The Linguist

The Linguist 54,2

The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology

Issue link: https://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/493117

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 12 of 35

performance. hence, it takes time to convince our customers of the added value they get from professionally translated questionnaires. On some projects, we had a fixed sum for every item, which allowed us to fund quality assessment by another colleague. reaching an agreement with the client proved to be faster and smoother as a result. the translation service offered by the research institute, leibniz institut für Sozialwissenschaften GeSiS, bases its 'ask the same question' approach on the trapd methodology developed by Janet harkness: although we do not use exactly the same methods as GeSiS, we used their studies to adapt our methodology. ideally, we discuss our work with another translator who is familiar with translating questionnaires. adjudication is made jointly by the national affiliates on the customer's site and with the translators. We are not able to meet personally to discuss all the issues, as GeSiS do. pre-testing only takes place in a second cycle, where any flaws should be corrected. the spreadsheets we compile act as documentation and/or annotations. the last step in a project comes after completion, when we list everything that went particularly well or needs changing next time in order to improve our service and, in the end, be able to say with conviction Meine Arbeit macht mir Spaß (see below for a multilingual translation). thelinguist.uberflip.com april/May The Linguist 13 FEATURES in German and i was able to turn to my professional network in Germany, which could, in turn, recommend translators for those languages for which i had no contacts. the only language where i was not successful was Maltese: i had to ask a colleague in the uk, who translated from the english version, which was certainly not ideal. in the second cycle, the number of languages increased from 31 to 36, but the source questionnaire was the english version, which meant that many trusted colleagues had to be replaced by colleagues translating from english into their mother tongue. Good questionnaire translators must first be good, experienced translators and then learn to work with questionnaires. apart from their translation skills, they should be good team workers who make an active contribution by showing initiative, being alert to potential issues and being open to suggestions. i found that i was able to help my trusted colleagues to develop the necessary expertise for this type of translation. however, a few colleagues had difficulty understanding the challenges involved, and did not take them seriously enough or show adequate professional skills – for example, they disregarded deliberations shared by the group or could not handle a spreadsheet. if just one translator fails to deliver the required quality, it can threaten the whole project. Fine coordination coordinators have to set reasonable deadlines and then insist that these are met. i have endured many an anxious moment when someone fell ill or had to visit their home country for urgent family reasons. impressively, no one has missed a deadline, even under the most difficult circumstances. the use of a translation memory has been indispensable to ensure consistency, although this did mean that some translators had to be replaced in follow-up projects. those who have participated in all the projects have greatly contributed to the success of the surveys and to honing our collective skills in this type of translation. Our professional skills enable us to consider the region where the questionnaire is used. in German, the terminology varies according to whether it applies to Germany, austria or Switzerland – for example, the German Pausenraum ('rest area') is Jausenstation in austria. Most colleagues can adapt their language to another region, but this is not possible for portuguese and Spanish, which differ considerably between europe and latin america. Our translators pass their versions on to native Brazilian portuguese or latin american Spanish colleagues, and have their versions adapted accordingly. Once the translations are complete and the key customer has submitted the respective questionnaires to their worldwide affiliates, they are usually reviewed and, if needed, the terminology is adapted to the specific language region or corporate terminology. this requires particular precision to avoid any confusion, and sensitivity to ensure no one takes offence. any change must be documented, justified and finally reviewed and commented on by the coordinator and translators. in our first project, we had no idea that the customer had changed anything, only to be confronted with different versions for some of the languages. Many showed that the 'revisers' had not understood the question, but others were valuable improvements. agreeing on the final version proved to be a somewhat protracted process, but one in which we all learned a lot, with the result that our collaboration was very smooth in the next cycle. Fees and costs Given the importance of comparability across all nations and the translators' commitment to work as a team, we cannot work for our usual rates with this type of translation. key customers usually request several competitive quotations and will use someone else if they think the rate we offer does not match our BG Работата ми доставя удоволствие BS volim svoj posao CS Moje práce mě baví DA Jeg er engageret i mit arbejde DE Meine arbeit macht mir Spaß EL Η εργασία μου με ικανοποιεί EN i like my work ET Mulle meeldib minu töö I LIKE MY WORK IN 35 LANGUAGES ES Me gusta mi trabajo FI työni on mukavaa FR J'aime mon travail HR volim svoj posao HU Munkám örömet okoz nekem ID Saya menikmati pekerjaan saya IT Mi piace il mio lavoro JA 仕事が楽しい KO 나는 내 일을 즐긴다 LT Man patinka mano darbas LV Mans darbs man sagādā prieku MK Мојата работа ми причинува задоволство MS Saya suka kerja saya NL ik heb plezier in mijn werk NO Jeg trives med mitt arbeide PL Moja praca sprawia mi przyjemność PT Gosto do meu trabalho RO Îmi place munca mea RU Моя работа мне нравится SK Mám rád svoju prácu SL Moje delo me veseli SR Ja uživam u svom poslu SV Jag trivs med mitt arbete TH ข้ าพเจ้ ารู้ สึ กสนุ ก กั บงานที่ ทำ TR İşimden zevk alıyorum VI tôi yêu thích công việc của tôi ZH 我喜欢我的工作 Pre-testing documentation TRAPD • T = Translation: translator • R = Review: another translator • A = Adjudication: those who make the decisions • P = Pre-testing: small target group • D = Documentation: annotations Translation Review Adjudication

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Linguist - The Linguist 54,2