English native required for a translation into Italian? Thread poster: Angie Garbarino
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Dear All I was checking a job posted recently, wanted submit a bid but... I cannot because they require an English native for a translation FROM English into Italian and FROM English into Spanish Isn't it a bit weird? What you think? Have nice week end Angioletta
[Edited at 2007-05-04 14:24] | | | sarahjeanne (X) Brazil Local time: 11:50 Portuguese to English + ... it happens all the time.... | May 4, 2007 |
at least from Portuguese to English. i've seen innumerous jobs that request a portuguese native speaker to translate to english, and some were jobs posted by other translators, not agencies! i guess i just chalked it up to they thought the source was so complicated that only a native could translate? i would guess that then they just get someone to do the revision later (i hope!). | | | megane_wang Spain Local time: 15:50 Member (2007) English to Spanish + ... ... and into Spanish | May 4, 2007 |
Hello Angio, Maybe there's been an error. It would not be the first time it happens. The problem is that, in this case, ProZ does not allow you to bid. I have e-mailed them to ask: We'll see... Some time ago, though, an agency requested a portuguese native and brazilian resident to translate into both portuguese and european Spanish. They found it so reasonable because it was going to be cheaper... they almost called me i***t.... See more Hello Angio, Maybe there's been an error. It would not be the first time it happens. The problem is that, in this case, ProZ does not allow you to bid. I have e-mailed them to ask: We'll see... Some time ago, though, an agency requested a portuguese native and brazilian resident to translate into both portuguese and european Spanish. They found it so reasonable because it was going to be cheaper... they almost called me i***t. You live, you see, you learn!!! Ruth @ MW ▲ Collapse | | | ulla2608 Spain Local time: 15:50 German to Spanish + ... Too much importance on "native" | May 4, 2007 |
High, Angio, may be it was just en error. But, besides this, I sometimes think that people are attaching too much importance to that story of the "native speaker". I am "german native" and often I have german source texts which make me think that I'm fortunate to be a german native, otherwise I would not be able to understand this text! So, it always depends from which side you're looking..... I think it is much more important to render the real meaning of a text (and therefore it ... See more High, Angio, may be it was just en error. But, besides this, I sometimes think that people are attaching too much importance to that story of the "native speaker". I am "german native" and often I have german source texts which make me think that I'm fortunate to be a german native, otherwise I would not be able to understand this text! So, it always depends from which side you're looking..... I think it is much more important to render the real meaning of a text (and therefore it is indispensable to understand it) than to regive it in grammatically correct form. Kind regards Ulla ▲ Collapse | |
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Could easily be a mistake. I once tried to apply for a job German > Spanish which was open only to bidders who were native speakers of... Russian. The person posting the job had obviously made a mistake (I think it was a multilingual project, with German > Russian being one of the pairs involved) and finally added a note to the job post to clarify the situation. Also, it depends on who has posted the job. Agencies usually specify that they prefer natives of the target language, but ... See more Could easily be a mistake. I once tried to apply for a job German > Spanish which was open only to bidders who were native speakers of... Russian. The person posting the job had obviously made a mistake (I think it was a multilingual project, with German > Russian being one of the pairs involved) and finally added a note to the job post to clarify the situation. Also, it depends on who has posted the job. Agencies usually specify that they prefer natives of the target language, but some direct clients simply ignore the implications of the "native speaker principle" and they may think that translators work mainly from their native language and not to it. Some time ago, I tried to win direct clients in a particular sector, but my campaign was not very successful: most of them wanted me to translate from Spanish (my native tongue) to English, German or Italian, or even in pairs such as English > German, Italian > English or the like. So I had quite a lot of requests from them, but not many real projects, because I had to turn down most of them! ▲ Collapse | | | My half-cent... ;) | May 4, 2007 |
megane_wang wrote: Some time ago, though, an agency requested a portuguese native and brazilian resident to translate into both portuguese and european Spanish. They found it so reasonable because it was going to be cheaper... they almost called me i***t. You live, you see, you learn!!! Ruth @ MW Well, apart from the ongoing debate on whether a translator should only work from a second language into his or her own native language (in my opinion, all that talk about native and non-native is nonsense), Ruth does make a good point. | | | Too much importance indeed... | May 4, 2007 |
But, besides this, I sometimes think that people are attaching too much importance to that story of the "native speaker". I am "german native" and often I have german source texts which make me think that I'm fortunate to be a german native, otherwise I would not be able to understand this text! So, it always depends from which side you're looking..... I think it is much more important to render the real meaning of a text (and therefore it is indispensable to understand it) than to regive it in grammatically correct form. Precisely my point! I wrote my reply above before reading yours, Ulla. You make perfect sense The occasional translations I do from Spanish into English are usually so badly written (and they're almost always legal translations, and you know how lawyers write, right?), that I'm glad my native language is Spanish, so I'm able to understand what the hell I'm translating! | | | Angie Garbarino Local time: 15:50 Member (2003) French to Italian + ... TOPIC STARTER A clarification | May 4, 2007 |
Just for clarifying that I never affirmed that one should translate in his/her mother tongue only, Infact I agree with Maria Teresa and Ruth, and already had my problems in another forum for this matter However I still found "strange" to require an English native for a translation FROM English. I can agree with Ulla about German, b... See more Just for clarifying that I never affirmed that one should translate in his/her mother tongue only, Infact I agree with Maria Teresa and Ruth, and already had my problems in another forum for this matter However I still found "strange" to require an English native for a translation FROM English. I can agree with Ulla about German, but please let me say that English structure/grammar has nothing to do with the German one, so I still find at least strange that they need an English native for a translation FROM English Bye bye to All!
