I gave some thought to titling this post “Should translators encourage their clients to be more gay-friendly?”, but the issue I’m mulling over is really about whether we should encourage our clients to be more inclusive in general. I should also say that although I’m not gay, I have a close family member who is, [...]
Archive for the ‘Translation technique’ Category
Giving clients advice: how far to go?
Posted in Clients, Translation technique on January 29, 2011 | 17 Comments »
Some interesting links
Posted in Freelancing, Links, Translation industry news, Translation technique on November 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »
As Thoughts on Translation wraps up for the holiday week (U.S. Thanksgiving is Thursday), here are some websites and blog posts that you might enjoy looking at: Eve Bodeux is giving away some SmartPlay language-learning products for kids on her blog; see the end of the post for how to enter. Writer Michelle Rafter has [...]
Misspelled words I’m tired of seeing
Posted in Translation quality, Translation technique on May 4, 2010 | 32 Comments »
Like many translators and other word people, I have a low tolerance for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors in print. Thankfully it’s not just me; when I took a series of editing classes with Alice Levine a couple of years ago, she opened the class with a New Yorker cartoon (you don’t even need the [...]
Translating official documents: continued
Posted in Translation technique on March 8, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Last month, I ran a post on translating official documents which generated a lot of reader interest and comments. I’m back with a correction and an addition to that post: The correction: In the original post I advised translators of official documents to “Use a screenshot or graphics program to enhance your translations.” For example, [...]
Avoiding beginner’s mistakes
Posted in Freelancing, Translation technique on January 12, 2009 | 16 Comments »
Update to this post: Make sure to read the comments for more excellent tips from experienced translators! Today is the first day of the winter session of the online course I teach for beginning translators. It’s an occasion that always prompts me to think of the first day I thought of myself as a translator, [...]
“We just translate”…or do we?
Posted in Translation technique on December 11, 2008 | 15 Comments »
Early in my freelance career, I failed two translation tests in a row for two different agencies. Both of these tests were marketing/PR-type pieces, and the agencies’ comments went something like this: Agency 1: “Your translation was too faithful to the original. The French text was not very well written, and part of the translator’s [...]
Link: Tips for translating corporate communications
Posted in Translation quality, Translation technique on September 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Corporate communications materials are some of the most difficult and most business-critical documents out there when it comes to translation. The company culture, the target audience, the spin that the company wants to put on its news, the most-used grammatical structures of the source and target languages; all of these enter into the picture when [...]
Paper dictionary to the rescue
Posted in Translation quality, Translation technique on August 26, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Web-based terminology databases are a wonderful thing for translators. As compared to the research tools of times gone by, we now have access to resources that are vast, free, and easily updated when new terms arrive on the scene. A few of my favorites are: Le Grand Dictionnaire Terminologique Inter Active Terminology for Europe (IATE) [...]
How to do an acceptable job on a rush job
Posted in Translation quality, Translation technique on July 29, 2008 | 7 Comments »
First, note that the title of this post is not “How to do a good job on a rush job,” because often the two concepts are mutually exclusive. Realistically, no translator does her/his best work under extreme time pressure, but the nature of the industry is such that deadlines are often tight. So, when a [...]
Translating into non-standardized languages
Posted in Translation technique on July 8, 2008 | 4 Comments »
The Google Alert for “translation” was all abuzz today with the controversy over translating the Bible into Jamaican patois. Here’s hoping that the Bible Society of the West Indies reads Translation: Getting it Right before forging ahead with the project, which it estimates will take 12 years and cost US$1 million; moreover, this story highlights [...]
-
If you enjoy Corinne’s blog, check out her book!
Corinne McKay is an ATA-certified French to English translator specializing in international development, law and non-fiction books. She launched Thoughts on Translation in February, 2008 as a way to connect and share ideas with freelance translators around the world.
-
What’s new on Thoughts on Translation?
