Translating in the real world (página 2)

Summary

So far, we have considered some of the constraints on
translators working in the real world. Some of these limitations
arise from the hegemony of the English language and an
increasingly diverse and competitive global marketplace. English
to Spanish translators face increasing demands for an artificial
variety of Spanish that must be acceptable in twenty different
Latin American and Caribbean countries – and sometimes in
Spain, too. In contrast, Spanish to English translators not only
have to use the correct vocabulary, idioms or spelling for each
English-speaking country or international organization but may be
required to modify text organization, rhetorical style and even
content to ensure that a client"s work is accepted for
publication. As we have seen, even a feminist journal committed
to exploring issues of inequality and power can confuse "poor
English" with "poor thinking" or have misgivings about the
quality of "local" traditions and debates.

One result of globalization is that translation
agencies, faced with an ever-increasing demand for new subject
areas and language pairs, have cut back drastically on permanent
staff, who once received in-house training and other support, in
favor of freelancer providers who can now access terminology and
supply camera-ready (or Internet-ready) text and graphics from
virtually anywhere in the world thanks to advances in information
and communication technologies. These new developments make it
possible to combine translating with other activities, but they
also increase opportunities for exploitation and fraud.
Professional associations have done little to enforce
international agreements on translators" rights in areas such as
copyright and royalties and even less to stamp out unfair
competition in the form of social security and tax fraud. In
Spain, and perhaps elsewhere, older women seem to be the main
victims as usual.

Paradoxically, the rapid growth of translation studies
since the 1990"s has also done little to enhance the status of
the profession. The academic study of translation does not seem
to have come up with reliable ways of measuring translation
quality and the alternative pathways to accreditation in
countries like Spain, the UK and the United States mean that many
professionals have little interest in academic theories anyway.
Commercial clients still rely on crude measures of quality
control such as back translation, which are fine for detecting
basic mistakes in "factual" writing, such as omissions or
terminological inaccuracies – the sort of mistakes that, in
theory, professionals should not be committing– but are a
poor guide to assessing naturalness or reader
response.

On the other hand, translation companies and agencies
complain that professional training courses concentrate too much
on software and not enough on basic writing skills. Part of the
problem can be laid at the door of agencies themselves and their
clients. Even when they really are adding value, agencies tend to
protect their own patch by discouraging or controlling
communication between translator and client and sometimes the
translator may not even know who the end-customer is. This lack
of communication has been intensified by a growing number of
purchasing managers concerned only about costs and with no
knowledge of languages. Price pressure has also led to an overuse
of translation software, resulting in deskilling of translators
and a brain drain from the profession.

The translation of psychometric tests is interesting
because test development requires systematic comparisons between
groups of SL and TL speakers show that a conceptually and
linguistically accurate translation does not guarantee
dynamic equivalence – i.e. the TL speakers do not
necessarily respond to it in the way that SL speakers do to the
original. On the other hand, if translation is to preserve the
diversity and richness of other cultures, removing all traces of
foreignness from the TL text in the name of dynamic
equivalence may not be the best approach.

Conclusion

This chapter has painted a rather bleak portrait of an
unregulated and – for many – a badly-paid and
frustrating profession with more than its fair share of
unscrupulous operators. And yet, for a minority of
exceptional translators, salaries can be quite high both in the
private sector and in international organizations.

One obvious conclusion is that if you are studying for a
translation degree or certificate and intend to make a full-time
career in translation, you need to specialize in at least one
area that is likely to remain in high demand. According to the US
Department of Labor, the high growth industries for the future in
the US are: Advanced Manufacturing, Automotive, Biotechnology,
Construction, Geospatial, Health Care, Hospitality, Information
Technology and Retail (USDL, 2007). But whichever subjects you
are interested in, you need to plan ahead. Market forecasts and
lists of importers and exporters can usually be obtained from
Chambers of Commerce and similar organizations.

Specializing means reading up on your chosen subject in
both languages. Begin with serious magazine articles, consumer
guides and "teach yourself" books to get a clear overview of your
field before moving on to the more technical aspects. I know
several translators from the Parrot School of Translation who
claim to specialize in (say) finance and economics but do not
know the difference between Macro and Microeconomics and would
not recognize a balance sheet if it hit them in the face. They
learn the terminology but are caged in by the SL, unable to
obtain a bird"s eye view of the text. You will never become an
exceptional translator unless you fully understand what you are
translating.