[Edited at 2007-05-04 17:06] ▲ Collapse | |
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I apologize, Angio | May 4, 2007 |
Angio wrote: Just for clarifying that I never affirmed that one should translate in his/her mother tongue only , Infact I agree with Maria Teresa and Ruth, and already had my problems in the Italian another forum for this matter It's OK, I never took it to mean that was your opinion I just commented on a trend that is meaningless to me, but it is, in fact, a trend, a standard, even, and as such, I also find it a bit strange that a job posting goes against that standard... Oh well, live and learn, like Ruth said... | | | Natalie Poland Local time: 15:50 Member (2002) English to Russian + ... MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER Hi Angioletta | May 4, 2007 |
Angio wrote: I was checking a job posted recently, wanted submit a bid but... I cannot because they require an English native for a translation FROM English into Italian and FROM English into Spanish Isn't it a bit weird? What you think? I think that: 1) It is weird, of course. 2) No doubts it was the outsourcer's mistake. 3) As soon as you noticed this you should click the link at the bottom of the page to call a jobs moderator who could promptly correct the situation. Discussing this mistake here does not help, unfortunately: if nobody corrects the mistake, nobody would be able to quote. Such mistakes are rather often because outsourcers use previous job postings as templates for posting new jobs and sometimes forget to change previous settings, hence these weird requirements. Please also note that many jobs are posted directly, without being vetted by jobs mods. Thank you for notifying us in the future. Natalia P.S. I am moving this thread to the Jobs forum. P.P.S. I found this job and contacted the outsourcer askim him to check the laguage pairs and the native language requirements.
[Edited at 2007-05-04 18:42] | | | Weird? According to whom? | May 4, 2007 |
Angio wrote: Dear All I was checking a job posted recently, wanted submit a bid but... I cannot because they require an English native for a translation FROM English into Italian and FROM English into Spanish Isn't it a bit weird? What you think? Have nice week end Angioletta
[Edited at 2007-05-04 14:24] Is it more weird than seeing an NL-En job requiring Dutch native speakers (such jobs have been posted)? Or seeing all the questions posted by Italian and even Spanish natives translating FROM Italian into English? I guess that like beauty, "weird" is in the eye of the beholder.
[Edited at 2007-05-05 00:04] | | | Gabi Ancarol (X) Italy Italian to Spanish + ... Yes, Angioletta... | May 4, 2007 |
Angio wrote: (...)and already had my problems in another forum for this matter (...) You were not the only one! xxx Gabi
[Edited at 2007-05-04 22:24] | |
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PRen (X) Local time: 10:50 French to English + ... And what's even more weird | May 5, 2007 |
writeaway wrote: Angio wrote: Dear All I was checking a job posted recently, wanted submit a bid but... I cannot because they require an English native for a translation FROM English into Italian and FROM English into Spanish Isn't it a bit weird? What you think? Have nice week end Angioletta
[Edited at 2007-05-04 14:24] Is it more weird than seeing an NL-En job requiring Dutch native speakers (such jobs have been posted)? Or seeing all the questions posted by Italian and even Spanish natives translating FROM Italian into English? I guess that like beauty, "weird" is in the eye of the beholder. [Edited at 2007-05-05 00:04] .... are the people claiming fluency in English who consistently make rudimentary mistakes when they post in English in the fora... they think we can't telll?
[Edited at 2007-05-05 04:34] | | | Juliana Brown Israel Local time: 10:50 Member (2007) Spanish to English + ... tests are even wierder | May 8, 2007 |
Just today I bid on a job from Hebrew to Spanish which required a short test from ENGLISH to Spanish! Very strange... | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » English native required for a translation into Italian? Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
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