| 话题中的页数: [1 2] > | Why translation into English is a hot market 论题张贴者: Anmol
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I've always wondered why translation into English is such an attractive market.
Over the past few decades, the English-speaking Western world has been at the forefront of much of the development taking place in the world, especially in the areas of finance, business, technology and medicine, domains with heavy translation requirements (not to downplay the contributions of Western European nations such as Germany/France and others, of course). The English language has also pioneere... See more I've always wondered why translation into English is such an attractive market.
Over the past few decades, the English-speaking Western world has been at the forefront of much of the development taking place in the world, especially in the areas of finance, business, technology and medicine, domains with heavy translation requirements (not to downplay the contributions of Western European nations such as Germany/France and others, of course). The English language has also pioneered much terminology in these fields. These are clearly major reasons why translation requirements out of English are so high. But why is the volume of translations into English equally high if not higher?
One reason is that English is the undisputed lingua franca of the world today. More people know English than any other language, especially if passive reading skills are also considered.
That being the case, while it may be difficult to find a German to Korean translator for example, it would be far simpler to find a combination of a German->English translator and an English->Korean translator. I know for a fact this would be the case for the German Hindi pair.
My hunch was proved right recently in at least one instance for a German->English translation where the agency pointed out that the English translations had to be further translated into Japanese immediately thereafter.
I for one am not complaining! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Henry Hinds 
美国
Local time: 07:56
English英语译成Spanish西班牙语
+ ...
纪念 | Good Thought | Aug 10, 2009 |
What you say also points up the fact that the person who translates into English under such circumstances must be very, very good, because any defects in that translation can become multiplied in further translations into other languages.
Those who have to work with translations as source texts (back translations or re-translations) become keenly aware of this.
| | | | Eric Hahn (X)
法国
Local time: 15:56
French法语译成German德语
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| That's true ... | Aug 10, 2009 |
Anil Gidwani wrote:
That being the case, while it may be difficult to find a German to Korean translator for example, it would be far simpler to find a combination of a German->English translator and an English->Korean translator. I know for a fact this would be the case for the German Hindi pair.
English has become a sort of standard intermediate language for the translation into other languages. It's cheaper to translate only once from Japanese or Chinese into English and then into the language of the respective export countries.
I even saw a job offer from a software developper in China looking for a translator from English into German !
[Modifié le 2009-08-10 18:28 GMT]
| | | | Anmol
Local time: 19:26
主题发起人
Very true. The translation into English has to be absolutely faithful to the source to prevent errors from propagating into the final target.
It's also important for the agency sourcing the translation to point out to the translator that the translation is intended as an intermediate translation. While it shouldn't make any real difference to a professional translator's workflow, it would be kind of useful to know nonetheless.
I suspect the same thing happens with Germ... See more Very true. The translation into English has to be absolutely faithful to the source to prevent errors from propagating into the final target.
It's also important for the agency sourcing the translation to point out to the translator that the translation is intended as an intermediate translation. While it shouldn't make any real difference to a professional translator's workflow, it would be kind of useful to know nonetheless.
I suspect the same thing happens with German and the languages of Eastern Europe, since I believe German has the status of being a lingua franca in parts of Eastern Europe. ▲ Collapse
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Daniel Šebesta
捷克共和国
Local time: 15:56
正式会员 (自2007)
English英语译成Czech捷克语
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| Less native English translators? | Aug 10, 2009 |
Could it be that you, as someone translating INTO English, feel you have more jobs to choose from than those who translate FROM English because generally not many native speakers of English need to learn a foreign language (i.e., there are not many native English translators), while it is more common for speakers of other languages to understand English at a reasonable level (i.e., there are more translators with English as a source language)?
Just a thought. I can't refer to any st... See more Could it be that you, as someone translating INTO English, feel you have more jobs to choose from than those who translate FROM English because generally not many native speakers of English need to learn a foreign language (i.e., there are not many native English translators), while it is more common for speakers of other languages to understand English at a reasonable level (i.e., there are more translators with English as a source language)?