One option worth considering here is distance learning.
The UK"s Open University (OU)[9] provides
certificates, diplomas and undergraduate and graduate degrees in
the following areas:

• Business and management

• Education and teacher
  training

• Environment

• Health and social care/Health
  studies

• Humanities: arts, languages,
  history

• Information technology and
  computing

• Law and criminology

• Mathematics and statistics

• Psychology, philosophy, politics,
  economics

• Science

• Social sciences

• Technology, engineering and
  manufacturing

• Continuing Professional
  Development

(Open University, 2007)

Within each area, there are many different courses and
most OU qualifications are modular in structure – in other
words, you can buy the courses you need one by one. The advantage
of distance learning for translators is that written materials
are self-contained and explicit (no library books to borrow; no
skimpy lecture notes) and so can be used as linguistic data at a
later date. Also, there is usually extensive written feedback on
essays (usually totaling eight assignments per course). At
undergraduate level, two courses (or modules) are the equivalent
of one year of full-time study.

Another obvious conclusion is that you need to learn to
write in your TL. Ideally, this will be your mother tongue but
not always. I myself learned to write in Spanish by working for a
local newspaper in Spain, eventually rising to post of editor.
Distance learning courses are open to non-native speakers with
advanced level English and you will find that writing assignments
provides you with excellent training in writing "serious"
professional prose. This is the rationale behind the American
Translators Association"s new accreditation scheme, which equates
college education with translating experience.

Conversely, if you already have a non-translation
degree, then accreditation is a must. Which country"s
accreditation scheme you choose will obviously depend on the
market you are targeting, but ATA accreditation ceases with
termination of ATA membership –which means that you have to
keep paying even if you take a career break – while the (British)
Institute of Linguists" Diploma in Translation has no membership
requirements attached and never expires. Despite the rather
gloomy picture that emerges from this chapter, not all agencies
are out to fleece you and there are some excellent agencies that
pay promptly and trust you not to steal their clients. But these
agencies do not employ amateurs. Training programs for the
Diploma in Translation (which began in 1989) are available
locally in Spain and Argentina.

Finally, it should be clear that you will have to market
your services effectively. So, once you have done your homework,
you will need to prepare some very good sample translations from
texts in the public domain [10]to send with your
CV. If you can get your own clients, so much the better; but if
you are a beginner, make sure that you also get yourself a good
proofreader. You may earn less for the first couple of years but
you will learn from their corrections and they will help you
build your reputation. Very often, your proofreader will also act
as a mentor, providing you with encouragement and
advice.

References

Arevalillo Doval, J. J. (2005) The en-15038
European Quality Standard for Translation Services: What's Behind
It? The Globalization Insider n.º 4:

American Translators Association (2003).
Translation Getting It Right: A Guide to Buying Translations.
http://www.atanet.org/docs/Getting_it_right.pdf

Austermühl, F. (2003). Training
translators to localize.
http://isg.urv.es/seminars/2003_localization_online/austermuehl.html

Benis, M. (1997). Rates charged by
interpreters and translators working using the
Internet/Compuserve in 1997. (Still on line on January 3, 2012
although Geocities is officially dead)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7110/rates.htm

Brooks, D. (2004). On Paradise Drive: how
we live now (and always have) in the future tense. New York:
Simon & Schuster.

Cabanellas de las Cuevas, G. (2003).
Neutral Spanish: Is it Necessary? Does it Exist? Proteus, the
newsletter of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters
and Translators Volume XII, No. 4. Fall 2003.

Calzada Pérez, M. (2005). "Applying
Translation Theory in Teaching". New Voices in Translation
Studies, London and New York: Continuum.
http://uji.academia.edu/Mar%C3%ADaCalzadaPerez/Papers/1037260/Applying_translation_theory_in_teaching

Chriss, R. (2006) Translation as a
Profession. Editor, Lulu.com.
http://books.google.es/books/about/Translation_as_a_Profession.html?hl=es&id=mBZoKG7yDN8C

Davies, K. (2005). Editorial . European
Journal of Women's Studies, Volume 12 (1): 5
http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/sage/editorial-B7ZarZoLIe

De Saint Robert, M.J. (2008). "CAT tools in
international organisations: Lessons learnt from the experience
of the Languages Service of the United Nations Office at Geneva"
in Topics in Language Resources for Translation and Localisation
ed. Elia Yuste Rodrigo. Benjamins Translation Library: John
Benjamins Publishing Company

Garnier, C. (2006) Céline"s 10
Tricky Situations Translators Might Find themselves in and How to
Get Out of Them
http://www.nakedtranslations.com/en/2006/clines-10-tricky-situations-translators-might-find-themselves-in-and-how-to-get-out-of-them

Gómez Capuz, J. (2001).
"Diseño de análisis de la interferencia
pragmática en la traducción audiovisual del
inglés al español", in Sanderson, J.D. (ed.)
Doble o nada. Actas de las I y II Jornadas de doblaje y
subtitulación. Alicante: Universidad de Alicante,
59-84.

