Translator’s Notes

It’s been quite some time since I added anything to this “blog” of mine. There are many reasons for that, including a personal tragedy in my life regarding the person I had felt (in a way) this blog was dedicated to. My potential audience has shrunk by a considerable factor of one, and at the moment I am not under any illusions that there is anyone lined up to take this person’s place (in any sense of the word), or that there ever will be.

Nonetheless, life goes on for those of us remaining. Work goes on. The cursing at the computer when images freeze before our eyes, the small smile we allow ourselves at the end of a job when we truly feel we have done our best (and it shows), the shocked, unbelieving glares we hurl almost physically at the screen (eyes popping open, jaw aiming for the floor) in the hopes of some miraculous change of the words in response when faced with a source text of unmitigated horror (be it due simply to the mangled writing quality that seems for some reason to be so prevalent among authors in the employ of paying clients, or simply the truth of the amount of work staring back at us), the sighs of slight disappointment knowing that we are about to sacrifice what little relaxation time we had cued up for a client that simply says “please, we need you”, the satisfaction of completing a double-shift or long working weekend and receiving compliments galore from the client… yes, work goes on.

And weaving in and out among all these things is time. We don’t see it, and often we don’t sense it – it just passes us by. We think in the future (when is this job due, when is the next job due, how long do I have to finish it?), and when we look up, the present is gone. I don’t know for certain, but I am inclined to believe this happens to many in this profession.

Living in the moment is difficult, reserved for those few hours a day – if we’re very, very lucky – that our thoughts aren’t churning on the topics of clients, jobs, phrases, definitions, research, and deadlines. If we’re unlucky, this simply doesn’t happen.

But our work is interesting, challenging, stimulating, and moving. We feel like we are constantly learning, constantly pushing ourselves to be better, and constantly striving to outdo ourselves.

These things leave little time for “blogging”.

And so I’ve made a decision to start a Facebook page for my business. The page is here:

www.facebook.com/Language2Language

For me, what this means is simply a change from thinking about writing an “article” about my thoughts, to simply summing them up in an apt phrase, comment, or opinion. It’s easier and faster, and just as easy for anyone out there to reply with a comment or opinion of their own.

At this point, I don’t see it as a substitute for this blog, which will remain here, beckoning. It’s simply another, different vehicle for being “out there” – in the virtual (if not the real) world – instead of “in here” – at my desk, in my office, locked away from everyone else.

Hopefully I will have the chance and the time (“make the time”, as we are told) to continue to write well-considered blog articles in the future, and hopefully not too far in the future.

But for the time being, if there is anyone out there who might be interested in a slightly more lively exchange, I invite you to stop by my Facebook page, and see what’s happening in the virtual world of translation.

Today was yet another of those joyous days when I translated a text based on “reference material”.

Before accepting the job, I had explained to my client (an agency) that from what I could see of the reference material, it consisted of poor or unusual English that either represented an equally poor command of the language, or was perhaps translated in a hurry for very basic comprehension purposes.

In response, I was told that if terminology was actually incorrect in the reference document, I wouldn’t have to use it. That was good news, so I accepted the job.

Of course, reality works differently. As soon as my client saw my (very correct and properly legal) translation, they contacted me to express their grave concern that this was just “too different” from the reference material and that their client would not be happy with it. The fear was that whoever was reading it further down the line would be confused by the different terms referring back to the original document (in this case, clearly visible in the section headings). Never mind the fact that the section headings are also clearly marked and easily identifiable by their numbers.

I gave my client innumerable examples of just how incorrect (= poor) the original translation was and suggested that they call their client before we do anything radical to find out the extent of their tolerance for change. The call was made, the documents were sent, and we waited.

A short time later I was contacted and told that the end client did indeed want us to use the (incorrect) terminology from the reference material, at the very least in the section headings. Fair enough, the customer is king and I had agreed to do just that if it was requested.

However, as someone who prides themselves on the quality of a translation, this whole transaction left me feeling sick and frustrated. I was, in essence, being forced to perpetuate bad translation.

This is certainly not the first time this has happened to me, but every time it does, I fervently call upon any deities that may be listening for it to be the last. I had even tried to avoid it in this situation by stating my concerns in advance, but obviously this was to no avail.

