According to the dictionary, an editor “edits or adapts a text”: he or she corrects it, improves it. This isn’t an attempt to “improve” the original, but rather an effort to improve the original translation so that it reads less like a translation and more like something originally written in the target language. The editor is striving for the “Five C’s”: leavingthe text clear, correct, concise, comprehensible and consistent. To do so, the editor must correct errors in the spelling, grammar, punctuation and interpretation, as well as any other mistakes the translator may have made. The editor needs to apply the style or make it consistent (the style may be client preference, technical lingo or a localization for a specific audience). The editor must check the figures, names, headings, titles and subtitles and that the format is consistent with the original. Editors need to limit redundancy and possibly make some changes to the word order, add and remove words, etc., while trying to stick to the ideas and meanings of the original as closely as possible.
An editor may also review a text after it has been edited. This is known as proofreading and is a final read through of the edited translation to make sure it’s perfect and ready to be delivered to the client. The proofreader essentially checks that there are no typos, misprints or inconsistencies in formatting (bold, italics, etc.). This step is usually done “blind” (without comparing the translation with the original), given that it should be read as its intended audience will read it. Nevertheless, the editor/proofer is not a typical reader: he or she has been trained to spot errors that others don’t notice because their minds still “understand” the text as is.
A translator usually works alone and makes the corrections to the text himself, while a specialized translation company will have someone in charge of editing (and usually another person to proof) the texts that the first person translated. It goes without saying that “four eyes are better than two.”
Love languages? Looking for a stimulating career path or some freelance work on the side? Becoming a translator may be for you. Professional translation has been growing rapidly in the past decade, yet remains a mystery to many outside the field. What does it take to get started in the translation industry? What does a professional translator do? For the next few weeks, I’m going to take you through the steps of what you need to know and what you need to do to get started.
First off, you need to know one language exceptionally well. You mean two, right? I’ll get to other languages later. I’m talking about your native language, be it English, Spanish or Farsi. This is something that is often overlooked in the translation field.
A translator is first and foremost a writer (of someone else’s material). Hopefully you paid attention in your grammar courses and are a voracious reader. You need to have a grasp of different genres of writing in your native language, know the rules of punctuation and basically have such a strong grasp of this language’s structure and use that you can spot a missing comma from 30 yards away in the dark. This can be learned in school (from elementary upwards) or can be acquired on one’s own through reading, private study and writing.
Now, what about your second, third or ninth language? Ideally, this will be your source language, or the language you are actually translating. The value of a good foreign language course cannot be snubbed, be it learning the colors in kindergarten or writing your thesis on the greats of Russian literature. These classes will introduce you to different cultural aspects, grammar structure and more. Formal University study is not a prerequisite, but a strong desire to learn this new language certainly is.
In my opinion, the key to truly understanding the vocabulary, grammar and basically every other aspect of the written language itself comes from reading everything in that language that you can get your hands on. Reading different styles and types of writing in this language will serve you well. Whether it’s a novel, bird watching magazine, online cookbook or instructions on how to put together a ping-pong table, it’s going to teach you something new or reinforce what you already know.
So those are the basics on what you need to know to get started as a translator. In the coming weeks, I’ll talk about the actual act of translating, the translation industry and some other significant topics.
The objective of any company making a product or providing a service is of course selling that product or service. To do so, companies hire creative marketing specialists, sociologists and publicists; they perform tests, studies, statistical analyses, advertising campaigns and so on.
An astronomical sum of money invested in all of this… but why don’t they spend a few bucks on making sure that they are getting a quality translation when they are planning to sell abroad? Although it may seem like a small detail, why not consult an expert when planning to advertise your product in different languages?
In a similar vein, what about the government officials who decide on the designs for bilingual signs for tourists? Why don’t they consult a translator? It is a small investment that can pay off huge dividends in the long term. Lucky for us, “smart” companies get it.
There are a number of web sites that have compiled some funny examples of these bad translations. But surely some of these mistranslations, while still funny, are counter productive for the companies (hotels, restaurants or countries), as they negatively affect their image, thereby leading to fewer sales. Here are just a few examples.
