被客户忽悠
Thread poster: wonita (X)
wonita (X)
wonita (X)
China
Local time: 02:26
Aug 10, 2011

昨天给一个客户校稿,发现这份稿子有些地方翻得颠三倒四,驴头不对马嘴。

看到最后才恍然大悟,原来翻译的源文是英文,我校对的时候却以德文为标准。难怪他们发稿的时候再三强调,一定要仔细校审,不得有任何忽略。

估计他们故意不说清楚,害怕我加价。

低劣。


 
James_xia
James_xia  Identity Verified
China
English to Chinese
+ ...
考验你的耐心 Aug 10, 2011

前不久,接到一个国内公司发来的校对文件。从一开始就感觉不对劲。如果只看中文,还马虎。一对原文就无语了。。。基本为机器翻译后,不对照原文人工直接修正生产的译文。

最后,我征求他们意见:如果要继续校对,实际上就是重新翻译,需要按翻译支付费用。结果他们同意了。呵~

[Edited at 2011-08-19 04:29 GMT]


 
Zhoudan
Zhoudan  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:26
English to Chinese
+ ...
欧洲的稿子 Aug 10, 2011

很多都是先把source text翻译成英文,再用英文作为source text,翻译成其他文字。很多时候英文写得词不达意。估计也是没办法的办法。比如,要找好的丹麦文-中文翻译不容易,而找英-中翻译有的是。

 
wonita (X)
wonita (X)
China
Local time: 02:26
TOPIC STARTER
又被忽悠 Aug 22, 2011

今天是这样,我的源文是德文,给译社做的。译社把稿子交给客户,客户拿给他们中国那边的办事处过目,那边的校审用英文来审我的稿子,把我批得体无完肤。后来译社指示,一定要把校审批到,这样客户才没理由不付款。一下午都在弄这事,很不爽,但也不能不弄……

 
wonita (X)
wonita (X)
China
Local time: 02:26
TOPIC STARTER
实在是被人教唆的 Aug 22, 2011

Bin Tiede wrote:

今天是这样,我的源文是德文,给译社做的。译社把稿子交给客户,客户拿给他们中国那边的办事处过目,那边的校审用英文来审我的稿子,把我批得体无完肤。后来译社指示,一定要把校审批到,这样客户才没理由不付款。一下午都在弄这事,很不爽,但也不能不弄……

译社刚开始问我怎么看校审后的稿子,我说可以,风格不一样,另外有的地方按英文改了一下。译社说你这样说就等于承认人家改得有理,一定要给他找点毛病出来,让客户觉得他改得没理……


 
Kerilyn Sappington
Kerilyn Sappington  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 00:26
Chinese to English
+ ...
Still need to finish the job Aug 22, 2011

(sorry for posting in English)

My opinion:
1. In this situation, yes you need to finish the job you have started BUT going forward you don't have to work for the client under the same terms. Tell the client you won't do the same post-MT review or don't work for the client again. Save yourself the same frustration in the future.
2. Some clients do not respect our time. If a translation agency expects their salaried Project Managers to work hours and hours on a job that's
... See more
(sorry for posting in English)

My opinion:
1. In this situation, yes you need to finish the job you have started BUT going forward you don't have to work for the client under the same terms. Tell the client you won't do the same post-MT review or don't work for the client again. Save yourself the same frustration in the future.
2. Some clients do not respect our time. If a translation agency expects their salaried Project Managers to work hours and hours on a job that's one thing, but if an agency expects me to revisit my translation many times because "the client has a revision," "the client has more questions," "the overzealous proofreader has 200+ comments" then I believe that the translation agency does not respect my time. And time is money.
3. I save my best efforts and my favors for clients who do respect my time. I once read a recommendation for entrepreneurs: Fire 10-25% of your clients on a regular basis to open the door for new clients.

