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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to French

Competition in this pair is now closed, and the winning entry has been announced.

Discussion and feedback about the competition in this language pair may now be provided by visiting the "Discussion & feedback" page for this pair. Entries may also be individually discussed by clicking the "Discuss" link next to any listed entry.

Source text in English

[...] Translators just didn't get recognition, they didn't expect to make much of a living, just get by. Very few people were actually trained as translators, but most had a solid college education and a solid knowledge of languages, at least their own language. I had a friend who fell exactly into that category and my circle of friends expanded to include other translators. I found them to be much more interesting as people, and discovered that we often had similar life experiences. I never had trouble making friends, but I always felt "different" and I'm sure they felt it too. When my friend retired, she recommended me as her replacement. I now entered the realm of Reinsurance, of which I knew nothing. I was also the only translator there, and didn't have much to fall back on. However, it was another notch up....

On my new job, I started looking through the files, asking questions and got the company to enroll me in Insurance courses. The College of Insurance was across the street, and I consulted fire codes, insurance policies and fire extinguisher catalogs in their library. I was learning what I had never had the luxury of being able to do before: research. The first time I had to translate a proposal for purposes of insurance of a nuclear plant, I got a call from the head man in that department, congratulating me on the job I had done. "Compares favorably with what we are used to," he said. What an upper! What happened was that I consulted a document in the files similar to the one I was tackling for guidance, but when I saw that my predecessor had used the word "nucleus" instead of "core", I realized that the files were useless to me. I went across the street to the library and looked up "nuclear plants." I immediately found all the terminology I needed.

It takes a great deal more than that to be a good translator these days, of course. [...]

The winning entry has been announced in this pair.

There were 17 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase, 7 of which were selected by peers to advance to the finals round. The winning entry was determined based on finals round voting by peers.

Competition in this pair is now closed.


