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How to apply as a language professional in a foreign company and the specific requirements for a German application: Part 2

contact@yakuyaku.com — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:28:11 +0200

Required documents Germany, with the German people then being a natural extension of the country, is considered to be very bureaucratic. This quality also applies to the job application process. You may very well be required to provide more than just a CV and cover letter. The documents you will need to prepare are: ï- Cover letter / Letter of intent ï- CV / Resume ï- Copies of your high school diploma, university diploma or other certificates expressing your qualifications, such as continued education courses, etc. ï- Copies of certificates of employment (no requirement) Cover Letter The cover letter comes first, and due to that, may be considered the most important part. When applying as a translator or language professional at a German company the cover letter (Anschreiben) or letter of motivation (Initiativschreiben) for an unsolicited application should always be written in German, or even better, also in the language that you intend to work with. The same goes for the CV. It should state your specific interest in the position that you are applying for and why you are qualified. The letter should be straightforward and free of lots of diplomatic wording, meaning, stick to the facts. Most employers receive many applications a day and appreciate brevity. Make a clear statement on why you are the right person for the position, but as I mentioned before, be human and don't lie. Avoid general platitudes like, âIâve always wanted to work for a German company, and if I get the chance to work in this position, it would be a dream come true.â Describe yourself as a person and state your personal and professional strenghts. Moreover, refer to former employment that is similiar to the job that you are applying for. Point out your experience! Structure your cover letter focusing on the points mentioned above. It may sound stereotypical but order and structure is very important to Germans, so even a single-page cover letter must adhere to specific guidelines. Therefore, it should be of no surprise then that Germans even have an official standard for this, the DIN-Norm 5008. For instance, one very important part of the cover letter is the subject line. That is the place where a German lays his or her eyes upon first. It contains the purpose of the letter, referring specifically to the job offer. A typical cover letter often begins, "I hereby apply as ... " ("Hiermit bewerbe ich mich als .."). Samples of German coverletters can be found here (in German): http://www.bewerbung-tipps.com/vorlagen/anschreiben/100.html More information regarding the cover letter (in German): http://www.ulmato.de/anschreiben.asp http://www.bewerbung-forum.de/anschreiben.html CV The curriculum vitae (CV, or in German - Lebenslauf) should not be considered of less importance than the cover letter. It shouldn't be any longer than 2-3 pages and a standard CV should have a passport-sized photo attached to the upper-righthand corner of the first page displaying the head and upper-torso of the applicant. A high-quality photo taken by a professional rather than a photo-booth gives you an advantage. Alternatively, you can paste the photo on an extra cover page. Some employers consider that to be more professional. As previosly stated, the CV should be written in two languages (and for applications to a German company, German is a must!), and should follow a specific structure. A CV in should be organized in tabular form with different subcategories for work experience, education and language skills. Inside of those, information is to be placed in reverse chronological order, beginning with the most recent items listed first. (No need to include the day - month only will suffice.) Besides the heading, a CV begins by offering personal data, such as name, address, etc. Unlike many other countries, you should also include your date and place of birth, marital status and number of children. Otherwise your CV is going to be considered incomplete. Lately, CVs also tend to include an objective. This statement refers to the goal of the application and is listed before the work experience. Next you will need to state your professional experience, including the company name, sector, city and the position(s) that you held. In addtion, your achievements while serving various positions are of great interest to your future employer, so specify them here. As mentioned previously, work experience is one of the most important factors when applying for a job as a language professional. For translators, those experiences could be your major translation projects, while language coordinators or bilingual specialists might want to list not only the period of time working with a certain company, but more specific examples such as increases in language courses, or name of the bilingual product that they were responsible for. The more detailed, concrete, and convincing your experience, the better your chances will be for getting the job. Even if expereince is considered the most influential piece of information, a CV must also include education. The education section opens with university/college and ends with secondary/high school studies. You sould include all titles/degrees (or their quivalent degree in Germany), university/school names, cities, dates of study, final grade average, and honours or experience studying abroad. The next part of the CV concerns language skills. This not important, but obligatory. Of course the language associated with the job that you are applying for is listed here. If a language is not the primary language necessary for performing the job that you are applying for, all levels below intermediate can be considered irrelevant. Being able to consider yourself fluent in the necessary language(s) is generally a must, however an intermediate level of ability may suffice as long as you possess other valueable skills. Depending upon your abilities, it may help to separate written and verbal skills. While certainly not true in all cases, Germans are generally considered to be skeptical of character, so they likely wonât accept a statement of your ability solely on your word. But as mentioned already, whatever you do, don't lie about your language skills, because your employer will find out soon enough! All of this counts for your third, fourth, or even fifth language as well. However if the job requires proper German, you