How many instruction manuals have we seen that are translation nightmares? This bubble blowing pistol had a note, translated from Japanese to English, that said, “WHILE SOLUTION IS NOT TOXIC IT WILL NOT MAKE CHILD EDIBLE.”
It seems to me that couples visiting Tokyo will pick other hotels over this one, whose rules state: “GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIORS IN BED.”
A doctor in Rome must have noticed his dwindling number of female clients after hanging this sign: “SPECIALIST IN WOMEN AND OTHER DISEASES”
When General Motors introduced its Chevy Nova into South American markets, they didn’t realize what “no va”meant (doesn’t go). When they finally realized why they weren’t selling any Novas, they renamed it the Caribe for the Hispanic market.
When advertising a new ball point pen in Mexico, Parker’s ads should have said, “No goteará en su bolsillo y no lo avergonzará” (Won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you). But as the company thought that the Spanish word for embarrass was “embarazar,” they said, “No goteará en su bolsillo y no lo embarazará” (Won’t leak in your pocket and impregnate you).
This last example was seen by a colleague, in the city of Buenos Aires. A large wine dealer on an important corner in town had a sign in Spanish on one of the streets and one in English on the other. In Spanish it read, “VINOS AÑEJOS – VINOS NUEVOS” and in English: “OLD WINES – ACTUAL WINES” They probably didn’t understand why customers were suspicious of their “vinos añejos”…
To avoid falling into the trap of a literal translation (an exceedingly strict adherence to the source text’s composition and grammatical structure), which is justifiable only in some isolated cases, we generally use a variety of methods. These are almost always done automatically, without knowing which approach we are using or what it is called. These strategies, which are quite useful when we cannot find the perfect structure to match the original, are:
ADAPTATION: a cultural or social element from the original text is replaced with a different, but corresponding element in the translation. This is usually something that is more familiar to the intended audience. This is valuable when translating poetry, plays and advertising.
LOAN: this is an untranslated word from the original language (usually written in italics). Examples: fiesta, loco. CALQUE: is the creation of a neologism with the source language’s structure. Example: fútbol, a word created from the English “football.” MODULATION: the message’s form is altered by a change in perspective or semantics. A phrase’s angle is adjusted so that it sounds better in the target language:
• Original in English: It is not difficult to show.
• Literal Spanish translation: No es difícil de demostrar.
• Modulated Spanish translation: Es fácil de demostrar. TRANSPOSITIONING: changing one part of speech for another without changing the meaning of the message.
• Original in English: After he comes back.
• Literal Spanish translation: Después de que él regrese.
• Transposed Spanish translation: Después de su regreso.
EQUIVALENCY: using a word whose meaning is a synonym of another word in the source.
“Just like a musician, an interpreter must have a keen ear for accents as well as a certain aptitude for languages,” states an article published this week in the Orlando Sentinel. The article is on the prosperous business of translations, which, according to the ATA spokesperson, is a 17 billion dollar-a-year industry worldwide. The article highlights the work of Cuban Erik Camayd-Freixas, a simultaneous translator who has been the voice of the Hispanic community for televised events like George W. Bush’s declaration of war in Iraq, the Mass given by Pope Benedict XVI in Yankee Stadium and Barack Obama’s victory speech on election day. His deep voice, neutral inflection and precise enunciation have been keys to his success.
“When I’m interpreting, I can’t react. It has to look as natural as possible,” said Camayd-Freixas, who is also the Director of Florida International University’s Interpreting and Translation. The article also points out that one of the challenges in simultaneous translating is being able to express one’s self as if he were the speaker. After passing an audition, like an actor, an interpreter must then prepare for their part by studying related vocabulary and learning as much as possible about the topic to be discussed, as well as the person that he or she will be interpreting.
