Two translators for the same text
Thread poster: chente57
chente57
chente57  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 16:10
English to Spanish
Feb 5, 2016

Has anybody used two translations/translators for the same source document in memoQ? In some cases, clients want two translations from different translators and a reconciling document as final translation.

 
mariealpilles
mariealpilles  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 22:10
Member (2014)
English to French
+ ...
two transaltors for the same text? Feb 6, 2016

That sounds absolutely stupid, and a waste of money. Does it mean they do not trust the translator? Just imagine the work involved - it is a waste of time for you and the other translator. Are they willing to pay for the translations AND the time involved for the reconciliation? I doubt it very much.

 
Gabriele Demuth
Gabriele Demuth  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:10
English to German
Do you mean Feb 6, 2016

split the document between two translators?

 
FarkasAndras
FarkasAndras  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:10
English to Hungarian
+ ...
? Feb 6, 2016

mariealpilles wrote:

That sounds absolutely stupid, and a waste of money. Does it mean they do not trust the translator? Just imagine the work involved - it is a waste of time for you and the other translator. Are they willing to pay for the translations AND the time involved for the reconciliation? I doubt it very much.


1. It improves the quality. I don't see how that's a waste of time. No translator (or job) is perfect so it's not a matter of not trusting the translator.

2. I'm sure they are willing to pay for each step of the process. They know professionals charge for their services.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 21:10
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
? Feb 6, 2016

When dealing with transcreation and advertising translation it’s not unusual to have to craft multiple versions of the same copy (the more, the merrier!) and I have very occasionally worked in a team setting in order to find solutions through brainstorming sessions…

I must say though that this has nothing to do with MemoQ!


 
Daryo
Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:10
Serbian to English
+ ...
will work as well Feb 6, 2016

as putting two antivirus programs in the same PC.

Each translator will have its own style, and may use slightly different terminology;

what is the "final version" supposed to look like? a random mishmash of styles and terminology?

OTOH two translators with complementary strong points working together, that can make sense.


 
LEXpert
LEXpert  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 16:10
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
+ ...
Have seen this situation... kind of Feb 6, 2016

When I was asked to back-translate two independent translations of the same book excerpt. I assume that the client was trying pick a translator for the entire book and wanted to see which one came closest to the word and spirit of the original.
Nothing to do with CAT tools, though.


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 22:10
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
I have seen this in MemoQ files Feb 6, 2016

chente57 wrote:
Has anybody used two translations/translators for the same source document in memoQ?


I don't have MemoQ so I don't know how to do it, but I have on occasion received a MemoQ bilingual export type of file with more than just one translation column in it. Some such files contain a BT column in addition to a source and FT column, whereas others contain two FT columns for one source. I have no idea how to do that, though.

[Edited at 2016-02-06 13:53 GMT]


 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:10
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
A client once requested me to reconcile 2 pieces of translation from the same source Feb 6, 2016

The client wanted me to pick the good parts from each and incorporated them into a 3rd document. The client even didn't ask which one was of a better quality. It is a very simple medical survey.

 
Stepan Konev
Stepan Konev  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 00:10
English to Russian
At "more than one translation column" Feb 6, 2016

memoQ allows you to select two target languages for one source. Most probably you saw that kind of project.
What regards the subject, I totally agree with the "waste of resources" theory. Not my business of course, but just my opinion. Translators/writers all over the world translate Shakespeare, but I've never seen a compilation of two different Russian translations in one piece of poetry to "improve the quality". (However, maybe it is kind of linguistic innovation for the future.)
... See more
memoQ allows you to select two target languages for one source. Most probably you saw that kind of project.
What regards the subject, I totally agree with the "waste of resources" theory. Not my business of course, but just my opinion. Translators/writers all over the world translate Shakespeare, but I've never seen a compilation of two different Russian translations in one piece of poetry to "improve the quality". (However, maybe it is kind of linguistic innovation for the future.)


Re: The client even didn't ask which one was of a better quality.

Exactly! Who is to decide what is better and what is worse? What is better for you may be worse for your boss/client and vice versa. Who will be the independent judge to decide which translation is better? I don't even mention "quality improvement"...
That's why they call it stupid.

[Edited at 2016-02-06 22:39 GMT]
Collapse


 
FarkasAndras
FarkasAndras  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:10
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Apples and oranges Feb 6, 2016

Stepan Konev wrote:

Translators/writers all over the world translate Shakespeare, but I've never seen a compilation of two different Russian translations in one piece of poetry.

That might be because literary translations are one translator's artistic creation. You can't create art by committee. You can create tech manuals and insurance contracts by committee, though.


 


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Two translators for the same text






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