My arguments for changing “reference terminology” are always clear and logical. In this case, even my client agreed with my reasons. However, the end client is always free to choose an incorrect or inappropriate translation for whatever reason, in this case ostensibly for the purpose of consistency.

So just how proper is it to provide poor translations for the purpose of consistency (with incorrect reference material)? This is a question that taps into professional as well as ethical concerns. Whenever I am faced with a dilemma such as this one – which in truth is no dilemma since the decision is taken out of my hands and forced upon me – I always feel dirty somehow.

I am a translator. It is my job – my responsibility – to produce a correct (accurate) and appropriate translation, and yet I am forced to provide a product that is pretty much the opposite.

So is it my right to have these qualms, or is it my duty to ignore them? I have to admit, this is a question I have not found a satisfactory answer for.

Translators often talk on forums of “educating the customer”, but what effect do we really have? There are still so many customers out there who are willing to accept poor translations because they are cheap, or who simply wish to market in a language they don’t speak, and don’t hire any native-speaker reviewers to check the quality of their brand new marketing material in a language they don’t understand. So many customers think they have a more complete understanding of the target language than they do, so many insist on using literal translations “because we’ve used them before and they’ve always been ok”.

What is it that is going through a customer’s mind when, told that their previous translations are poor, they make a decision to keep these and persist in inappropriate translations regardless?

I simply cannot fathom it. I suppose the bottom line really comes down to how much we want to argue the point. Because if we want to keep getting paid, the customer is king – even the customer that is wrong.

Shower anyone?

Even though this is my first foray into blogging, I’ve actually had quite a lot on my mind about translation from German into English. Especially, in my case, translation from German into US English. My mother will tell you that. My boyfriend will tell you that. Probably any of my friends that I’ve talked to in the last several years will tell you that… provided, of course, that they listened enough to recall how bored they were as I was going on and on.

I still remember sitting with a friend of mine catching up over dinner – she is an expert and project supervisor in a certain field of programming or some such (something very complicated and necessitating ridiculously high security clearance), so I thought at the time she would be an ideal candidate to listen to the latest topic of my ruminations with regard to some interesting German word or phrasing, and appreciate the inherent irony of the situation. Since German is such a logical language (in my opinion), I thought this particular epiphany would be interesting to her, considering programming is also highly dependent on logic. I have to admit, food and drink must dull my powers of perception (my boyfriend will also tell you, if asked, that food absolutely distracts me from most forms of rational thought), because I think I was fully 3 or 4 minutes into my exposition before I realized that her eyes had glazed over, the polite smile on her face was definitely faltering, and her gaze was generally going right past me. Ever the one to crave confirmation, I asked her point blank if anything I was saying was resonating, and received a polite, swift, and firm “No”.

Hmmm. Valuable but painful lesson: Not everyone is as interested as I am in the vagaries, intricacies, and ironies involved in the art and profession of translation.

I probably would have turned to blogging sooner to resolve this situation if it weren’t for the steadfast support of a man fervently trying to show me how interested he is in my life (even if he has to feign this), and the love of a mother so far away from me for so many months during the year that hearing of my frustrations has become a unique bonding opportunity.

But now here I am, about to have a custom-designed website launched after so many years and no blog to go along with it – until now. Hopefully the next time I have profound thoughts on the oddities of German writing, the logic of the serial comma, the frustration evoked by “imitation” English, the paucity of official German legal terminology and tenets adapted for an American audience, the aggravation of attempting to transform marketing puns, the hopelessness of dealing with clients who decide to look in dictionaries, and the many other topics on which I have held forth – either to other people or just inside my head – hopefully then I will turn to this blog, to the pages it holds, blank, eager, and waiting…

If things go according to plan (it could happen), this blog will be my new outlet. Hopefully it will find its audience: those who have an interest in this world of translation I currently inhabit, with its strange, wondrous, and infinitely varying landscape. It might one day be read by colleagues or even clients, and I hope that the thoughts I share encourage others to reflect, comment, and share as well.

Hopefully I will be able to turn to these pages regularly, sparing my family, dear friends, and acquaintances from my seemingly random ramblings. At least if the topics are not always as interesting or succinct as they could or should be, they will be spared, and my thoughts will one day reach an audience that shares my interest and passion… and if that fails, there is still one last audience that may be prepared to appreciate my efforts, trials, and tribulations: my boyfriend and my mother.