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| User | Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff Poll: Is knowledge of English essential for a translator? |
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Yaotl Altan 
Mexico
Local time: 11:30
  Member
English to Spanish
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It's important, not essential. There are some other languages which do not require any kind of link to this language.
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Maria Drangel
Sweden
Local time: 18:30
Member (2007)
English to Swedish
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I think it would be very difficult to work efficiently and get new clients without speaking English. The clients would have to be limited to those which speaks the same target och sourcelanguage as the translator, there are fewer people to ask for help, it would be more difficult to get support for the software on a timely basis, I guess it is possible but very, very complicated.
I am taking advantage of different timezones when I am communicating with clients (or support personnel for that matter as well). I can get help around the clock from Australia/New Zealand, UK and than US West coast incl Canada and finally Hawaii until Australia starts getting up in the morning their next day!
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Richard Levy
United States
Local time: 13:30
Member (2006)
French to English
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| | The importance of English | Nov 5, 2009 |
I voted no despite being native English speaking. It all depends on the context from which we are talking. If within an English-speaking environment or where English is the lingua franca, then yes.
However, there are obviously so many areas of the world where English is not needed or is not at all part of the of the cultural, business, social, etc. framework.
In sum, although I love languages, I detest ethnocentricity-mindedness.
Let the thousands of different languages live!@
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Anthony Baldwin
United States
Local time: 13:30
Member (2006)
Portuguese to English
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Andrea Flaßbeck wrote:
Well, for EN to X (and vice versa, of course) translators, I guess it is , but other than that ... |
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Also from X,Y,Z to English (which is what I do).
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DZiW
Ukraine
Local time: 19:30
English to Russian
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| | No, but IMO it won't harm | Nov 5, 2009 |
Knowledge of any 'original' language (e.g. Latin) could really help one to understand many foreign and unknown words much easier.
But what is the use of the question, I wonder?
Should it be like
| Is knowledge of Esperanto (or c#, Delphi) essential for a translator? |
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I would find it more useful))
[Редактировалось 2009-11-05 18:06 GMT]
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Sheila Wilson
France
Local time: 18:30
Member (2007)
French to English
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| | For younger translators, yes | Nov 5, 2009 |
I agree absolutely:
Richard Levy wrote:
Let the thousands of different languages live! |
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But I would add:
| Let the billions thoughout the world communicate freely! |
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That doesn't preclude two native speakers of a minority language speaking that language together. At the same time, if a German and a Nicaraguan want to communicate, they'll probably stand the best chance in English.
I'm a native English speaker too, but as an English trainer I know how much French people regret not having learned English and how they feel it handicaps them in their professional, if not personal, life. If so many who are not language professionals feel handicapped by a lack of English, I feel sure that it must be advantageous for all language professionals to have some English.
I think the answer for a language professional has to be the same as that to: "Is computer literacy essential?". Maybe answering "yes" isn't absolutely essential at the moment, but older translators without English may be disadvantaged and younger ones maybe owe it to themselves to learn.
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Paul Malone
France
Local time: 18:30
Member (2004)
French to English
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I can't see why a knowledge of English would be essential for all translators, regardless of which language pairs, countries and circumstances they are working in.
Useful, yes, very, but essential, no, I wouldn't say so.
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Takako Shibuya
Japan
Local time: 02:30
Member
Russian to Japanese
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From my in-house work experiences, I could say that it is essential. International correspondences are usually done in English in order everybody to understand what they are talking about. If a translator / interpreter does not know English well, he/she can not catch up with others.
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Natalya Vinkler
Italy
Local time: 18:30
Member (2008)
Italian to Russian
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It helps me a lot when I perform translations from Italian into Russian, for example. If I'm in trouble I'm sure to find a vocab if I look it up in an Italian-English dictionary first, so it acts as an intermediary for a "cross translation". Leave alone its universal usefulness...
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bookwormkt
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:30
French to English
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| | Surely it depends which languages you are translating in and out of? | Nov 6, 2009 |
I realise a lot of work advertised here involves translating in and out of English, but there will be plenty of work in other language pairs.
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