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What is the biggest challenge you’re facing in regards to getting to be known as a translator?
Thread poster: Adriana Adarve (X)
Maria S. Loose, LL.M.
Maria S. Loose, LL.M.  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 12:06
German to English
+ ...
quality instead of price. Apr 21, 2017

Chris S wrote:
Yes, but anyone can promise quality, so it still boils down to price.


I admit that 70 percent of the points are awarded for promises of quality, measured by criteria which by and large correspond to the ISO standard. But if the quality of the first translation delivered is not good enough, the tenderer loses its position on the ranking list and will receive no more work.


 
Adriana Adarve (X)
Adriana Adarve (X)  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:06
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Non-native vs. non-mother tongue... Apr 21, 2017

Mario Chavez wrote:

Please clarify what you mean by non-native languages and by non-natives [translators?}. In the first case, the statement makes no sense, since all languages are native to at least a small number of speakers. The second statement also fails for lack of clarity, not to mention elegance.

I also find the statement the true and deep nuances... pregnant with a bit of hyperbole. Please give an example from the medical or legal field to illustrate and clarify.



Mario, my typing mistake
It was meant to be "... translate into their non-native-languages." It is a term that has been surfacing in the translation field as of late here in the US. Americans are always trying to change words and terms to be "more politically correct [which of course, has nothing to do here] or broader in concepts with the hope to reach farther.

It was my mistake to adopt the same attitude. What I meant to say was "... translate into their non-mother tongues."
As far a nuances go, I truly believe that translators who translate into languages that are not their mother tongue miss the deep nuances of the non-mother tongue they are translating into.


 
Adriana Adarve (X)
Adriana Adarve (X)  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:06
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
There is no perfection... Apr 21, 2017

Christine Andersen wrote:

It is just as logical to ask how you can translate when you don't understand the source as a native. The traps are where you THINK you understand. I have a practically native command of the source language, so I find these errors - and I found one in my own work yesterday when proofreading... Natives are NOT infallible.



No, of course not, Christine. Natives are not infallible. Translation is not a perfect field either, far from it! And that is the beauty of this discussion; that we can all contribute and learn from other's points of views.

[Edited at 2017-04-21 17:02 GMT]


 
Adriana Adarve (X)
Adriana Adarve (X)  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:06
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Rates and hoops... Apr 21, 2017

Chris S wrote:

I suspect the truth is more that there is a shortage of native English speakers who are willing to jump through hoops to work for the low rates offered by the EU and national government institutions.


Yup, this sounds like a more plausible reason than the explanation of a lack of native [insert language here] speakers translating from/into other languages (I am making it general since English is not always the source language).

Even though it might not seem to many that rates are a challenge to getting oneself know as a translator, it cannot be denied that rates still represent a major challenge for translators in general. As things have been going for such a long time now, a lot of clients are posed to offering translators "a reasonable rate" (whatever that might mean to them, which is definitely NOT the same it means to translators!) And these clients include, of course, government institutions. By the way, who ever told clients they were the ones supposed to set the rate and not the translator as the provider of the service?

So, I find, Chris, that you are right when you say that "there is a shortage of native English speakers who are willing to jump through hoops to work for the low rates offered..."

Since I mentioned that English is not always the source language, I will extend Chris's comment to other languages as well. Native speaker of any given language or not, who wants to bend over backwards and go the extra mile for a client who doesn't want to pay what the translation is really worth?!! Without forgetting the value of the translator him/herself, of course.


 
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What is the biggest challenge you’re facing in regards to getting to be known as a translator?







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