Just a thought. I can't refer to any statistics of how many translators or how many projects there are in either direction. However, I do recall a recent EU campaign (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA2fWvtMPDU) to get more interpreters native in English.
Anil Gidwani wrote:
I suspect the same thing happens with German and the languages of Eastern Europe, since I believe German has the status of being a lingua franca in parts of Eastern Europe.
I don't think German has a status comparable to that of English. Although I can't talk for all Eastern European countries, I do work with CEE languages quite a lot and from my experience, if there is any such intermediate-translation language in this region, it is generally English as well.
[Edited at 2009-08-10 18:37 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I totally agree with Henry | Aug 11, 2009 |
It is very easy for that sort of thing to turn into a case of Chinese Whispers. I was the second link in a chain, French into Spanish, then Spanish into English of an extremely complicated excel file and a variety of French-Spanish translators of varying abilities seem to have been involved. I found myself having to constantly refer to the original French document.
| | | | Anmol
Local time: 19:26
主题发起人 | Tangential issue | Aug 11, 2009 |
Daniel Šebesta wrote:
Could it be that you, as someone translating INTO English, feel you have more jobs to choose from than those who translate FROM English because generally not many native speakers of English need to learn a foreign language (i.e., there are not many native English translators), while it is more common for speakers of other languages to understand English at a reasonable level (i.e., there are more translators with English as a source language)?
It's true speakers of English are less motivated to learn other languages since they are so widely understood all over the world and there are thus relatively fewer translators into English. However, this doesn't address why the volume of jobs into English is high.
| | | | Anmol
Local time: 19:26
主题发起人
Lesley Clarke wrote:
It is very easy for that sort of thing to turn into a case of Chinese Whispers. I was the second link in a chain, French into Spanish, then Spanish into English of an extremely complicated excel file and a variety of French-Spanish translators of varying abilities seem to have been involved. I found myself having to constantly refer to the original French document.
All the more reason for agencies to focus on quality instead of seeking out the lowest bidder!!!
P.S. So Spanish also seems to play the role of lingua franca in some regions.
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Anil Gidwani wrote:
Very true. The translation into English has to be absolutely faithful to the source to prevent errors from propagating into the final target.
It's also important for the agency sourcing the translation to point out to the translator that the translation is intended as an intermediate translation. While it shouldn't make any real difference to a professional translator's workflow, it would be kind of useful to know nonetheless.
I suspect the same thing happens with German and the languages of Eastern Europe, since I believe German has the status of being a lingua franca in parts of Eastern Europe.
As a native German who usually translates from English to German, I have got one direct client who regularly asks me to translate from German into English as well, because they need the text in English for then being translated into Chinese. They especially ask me to use very simple language. I normally refuse doing translations into English, but in this case the texts are within my best specialty field, so I do it and keep it really simple with respect to word choice and grammar structures.
Annett
| | | | | Absolutely. Hello, Anil! :-) | Aug 11, 2009 |
I noticed that agencies have text (usually entire websites or manuals) translated into English first and then go from there. This has nothing to do with finding cheap translators or anything. It is simply easier to find excellent and proven translators who translate from English into their native languages rather than finding translators in rare language pairs. Nothing wrong with that but Henry makes an excellent point:
Henry Hinds wrote:
What you say also points up the fact that the person who translates into English under such circumstances must be very, very good, because any defects in that translation can become multiplied in further translations into other languages.
Those who have to work with translations as source texts (back translations or re-translations) become keenly aware of this.
Outsourcers often don't realize that - as brilliant as the English translator may me, usually they are less than brilliant because being a native speaker in any language doesn't guarantee for breathtaking writing skills or technical expertise - the original text might have been watered down or has been localized already in a way that makes it difficult to localize it again - taking the second corner by now. It turns into the famous "Whisper Game".
| | | | | If you want brilliant results, avoid native speakers ?? | Aug 11, 2009 |
Nicole Schnell wrote: I noticed that agencies have text (usually entire websites or manuals) translated into English first and then go from there. This has nothing to do with finding cheap translators or anything. It is simply easier to find excellent and proven translators who translate from English into their native languages rather than finding translators in rare language pairs. Nothing wrong with that but Henry makes an excellent point: Henry Hinds wrote:
What you say also points up the fact that the person who translates into English under such circumstances must be very, very good, because any defects in that translation can become multiplied in further translations into other languages.