In the American Translators Association’s annual conference, ATA President Jiri Stejskal commented that one of the organization’s biggest challenges is “educating the public on the need for using professional translators and interpreters,” given that not doing so can leave a lot of things to chance. “It does not matter if it’s a million dollar contract or a manual on medical equipment, a translation error can cost a lot of money, even a life, or as we’ve seen, the elections,” said Kirk Anderson, association spokesman (See previous posts– “Election Mistranslations and Mistakes” and “Fatal Mistakes”).
He went on to mention some of the words and phrases John McCain used in his campaign as examples, including “maverick” (res sin marca/ inconformista, disidente) and “You betcha” (puedes apostarlo), declaring that, while these do not have an exact translation and are very “English,” their Spanish versions did not have the same impact as the originals.
Trusted Translations, the leading producer of Spanish translation services in the U.S., has set the goal of reducing paper consumption by 90% in the next two years. Using the Environmental Working Group’s Ten Elements for Improving Environmental Performance and Compliance, Trusted Translations will implement policies to optimize and maximize the use of electronic means of internal and external communications by employing highly developed content management tools and secure high speed electronic delivery systems.
It is hoped that such policies will improve the corporate culture of Trusted Translations, as well as that of other companies in the industry. Also, by collaborating with NGOs, Trusted Translations aims to help raise environmental awareness amongst the Hispanic population.
Myth 1: Anyone bilingual person can be a good translator.
This is probably the most common misconception. It is indeed necessary to know more than one language to be a translator, but to be a good translator, the most important requirement is being a good writer. A professional translator needs a mastery of words, plus control over different writing styles and registers that he or she can employ for different types of projects, such as legal, medical, fiction, financial, etc.
Myth 2: You need a degree in translating or a foreign language to be a professional translator.
This is not necessary to be able to work for the vast majority of translation agencies, and even less so for freelance work. In fact, translators often come from different fields, such as engineering, medicine or law, and then use their background knowledge to specialize in that type of translation.
Myth 3: Computer programs are better translators than humans.
Computers are great tools for translators, with their online glossaries, CAT tools, etc., but machine translations have a long way to go before they can produce something comparable in quality to a translation done by a professional translator. Check out the video below for a few examples of these funny translation mistakes.
We are constantly bombarded with advertisements promising us products for keeping our bodies looking young. But… What about our minds? Should we just assume that there’s no way to keep our minds getting old? Well, before you let this get you down, science has a bit of good news for bilingual people: it appears that having the possibility of communicating in two languages may help us fight “mental aging.” A recent psychological study discovered that compared to people who speak only one language, bilingual people have a greater ability to stay focused on a task in the midst of a constantly changing environment. This ability to stay focused, to find meaning in the madness and solve problems is known as “fluid intelligence,” and is one of the first brain functions to weaken as we get older. Researchers suggest that the ability to stay focused and concentrate on the task at hand while ignoring unnecessary information may be involve some of the same brain processes associated with using multiple languages.
The dictionary defines a bilingual person as someone who is able to communicate in more than one language, be it actively (oral and written) or passively (reading and listening comprehension). I have a preference for the definition that a very intelligent Engineer who spoke Spanish and English gave me several years ago: “People often ask those of us who speak two languages which language we think in. Being bilingual is first thinking, having an idea (or a question, answer or comment) shaped in your brain, and then deciding which language to say it in, because it’s all the same to us to use either one.”
If you are still translating documents on notebook paper or a typewriter then I wish you all the luck in the world, but this post is not for you. Keyboard shortcuts may first appear to be more trouble than they’re worth, given that you can navigate through Microsoft Word and Trados just fine with the cursor. And while there are indeed lots of shortcuts that 99% of us will never need, anyone who spends a good amount of time translating or editing can most likely benefit from a few tips.
Microsoft Word
These are the five most basic shortcuts and the ones that I find myself using the most.
CTRL + X — Cut the selected text.
CTRL + C — Copy the selected text.
CTRL + V — Paste the selected text.
CTRL + Z — Undo last action.
CTRL + F — Open Find and Replace window
Trados
There are a number of shortcuts built into Trados, TagEditor and WinAlign as well. These are the ones I get lots of use out of in Trados.