Kerilyn Sappington
Chinese-to-English Medical Translator
Collapse


 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:26
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
不錯了 Aug 22, 2011

Bin Tiede wrote:

今天是这样,我的源文是德文,给译社做的。译社把稿子交给客户,客户拿给他们中国那边的办事处过目,那边的校审用英文来审我的稿子,把我批得体无完肤。后来译社指示,一定要把校审批到,这样客户才没理由不付款。一下午都在弄这事,很不爽,但也不能不弄……


客戶跟你一撥的﹐知足吧。

有時也翻譯從小語種翻譯成英文﹐再讓我把英文翻譯成中文的。經常遇到英文版的錯句比正確句子多的情況﹐但我還是使勁猜原文的意思﹐力爭把中文弄好﹐實在過不去的﹐我就用COMMENT告訴客戶﹐說這句話實在不知道什麼意思﹐我只能用我的BEST GUESS﹐我的中文的回譯為“XXXXXX”。


客戶基本對我不予理睬﹐就那樣過去了。

做這種文件﹐you have to make best sense out of non-sense.


 
James_xia
James_xia  Identity Verified
China
English to Chinese
+ ...
Good idea about 'Respect my time' Aug 23, 2011

It is quite enlightening to focus on the idea about 'respect my time'! Going an extra mile can be understandable, but more than that should be taken in account concerning the time consumption. I have experienced quite a few of times either in translating or proofreading jobs. Sometimes that made you speechless, especially when a translation job was done by a wrong person.

Kerilyn Sappington wrote:

(sorry for posting in English)

My opinion:
1. In this situation, yes you need to finish the job you have started BUT going forward you don't have to work for the client under the same terms. Tell the client you won't do the same post-MT review or don't work for the client again. Save yourself the same frustration in the future.
2. Some clients do not respect our time. If a translation agency expects their salaried Project Managers to work hours and hours on a job that's one thing, but if an agency expects me to revisit my translation many times because "the client has a revision," "the client has more questions," "the overzealous proofreader has 200+ comments" then I believe that the translation agency does not respect my time. And time is money.
3. I save my best efforts and my favors for clients who do respect my time. I once read a recommendation for entrepreneurs: Fire 10-25% of your clients on a regular basis to open the door for new clients.

Kerilyn Sappington
Chinese-to-English Medical Translator


 
James_xia
James_xia  Identity Verified
China
English to Chinese
+ ...
值得欣赏的敬业精神! Aug 23, 2011

jyuan_us wrote:
........
做這種文件﹐you have to make best sense out of non-sense.


曾遇到从西班牙语转过来的英文也是这样处理的。翻译时,用一句话来说就是“似像非像加以想像”。在下非常欣赏jyuan_us兄的敬业精神!呵~


 
betterlife
betterlife
China
Local time: 14:26
English to Chinese
莫非是机器翻译? Aug 23, 2011

Zhoudan wrote:

很多都是先把source text翻译成英文,再用英文作为source text,翻译成其他文字。很多时候英文写得词不达意。估计也是没办法的办法。比如,要找好的丹麦文-中文翻译不容易,而找英-中翻译有的是。


真奇怪。难道翻译成英文的译者不是native English speaker?为什么有时候译文会那么疙瘩?莫非是机器翻译?


 
Zhoudan
Zhoudan  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:26
English to Chinese
+ ...
不是机器翻译 Aug 23, 2011

欧洲各国的语言,句法、词语比较相近,可能受到影响。比如,形容词会放到名词后面(我说的不是英文里那少数几种例外)。

betterlife wrote:

Zhoudan wrote:

很多都是先把source text翻译成英文,再用英文作为source text,翻译成其他文字。很多时候英文写得词不达意。估计也是没办法的办法。比如,要找好的丹麦文-中文翻译不容易,而找英-中翻译有的是。


真奇怪。难道翻译成英文的译者不是native English speaker?为什么有时候译文会那么疙瘩?莫非是机器翻译?


[Edited at 2011-08-23 14:06 GMT]


 


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被客户忽悠






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