Those who have to work with translations as source texts (back translations or re-translations) become keenly aware of this. Outsourcers often don't realize that - as brilliant as the English translator may me, usually they are less than brilliant because being a native speaker in any language doesn't guarantee for breathtaking writing skills or technical expertise - the original text might have been watered down or has been localized already in a way that makes it difficult to localize it again - taking the second corner by now. It turns into the famous "Whisper Game".
So if native speakers are 'usually less than brilliant' because there is no guarantee of 'breathtaking writing skills', who do you think is brilliant enough with the necessary 'breathtaking writing skills and technical expertise'. Henry doesn't automatically preclude native speakers, he just says that the person translation into English has to be very, very good. So: if you want excellence, avoid native speakers?
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writeaway wrote: So: if you want excellence, avoid native speakers?
No. Simply avoid at least 95% of the native speakers. The percentage is, of course, higher for the non-natives who think they know the language and usually have just enough mastery to be dangerous.
Anil scripsit:
It's also important for the agency sourcing the translation to point out to the translator that the translation is intended as an intermediate translation. While it shouldn't make any real difference to a professional translator's workflow, it would be kind of useful to know nonetheless.
Actually, Anil, it *should* make a difference. I approach a text very differently if I know it will be used for particular target audiences or as a source text for further translation. If I don't change the actual phrasing to simplify parts (I try to avoid dumbing things down unless it's an English text intended mostly for non-natives in the first place), I certainly will write notes about parts which I think might be difficult for the next translator to handle. In one of the projects you & I share we have a similar phenomenon which you might not be aware of - a French reviewer uses our English translations to check the DE>FR work, because he doesn't understand the German sources. Here it is often necessary to write explanatory notes to make life easier for the reviewer.
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Daniel Šebesta
捷克共和国
Local time: 15:56
正式会员 (自2007)
English英语译成Czech捷克语
+ ...
Anil Gidwani wrote:
However, this doesn't address why the volume of jobs into English is high.
Well, I thought it would address that issue. As I said, I suspect there are average or below-average volumes of translations into English but these jobs are distributed among a smaller number of translators than in the opposite directions. That's why I think you feel there is a higher demand for your services. However, statistics from a large global agency might easily prove me wrong.
| | | | Niraja Nanjundan (X)
Local time: 19:26
German德语译成English英语
| German to English to Hindi - I find it too risky | Aug 11, 2009 |
Anil Gidwani wrote:
It would be far simpler to find a combination of a German->English translator and an English->Korean translator. I know for a fact this would be the case for the German Hindi pair.
I've been asked by a couple of English to Hindi translators whether I would collaborate with them on German to Hindi translations, i.e. I do the translation from German to English and they do it from English to Hindi. I refused in both cases because I find it quite a risky proposition and in a way, I would also be responsible for the final Hindi translation, to be read by a Hindi readership.
On the whole, it's something I don't really approve of. I feel that direct translation from source to target by a translator who knows the source language well will always be of a higher quality.
| | | | Anmol
Local time: 19:26
主题发起人 | Meaningful insights | Aug 11, 2009 |
Kevin Lossner wrote:
Actually, Anil, it *should* make a difference. I approach a text very differently if I know it will be used for particular target audiences or as a source text for further translation. If I don't change the actual phrasing to simplify parts (I try to avoid dumbing things down unless it's an English text intended mostly for non-natives in the first place), I certainly will write notes about parts which I think might be difficult for the next translator to handle.
Tip filed away for future use!
The idea of simplifying the phrasing and writing notes for the next translator wouldn't have struck me in a million years, but makes eminent sense. See, I knew there was a good reason why the agency should indicate the translation is intended to be intermediate...
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