CTRL + ALT + U — Fix document (see previous post Trados Fix Document Magic)
ALT + Home — Open/Get
ALT + End — Set/Close
ALT + Insert — Copy source.
I really recommend trying out the Trados keyboard shortcuts if you haven’t done so already. If anyone has got any other good shortcuts, feel free to post them!
I always think about a professor from University who would insist– and rightly so– that it was imperative for us to check and recheck that we had correctly translated all the different figures correctly: prices, amounts, measurements, dates, etc. An incorrect sum or total in a contract, for example, could lead to a serious problem and even legal action. The wrong measurements on blueprints could make a building crumble or a bridge collapse… But an incorrect dosage on a medical prescription –stressed the professor– could be fatal. “Imagine that a patient is supposed to take one pill every four hours and is given four pills every hour.” And we would laugh at his example…
But the truth is– it’s not funny at all. A translation error in the instructions for implanting a knee prosthesis led to problems for 47 patients who underwent the surgical procedure in 2006-2007 in a hospital in Berlin. Apparently, the doctors implanted the prosthesis without first applying the necessary adhesive because “non-alterable [prosthesis] that requires adhesive” was translated as “prosthesis that does not require adhesive.”
In March of 2007, a similar error caused four deaths (and various complications in another nineteen patients) in a hospital in France. It appears that the patients suffered overexposure to X rays because the instructions for using the medical software were incorrectly translated.
Being in a hurry to finish the job and make the deadline is no excuse. Knowing that someone, perhaps an expert on the subject or a proofer, will go over it after the editor does not make it ok. Medical negligence can cause serious injury, and negligence on our part can do the same.
Many people think that anyone who speaks a second language would make a good translator. It’s not enough however, for the translator to just be bilingual. He or she must be “bicultural” as well.
Understanding their “second language’s” culture is a must for translators. A professor from University used to tell us: “Navidad is an easy word to translate: we look it up in the dictionary and there it is: Christmas. But phrases like “Christmas mood” (humor o atmósfera de Navidad) or “Christmas landscape” (paisaje navideño) are not going to express the same sentiment in Spanish (or Finnish, or Russian…) as they do in English, given that the whole “Christmas experience” is not the same in every country. While Christmas is celebrated in the middle of summer in the southern hemisphere, the U.S. and other European countries with their falling snow and various traditions have a very different experience.
Having a dictionary is not enough for translating well. It is not only about translating words. For example, you could learn the words poner and pilas, but still not understand the meaning of the idiom ponerse las pilas. One also has to know about the particular phrases that require one special combination of terms (collocations) and not another: though people would most likely understand Prospera Navidad, this combination, while not technically “wrong,” would sound as strange as Happy Christmas or Merry Birthday.
One must take cultural references into account. A friend once had the task of translating a book for veterinarians in which there were instructions for a certain procedure for rabbits that had to be done “in January and February.” But if this was translated for the southern hemisphere, then January and February (summer in the southern hemisphere) would be the wrong time of year, with who knows what consequences for the poor animals. (In this situation, she decided to add “in the northern hemisphere” in parentheses and let the veterinarians figure out that it should be done in July-August if they are in the southern hemisphere.)
With so much often said about the infiltration of English into the Spanish language, one often forgets that borrowed words and loan words are a two-way street. United States English has its share of linguistic contributions from Spanish, words that come from Mexico, Cuba, Spain and beyond. The two most common classifications are foreign words, which maintain the original meaning and spelling, and true loan words, which have the same or a similar meaning, but with an adapted spelling.
Foreign words– these are Spanish words that most English speakers will understand, though probably pronounce with a dubious accent.
“There’s a fiesta at Brody’s house tonight!
“Easy there macho man!”
“Don’t you know I’m loco?
Loan words- these are words that originate from Spanish, but have a different spelling, different meaning, or both.
“I’ll have a strawberry daiquiri.” (The word daiquiri comes from the name of a town in Cuba, which is a leading producer of rum and was once home to the Bacardi brand.)
