| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you think restricting quotes on jobs to translators from a certain country helps ensure quality? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Stephen Gobin
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:46
German to English
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| Reminds me of bilingualism | Nov 20, 2008 |
This issue reminds me of bilingualism in many respects. And I often wonder whether bilingualism (if understood as absolutely perfect native command of two languages) even actually exists. I'm not convinced it does because it's not possible to live in two places at once - and therefore one language will be more dominant than the other.
Even spending a number of months, to say nothing of years, in a country where your native language is not spoken can often lead to interference in t... See more This issue reminds me of bilingualism in many respects. And I often wonder whether bilingualism (if understood as absolutely perfect native command of two languages) even actually exists. I'm not convinced it does because it's not possible to live in two places at once - and therefore one language will be more dominant than the other.
Even spending a number of months, to say nothing of years, in a country where your native language is not spoken can often lead to interference in the native tongue. For translators, it is important to see how the TL is currently used in all spheres of life, to hear how it spoken by all sorts of people every day, and to absorb all this information so we can make appropriate use in our translations. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anthony Baldwin 
United States
Local time: 10:46
Portuguese to English
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If, by "from a specific country", you mean native to that country, and/or a native speaker of the relevant language, in most cases I would say "YES".
However, if you mean "residing in a specific country", I do not think this guarantees quality, no.
It may, however, be a matter of convenience for the client or agency in question, of course.
I mean, if a client sends a document to be specifically published or targeted to a market in Chile, for instance, I want a Chilean tr... See more If, by "from a specific country", you mean native to that country, and/or a native speaker of the relevant language, in most cases I would say "YES".
However, if you mean "residing in a specific country", I do not think this guarantees quality, no.
It may, however, be a matter of convenience for the client or agency in question, of course.
I mean, if a client sends a document to be specifically published or targeted to a market in Chile, for instance, I want a Chilean translator who specifically speaks Chilean Spanish, but, I don't care where they live.
This would be the case for a number of linguistics issues, such as Brazilian Portuguese (as opposed to Mozambique, Cabo Verde, Portugual, etc.), or Canadian French, and on down the list.
This is why I, personally, only translate documents to US English.
As much BBC and Monty Python as I may have watched growing up, however much British literature I have read and studied, I can not claim to be a Native UK English speaker.
Were I restricted to paying by check (as opposed to paypal, which is our preferred method), then perhaps I would reserve the job to a US resident (I simply wouldn't feel it were fair to a foreigner resident to pay with a US check).
To tell the truth, I rarely send work to anyone in the US, though, because it gives me more paperwork (1099's etc.), so I prefer providers in So. America (in general, they can afford to offer me lower rates, too, since the cost of living is lower there). ▲ Collapse
| | | | Steven Capsuto
United States
Local time: 10:46
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
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Often the limitation is based not on where you're from but where you happen to be living at the moment, which is absurd unless the job needs to be performed onsite.
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 20:16
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
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SITE LOCALIZER | Country of origin is not important... | Nov 21, 2008 |
...knowledge of the subject is, though.
Even in the Paris case mentioned, one must not forget that the end user of the translation is not necessarily a native of Paris, but anyone living in that great cosmopolitan city. So aiming the translation at a full-blooded Parisian might miss a lot of the target group. If the translation can be kept comsmopolitan, then it will reach a much wider swathe of the target group. And here is where a non-Parisian translator who understands Paris well... See more ...knowledge of the subject is, though.
Even in the Paris case mentioned, one must not forget that the end user of the translation is not necessarily a native of Paris, but anyone living in that great cosmopolitan city. So aiming the translation at a full-blooded Parisian might miss a lot of the target group. If the translation can be kept comsmopolitan, then it will reach a much wider swathe of the target group. And here is where a non-Parisian translator who understands Paris well, will have the edge, as it will be easier for him/her to place himself/herself in the shoes of a non-Parisian, and aim the translation at this level.
Translation is not a simple task, and no rule can apply unambiguously on this complex human endeavour. So being dogmatic about it rarely helps. ▲ Collapse
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Joan Berglund
United States
Local time: 10:46
Member (2008)
French to English
Well, ideally translators should be bicultural, if there is such a thing. It wouldn't hurt to have a degree in all the subjects translated, and work experience in all these fields in both cultures as well. Of course, the question begs, when would we have time to translate?
| | | | Oleg Osipov
Russian Federation
Local time: 17:46
English to Russian
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To me the question as is implies that translators "from a certain country" do not meet professional requirements or standards of the trade.
The quality of translations has nothing to do, of course, with residential locations.
| | | | | Ambiguous question | Nov 21, 2008 |
I think you have to distinguish between living in a country and being from a country. It all depends on whether and how the translator keeps up-to-date with his/her native language.
However, this goes hand in hand with the respective field of expertise and the training (be it academic or not) as well as many other factors.
Example: I live in Spain, have studied applied linguistics in Germany and have quite a lot of experience in software translation and software testing. I wo... See more I think you have to distinguish between living in a country and being from a country. It all depends on whether and how the translator keeps up-to-date with his/her native language.
However, this goes hand in hand with the respective field of expertise and the training (be it academic or not) as well as many other factors.
