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Poll: What do you do when you receive a poor quality source text (e.g. grammar issues)? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Samantha Payn wrote: I am astonished that the response "Produce a good translation, figuring out the problematic parts and raising any issues politely with the client" was not listed as one of the answers. I read the options twice, because I couldn't believe this answer was not an option. | | |
Do my best to turn garbage into gold. No need to inform the customer. Nobody cares or wants to know. Sandra | | |
who the client is. If it is a regular client I explain the problem and they usually suggest what to do. If it is a new client I turn it down. | | |
More often the case than I dare to imagine! | Mar 15, 2017 |
Sandra& Kenneth wrote: Do my best to turn garbage into gold. No need to inform the customer. Nobody cares or wants to know. Sandra Like! | |
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I bet that there is an answer to what the source creator (writer) did miss or misunderstood. So, I do my best and struggle to find out the one and only correct translation by all means. Then, I never let it slip away and inform the PIC of it. However, if the proposed work is full of poor source strings, I simply reject the task because it costs a lot of time to have the tangled and twisted straight.
[Edited at 2017-03-15 13:14 GMT]
[Edited at 2017-03-15 13:15 GMT] | | |
Me too, but I'm beginning to have my doubts... | Mar 15, 2017 |
Samantha Payn wrote: I am astonished that the response "Produce a good translation, figuring out the problematic parts and raising any issues politely with the client" was not listed as one of the answers. TWICE in the last week, I have had clients come back and question translations where this was the policy. One was not mine, and the original translator had IMHO done a faithful job of writing good English from a mix of technical jargon and plain sloppy writing. The text was a series of informative articles intended for non-experts. The meaning was clear enough, however. The other translation was my own, and the client asked for a flowing translation, not necessarily word for word. It came back painted red and full of Danish syntax copied from the source... I have just spent the morning fuming and explaining why I prefer my version. I had better not comment here, or the moderator will have to remove my post... Everyone can English, so why ask Brits like me to mess up the client's lingua franca? | | |
Mario Freitas Brazil Local time: 20:02 Member (2014) English to Portuguese + ...
Samantha Payn wrote: I am astonished that the response "Produce a good translation, figuring out the problematic parts and raising any issues politely with the client" was not listed as one of the answers. This is the answer you'd expect from a professional tanslator. Chinglish has become part of our routine long ago. We must be able to deal with it, and this is how you do it. | | |
Adam Warren France Local time: 01:02 Member (2005) French to English Standardising the management approach | Mar 17, 2017 |
Samantha Payn wrote: I am astonished that the response "Produce a good translation, figuring out the problematic parts and raising any issues politely with the client" was not listed as one of the answers. So often do I stumble on obscure or ambiguous text that I have devised a standard queries table as a Word template, which I complete with the job and client details. I list and send the queries ahead of the deadline so that the client has time to answer, if a direct client or, if an agency, can secure a timely answer from the end client. On a long job, I send queries in batches, with chapter-and-verse references, source text and recommended or conjectured target renderings, to guide the answerer. Unsolved queries are delivered with the job, and my follow-up is part of the package, provided the volume of work it entails is not unreasonable. Obviously, the sheer inanity of some mistakes may be thoroughly irritating; even so, one has to keep a polite, neutral tone, because this is the best way to elicit coherent and constructive answers. Translators have an implicit role as standard-setters, and their efforts to clarify the meaning may provoke thought, especially if the information flow is positive in mood. With kind regards. | | |
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