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Off topic: Dutch word order in English text because translator didn’t know how to reorder tags in CAT tool!
Thread poster: Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:41
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
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TOPIC STARTER
It would seem that most people translating from Dutch into English on Proz are in fact ... Dutch. Aug 19, 2014

If you look at the list of highest KudoZ scores in the Dutch to English section (KudoZ is the place in Proz where you can ask and answer term questions), you will soon notice that most of the people present there are also present in the English to Dutch section. Meaning: it seems that most people translating from Dutch into English on Proz (at least of those answering these questions) are in fact Dutch (there are also a few other nationalities), with only a few Americans or Brits. ... See more
If you look at the list of highest KudoZ scores in the Dutch to English section (KudoZ is the place in Proz where you can ask and answer term questions), you will soon notice that most of the people present there are also present in the English to Dutch section. Meaning: it seems that most people translating from Dutch into English on Proz (at least of those answering these questions) are in fact Dutch (there are also a few other nationalities), with only a few Americans or Brits. I really didn't expect this. I was expecting to find that most of these people would be native English speakers.

This might explain the rather poor quality of this year's NL>EN translation contest entries.

All of this made me wonder though: is this confined to Proz, or is it a larger problem? That is, could it be that most people translating from Dutch into English out there in the world are in fact Dutch too? This would definitely help explain the vast quantities of terrible NL>EN translations my brother proofreads on a regular basis.

I wonder if this might also apply to German into English? Could it be that most of it is being done by Germans?

Michael

[Edited at 2014-08-19 17:07 GMT]
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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 08:41
Spanish to English
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And in other pairs too Aug 20, 2014

Michael Beijer wrote:
For example, in the Dutch > English KudoZ forum, there are a number of Dutch translators who insist on answering every single question, in terrible English, and who give all kinds of crazy answers. ...


This is happening in my pair too (ES-EN). I didn't like to say anything because the Dutch person I'm thinking of obviously means well, but the results can be excruciatingly cringeworthy. "Stick to the day job/your own (expletive deleted) language" would be my honest reaction.


 
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Dutch word order in English text because translator didn’t know how to reorder tags in CAT tool!






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