The How-To Library

Misconceptions about Translation

This article sums up the experiences I have had since I work as a translator. It is targeted to clients that want to hire a translator and to ease communication between both client and translator.

“Translating is Easy.”

Well, yes and no. This depends on many issues like the languages involved, subject matter, deadline, etc. Basically, translating is as difficult as any specialized work because it greatly depends on the knowledge of the translator if he is able to translate the text.

If a translator translates only one sort of text every day that always contains the same jargon, then translating this text for him is easy.  If he gets different texts with different jargons to translate, then translating for him will be difficult until he fully understands the different jargons in the texts.

“Translators Translate Words.”

Wrong. This even goes for so called wordlists. A translator never ever translates only words nor does he simply exchange them. In fact, what a translator does is, he tries to understand the meaning of the source text and to express it with the means of the target language.

A word by word translation is linguistically impossible due to the different syntactic features languages use. If language A uses a word to express a certain meaning, then language B might use a syntagma to express it.

Another important thing is that words, rendered in different contexts, can have a different meaning. This even is true for jargon. That is why a translator needs to understand the context of the word he is translating in order to find the best fitting equivalent in the target language.

“Translating Specialized Languages is Easier than Translating General Texts.”

Wrong.  This assumption comes from the idea that specialized languages were designed to be clear and unambiguous. However, this is not true. Even specialized languages contain ambiguous words and it also happens that a word of a specialized language can have a totally different meaning if its rendered in a different context.

“Translators are ‘Running Dictionaries’.”

Ich bin kein laufendes Wörterbuch. I am not a running dictionary. This is what this German phrase means. I got this feeling when I speak with people about my job and then it usually happens that people ask me: “What does this and that mean in German?”

If I answer: “I am sorry, but I don’t know“, then I got the answer: “But you have studied languages?“

Hell. For sure, I have studied languages but I don’t know the meaning of any particular word or phrase of language B in German. A translator is not a running dictionary and we have not studied languages or Translation Studies in order to replace dictionaries.

“Translators Work with Dictionaries Only.”

Wrong. Translators use many tools for their daily work including dictionaries, glossaries, CAT Tools, etc.

“Translators Work on a Next to Nothing Basis.”

This assumption I got when working for some agencies in the Middle East or even in Europe. Today, I don’t work for any agencies that offer rates that are next to nothing because with these rates you cannot earn a living. Since translation is a specialized work, you cannot expect translators to work on a 0.01 cent basis, which is almost next to nothing.

A translator, too, has costs he needs to pay including rent for his or her flat, office rent, Internet connection flat rate, CAT tools, dictionaries, etc. You cannot pay these costs with a 0 cent income. Translator is a specialists, like a programmer is an IT specialist, and I never heard that a client has paid 0 $ or EUR for an IT specialist and was satisfied with the work.

“Translators are Available 7 days a Week 24 hrs a Day.”

This assumption I got when working for some agencies that used to call me at 9 PM on Friday and Saturday and offered me jobs from Saturday till next Sunday. Think about it. Would you work over week and start a translation Saturday evening which is due for next Sunday evening for the same price when working from Monday to Friday?

I assume your answer would be no unless you are a manager of a big bank and earn millions of USD per year. Having too much trouble with jobs over weekend I, as a rule, basically do not accept jobs that are offered me on Friday or Saturday and which are due for next Sunday or Monday.

“With CAT Tools Translation is Easy.”

Yes and no. It is true that CAT Tools can make your life easier but not in all cases. For example, if you use Wordfast and start translating a new document for which you do not have a TM, then Wordfast wont translate anything because there is nothing in the TM it could offer you and you still need to translate the text manually.

Only after you have cleaned your translation and updated the TM, Wordfast is able to help you with your translation. For sure, if you have more than one document to translate and you have updated your TM, then working with CAT tools is great because it now can help you translating the document.

So in the end, CAT Tools can help you if you work on a number of documents that repeatedly contain the same words or phrases but they won’t help you much if you only have one document which does not contain much repetition.

Recommend this article: Tweet