yndigo

Wictionary.org defines translatorese as: “(pejorative) Stilted or unidiomatic language produced by translation.” That doesn’t sound good.
However some contend there are certain types of documents and certain audiences where erring on the literal side is a safer bet. Not literature of course (ironically we can’t take literature literally as one of my grad school professors used [...]

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Is there such thing as neutral Spanish?
This question has been asked time and time again in translation circles. To many Spanish speakers the very idea is laughable. When people from different Spanish speaking countries strike up a conversation, they recognize, often understand, and sometimes chuckle at, the words and expressions the other uses. But these [...]

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The little I know so far

Despite the fact it takes a lot of work and the desired results can be slow in coming and difficult to measure, I like blogging. It’s a great exercise for those of us who have lots of thoughts and opinions we never took the time to jot down.
And since [...]

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There is some confusion over what a Certificate of Accuracy is, who may issue it and under what circumstances it is required.
A certificate of accuracy is a statement in writing that claims, “I was qualified to do this translation and I believe it is faithful to the original.” It does not claim the translation [...]

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Follow-up on a recent post
The beginnings of a good discussion on a recent post, Getting Testy, made me want to dig a bit deeper into the issue. I know translation tests have already been debated ad nauseam on the web for years but mostly from the freelancer’s point of view. Our discussion included comments [...]

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If it smells like legalese, it must be…

I’ve mentioned Wayne Schiess’ blog in the past because, although translators are often good writers (as I argued in an earlier post, writing is the translator’s most marketable skill), they gain a lot from writing tips from within their industry’s specialty. The point of Mr. Schiess’ blog, if [...]

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Translation tests in today’s market

Nothing seems to rile translators more these days than the translation tests requested so frequently by agencies. There’s vitriol in abundance on almost every translator forum and blog I read. Why?
Well I’ve never been on the receiving end of one of these requests so I’m just going to guess. Translators are [...]

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Acronyms pose a special problem for translators. They are hard to research because they often refer to specialized industry jargon or internal corporate processes. The internet has many resources for terminology research and pages devoted to acronyms but it can still be a hit-or-miss pursuit. As translators, we’re responsible for leaving no stone unturned in [...]

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A clear future for machine translation

Machine translation (MT) knows its limits and is targeting internet and technical texts according to Mike Dillinger, President of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas and Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, San José State University.
In yesterday’s article in innovations report, Dillinger goes on to explain where Machine [...]

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Translation audience, philosophy, and approach

Many professional translators learn by translating, and often eschew translation theory in favor of a hands-on approach. Their research is practical and centers around the terminology and concepts of various industries. Even many college translation programs favor practical studies over theory.
One pervading philosophy or another, however, often comes to underpin and [...]

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