Guerrero, G. (2001). Measurement
equivalence of English and Spanish versions of the Campbell
interest and skill survey. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation.

Hambleton, R. K., & Patsula, L. (1999).
Increasing the validity of adapted tests: Myths to be avoided and
guidelines f or improving test adaptation practices. Journal
of Applied testing Technology, 1(1).

Hooper, J. (1995). The New Spaniards.
London: Penguin Books.

Huntley A.C. (1997). Distributed Journal
Creation: another paradigm falls to the immediacy of the
Internet. Dermatology Online Journal 3(2): 10.
http://dermatology-s10.cdlib.org/DOJvol3num2/commentary/distributed.html

Larson, M. L. (1984). Meaning-based
translation: A guide to cross-language equivalence. Lanham, MD:
University Press of America.

Lauscher, S. (2000). Translation Quality
Assessment: Where Can Theory and Practice Meet? The Translator:
Volume 6, Number 2, 2000: Special Issue. Evaluation and
Translation: 149-168
https://www.stjerome.co.uk/tsa/issue/12/

Macías Sistiaga, C. et al. (2001).
Informe sobre la situación del traductor de libros en
España. ACE-Traductores.
http://www.acett.org/documentos/informe_completo_definitivo.pdf

Melia, M. (2005) Telemundo Coaches
'Neutral' Spanish Accent. February 16, 2005 New York: Associated
Press.

Moneta, C. J., (2000) Cultural Industries
in the Latin American economy: current status and outlook in the
context of globalization, Office of Cultural Affairs OAS/OEA –
December 2000.

Monk, I. (2007) Foreign Crime Fiction: The
Translators Unedited (Interview with Bob Cornwell).
http://www.crimetime.co.uk/mag/

Navas, C. and Palomares, R. (2001) An
Approach of [sic] the Spanish Translation Market on the Internet.
http://www.foreignword.com/Articles/Palomares/default.htm

Nida, E. (1964). Toward a Science of
Translating, Leiden: E.J. Brill.

O"Connor, J., The cultural Production
Sector in Manchester – research and strategy,

Szarkowska, A. (2005). The Power of Film
Translation.Translation Journal, April 2005.
http://accurapid.com/journal/32film.htm

Oxford, R. (1990). "Language learning
strategies: What every teacher should know." New York: Newbury
House/ Harper & Row

Ozolins, U. (2009) Back translation as a
means of giving translators a voice. Interpreting &
Translation Vol 1, No 2.
http://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/viewFile/38/55

Paripovich, J. (2005). Personal
communication.

Petrella, L. 2001. "El español
«neutro» de los doblajes: intenciones y realidades."
Centro Virtual Cervantes, Congreso de Zacatecas
http://cvc.cervantes.es/actcult/congreso/television/comunicaciones/petre.htm

Schellekens, P. (2004) Workforce Research:
Analysis of Responses from Individual Interpreters and
Translators, Agencies and Organisations, Course Providers. CILT,
the National Centre for Languages.

Sofer, M. (1999). The Translator's
Handbook, Schreiber Publishing, Rockville Maryland.

Venuti, L. (1995): The Translator's
Invisibility: A History of Translation, London and New York,
Routledge.

Wilford, C. (2005) Tips for Translators.
http://w3.enternet.hu/tornyei/LinkedDocuments/Tips%20for%20Translators.pdf

Author

Douglas Andrew Town

Senior Lecturer (Profesor
Titular)

Universidad de Belgrano,
Argentina

[1] Examples from the Campbell Interest and
Skill Survey, 1988, 1992, 2000

[2] The report does not actually mention
income tax but it is impossible to pay tax for freelance work
in Spain without being registered as self-employed.

[3] Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S.
Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07
Edition

[4] I suspect the agency had been let down by
someone else because the deadline was tight and they agreed to
payment in advance. Normally, an assignment like this is asking
for trouble.

[5] Umberto Eco, best known for his novel
"The Name of the Rose, apparently found it hilarious and
suggested it should be used for creative purposes. (Giussani,
1998)

[6]
http://www.aati.org.ar/html/derechos_de_autor.htm

[7] The impudence of some so-called agencies
is amazing. Once I sent a read-only but printable
‘test’ to an agency that wrote back complaining
that I had made them re-type it.

[8] For humor based on back translation, see
Federico López Socasau’s books in Spain or Basil
Thompson’s articles in the Buenos Aires Herald

[9] There are, of course, many other
institutions that offer distance courses. The OU is mentioned
here because it is perhaps the biggest.

[10] Never use clients’ unpublished
documents without their permission: it is unethical and no
reputable agency will trust you if you do.