| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] > | Poll: If you were a "generalist", which hard core niche (broad) would you choose? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:33
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Gianni Pastore wrote:
I might be the best internet researcher in the world, that doesn't mean that I would be able to read between the lines of a complex text in a field I know nothing about it, at least in my case.
I don't know what you translate or what your experience is, but I don't think I've ever had the feeling that I needed to read something between the lines. Whether a sentence is clear, whether it's not. And if it's not and you are really hesitating, you should contact the client with the issues you have. At least that's what I do, and I'm under the impression that approach is appreciated.
| | | | | Reading between the lines | Mar 10 |
Lieven Malaise wrote: Gianni Pastore wrote:
I might be the best internet researcher in the world, that doesn't mean that I would be able to read between the lines of a complex text in a field I know nothing about it, at least in my case. I don't know what you translate or what your experience is, but I don't think I've ever had the feeling that I needed to read something between the lines. Whether a sentence is clear, whether it's not. And if it's not and you are really hesitating, you should contact the client with the issues you have. At least that's what I do, and I'm under the impression that approach is appreciated.
I translate specialised technical texts and I very often come across texts where the words in the source texts don't make much sense (or are ambiguous) if you don't understand the subject area in general. This is a key skill of translation to me.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:33
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Rachel Waddington wrote:
I translate specialised technical texts and I very often come across texts where the words in the source texts don't make much sense (or are ambiguous) if you don't understand the subject area in general. This is a key skill of translation to me.
I'm sorry, but if I a translate a text I understand what it's about, because if I don't understand it I do research to learn about the general subject. This really doesn't take hours. It has never happened to me that I'm completely puzzled about what is talked about in certain texts. The most technical stuff is explained ad infinitum on the internet.
As I already said, it's all not that complicated. You don't need to be an engineer to translate texts about engineering, you don't need to be a lawyer to translate legal texts and you don't need to be doctor to translate medical content. You just need to be a good translator. It's like people thinking that it's mostly about your source languages, while it isn't: it's mostly about your target language.
| | | | Lingua 5B 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 14:33
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
At translation exams at the Uni we would get pieces from anywhere and about anything. I never knew what it would be in advance. It may have been a historical text, literary excerpt, agricultural report, technical description, poem, drama excerpt, journal or article, business plan, or anything at all. The grading criteria was the same for all, I couldn’t use the Internet, phone or dictionary.
The first time I heard about “specializations” was when I joined ProZ, and especially... See more At translation exams at the Uni we would get pieces from anywhere and about anything. I never knew what it would be in advance. It may have been a historical text, literary excerpt, agricultural report, technical description, poem, drama excerpt, journal or article, business plan, or anything at all. The grading criteria was the same for all, I couldn’t use the Internet, phone or dictionary.
The first time I heard about “specializations” was when I joined ProZ, and especially pushing specialization as something superior in translation. ▲ Collapse
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Lieven Malaise wrote: Rachel Waddington wrote:
I translate specialised technical texts and I very often come across texts where the words in the source texts don't make much sense (or are ambiguous) if you don't understand the subject area in general. This is a key skill of translation to me. I'm sorry, but if I a translate a text I understand what it's about, because if I don't understand it I do research to learn about the general subject. This really doesn't take hours. It has never happened to me that I'm completely puzzled about what is talked about in certain texts. The most technical stuff is explained ad infinitum on the internet. As I already said, it's all not that complicated. You don't need to be an engineer to translate texts about engineering, you don't need to be a lawyer to translate legal texts and you don't need to be doctor to translate medical content. You just need to be a good translator. It's like people thinking that it's mostly about your source languages, while it isn't: it's mostly about your target language.
I research too, but I'm researching within a field that I already understand the basics of. The research connects the dots of my existing knowledge. If I suddenly started taking medical texts with no prior knowledge or experience I wouldn't even really understand what I needed to be researching.
I agree with you that target language skills are crucial, but understanding of the source text is important too. And source language skills are important for communicating with your clients too, and marketing yourself.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:33
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Rachel Waddington wrote:
If I suddenly started taking medical texts with no prior knowledge or experience I wouldn't even really understand what I needed to be researching.
I don't really understand this. It becomes quite clear what research you need while translating.
Rachel Waddington wrote:
I agree with you that target language skills are crucial, but understanding of the source text is important too.
I obviously didn't mean to say that understanding the source text isn't crucial. It is crucial but the "only" thing you need for that is a thorough understanding of it, which is even possible without being able to speak the language ("passive" knowledge). Your target language, on the other hand, you must master completely and is the ultimate "place" where good translators distinguish themselves from the less good ones. You could say that understanding the source is a basic requirement, while the end result in your target language is the real deal.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:33
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Lingua 5B wrote:
The first time I heard about “specializations” was when I joined ProZ, and especially pushing specialization as something superior in translation.
