Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Error Recognition and Translation Quality

This is an edited text:

"Speaking of translation quality, recognition of errors in the source text is of great importance for a quality translation work. Translators are supposed to be discerning readers who pursue refinement. So the recognition of original mistakes is an important factor in high performance. The translator should focus on the interrelationship and coherence of the source text and never draw any conclusions without supporting proof. Moreover, simple mistakes such as typing errors and some factual mistakes could also be detected by an experienced translator. Such mistakes in the source materials are not rare and the translator should regard himself as a first-hand information extractor and not a literal translator. In additon, the lack of comprehension about the background and culture can render nonsense translations, not to mention sentence structures or syntax being sometimes careless in the original material. "

That's just a first edit of the following text, purporting to be written by a translator *clearing throat* who is giving advice on quality:

"While we talk about the translation quality, recognition of errors in original presents great importance for a quality translation work. As we know, the translators are supposed to be the discerning readers who pursue refinement more than literacy. So when we take the recognition of original mistakes as an important factor for perfect performance. The assigned translator should emphasize on the interrelationship and coherence of the source language text and never draws an imprudent conclusion without any supporting proof. However, simple mistakes such as typing error, the slip of the pen and some factual mistakes could also be detected by an experienced translator. Actually, it is not rare to make such mistakes in the source materials unless the translator regards himself a first-hand information extractor instead of a literal translation operator. Also, the lack of the comprehension about the background, culture can make his translation no sense. In addition, sentence structure or arrangement is sometimes involved in careless original writing materials. The following examples might cast a light on common mistakes."

With a quality like that, am I safely to assume his surname is Babel and he is an electronic piscis?

No comments: