Translations (a bit long)

[Sarah Carroll <sarahc -at- INDIGO -dot- IE>]

Hi folks,
We have two threads going here on what are substantially similar subjects:
* Whether to use the source words or the translated words as the basis of the per word cost; and
* Whether the work of the translator is the same as the work of the writer and so should be costed in the same way.
There is very sound logic behind the practise of paying per source word for translation. First off, before you begin a translation project, you need to know how much it's going to cost you.
If you are paying per translated word, as opposed to per source word, you must either tell the translator that you will pay x amount per word, and that they may only use a maximum of 2 (for example) translated words per source word. Alternately, if you are translating from a rather verbose language into a more succinct one, you have to tell the translator that you will pay x amount per word, but that they must use only one translated word for each three source words.  In both cases, you have to count the words both before and after.
I'm sure there are some people who work on that basis, but the majority of us don't. Most of us want the best quality translation possible. We want the translator to use their linguistic skills to adapt the language and content of our source material to their locale. We don't want the translator to have to compromise the translation for the sake of the number of words they are allowed to use. Which brings us on to the second thread, the work of the translator.
Max Wyss wondered
>Doesn't the translator bring ideas, concepts, content from one
>container (culture) to another? On the other hand, isn't this
>the same the writer does?
One of the things that localisers in general strive for is "locale-free" source material. That is, source material which is well written and which uses straighforward phraseology and geographically independent graphics and examples. No little jokes or anecdotes (look what you started, Andrew Plato!), no colours or hand signals which might be interpreted as offensive in other cultures, no using a zip code as an essential element in an example of a database system.  When we have such material, then the work of the translator is pretty straightforward. They use their linguistic skills and communication ability to translate the content. They generally try and follow the same style that the source writer used, write with the same sort of tone - where appropriate. In this, their job is different to that of writers. The material is already there. I think they are more like editors than writers.
Of course there are some cases where it's different. And of course there are some circumstances where it's important that the overall size of the resulting translated document set (for example) isn't that much more than the source -- where the manuals need to fit in the same size box for example -- Mostly that sort of copy fitting is done at DTP stage. Usually, the translator will be made aware that copy fitting is important and will take a bit of extra time to accomodate that.  Sorry, gone on too long again!
Best
Sarah
sarahc -at- indigo -dot- ie