Entries (17 total; 7 finalists) Expand all entries

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Language variants:
Entry #36233 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-France
Emilie Declaron
Emilie Declaron
Wielka Brytania
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
5610 x47 x22 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.823.71 (14 ratings)3.92 (13 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 5 users entered 14 "like" tags
  • 4 users agreed with "likes" (9 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (2 total disagrees)
-1
+2
1
Les traducteurs restaient dans l'ombre
Flows well
Carine BOUTINARD
+1
Très peu d’entre eux
Flows well
Čedomir Žitarević
cursus universitaire solide et possédaient une connaissance approfondie des langues, ou du moins de la leur
Flows well
Excellent ​!
Fanny BARBAGLI
mon cercle s'agrandit pour accueillir d'autres traducteurs
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
-1
+1
1
prit sa retraite, elle me recommanda
Flows well
Belle idée​ d'utilise​r le passé​ simple...
Martina Maigret
recommanda
Flows well
it's ok to​ use it
Rosalie Blythe
+1
j’ignorais tout.
Good term selection
Rosalie Blythe
je n'avais pas
Good term selection
Rosalie Blythe
une autre étape
Flows well
Martina Maigret
+1
ainsi j’obtins de l’entreprise qu’elle m’inscrive à
Flows well
Rosalie Blythe
+1
. J'apprenais à faire de la recherche, un luxe que je n’avais jamais pu m’accorder auparavant.
Flows well
Rosalie Blythe
j'eus
Flows well
Rosalie Blythe
je reçus
Flows well
Rosalie Blythe
+2
Bien entendu de nos jours, il en faut bien davantage pour prétendre être un bon traducteur.
Good term selection
Rosalie Blythe
Entry #36046 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
479 x43 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.833.92 (12 ratings)3.73 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 5 users agreed with "likes" (11 total agrees)
+1
mon cercle de connaissances
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
+4
1
il n’y avait pas d’autres traducteurs dans l’entreprise, et je ne pouvais guère compter que sur moi-même
Flows well
Véronique RIVERA
+3
1
je gravissais un échelon de plus
Flows well
Véronique RIVERA
dont la bibliothèque me permettait
Flows well
Bon emplac​ement de l​a bibiloth​èque...
Čedomir Žitarević
des normes incendie, des polices d’assurance, des catalogues d’extincteurs
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
+3
1
J’ai appris ainsi à faire de la recherche, ce que je n’avais jamais pu faire auparavant
Flows well
Véronique RIVERA
Entry #35485 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
417 x45 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.453.62 (13 ratings)3.27 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 5 "like" tags
  • 3 users agreed with "likes" (3 total agrees)
+1
juste à joindre les deux bouts
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
+2
J’étais également le seul traducteur sur place et je disposais de peu de moyens sur lesquels m’appuyer.
Flows well
Anne DEPOUILLY
j’ai obtenu de l’entreprise qu’elle m’inscrive
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
de sorte que je consultais
Flows well
conveying ​all the ST​ info AND ​flaws well​ in French
Anne DEPOUILLY
J’apprenais à faire ce que je n’avais jamais pu me permettre auparavant : des recherches
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
Entry #35696 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-France
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
346 x44 x22 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.573.73 (11 ratings)3.40 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
  • 2 users disagreed with "likes" (2 total disagrees)
-2
+1
3
J'apprenais ce que je n'avais jamais eu le luxe de pouvoir faire auparavant : de la recherche
Flows well
Martina Maigret
noyau
Good term selection
Véronique RIVERA
cœur
Good term selection
Véronique RIVERA
Entry #34939 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-France
Camille Krieg
Camille Krieg
Wielka Brytania
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
243 x44 x24 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.673.64 (11 ratings)3.70 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
+1
Ils ne s'attendaient pas à bien gagner leur vie, plutôt à s'en sortir à peine.
Flows well
Rosalie Blythe
Entry #35060 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
212 x44 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.663.50 (12 ratings)3.82 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 4 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
mais espéraient juste s'en sortir. En réalité, très peu de personnes étaient formées en tant que
Other
it might d​o but seem​s a bit ob​scure
Rosalie Blythe
j'ai demandé à la compagnie de m'inscrire à des cours d'assurance
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
L'université qui formait les professionnels de l'assurance étant juste en face
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
+1
Bien sûr, de nos jours, il faut plus que cela pour être un bon traducteur. [...]
Flows well
neat
Rosalie Blythe
Entry #35515 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
213 x42 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.523.67 (12 ratings)3.36 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 9 "like" tags
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (5 total agrees)
  • 2 users disagreed with "likes" (2 total disagrees)
+1
Les traducteurs ne recevaient tout simplement pas de reconnaissance, ils ne s'attendaient pas à gagner beaucoup d'argent, juste à s'en sortir.
Flows well
Rosalie Blythe
mais la plupart avaient une solide formation universitaire
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
Je les trouvais beaucoup plus intéressants en tant que personnes et j'ai découvert que nous avions souvent des expériences de vie similaires
Flows well
Rosalie Blythe
mon entrée dans le monde de la réassurance
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
-1
+1
1
étape
Flows well
"étape" so​unds much ​better her​e than "cr​an". "nouv​elle étape​" instead ​of "en ava​nt?"
Anne DEPOUILLY
j'ai réussi à faire en sorte que l'entreprise m'inscrive à des cours d'assurance
Flows well
Fanny BARBAGLI
-1
1
J'apprenais ce que je n'avais jamais eu le luxe de pouvoir faire auparavant : de la recherche
Good term selection
it flows w​ell too
Rosalie Blythe
+2
Quelle satisfaction !
Flows well
Anne DEPOUILLY
+1
Bien sûr, de nos jours, il faut beaucoup plus que cela pour être un bon traducteur. [...]
Flows well
Rosalie Blythe


Non-finalist entries

The following entries were not selected by peers to advance to finals-round voting.

Entry #34775 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.293.50 (14 ratings)3.08 (13 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 3 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (3 total agrees)
+1
des études supérieures sérieuses et possédaient une solide connaissance linguistique
Good term selection
Véronique RIVERA
+1
j’étais tout de même montée d’un cran
Good term selection
Véronique RIVERA
Entry #34844 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Belgian
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.203.09 (11 ratings)3.30 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #35503 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.162.91 (11 ratings)3.40 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #35045 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-France
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.133.08 (13 ratings)3.17 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
je crois bien qu’ils ressentaient la même chose
Flows well
Martina Maigret
Entry #35350 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-France
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.103.40 (15 ratings)2.79 (14 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
+2
En réalité,
Flows well
a good try​ to avoid ​the "ce qu​i s'est pa​ssé, c'est​ que" too ​heavy
Anne DEPOUILLY
Entry #35452 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.993.15 (13 ratings)2.83 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #34664 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-France
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.903.15 (13 ratings)2.64 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #35200 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.842.85 (13 ratings)2.83 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #35702 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.832.75 (12 ratings)2.91 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #35446 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.542.44 (9 ratings)2.63 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags