| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Virtual conference for freelancers session (2010): Quality in translation - a discussion on quality standards for today's freelance translator
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| | | Quality in translation | Sep 23, 2010 |
It seems to me that quality standards should be discussed along with the quality assesment standards as there are a lot of issues in the assesment stuff. Anyway, it is very imortant and fundamental problem to be clarified for everyone.
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hello,
there are some problems that faces translators, that sometimes s/he has to translate a huge number of words a day, so this may be make him/her not to care about the quality.
I thing that there should be a quality standard for translation, but after translator arrange his time and decide to translate a specific number of papers a day to reach to this quality
| | | | Caridad Rios 
France
Local time: 03:36
English to Spanish
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| Quality in translation | Sep 27, 2010 |
Quality in translation is fundamental but difficult to assess because it's not possible to quantify it. However, quality standards allow translators to translate more conscientiously and never sacrifice quality for time.
I believe this is an important discussion and a must for translators.
| | | | Sergey Rybkin
Russian Federation
Local time: 06:36
English to Russian
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| What quality standards will we discuss? | Sep 27, 2010 |
There are standards concerning quality in translation industry. Some refer to translation as product (SAE and LISA). Some refer to translation as process (EN 15038 and ASTM 2575 etc.). Any client is or should be interested in specific quality, that is in translation whose characteristics fulfill the requirements of the agreed-upon specifications. "Quality standards" sound too abstractive in title of discussion. There is no one level of quality for any translation, and there are or should be many... See more There are standards concerning quality in translation industry. Some refer to translation as product (SAE and LISA). Some refer to translation as process (EN 15038 and ASTM 2575 etc.). Any client is or should be interested in specific quality, that is in translation whose characteristics fulfill the requirements of the agreed-upon specifications. "Quality standards" sound too abstractive in title of discussion. There is no one level of quality for any translation, and there are or should be many standards for various aspects of translation. ▲ Collapse
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HilalSheena (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:36
English to Arabic
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| A Quality Translation should be "Fit for Purpose" | Sep 28, 2010 |
Any Product or Service is a Qualilty item if it is "Fit for Purpose". If you are translating the Cooking Instructions for a Supermarket food item, clearly the translation has to be just good enough to perform the cooking procedure. Minor ambiguities may be tolerated. But if you are translating the Operating Procedures of a Nuclear Reactor, then there is no scope of ambiguity or error. So, the Quality requirements must reflect the text's importance and usage. To achieve higher standards of t... See more Any Product or Service is a Qualilty item if it is "Fit for Purpose". If you are translating the Cooking Instructions for a Supermarket food item, clearly the translation has to be just good enough to perform the cooking procedure. Minor ambiguities may be tolerated. But if you are translating the Operating Procedures of a Nuclear Reactor, then there is no scope of ambiguity or error. So, the Quality requirements must reflect the text's importance and usage. To achieve higher standards of translation, it is recommended to employ 'Reviewers' to edit/improve the initial drafts. This also can expedite the overall translation process as the first translator does not have to waste too much time attempting to get a perfect result (especially if they are not native speakers of the target language!). ▲ Collapse
| | | | evstudio
Local time: 03:36
French to Italian
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| quality depends on targets | Sep 29, 2010 |
Quality is a very hard value to assess: I think that the very best indicator is the customer's satisfaction and the on-going control process during the execution of translation assignments.
[Edited at 2010-09-29 10:24 GMT]
[Edited at 2010-09-29 17:20 GMT]
| | | | | What quality standards will we discuss? | Sep 30, 2010 |
The speaker could have posted his report. In any case he is reading all of the time and I have impression that the video is addressed to some abstract category and not to the human beeing.
[Edited at 2010-09-30 07:42 GMT]
It is also needed to discuss the quality of the original text. Sometimes I come across the situation when the client is in a hurry and gives texts with lots of omissions and in two days he can not understand what he wrote himself. But these clients are very nerveou... See more The speaker could have posted his report. In any case he is reading all of the time and I have impression that the video is addressed to some abstract category and not to the human beeing.
[Edited at 2010-09-30 07:42 GMT]
It is also needed to discuss the quality of the original text. Sometimes I come across the situation when the client is in a hurry and gives texts with lots of omissions and in two days he can not understand what he wrote himself. But these clients are very nerveous and expect good quality...
