| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: What's your strongest specialization? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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John Walsh 
Italy
Local time: 21:20
Italian to English
Hannah Johnson wrote:
Any time I spend researching for my translations is always well spent not only for that piece of work but also for future work.
Yes, it's all a question of time.
Simply looking up words in the dictionary just doesn't cut it. If it were that easy we wouldn't have KudoZ. You have to do research and research takes time and time is money.
| | | | Miranda Joubioux (X)
Local time: 21:20
French to English
| A bit limited as polls go | Apr 3, 2008 |
I'm sure the majority of translators would agree that specializations are more by subject matter than by General field (i.e. Art/Literary, Technical, etc.)
I can't actually answer, because sometimes my subject specializations can be literary and sometimes technical, they can even touch on the more commercial side of things, with marketing and such like.
Some of them don't really fit into this classification at all!
So in away I agree that the poll is rather... See more I'm sure the majority of translators would agree that specializations are more by subject matter than by General field (i.e. Art/Literary, Technical, etc.)
I can't actually answer, because sometimes my subject specializations can be literary and sometimes technical, they can even touch on the more commercial side of things, with marketing and such like.
Some of them don't really fit into this classification at all!
So in away I agree that the poll is rather pointless.
It is, of course, important to specialize, but that wasn't really the subject of the poll. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Business and finance | Apr 3, 2008 |
Business and finance are two totally different subjects, it's a shame they were given as one single option. A fund prospectus or a balance sheet are financial translations, the discription of a company's activities is a business translation. Totally different things for which different skills are required.
| | | | | IT - purely by "accident" | Apr 3, 2008 |
When I studied Translation and Interpreting, I had dreams of being a hot-shot UN interpreter and travelling all over the world. By the time I qualified, however, I'd gone off that idea and wanted to be an in-house translator. I had no specialisation at this point, but was interested in the environment, nature, alternative medicine and saving the planet! Nothing whatsoever to do with computers - in fact, we only got email at uni in my final year!
After about 8 months (no joke) of tem... See more When I studied Translation and Interpreting, I had dreams of being a hot-shot UN interpreter and travelling all over the world. By the time I qualified, however, I'd gone off that idea and wanted to be an in-house translator. I had no specialisation at this point, but was interested in the environment, nature, alternative medicine and saving the planet! Nothing whatsoever to do with computers - in fact, we only got email at uni in my final year!
After about 8 months (no joke) of temping, I heard from a friend that there was a translation job coming up at SAP. I'd barely heard of SAP, and had only the vaguest idea of what they did. I didn't even own a computer! After 3 months of intensive training, however, I knew exactly what it was all about . I spent 2 years translating and updating and retranslating the same small area of SAP. I also received training in technical writing. = Specialisation 1.
After SAP, I went to work for a web hosting company, in their marketing team. I spent 3 years writing web, sales and marketing copy, untangling complex technical concepts and couching them in layman's and marketing terms for public consumption. = Specialisation 2.
It was there that one of my coworkers introduced me to video games. This became = Specialisation 3.
I now use my SAP training, my technical marketing experience and my love of gaming to translate software, technical and non-technical marketing texts, and computer games. I also draw on my hobbies, interests and temping experience to translate texts relating to literature, alternative medicine, the environment and cosmetics.
I really enjoy working in fields in which I feel confident and which I find easy. SAP documentation isn't always interesting, but I could translate certain sections of it in my sleep, without looking anything up! I've also read enough badly-written, incomprehensible manuals in my lifetime to appreciate that there is a real need for well-written, concise and clear documentation, which cannot be written by someone unfamiliar with the style and conventions. Thankfully, there is enough work in my fields of specialisation to allow me to refuse those jobs I would really struggle with, such as legal and medical texts. I wouldn't entertain either translating texts of this sort myself or of having anything like that translated by a non-specialist. It's just not worth the risk.
[Edited at 2008-04-03 13:09] ▲ Collapse
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Peter Manda (X)
Local time: 15:20
German to English
+ ...
| specialization ... | Apr 3, 2008 |
Lest I get beat up further, I want to agree that it is much easier to translate in areas where I'm experienced. Legal opinions in the commercial law field, bankruptcy, patents, licenses. For all the reasons pointed out - less need to grab for the dictionary, faster turnaround, certainty of my knowledge in the TARGET language, etc. But, I enjoy translating outside the "field" too, because it loosens my mind, helps me think about the way I think, and helps me to grasp further nuances of the langua... See more Lest I get beat up further, I want to agree that it is much easier to translate in areas where I'm experienced. Legal opinions in the commercial law field, bankruptcy, patents, licenses. For all the reasons pointed out - less need to grab for the dictionary, faster turnaround, certainty of my knowledge in the TARGET language, etc. But, I enjoy translating outside the "field" too, because it loosens my mind, helps me think about the way I think, and helps me to grasp further nuances of the language. For me (personally) as a translator, it's just as important to being a good lawyer/business/finance translator if I can carry a nuance in Heine into English or a nuance in astronomy or paper production. All have some bearing on our human experience and ultimately translating is about translating the culture - the human experience - behind the text; even if it is a "cut and dry / done it a 1000 times" text ...
Muchos thanks for the responses - you helped me to think about my thoughts!! ... ▲ Collapse
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