“My dream is to go skiing in Colorado.” (Colorado means reddish or colored in Spanish.)
“I want a Corona and some nachos.” (As the story goes, the chips and cheese snack known as Nachos was invented by an Ignacio Anaya. Nacho is the Spanish nickname for Ignacio.
These are just a few of the many, many examples of Spanish’s influence on the English language. So the next time you’re having nachos and a daiquiri in Colorado, be thankful that the English Only locos are fighting a losing battle.
The same thing always happened to him. When someone translated one of his poems into a foreign language (at least, a foreign language that he knew), his own verses sounded better than in the original. This is why it came as no surprise that he found the French version of his poem “Time and the bell” amazing, graceful and full of substance.
Two years later, an Italian translator who did not know Spanish translated that French version. Although he had never been a big supporter of indirect versions (keeping in mind however that this is how he had been introduced to Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Confucius years before), he greatly enjoyed his poem” in italico modo.”
Another three years passed and an English translator who, like most English translators, did not know Spanish based his translation on the Italian version based on the French version. Despite being so far from the original, it was the most pleasing to the original Spanish speaking author. It just surprised him a bit (he actually attributed it to a printing error) that this new indirect version was entitled “Burnt Norton” and that the name of the alleged author was a T.S. Eliot. Nevertheless, he liked it so much that he decided to personally take on the task of translating it into Spanish.
in Cuentos Completos (Ed. Seix Barral 1994, p.497)
Mario Bendetti (born in Uruguay in 1920) is described as a poet who also writes stories and novels. His novel La tregua (1960), whose cinematic version was nominated for an Oscar in 1974, has been translated into 19 languages. He has published over 80 books and earned countless awards.
The general consensus about Spanish in the U.S. is that its use, in terms of the number of speakers and general “visibility” (mainstream media, advertising, etc.), is growing exponentially. And with record numbers of Spanish-speaking immigrants coming from South and Central America, it looks like this will continue indefinitely. So, there is no doubt that thousands, millions of Spanish speakers are going to the U.S; the question, however, is this: Does the Spanish that immigrants take with them take root in the U.S or is it ultimately lost?
With more than thirty-five million people in the U.S. speaking Spanish as their main language at home, its use is certainly more than a blip on English’s radar. Add the large number of English speakers studying Spanish, be it in elementary school, at college, or as part of job training (medical professionals, govt. workers, etc.), and you have a very significant portion of the U.S. population with at least a basic ability to communicate in Spanish. Bilingual education programs are bigger now than they have ever been before, and businesses and corporations are spending more money than ever on bilingual advertising. So why is there any doubt?
For one, studies have shown that Spanish is rarely passed on to third generation Hispanics in the U.S. Children that do learn both languages at a young age generally have a much greater proficiency in English than in Spanish, due to the educational system and sheer exposure to English. History has also shown that even large numbers of immigrants cannot maintain a language that is not passed down by the generations. German, for example, was once widely-spoken in the U.S., but due to events like World War I and II, immigration reform, etc., the current number of German speakers in the U.S. has dwindled to tiny enclaves.
Just two weeks after Translator’s Day, which is celebrated on the anniversary of Saint Jerome’s death as a tribute to him having been the first to translate the Bible into Latin, an agreement was reached at the Vatican in favor of further translation and distribution of the most widely book in history. According to the recent announcement, the Bible (which means “books” in the Greek biblia, the plural of biblion meaning “papyrus roll for writing”) has already been translated into 2454 languages with about 4500 to go. Saint Jerome’s translation into Latin was called the Vulgate (from vulgata editio, edition for the people), and served as the Roman Catholic Church’s official Biblical text until the transmission of the Neovulgata in 1979.
The Authorized King James version is an English translation of the Bible that was first published in 1611 and has had a tremendous influence not just on later English Bible translations, but also on English literature and works from John Bunyan, John Milton, Herman Melville, John Dryden and William Wordsworth. In the United States, this version is most commonly known as the King James Version, while in the United Kingdom it is known as the Authorized Version.
