Dyran Altenburg United States Local time: 22:04 English to Spanish + ...
Knowledge first
Sep 24, 2006
Besides everything that has been said so far, a technical translator should know enough about the subject to:
1. Catch errors in the original
2. Ask intelligent questions when seeking help
--
Dyran
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xxxIreneN United States Local time: 21:04 English to Russian + ...
Great points from all the colleagues. Two are superexcellent.
Sep 24, 2006
Reading between the lines and asking intelligent questions. IMHO.
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Sergei Tumanov Estonia Local time: 05:04 English to Russian + ...
2 points
Sep 24, 2006
1. the first point - readers of the translated text will forgive you any mistakes in grammar (and will forget it on the next day)
2. the second point - readers of the translated text will not forgive you any mistakes in the subject (and will remember it forever)
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L10n Specialist Canada Local time: 22:04 Member (2006) English to French
The real question
Sep 24, 2006
Are we not diverting from what was the original purpose of the question? Many of us are giving qualities of a good translator, which are quite interesting, but (excuse me if I put the wrong words into your mouth) what Jody wanted us to share are what we believe to be the specifics of a technical translator.
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Heinrich Pesch Finland Local time: 05:04 Member (2003) Finnish to German + ...
Who would do it then?
Sep 24, 2006
If you teach translation to students at technical highschools, would these people become freelance translators? I doubt it very much. Would succesful engineers have time to translate manuals? Hardly, and would they accept our current, steadily declining rates?
What we need is co-operation between final user and the translator. Specific terminology should be agreed upon before the job goes to the translator. And of course the translator should have the contact information of a specialist in the target language. But still we have the problem, that very often, with new developements, there is no approved terminology yet.
Regards
Heinrich
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I think technical translators should as prerequisites
- have a basic knowledge of science
- be interested in technology
- choose their fields of specialisation carefully, technology is such a broad field - you just can't cover it completely
- keep up with developments in their fields of specialisation.
(This may seem strange, but is important for the suggestions in the last paragraph of this posting.)
When this is the case teach them
- as was already metioned, a "technical" style of writing as opposed to one fit for literature
- how to create and maintain terminology databases
- where to find special vocabulary
but also
- to ask for a contact person who can explain technical matters during translation
- to use this contact and ask questions
- how to "think like a technical person". This is essential for phrasing the questions and understanding the answers.
With this the qualities stated in the first paragraph are simply "a must".
Hth
Astrid
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Dr. Jody Byrne United Kingdom Local time: 03:04 German to English + ...
TOPIC STARTER
So many responses! :)
Sep 25, 2006
Hi everyone,
I have to say I'm gobsmacked by the excellent response to my question. It does seem, however, that I didn't really express myself as clearly as I would have hoped (Chantal and Niamh got what I was trying to say). What I actually meant to ask was what would you include in a practical translation class. You know the type, German into English, for example, over one or two semesters dealing with a range of subjects and text types. What should the curriculum look like bearing in mind it can only include things that can actually be taught in one 12 or 24 week course?
Having said that, the majority of the posts are really useful and I can see certain trends emerging, for instance that a translator
* needs to be skilled in both languages,
* must be familiar with the characteristics of specific types of technical texts in both languages
* must at least be interested in science and technology although having studied some areas is preferable
* must be able to spot and avoid inconsistencies in technical texts.
There is one point that I don't agree with and I don't mean to cause offence, it's just my opinion. Personally I dont think it's necessary for a good technical translator to have hands-on or field experience. Apart from the fact that this simply cannot be taught as part of a practical translation class (although universities such as Flensburg train students to be engineers AND translators with a dual major), it rules out thousands of translators who are career linguists and who are not coming from an engineering background. Personally I am not an engineer and have no desire to study engineering but I am a competent (some might say good!) technical translator by virtue of the fact that I have a good general interest in science and technology (I also studied physics and biology at secondary school) and I have the research skills to locate information, understand and assimilate it quickly and put it into practice. I have known and taught some exceptional technical translators who have never donned overalls and crawled under a machine to see how it works but thanks to their research skills they can understand complex technical concepts and manage to produce texts that are every bit as good as the ones written by a native tech writer.
My own belief is that armed with a basic interest in science and technology and excellent research skills like I mentioned above, a good translator can deal with a lot of different areas. As both Peter and Niina have said, it's just not practical for a technical translator to stick to just one specialism. We have to grow and expand. I think that as Niamh said, translators have to be copycats and learn to mimic the way target language experts write texts. A translation theorist called Douglas Robinson says that translators are "fakers" in that they pretend to be someone they are not. Like actors they create the illusion of being an expert in whatever field they are writing about.
Based on my own experience of teaching, these are the some of the more important things a technical translator needs:
* Excellent skills in both source and target languages
* An ability to recognise the features of particular texts in the SL and skills as a technical writer in the TL in order to produce a natural text that could have originally been written in the TL. A good tech translator needs to be a good tech writer in the target language.
* A firm interest in science and technology and a desire to constantly learn more. In class I try to instill this by encouraging them to read everything and anything to do with science and technology and by doing "experiments" and practical demonstrations to get them thinking like tech people as it helps them to understand and to explain (a la Astrid's comments)
* Excellent research skills: translators need to know what they do know, and what they don't know and have the skills to find the missing information quickly
* Attention to detail: ensuring consistent terminology etc.
* No ego or deluded notions that they can use their literary talents in tech documents. If anything, it's often more challenging to translate technical documents than it is to tranlsate a novel. Translators need to recognise that the skill in being a technical translator is comparable to if not greater than that of a poet because the constraints are so severe at times.
Overall, I think being a technical translator is a question of attitude and good technical translators just need to polish their technique.
I hope I haven't confused the discussion with all this. All I wanted was a list of things that should be included in a practical translation course...
Thanks for all the comments so far,
Jody
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Hi everyone,
I'm a professional translator who teaches scientific and technical translation at university and I've been having something of a heated debate with some colleagues (non-professional translators) as to what are the most important things we should be teaching students in technical translation classes.
I'd like to find out what the general consensus is among other professional translators. After all, we are the ones who are actually doing the job and know it best.
It would be great if you could tell me, in order of importance, what you think are the most important things/areas/skills a scientific/technical translator needs to know in order to be competent and professional. What is it that makes a good sci/tech translator?
Looking forward to hearing your views.
Cheers,
Jody
Jody:
I feel you are relying too much in degrees ans titles and not much in the PRACTICAL FIELD. I've been translating technical for almost 11 years but not from manuals and booklets. In the field, simultaneously!!! And let me tell you that sometimes the composition in english is so redundant that it is confusing!!! You better know the process or technology they are talking about, that's the way my friend!
Alex G.
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Besides everything that has been said so far, a technical translator should know enough about the subject to:
1. Catch errors in the original
2. Ask intelligent questions when seeking help
--
Dyran
I DO agree with Dyran, besides that i'd really recomend to have some at least a minimum technical background for making the translation practical not complicated.
Yours
Alex G
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