[Edited at 2010-09-30 07:53 GMT]
[Edited at 2010-09-30 10:20 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Subbanna
India
Local time: 21:36
German to English
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| Quality in translation | Sep 30, 2010 |
Agreed in general, but who assesses and on what basis? From my experience in India, the freelancer working for an outsourcing company does not know who the client is, and once the translation is sent to the outsourcer, it is generally reviewed or assessed by an internal generalist not qualified in the domain.How do we improve on this system?
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| What is quality? | Sep 30, 2010 |
The problem, to me, is to define what is quality and what does expect the client in terms of quality. It is always a matter of point of view. To start with, I would refer to Webster where it is defined as "degree of excellence". Therefore, when we talk about quality we are talking about excellence.
| | | | viplavi
Local time: 07:06
German to English
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| Quality means correct interpretation | Sep 30, 2010 |
Quality of translation implies correct interpretation of the message to be translated. Word to word translation might not be essential provided that the matter is understood correctly after the translation. Quality of translation involves correct usage of the language and correct interpretation of the words in the matter
| | | | | What is quality? | Sep 30, 2010 |
FILTEAU wrote:
The problem, to me, is to define what is quality
This is the marketing term applied mainly to physical products. To describe the level of translation "quality" I prefer to use the term "standards" instead. Translation of high standard is faithful to the original in content and style and reads well in the target language i.e. takes heed of the target language lexicon and syntax, in other words - it doesn't look like a translation.
| | | | | factors that lead to quality | Sep 30, 2010 |
Above all, the person who is translating must be graduated in languages and taken extra language courses in order to master tha language, in addition to years of professional experience dealing with the language. It seems logical, but, unfortunately we see many people doing this job who have knowledge of the specific area, but are not aware of the variuos features of the DISCOURSE. In my every day life, I have seen weak translation works, but, the point is that many times the client wants the l... See more Above all, the person who is translating must be graduated in languages and taken extra language courses in order to master tha language, in addition to years of professional experience dealing with the language. It seems logical, but, unfortunately we see many people doing this job who have knowledge of the specific area, but are not aware of the variuos features of the DISCOURSE. In my every day life, I have seen weak translation works, but, the point is that many times the client wants the lowest price and have no idea of the final product until it compromises their business. ▲ Collapse
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| illusion of originality | Sep 30, 2010 |
Quality is achieved when the reader feels that he is reading the original and not a work in translation. secondly, a quality translation presupposes friendliness with the target language.There should be no feel of contrivance, clumsiness in expression.In other words, translated text should be able to create an illusion of the original.
| | | | | dialectics of quality | Sep 30, 2010 |
Yes, client should be happy about the quality of translation product. And translator should satisfy his/her consciousness as to the quality. Though client's satisfaction may be a bit delayed. Frankly speaking, how can we minimize the quality at sustainable client's satisfaction? But should it be minimized at all? Will this minimization be worth the efforts?
| | | | | Translating is equivalent to authoring. | Sep 30, 2010 |
"Writing should be done in the same manner as the washerwomen of Alagoas practice their craft. They start with a first wash(ing), soaking the dirty clothing by the bank of the lagoon or stream; they wring the piece of clothing, soak it again, and then wring it once more. They then add indigo, soap and wring once, and then twice. Then they rinse, and soak it again, now splashing the water onto the cloth with their hands. They beat the cloth on a slab or clean stone, they wring it again and then o... See more "Writing should be done in the same manner as the washerwomen of Alagoas practice their craft. They start with a first wash(ing), soaking the dirty clothing by the bank of the lagoon or stream; they wring the piece of clothing, soak it again, and then wring it once more. They then add indigo, soap and wring once, and then twice. Then they rinse, and soak it again, now splashing the water onto the cloth with their hands. They beat the cloth on a slab or clean stone, they wring it again and then one more time, they wring it until no water drops from the cloth anymore. Only after they have done all this do they hang the clean piece of clothing to dry, on a string or clothes line. Whoever goes into writing should do the very same thing. The word was not meant to embellish or to spark like fake gold; the word was meant to say." (Graciliano Ramos, during an interview, in 1948) ▲ Collapse
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