Re: Bad translation...et je suis bilingue

[Max Wyss <prodok -at- PRODOK -dot- CH>]

Andres,

As you say, "native speaker" is _one_ criterion for selecting a translator.
In fact, the first criterion for a good translator is to be a good writer
in the target language (which _is_ the native language) under almost all
circumstances. For a technical translator, the second criterion is
familiarity with the topic in the target language, and then also in the
source language. And only then, knowledge of the source language becomes an
issue.

The other question is, how many _non-native speakers_ are there in the US
who would be qualified to write technical documentation in English?

Certifications are always _very_ problematic. There is no _exact and
reproducible_ way to rate the "quality" of a translation. To me, this
proprietary certification is more an argument to charge higher prices than
to ensure quality. And it gets even worse when that translation agency
starts charging the individual translators for that certification. I may be
wrong, and I have no intention to offend your company, but it can get into
that direction.

There are university level translation degrees. For specific technical
translations, people with these degrees may be not usable; it would be
better to look for an expert in that subject who really knows the audience
and can write for that audience.


Max Wyss
PRODOK Engineering
Technical documentation and translations, Electronic Publishing
CH-8906 Bonstetten, Switzerland

Fax:  +41 1 700 20 37
e-mail:  mailto:prodok -at- prodok -dot- ch
WWW:  http://www.prodok.ch/prodok


Bridging the Knowledge Gap


______________________



>Lisa is absolutely correct -- be aware of "native speakers". The
>localization/translation industry throws this concept around as if it were
>the end to everybody's quality concerns. Not so fast there.
>
>The U.S. has approx. 200 million native speakers of English. How many of
>them are qualified to write technical documentation in English? A small
>percentage. How many of them are further qualified to write about
>specialized subject matters, such as minimally invasive surgical devices.
>The groups get smaller still.
>
>The point is this: using "native speakers" as translators must be the
>beginning of the qualification process, not the end. Unfortunately, in the
>U.S. and elsewhere in the world, there is a lack of professional testing
>and certification for translators. Anybody with a year of High-School
>Spanish can call themselves a translator. In response to this, professional
>translation companies have introduced their own translator certification
>programs (at our company it's called "Compliance Translation Certification").
>
>Look for a vendor with such a translator testing program and, at least,
>you're assured that you have properly qualified linguists performing the
>linguistic tasks involved.
>
>Regards,
>Andres


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