- Avoid Rework
Let's begin with trying to do things right the first
time. Editing and revising are tricky, treacherous and
time-consuming tasks. So, try to translate each phrase
as if the translation were to be published on real time.
The fewer points go into the "later" box, the smaller
the chance they will pass unnoticed during editing and
proofreading.
- Keep a List of Dangerous Words
What are the easily confusable of your target language?
Principle and principal? What words can be mistyped? We
don't mean words that do not exist and thus will be rejected
by the spell checker, we mean legitimate words, such as
where and were, both of which are correct, but have different
meanings. Keep a list of your "favorite mistakes" and
use the search command to see if and when you used them.
- Run the Spell and Grammar Checker
Always run the spell and grammar checker before editing
a text. Before checking spelling and grammar, however,
select the entire document, set the language to your target
language and make sure the checker is fully active. The
information should be somewhere in a tools menu.
Spell and grammar checkers are often ridiculed, because
they fail to detect real problems and suggest ludicrous
solutions to non-existing problems, but they do find a
large number of points that deserve attention and many
of the solutions offered are perfectly correct. They do
not solve all problems, but save a lot of work.
- Comply with Target-Language Typography and Punctuation
Rules
Different languages have different typographical and
punctuation conventions and your translation should comply
with target language usage. Far too many of us forget
this and impose source-language rules on our target-language
text. For instance, we often see Brazilian Portuguese
translations where words are capitalized following English
rules.
In addition, many of us are simply careless typists or
never bothered to learn how to enter text using a computer.
For instance, we often find translations...
...where words are separated by more than one space,
there are spaces before commas ,but none after( and similar
problems with brackets )tabs are used incorrectly and
so forth.
This type of text makes life unnecessarily difficult
for editors, typesetters, and proofreaders alike. In addition,
it leaves an impression of carelessness that does not
contribute much to our image.
Don't tell us this is none of your business: you should
try to make your translations so good that editor and
proofreader do not have to touch them. You cannot, but
you should try all the same.
The above should not be construed to mean that you are
to become a typesetter. In fact, to paraphrase a well-known
dictum, we have an agreement with typesetters: they do
not translate, we do not do typesetting. It means that
our work should conform to a few basic rules of "typographical
hygiene."
- Never use the "Replace All" Command
This is the most deadly and fatal of all commands. We
know it can be undone. But we also know that, as a rule,
you only notice you have done something horrible half
an hour after applying it and introducing another 100
improvements in the text, and then it is too late for
control-zeeing it.
- Don't Let the Tug of War Spoil your Translation
During translation, source and target language play a
game of tug of war, creating an unceasing tension that
may enrich our work-or not, depending on how well we can
handle it.
And the Winner is: the Source Language!
When the source language wins, we have a piece of translationese,
where we can easily see the "print through" of the original.
Sometimes the text is free from grammar errors, but you
can see that it is not the real thing. It is correct,
but it reads funny. That makes the task of the editor
a lot more difficult, because it is impossible to quote
grammar rules to prove that the text needs changing, a
situation that results in endless mud-slinging matches
between translator and editor. In many cases, there is
a PM involved who, to make things worse, does not understand
a word of the target language.
A good way to determine whether a translation is natural
is to read it aloud, but unfortunately we never have time
for that. However, you should try to read a paragraph
of each job aloud, just to make sure it flows well. You
may be in for a surprise.
Ah, don't tell us that you translate technical stuff
and that does not need to read natural. With the possible
exception of parts lists, every text should read natural
in the target language.
And the Winner is: the Target Language!
Natural style, however, should not be conquered at the
expense of fidelity. This often is the result of an editing
job done without comparing the target against source.
An overeager editor often improves a translation away
from the original, so to say-a case where the target language
wins.
When the target language wins, we have what the French
call a belle infidèle—a translation that reads
beautifully, but is not true to the original.
The only way to determine whether a translation is true
to its original is to compare them, a task neglected by
more than one harried editor, or by agencies that, in
an attempt to cut costs, ask editors-proofreaders to refer
to the original only when needed, as if there were times
when double checking translations against the original
was not needed.
Most translators make a point of editing their own work,
even if it is to be edited later by someone else, which
is very good practice. Some of those translators prefer
to edit in two steps: first, compare target and source
texts, to check fidelity; then read the target text alone,
to see if it flows. Others do it in the reverse order:
first check for flow, then for fidelity.
Whatever order you chose, stick to it, or you will never
finish that job.
- Know your Cognates, False and Otherwise
If your language pair has cognates, you probably have
already been warned against false cognates, otherwise
called false friends, those misleading pairs of equal
or very similar words that have different meanings, such
as eventual, which means one thing in English and quite
another thing in Portuguese, to the dismay of more than
one wannabe translator.
These admonitions have often led to the paranoid view
that you cannot use cognates in a translation. Why not?
Eventual has different meanings in English and Portuguese,
but notável often is the optimal translation for
notable. Of course, using a less-than-optimal translation
when there is a better choice at hand results in unnecessary
loss of precision.
- Be Precise
Precision is a great translatorial virtue, but we often
look for precision in nouns and verbs, whereas as often
as not, precision lies in adjectives and adverbs. Adjectives
and adverbs are the "shading words" par excellence, the
little words that fine-tune our thoughts. Years ago, a
Brazilian publisher entrusted a local college professor
with the translation of a science book for the general
public. Either because the translator didn't like what
he read or for some other reason, although nouns and verbs
were always correctly rendered, adjectives and adverbs
were almost always translated wrong. A groundbreaking
study became merely interesting, an obvious mistake became
possible and so forth. The "technical terms," all of them
nouns and verbs, were perfect and the publisher was very
happy with it, but the translation was very poor.
- Don't Fall into the Preposition Trap
Funny how many translators still fall into the preposition
trap. Most prepositions do not have a life of their own:
they are required by a verb or a noun. A good example
is of, which is supposed to translate as de
in Portuguese. It so happens, however, that to dream
of is sonhar com because the verb sonhar
(dream) takes the preposition com in Portuguese.
In those cases, you translate the verb or noun and don't
give a thought to the preposition in the source language:
just use the preposition required in the target language.
That is, see verb or noun and the respective preposition
as a single unit.
- Check Headers, Footers, Graphs and Text boxes
We tend to go directly to the main text and forget about
headers and footers, where more than one grave error lies
in hiding. If the source text is an MS Word document,
remember that some graphics will show only in print preview
mode. And look for text boxes.
We recently got into very hot water with an agency because
we did fail to do this and the document had two tiny text
boxes, totaling fewer than ten words. But they were key
words and the first thing the final client paid attention
to.
- Run the Spelling and Grammar Checker Once More
Before delivering the job, run the spelling and grammar
checker once more, just for safety's sake. We often introduce
grammar and spelling errors while editing and this is
the last chance to get rid of them.
- Have a Second Pair of Eyes Check your Work
If you are working for an agency, there is a very good chance your work will be checked by an editor. If you are working for a final client, you should arrange for someone else to read your job. Even if you are very good, a second pair of eyes will find the odd mistake and make the odd improvement that can make a great difference. But be prepared: no translator is a hero to his editor [Danilo's personal note: I should know!]
There is no such a thing as perfect translation-and even
if there were, we could not be sure it would satisfy the
average client or critic. But we have been looking for ways
to improve the quality of our translations and we would
like to share a few of our findings with you. This is not
a How to Become a Perfect Translator in 12 Easy Steps
sort of thing, but some of the suggestions may make you
think-or perhaps smile, who knows.