It's basically a stupid concept, since not a single junior translator can be specialized in anything at all. Yet they are supposed to mention their specializations. I call bullocks in a sense that a specialization can be helpful but is in no way a necessity to be a good translator. Let me repeat it: translation is the specialization.
| | | | Gianni Pastore
Italy
Local time: 14:33
Member (2007)
English to Italian
Lieven Malaise wrote: Gianni Pastore wrote:
I might be the best internet researcher in the world, that doesn't mean that I would be able to read between the lines of a complex text in a field I know nothing about it, at least in my case. I don't know what you translate or what your experience is, but I don't think I've ever had the feeling that I needed to read something between the lines. Whether a sentence is clear, whether it's not. And if it's not and you are really hesitating, you should contact the client with the issues you have. At least that's what I do, and I'm under the impression that approach is appreciated.
…if you don't feel the need to read between the lines you are missing exactly what a specialist translator brings to the table more than a generalist translator.
[Edited at 2024-03-11 08:52 GMT]
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Rachel Waddington wrote:
I research too, but I'm researching within a field that I already understand the basics of. The research connects the dots of my existing knowledge. If I suddenly started taking medical texts with no prior knowledge or experience I wouldn't even really understand what I needed to be researching.
I agree with you that target language skills are crucial, but understanding of the source text is important too. And source language skills are important for communicating with your clients too, and marketing yourself.
Yes, but we can specialise in 3 or 4 subjects, like we can translate in 3 or 4 pairs. This is what I do.
Like I already said I avoid marketing, games and fashion (and not only) like the plague.
[Edited at 2024-03-11 08:56 GMT]
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:33
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Gianni Pastore wrote:
…if you don't feel the need to read between the lines you are missing exactly what a specialist translator brings to the table more than a generalist translator.
[Edited at 2024-03-11 08:52 GMT]
It depends on what you consider to be reading between the lines. If you mean filling the gaps by reading and understanding the context, then every one reads and should read between the lines (but that's like stating the obvious). But if you mean speculating what the author meant without knowing it for sure when the context can't help you, then you are on a dangerous path and in that case I really can't agree with what you are saying.
[Bijgewerkt op 2024-03-11 09:26 GMT]
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Lieven Malaise wrote: Gianni Pastore wrote:
…if you don't feel the need to read between the lines you are missing exactly what a specialist translator brings to the table more than a generalist translator.
[Edited at 2024-03-11 08:52 GMT] It depends on what you consider to be reading between the lines. If you mean filling the gaps by reading and understanding the context, then every one reads and should read between the lines (but that's like stating the obvious). But if you mean speculating what the author meant without knowing it for sure when the context can't help you, then you are on a dangerous path and in that case I really can't agree with what you are saying. [Bijgewerkt op 2024-03-11 09:26 GMT]
There is often context that a beginner to a field can't possibly read up on within the scope of an individual job. This is why we become better over time. As we learn more about our fields our understanding improves.
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Angie Garbarino wrote: Rachel Waddington wrote:
I research too, but I'm researching within a field that I already understand the basics of. The research connects the dots of my existing knowledge. If I suddenly started taking medical texts with no prior knowledge or experience I wouldn't even really understand what I needed to be researching.
I agree with you that target language skills are crucial, but understanding of the source text is important too. And source language skills are important for communicating with your clients too, and marketing yourself. Yes, but we can specialise in 3 or 4 subjects, like we can translate in 3 or 4 pairs. This is what I do. Like I already said I avoid marketing, games and fashion (and not only) like the plague. [Edited at 2024-03-11 08:56 GMT]
I specialise in a few related subjects too, with an overarching theme of engineering.
I've never said that translators must stick to one language pair, just that there are advantages to this approach that I think are worth considering when you are making these choices early on in your career.
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Rachel Waddington wrote:
I've never said that translators must stick to one language pair, just that there are advantages to this approach that I think are worth considering when you are making these choices early on in your career.
In my case I don't even have a favorite pair, my top 2 pairs are ties for me
| | | | Liena Vijupe
Latvia
Local time: 15:33
Member (2014)
French to Latvian
+ ...
| specialists vs. experts | Mar 11 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
In the beginning, sure. After 20+ years? Not so much. Let there be no mistake: after all these years I consider myself specialized in every single translation field I translate regularly. But does that mean I'm an expert in the theory behind those fields? Not even close.
Well, that's kind of different. If you truly have so much experience and everything is so easily available in your target language, sure. The way you are making it sound though is as if those of us who specialise are just too lazy for proper research or don't know how to use internet. Kind or like saying anyone can translate, if they just care to look up the right words...
And yes, I also translated everything at the uni, between languages that didn't even include my target/native language, by the way. We did interpreting and subtitling too (with time-coding and everything). All of it was fine for practice and finding what works best for each, but I don't have time for it now when any extra effort costs me money or just time I could use for something else.
| | | | Liena Vijupe
Latvia
Local time: 15:33
Member (2014)
French to Latvian
+ ...
Lieven Malaise wrote:
Time replying is no issue at all. I've made it a habit to reply instantly to every e-mail I get. It takes me seconds (I'm available / I'm not available). I work with about 15-20 returning clients on a year basis, so I don't get dozens of e-mails a day.
Yes, that shouldn't take long usually. However, in my experience, when I just say I'm busy or not available, they almost always try to extend deadlines or find other ways to make it work, which leads to even more e-mails until I end up accepting the task just because it's too late to get out of it gracefully.
On the other hand, if I just say "sorry, it's not my field of expertise", they accept it immediately, no questions asked, and even appreciate it as a sign of professional attitude. Win-win!
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