1. Aren’t translators and interpreters the same?

This is a very, very common misconception. Outside of the language service provider sphere, “translator” and “interpreter” can be used interchangeably in most discussions. Such as: “We’ll need a translator at the board meeting” versus “We’ll need an interpreter at the board meeting.”

But just what is the difference between those terms? Simply enough, both “translator” and “interpreter” refer to someone who conveys information from one language to another; more specifically, a “translator” works with written words, while an “interpreter” works with spoken words. Some people are only translators, some are only interpreters, and others are both.

2. Can’t any bilingual person be a translator/interpreter?

A very common misconception (in the workplace especially) is “Billy is bilingual, so he can handle this project and translate/interpret for us.” Just because a person is bilingual (or trilingual or more, even), does not mean that they have the training required to be a proper translator or interpreter.

Imagine that “Billy” speaks Spanish at home, but grew up going to school where the primary language of instruction was English. While there’s a chance he can talk about any subject at home with his family members, a likely scenario is that he will know more about biology in English terms rather than Spanish terms. Unless the conversation were very simple, such as general conversation for travel or something similar, it would be very difficult for Billy to translate or interpret something.

Translators and interpreters go through rigorous training for their respective crafts, and have expanded their vocabularies enough to compensate. Proper translators and interpreters have high-level certifications as well.

3. I know a translator/interpreter who did Assignment X, why can’t they do Assignment Y?

In the language services industry, some translators and interpreters can fall under the category of “subject matter experts.” These people have trained to not just be general translators or interpreters, but have polished their skills to cater to certain types of work.

Take “Billy” from above, for example. Imagine he’s become passionate for being an interpreter, and his other interest in biology spurs him to an interest in medical interpretation. After enough study, focus, and—of course—certification, he becomes a proper medical interpreter and specializes in speaking between doctors and patients about surgeries. He might be able to do general interpretation as well, but because of his deep specialty, he might have trouble if he suddenly needed to interpret for, say, a lawyer discussing a lawsuit.

Just like how doctors and lawyers require separate studies, medical interpreters and legal interpreters also require focused study in their area of expertise. They may have skills that overlap, but generally, it’s best to rely on separate translators/interpreters who are subject matter experts rather than the same one for every single job.

4. Wouldn’t machine translation work well enough?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Machine translation can certainly help a translator do their work. Computer-assisted translation tools (called CAT tools in the industry) can keep a handy glossary of terms for the translator, and have the memory to provide reference for older, similar translations.

But if we rely only on machine translation, any number of problems can happen. Machines think very differently than humans and might misinterpret context, homonyms, word register, and so on. Computers may be able to perform complex mathematical calculations, but the human brain is hardwired for language. Put simply, a translation from a human is going to sound a lot more natural—and have fewer mistakes—than a simple machine translation.

5. Why does a translation need proofreading? Shouldn’t the translator be enough for that?

Speaking of “mistakes,” mistakes happen. To err is human, after all. Translators need proofreaders for the same reason that a journalist, book writer, or a lawyer needs one. Mistakes concerning facts, grammar, spelling, etc. can easily be made by any sort of writer, and the same goes for a translator.

Having a second pair of eyes does wonders for any written work. A proofreader for a translation can catch errors in spelling, word register, a forgotten period or comma—anything that might have slipped through the cracks. If you want a translation to be as polished as possible, having a proofreader is essential.

One way is automating it. Some of the simplest mistakes that translators make involve mixing up numbers, conversions, or names. The easiest way to make sure that you have correctly reflected every instance mentioned in the source in the translation is to use a text compare. Of course, your translation will be flagged as being vastly different from the source, but it will let you know if the numbers, company names, and other words or numbers that have to be the same in the target as they are in the source are the same or not. It also takes virtually no time too. All you have to do is copy and paste then press a button. It shouldn’t take you more than five minutes to go through everything depending on the length of your project.

Another way is to make it hard to make any mistakes from the very start. If you are translating into a new, blank document, instead try translating into the target document itself. You could even enter the strings into a machine translation so that you can see the translation and the source side by side. Doing this makes it much harder for you to make any typing errors when copying whatever needs to be the same in the target as in the source. If the document you have is not easily copied such as a pdf, you can use OCR to help make the text selectable and then copy it into a word document.

The next tip is the simplest and possibly the most obvious solution. Whenever you see something that has to stay the same between the source and target, just copy it from the source to the target. So for example, if you have a number like 1,000,231, then just copy it into the target. If you want to take this a step further, then you should highlight every instance of numbers or text that need to be the same between the two files and then you will be able to quickly identify the places that need to be checked before delivery.

Quality Assurance is a necessary part of the translation process but often not something that is effectively done due to time constraints or other factors. Hopefully with this post, you have learned a few tips about how you can make the process shorter, but without sacrificing any quality. If you are able to submit a translation that avoids minor mistakes can really help your reputation and make you stand out as a translator who can be relied on.

Monterey Language Services is offering a full-time project management position, to manage translation and interpretation projects in a large number of languages.

We are looking for a MATURE, ENERGETIC, SELF-MOTIVATED, AND RESPONSIBLE person with the following experience/requirements:

• At least one year of experience handling multilingual projects in the TRANSLATION & INTERPRETATION business
• Has a great sense of responsibility and passion about working as Project Manager
• Able to cooperate with others as well as work independently
• Good English communication skills – both written and verbal
• Experience using SDL Trados or similar as a Project Manager
• Experience using interpreter scheduling software is welcomed
• Likes working with technology and tools

If you are interested, please email your COVER LETTER, Resume and recent salary history to Mei-Ling Chen, Director of Translation, at mei-ling@montereylanguages.com

Monterey Language Services
www.montereylanguages.com

“Machine-assisted human translation vs. human-assisted machine translation” was the topic that won the Monterey Language Services Tech Contest, which took place on Monterey Language Services’ Facebook page and ended today at noon.

Participants were mainly from the Chinese program of the Translation and Interpretation School of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, which is the largest program in the school. Congratulations to Qianxi, the winner, and all who participated! (See his victory speech here.) We felt your energy and it was breathtaking. We hope to see you next time.

The 36 comments touch upon the future for translators, development of language technology and machine translation, CAT tools such as Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast, power of machine translation, human translators versus machine translators, translation software, how machines can improve efficiency and productivity for translators, a real life story with Google Translate, training machines to translate, coding and decoding, translation segmentation, machine language, repetitions in text, subject knowledge and specialization, theory versus reality, and more.

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to contact us for a quote.