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February 27, 2018
A recent article in the January/February issue of the ATA Chronicle* written by John M Milan discusses the “Economics of Language Services” and more specifically why freelancers find it difficult to raise their rates. The article zeroes in on the several points: value, scarcity, marginal utility, supply and demand, consumer perception and competitive markets to mention most but not all of the topics. Mr. Milan appears to have a good grasp of economics but fails to point out that often freelance translators are not able to raise their rates because they lack significant volume. In today’s world anyone, anywhere can […]
July 5, 2016
Literary translation refers to the process of translating literary works like novels, poems, short stories, plays, rhymes, and songs from a source language into a target language. Although literary translation is indeed a type of translation, in many ways, it is so different from traditional translation that it requires a different set of skills. Being a literary translator is a really difficult job. When translating literary pieces, the words often don’t have any direct translation in the target language. It is the job of the translator to strike a balance between staying true to the text’s meaning and crafting a […]
May 9, 2016
A Mastermind Group is a meeting of highly motivated people who share one common goal and are effectively able to encourage and help each other reach the goal. This type of group helps you sharpen your business and personal skills. In the case of a translator, a Mastermind Group helps sharpen his or her translation skills or exposes him or her to new translation techniques. Here are some ways a Mastermind Group can be helpful to translators: Brainstorming – Are you working on something new? Looking for ideas? Solving a problem? Brainstorming is very beneficial to all members of a […]
April 25, 2016
Generally, translators have different ways of dealing with texts that can change based on several factors: level of experience, type of text being translated, size of text being translated, familiarity with the topic, available resources, available time (closeness of deadline), and personal preference. In the event of taking on a large translation job, it is wise to keep in mind a few things along the way: Divide Up the Work It is essential not only in the field of translation, but also for almost any profession to consider dividing up working into manageable chunks. Creating milestones is a great way […]
April 12, 2016
Learning a new language can be an exciting endeavor – especially if you plan to embark on a journey to become a Spanish translator or similar. There is no substitute for being a native speaker, but with hard work and dedication, you can achieve a Spanish level that is similar to that of a native speaker. If you are on the fence about learning a new language and want to get an idea of what it will take to follow through, here are some tips for aspiring translators: Have a purpose. – Before anything else, think of at least one […]
April 4, 2016
Let’s take a moment to compare and contrast transcription and translation – terms that are similar, but different. The two are connected to language, but they are different in numerous aspects. In simple words, transcription is copying or summarizing something (such as an audio recording) into written form, word for word. In transcription, only a single language is involved. Translation is, of course, as we have discussed on this blog several times, translating a written document from one language to another. More about Transcription Transcription has two approaches to get the job done: It includes either using written, summarized material to be transcribed […]
March 28, 2016
Similar to translation, transcreation by definition is a process of adopting a message from one language into another, while maintaining its intent, style, tone and context. A successfully transcreated message works with the same emotions and carries out the same implications in the target language as it does in the source language. How Translation and Transcreation Differ Translations rely on the literal transfer of meaning while transcreations are about translating the intent of the word, slogan or phrase into a different language. Transcreation is about capturing the essence of an idea and making the target audience believe it was created just for […]
March 21, 2016
A translator must take on a translation assignment with a clear mind, being careful to avoid judgments or thoughts of how to make the text better. Experienced translators never give in to the temptation of trying to make his or her translation better than the original. The best translators are the best because of his or her invisibility: contributing nothing new to the translated material and never distorting the original text’s meaning. A translator should not make any changes at all to the text he or she is translating, not only because that would be distorting its meaning, but also because […]
March 11, 2016
Because Spanish is a Latin-based language (also referred to as a Romance language) it is markedly different than English, which is a Germanic language. These differences in origin create several challenges when translating into Spanish or vice versa. There are some obvious challenges a translator can encounter that we will discuss in this blog post. An adjective is generally located after a noun in the Spanish language, which of course is not the case in English and is something that native English speakers often have a hard time remembering. Spanish speakers can have a hard time forming negatives or interrogatives […]