Example: I live in Spain, have studied applied linguistics in Germany and have quite a lot of experience in software translation and software testing. I would say that I master my field quite well and that - based on my experience - I am also able to help others with questions that do not imply German as the target language. Also, I have my share of knowledge when it comes to cars, I am interested in gastronomy and I have experience in martial arts to name but a few. With the theoretical and hands-on knowledge acquired I believe I can be of help to others because I will know exactly what I am talking about when the different stances in Karate or cutting techniques in gastronomy are discussed. And if in doubt I can contact one of the sensei or a friend who is an internally renowned cook. Based upon this I like to think that I do have an advantage over others who do not have that knowledge, regardless of whether they are native or not. However, this does not mean that any other German translator is automatically qualified to do the same job as me - linguistically, phrasing might be more idiomatic, but if the knowledge is not there then translation tends to get overly complicated and awkward. In that case another possibly non-German translator with (not strictly theoretical) experience in that field might be able to do a better job - provided that the final translation is proofed by a native professional before it is returned to the customer. I do not think that the proofreading step may or should ever be omitted, irrespective of whether or not translating into a language that is not your native one. Also, I does make quite a difference whether you have access to knowledgeable people in the subject area. Quite a few years ago I translated lots of material for Sebastian (hair products) when the company was not yet an affiliate of Wella. Translation was always very tricky because of short turnarounds and because the text material tended to describe the latest cutting and finishing techniques that were really hard to figure out. Before killing myself over this I contacted a good hairdressing studio with international reputation and they invited me to spend time at their studio. That allowed me to actually see what the texts were talking about and enabled me to do a better and quicker job.
I generelly try to avoid translating into languages other than my native and in fields that I am not very familiar with. For software PII I don't see so much of a problem because I already 'dream in software' and software is a special case which involves many considerations outside/beyond the strictly linguistic field which are familiar to me. However, software documentation is something else again.
For everything else I would probably recommend translation by a native speaker specialized in the area of interest. Another point that is usually not mentioned is research. Research in translation is highly underrated whereas it should be one of the core concerns. Whether the translator does good or sloppy or no real research at all (and for me, exlusive use of Wikipedia falls into the 'no real reasearch at all' category) does not depend on his or her native language. People who do sloppy research are likely to return sloppy translations.
In quite a few cases having a text translated by someone who lives outside his/her home country and instead resides in the area/country to which the text refers can actually be a very wise choice. Yet again we have to distinguis between 'coming from' and 'living in' a country.
As a whole I believe that translating into one's native language is a good and reliable general rule for professional translation because the reader WILL sooner or later notice whether the text was translated by a native or non-native (unless the translator is extraordinarily gifted). However, rules come with exceptions... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Parrot
Spain
Local time: 16:46
Spanish to English
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| To be honest, I don't know | Nov 21, 2008 |
but if this means to address the practice of restricting quotes, I think there are reasons other than quality (tax, financial expenses, phone and personal contact, time zones...)
If the quality question is addressed, there might be an overwhelming response to a positive formulation (like, do you think opening quotes to translators from all over the world helps ensure quality). That is, regarding a quality that can be bought with the budget, as always.
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R. Alex Jenkins
Brazil
Local time: 11:46
Member (2006)
Portuguese to English
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The facts are simple; we are translators and we are not tied to the rules and regulations of standard society - we can live wherever we choose. However, I do think it's really helpful to live in either your SOURCE or TARGET language country, one of the other. It's not absolutely essential, but it's a way of really keeping on top your languages.
Personally, it makes me slightly wary when I see a translator living in France, for example, but not translating either to or from French, b... See more The facts are simple; we are translators and we are not tied to the rules and regulations of standard society - we can live wherever we choose. However, I do think it's really helpful to live in either your SOURCE or TARGET language country, one of the other. It's not absolutely essential, but it's a way of really keeping on top your languages.
Personally, it makes me slightly wary when I see a translator living in France, for example, but not translating either to or from French, but that's just my broad (mis)conception and not a fully fixed opinion or overall bias.
Best Regards to All ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ahmet Murati
Germany
Local time: 16:46
English to Albanian
+ ...
| Translation vs Interpretation | Nov 21, 2008 |
I do support that idea that even some people don't live in specific country or they don't have that language as mother tongue and in some KudoZ I am aware that even some peoples have given their proposal and in some cases they were true.
But when it comes to Interpretation it is good idea to limit the country where for example the conference will take part.
And sometimes the biggest issues is that time difference and their missunderstanding like for example I used to wo... See more I do support that idea that even some people don't live in specific country or they don't have that language as mother tongue and in some KudoZ I am aware that even some peoples have given their proposal and in some cases they were true.
But when it comes to Interpretation it is good idea to limit the country where for example the conference will take part.
And sometimes the biggest issues is that time difference and their missunderstanding like for example I used to work for an USA NGO that had main office in New York and they used to call in my town that is in south east europe and they were calling at time that here was approximatelly 21:00 and over there it was 3:00 pm. And they were asking "where are them, where have they gone and we had to explain everytime that the time diference is the reason. ▲ Collapse
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