The first translation of the Bible into Spanish was done in 1280 and was called the Biblia Alfonsina, but was not a finished work; this was done with the Biblia del Oso (Bible of the bear, because of the animal on the cover) in 1569. Amongst other versions, Saint Jerome’s version was translated into Spanish in 1793.
The Koran appears to be the second most widely spread book, and while it has indeed been translated into many languages, Muslims consider them to be “interpretive glossaries,” which is why they don’t have much influence in the debates about their meanings or command nearly the same attention as the books written in Arabic: they are considered to be common books. The first translation of the Koran into Latin was done in 1143.
She is known by many names: Malinalli, Malintzin(Spanish transliterations of her original name– the tzin suffix was added to indicate hierarchy and nobility), “Doña Marina,” or most commonly, La Malinche. Malineli Tenepatl (c.1502 – c.1529), a Mexican girl born into the upper class, was presented to Mayan chiefs in Tabasco following a war between the Mayans and Aztecs. As a result of this situation she fluidly spoke both her native language, Nahuatl, and the language of her new owners, Mayan.
The chiefs gave the young slave to Hernán Cortés after he defeated the Tabascans at the Battle of Centla. Cortes christened her “Marina” and gave her to one of his captains. Upon learning that she spoke Nahuatl, he began to use her as a Nahuatl-Mayan interpreter, with Jerónimo de Aguilar (a Spanish survivor of a shipwreck who was freed from captivity by Cortés) completing the circle by translating Mayan into Spanish. All of the exchanges between the Spanish and Aztecs were carried out in this manner, using three languages and two interpreters, until Malintzin learned Spanish: it is most likely that this did not take very long, based on the fact the indigenous records usually leave out Jerónimo de Aguilar and reference Malintzin as having been the sole interpreter.
Apart from serving as interpreter, Malintzin advised the Spanish on the local customs and military tactics, possibly performing what would today be called “intel” and “diplomacy.”
There are many legends and conjectures about Malinche, but the facts are harder to come by. The Spanish word “Malinchismo” is derived from her name, a term meaning a preference for something foreign over local, to want to appear foreign over Mexican, and opportunistic and willing to betray one’s own country to aid foreigners. The reality however is that as an orphan passed between tribes and countries, Malintzin did not have a country to sell.
A few people also consider Malinche to be the “First Mother of Mexico,” initiating the birth of a country and in a more general sense, motherhood itself.
Personally, one of the things about translating that gets under my skin is having to check over it once I’m done. I hate it. But after a few jobs where I wanted to bang my head against the wall because I hadn’t gone back over it and spotted my stupid mistake (but of course someone else did, and was kind enough to point it out to me)…..Well, let’s just say that I accepted that reviewing translations is a must and cannot be avoided. And it may seem unnecessary if our translation is going to be revised by an editor, but isn’t it better for us to correct our errors before they do?
My solution? I always try to leave at least a couple of minutes before delivery time for going back over it. 10 or 15 minutes is plenty. The first three or four minutes are to relax: I finished the job. I’m no longer looking for words, I’m not after that exact phrase. I’m done translating. I go to the kitchen for some juice, maybe eat an apple, or step out on the balcony for some fresh air. And then I come back to face the final step.
I run spell check (for Word documents, which are the most common for me), which is necessary and helpful. But you have to remember that it’s not perfect: spell check doesn’t know when “sí” needs an accent and when it doesn’t, when you want to say “tale” or “tall” or when you’ve mistakenly written “his high-heels.” You have to reread the text, there’s no way around it. Sit down and read it closely and carefully. The little break between translating and reviewing helps you distance yourself from it a bit, making it seem “newer.” Being so into the text causes our eyes to play tricks on us, leading us to believe that we had written evrey word perfectly…
One of the things that we as translators tend to be concerned with is the rights of our published work, especially when our name appears alongside it.
For a translation of scientific research material published in a technical journal, the translator is usually thanked for his or her services in the Acknowledgements section. For a book put out by a publishing house, the translator has the same rights as the author, as he or she has created an original piece. Among these rights is having your name on the work.
