Technological changes over the past decades have revolutionized how we translators work as well as the very nature of translation. More subtly, the tools we use have altered our cognitive processes. The purpose of this article is to highlight the connections between how we work, how we think, and what it means to be a translator. Seeing those connections more clearly can help us mindfully choose how we work, how we think, and what kind of translation work we personally undertake and pursue.

Rewind to 1988. It’s 12:00 a.m. in my home office.  Bleary-eyed, I take the phone and dial. (French ringtone.) We connect. “Good morning. I’m ready to upload my file,” I say in French (It’s already 9:00 a.m. there). “OK, let me turn on my computer,” replies the project manager at the Paristranslation agency. A couple of minutes later, we’ve established a modem connection between our computers. I press the up arrow for upload, while she presses the down arrow for download. The file goes through. (Ouf.) For mysterious reasons, it didn’t always. One morning, still trying unsuccessfully to deliver a file toParis at 6:30 a.m., I snapped at my roommate: “Turn off your blow dryer—I’m trying to upload a file toParis!” Who knows, I ignorantly theorized, perhaps the problem was electrical interference!

No more “drafts”

As we all know, the practical aspects of translating are largely defined by our tools—tools for exchanging information and documents with clients, conducting research, storing useful information, producing and editing translations… With email and Dropbox-type options, we can upload files to anyone anywhere at any time. With the internet, online termbases, and search engines, we no longer have to line our office walls with dictionaries, and rarely have to schlep to a library. With CAT, MT, and the whole panoply of tools that make up today’s “Translation Environment,” many translators hardly ever “draft” a translation any more; they assemble, smooth, and post-edit pre- or semi-translated material, selecting from terminology options automatically proposed on screen. Read more.

See: Translorial