“Liar, liar! Pants on fire!” Who can afford to tell the truth about translation quality 论题张贴者: Jeff Whittaker
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After over 30 years in this business and industry, as a staff translator and a free-lancer, BOTH in Europe and in the USA, let me share a few facts:
The post referred to, unsurprisingly, offers no solution about the downward spiral of price it mentions.
Buyers of translations in the USA care no more about quality now than they did when I started in the profession in 1980. In Europe, OTOH, where people know quite a bit more about interacting with people speaking a differ... See more After over 30 years in this business and industry, as a staff translator and a free-lancer, BOTH in Europe and in the USA, let me share a few facts:
The post referred to, unsurprisingly, offers no solution about the downward spiral of price it mentions.
Buyers of translations in the USA care no more about quality now than they did when I started in the profession in 1980. In Europe, OTOH, where people know quite a bit more about interacting with people speaking a different language, the opposite is true.
The analogy with used cars falls short, because buyers of translation (certainly most of those in the US) don't care about the translation "leaving them stranded," since they are not personnallyh involved anyway.
A final thought: someone got a Nobel prize for THAT? ▲ Collapse
| | | | PaulEdgar
新西兰
Local time: 06:46
Russian俄语译成English英语
| Telling the truth about "quality" | Jan 31, 2013 |
Hi Jeff,
You are certainly right when you say 'The analogy with used cars falls short, because buyers of translation (certainly most of those in the US) don't care about the translation "leaving them stranded,"'. Of course, the article acknowledges that the analogy falls short:
"Translations are not cars, and the analogy with the second-hand car market can only be taken so far."
Translation buyers, on average, have... See more Hi Jeff,
You are certainly right when you say 'The analogy with used cars falls short, because buyers of translation (certainly most of those in the US) don't care about the translation "leaving them stranded,"'. Of course, the article acknowledges that the analogy falls short:
"Translations are not cars, and the analogy with the second-hand car market can only be taken so far."
Translation buyers, on average, have little awareness that a poor translation may "leave them stranded" as you put it. "Quality" (at least, in terms, that we translators frequently tend to think about it,) just does not sell.
Having stated the problem, the article foreshadows some different ways of thinking about what is important to buyers, and how smart translators might leverage off alternative ways of looking at the problem.
The problem is a complex one, and so developing good solutions is not easy. The sequel to this article promises to explore some alternative ways of looking at the question. They may not qualify for a Nobel Prize, but the search for new ideas is worth the effort, I think.
I'll be interested in hearing your reaction to the next episode!
Cheers
Paul Sulzberger
Nice to know that you started translating in 1980 - same year as me! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jeff Whittaker 
美国
Local time: 14:46
Spanish西班牙语译成English英语
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主题发起人
Hi Paul,
Just a quick correction. That quote was made by "JL01" and not by me.
PaulEdgar wrote:
Hi Jeff,
You are certainly right when you say 'The analogy with used cars falls short, because buyers of translation (certainly most of those in the US) don't care about the translation "leaving them stranded,"'. Of course, the article acknowledges that the analogy falls short:
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[quote]Jeff Whittaker wrote:
Hi Paul,
Just a quick correction. That quote was made by "JL01" and not by me.
[quote]PaulEdgar wrote:
| | | | Lingua 5B
波斯尼亚黑塞哥维纳
Local time: 20:46
正式会员 (自2009)
English英语译成Croatian克罗地亚语
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JL01 wrote:
A final thought: someone got a Nobel prize for THAT?
Do you know what the monetary award is for a Nobel Prize winner? US$1.2 million. Given that, I would say that this gentleman is "signalling" very well, his business seems to be very successful.
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JL01 wrote:
A final thought: someone got a Nobel prize for THAT?
Since there is no such thing as a Nobel prize in economics, the answer is no.
What does exist is "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel".
When creating this award, Bank of Sweden and the Swedish parliament somehow forgot to exhume dear old Alfred to ask him what he thought about the idea.
| | | | Jean-Pierre Artigau (X)
加拿大
Local time: 14:46
English英语译成French法语
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| A new market for us | Jan 31, 2013 |
What I see is the possibility of a new market: translation evaluator. Get paid to take time to assess translation samples and tell the client what he doesn't know about the quality of his translators (in case he wants to know).
Jean-Pierre
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