In Section II of their Charter (http://www.fit-ift.org/en/charter.php#rights), The International Federation of Translators establishes the Rights of the Translator, intended to be used as guide on the principles to be upheld in the profession. The first article states that “Every translator shall enjoy all the rights with respect to the translation he/she has made, which the country where he/she exercises his/her activities grants to other intellectual workers.” (This is an important detail– it depends on each respective country’s laws.) But this institution, among others, recognizes the translator’s right to authorship, copyright, as well as the same rights held by the original author in regards to a moral right to recognition for his or her work, legal rights against the distortion or modification of the translation, and the power to authorize any use of it (publication, transmission, adaptation, etc.).
Most countries use the International Standard Book Number (ISBN code): a unique commercial identifier assigned by the national ISBN agency. It is not obligatory for publishers to assign an ISBN to each book, nor do they have to give any sort of identifier, but– luckily for us– most bookstores only deal with merchandise that does have this number. The ISBN’s purpose is to establish and identify a publishing house’s title and to make it exclusive to that particular edition, author, and translator.
The author and the reader both have the right to expect and demand a quality translation. Protecting the rights of the translator is a way to protect the rights of the reader and the author.
Anyone using Trados is going to break a few tags at some point. It happens. There’s no way around it (that I’ve found), and it can be an extremely frustrating experience. If you are translating with Microsoft Word and you haven’t yet tried to close the segment or done any other Trados operation, you can undo your last action (Ctrl+Z) and hopefully fix it that way.
If you have however tried to use Trados, your best bet is the “Fix Document” command. This is the second to last option in the Trados menu ( Alt+Ctrl+U) and will usually fix small errors and broken tags. It finds the damaged tag, repairs it and then takes you back to the beginning of your document. Unfortunately, it is not always so “magical.” If it does not work for you, you can try to copy source and re-translate or try and copy a good tag and paste it over the damaged one.
Trados Fix Document should not be seen as a failsafe way to fix tags, but rather as a first attempt that will sometimes save you a big headache. In my experience, it has worked about 2/3 of the time. So keep it in mind, watch your tags and good luck!
If there is one thing that almost all translators can agree upon, it’s that two of the most things to translate, no matter what the language, are jokes and poetry. Jokes, because they usually have a play on words or phrases with a “double meaning” that are practically impossible to transfer from one language to another.
Take this English one-liner for example:
“Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.”
One possible translation would be: “¿Te enteraste de ese chico al que le cortaron todo el lado izquierdo? Ahora está bien.” It would be technically correct, understandable, but missing the punch line. The joke works in English because “right” here means “bien” and “derecho.” Maybe you could make a play on words with “derecho” in the sense of “recto,” or maybe in the sense of laws… Eventually, and with a good bit of work, a good translator could get some kind of humor out of it. But it would never be the same joke.
And poetry holds even greater challenges, even if it the original does not rhyme or you decide not to try and make the translation rhyme, it still involves meter, cadence, and rhythm that tend to be most difficult to translate. If it’s not a translation, you’re writing a new poem… A poem is a unique combination of special words- and not others– that are also laid out in a unique arrangement. How does one do that? So then, does everyone need to learn the original language in order to read the poem? Exactly how many languages do we need to learn? Right.
Every language has its own ways to twist words around, its own double meanings and plays on words. It’s not exactly vital to translate jokes since every country or region has its own style of humor. But for poetry, I feel that we translators don’t have a choice. we wouldn’t have access to Russian poetry, Greek classics, Latin sonnets, or Japanese haikus if a translator hadn’t first taken on the task of translating them. And although it may not turn out “perfect,” I think we should keep trying…
Love languages? Looking for a stimulating career path or some freelance work on the side? Becoming a 
The objective of any company making a product or providing a service is of course selling that product or service. To do so, companies hire creative marketing specialists, sociologists and publicists; they perform tests, studies, statistical analyses, advertising campaigns and so on.
