made considerable progress over the years. A notable recent development is that of neural machine translation, which often delivers astonishingly impressive results and is now accessible from any smartphone.<\/p>\n
Even where good results are achieved however, these systems do not “translate”. Translation entails understanding a message that is encoded in one language, and reproducing it in another. Machine translations do not “understand” anything, and the term “artificial intelligence” is a misnomer here.<\/p>\n
Where neural machine translation does produce impressive results, they can be attributed to the fact that the system draws upon existing translations produced by professional translators. It should therefore come as no surprise that the results appear to be very good. In fact, they may still appear good even when the system has completely misunderstood the message, and the translation says something quite different to the original text.<\/p>\n
Used cautiously and wisely, machine (pseudo-)translation can be a useful tool in a professional translator’s toolbox, but it’s not a substitute for the professional. It may often deliver results that are quite passable. If your requirements are more demanding than “quite passable”, you need a professional.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Do you translate into British or American English?” tab_id=”1598530555519-098fbe67-14b2″][vc_column_text]\n
In most cases, neither.<\/p>\n
Where a text is intended solely for use in the United Kingdom, I translate into British English, my native variant of the language. However, this is seldom the case for the SMEs and NGOs in Germany and elsewhere in mainland Europe who make up my typical clientele. They generally need an English translation for use in several English-speaking countries.<\/p>\n
In addition, the same text must be suitable for a readership without a translation of its own. This website is one such example. Visitors are offered the choice between German and English; the two target groups however are DACH (Germany\/Austria\/Switzerland), and “Rest of the World”.<\/p>\n
This presents particular demands upon the translation. For example, it must not burden the readership with English terms and phrasing unique to a particular country.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Do you translate only from German into English?” tab_id=”1598530555604-16e02eae-f1b8″][vc_column_text]\n
I don’t translate into any language other than English, my native language.<\/p>\n
My core business is translation from German. Within a narrow range of technical fields and where delivery deadlines permit, I also translate from Dutch and Italian.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Why don’t you charge by the word?” tab_id=”1598530555700-771b97f4-2d58″][vc_column_text]\n
The longer a text, the more work is entailed by its translation. Length, though, is only one factor influencing the required effort. A text with highly technical content may take several times as long to translate as a simple text of the same length.<\/p>\n
Charging by the word (or some other unit of volume) for everything has traditionally been based on the notion that differences in difficulty cancel each other out \u2013 the swings and roundabouts principle. For a long time, this principle worked, more or less. With the growing commodification of translation over the years, this is no longer the case.<\/p>\n
My pricing policy aims to correct this. I offer a translation of a text for a fixed price, agreed in advance; transparency for the customer is therefore assured. The price for a specific text reflects the fact that some texts may take considerably longer to translate than others, even of the same length. [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”What about the “second pair of eyes“?” tab_id=”1598530555793-d5e6423a-39ad”][vc_column_text]\n
Mistakes happen, and those who believe they never make them are those whose work is never revised.<\/p>\n
As in wider industry, the principle of the “second pair of eyes” (revision or review by a second person) for the detecting of errors is well established in the translation sector. However, it raises the question: who is doing the translating, and who is doing the revising? A third-rate translator and a third-rate reviser are unlikely to produce a good final translation.<\/p>\n
The scale of revision also differs widely within the translation sector. Ideally, the reviser should be able to verify the entire translation for him or herself. Often however, revision is limited to a reading through of the translation, without comparison with the original. Some providers perform only random checks. For others, the quality step may consist of nothing more than running the spellchecker.<\/p>\n
The EN\u00a0ISO\u00a017100 standard has attempted to address this, but it is something of a blunt instrument. My approach is to consider what level of revision is appropriate to the purpose of the text. For example, if the text is “for information only”, it may be reasonable to dispense with it altogether. If an additional quality control stage is appropriate, I can organize revision by a colleague.<\/p>\n
You may also have personnel in your operation who are highly competent in English, besides being familiar with the subject of the text. A bilingual secretary who deals with product enquiries; a marketing manager who has studied English; an engineer who worked in the US for eight years. These are valuable human resources, and they may be suitable revisers.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Translation? We do that ourselves.” tab_id=”1598530555881-12df0f40-0684″][vc_column_text]\n
And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The two questions to be answered are: what are your expectations? And what resources can you call upon? “Good enough” might be an adequate yardstick, or it might not.<\/p>\n
If it isn’t, it’s time to call in a professional. In my case, a professional who isn’t competing with your staff, but supporting them. Whether I translate and one of your staff revises my translation, or vice-versa, is not the biggest question. What counts is the result.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tta_section][\/vc_tta_accordion][gt3_button button_title=”About me” btn_border_radius=”35px” btn_border_width=”2px” use_theme_fonts_button=”no” google_fonts_button=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” use_theme_button=”no” btn_bg_color=”” btn_bg_color_hover=”#368ec5″ btn_text_color=”#272b2e” btn_text_color_hover=”#ffffff” btn_icon_color=”#ffffff” btn_icon_color_hover=”#ffffff” btn_border_color=”#368ec5″ btn_border_color_hover=”#368ec5″ button_alignment=”inline” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marcprior.de%2Fen%2Fabout-me%2F|||” css=”.vc_custom_1597394353936{margin-top: 34px !important;margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-top: 19px !important;padding-right: 29px !important;padding-bottom: 19px !important;padding-left: 29px !important;}”][gt3_spacing height=”100px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” gap=”20″ full_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1619435022337{background: #ffffff url(https:\/\/www.marcprior.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/faq.jpg?id=1933) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}” el_id=”overlay” el_class=”scroll-circle”][vc_column][gt3_custom_text separator=”yes” separator_color=”#368ec5″ text_color=”#ffffff” font_size=”32″] Questions and answers [\/gt3_custom_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” gap=”20″ equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” css=”.vc_custom_1598531095830{background-color: #ffffff !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1599477027511{margin-top: -10px !important;}”][gt3_spacing height=”30px”][vc_tta_accordion active_section=”12222″ collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Do I actually need a translation?” tab_id=”1598530555347-1838e353-9e2d”][vc_column_text] Warning, British irony: no, you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width.php","meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n