had better not state your level using such vague expressions as âfluentâ. For German you should provide your official certificated level (e.g. B2, ZMP, KDS, GDS, ZD, DSH or any DaF certificate). While everything below ZMP won't work, GDS or DSH-3 is a big plus. However keep in mind that the DSH entrance level test for universities from your days as a student, or the KDS test you passed 10 years ago, are not very convincing. The last part of the CV is the miscellaneous section, which includes supplementary information such as computer skills, meaning programs, applications, word processing, spreadsheets, database skills (note that the ability to use an internet browser is NOT a skill!), personal abilities, publications and other professional articles, hobbies, or extra-curricular activities and outside endeavours. The latter three are just as important as your professional information, since they give some impression about you as a person. (It is important to note that watching TV or chatting with friends may be some of your favorite activities, but an employer wonât consider these to be hobbies.) As a language professional it may help if you spend your freetime in some kind of study or research group, or as part of a network supporting events and cultural exchange. The last page of your CV should be dated and signed at the bottom. That may seem odd, but it is considered standard in Germany. Aside from the formalities regarding the CV, I would also like to provide some additional tips: Please keep in mind that you should always stick to the truth. Even if you have got some âholesâ in your CV, perhaps a period of time where you did not work or go to school, you should honestly try to explain those. If you were a translator before applying for a permanent position you may have been working as a freelancer. This is not a disgrace, as it is typical within the industry nowadays, and a good reason for filling these âholesâ. German employers are usually very straight and prefer applicants with a traditional career path. A CV that looks very colourful due to the high number of different jobs you had in the past and the adventurous activities that you have participated in throughout your life may deter an employer from hiring you. However gaining experience through travel in other countries in order to improve your language skills is a different case entirely, especially for the language industry. The question then becomes, âHow do you present your CV?â. Points that may seem to be negative or odd at first glance may likely be something not to be looked down upon at all. Pick the advantages of those points and introduce them as your special abilities. Samples and more general information for German CVs can be found here (in German): http://www.bewerbung-tipps.com/lebenslauf.php http://www.ulmato.de/lebenslauf.asp http://www.stepstone.de/Karriere-Bewerbungstipps/bewerbungstipps/der-optimale-lebenslauf-kommentierte-beispiele.cfm University, High-School Diplomas, and other documentation For German employees the attachements together with the CV are the basis for inviting you to a job interview. In Germany it is necessary to attach copies of all important certificates that prove your qualifications (copies, not originals). Such certificates include school and university diplomas, certificates of career training, or additional training courses. However you should always attach the certificate with the highest level of credibility (e.g. instead of your high school diploma, you would be better off attaching your university degree), and nothing older than 10 years is really necessary. If you have one, you should additionally attach a reference letter from your last employer. Attaching references from other employers is not common but also not out of the ordinary. (The 10 years rule doesn't apply here.) If you have been working as a freelancer for different companies before, you might want to add the best reference, or one from the most well-known company. However employers usually don't give priority to references, because they can be easily be âupgradedâ. The most important documents for a language professional are language certifications. (As mentioned above, your ZMP, GDS or DSH certificate.) Make doubly sure that these are included. Application Folder All of the documents above should be, if you wish to be considered professional, bound in a application folder. Even though such a folder is not always necessary, the presentation of the application plays a significant role. You should take care that all documents are placed in the correct order of importance and that they can easily be accessed and read. The most common layout for an application folder is probably this one found at the link below: http://www.bewerbungsshop24.de/shop/out/oxbaseshop/html/0/dyn_images/2/square_1_p2.jpg However I personally prefer something more simple, such as the one found here: http://www.bewerbung-training.de/Vorstellungsgespraech_Vorbereitung_Fragen_Tipps/Images_partner/mcbuero/Mappe1.gif Formating As mentioned previously, the importance of the presentation of your application is not to be underestimated. Because of this, I recommend following the formatting tips below: - Use an easy-to-read font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial) - Use paper of good quality (white, not colored) for the application folder - Take care that your application is complete and up to date! - All copies must be of of excellent quality. No re-use of old applications, no transparent film, no tacking. - For the address, write clearly on the envelope. If you by chance apply for a job with a German company in Japan, don't send any application in the standard Japanese format. From my experience in Japan I noticed that applicants tend to submit applications in the format that is typical for their country. For instance, the Japanese do have a standard form to fill out when applying for a job. A German employer is not only not used to it, making it difficult to easily grasp relevant information, but he may also view it negatively. Additional components Besides the typical documents listetd above, you might also want to include the following documentation in order to improve your application: cover page, introduction page, references, attachment list, and work samples. Work samples and references are particularly recommended when applying as a language professional. However you should take care to avoid your application becoming too long. No employer wants to read a novel when checking your application. If you need more specific help with your application, feel free to ask us in the Forum. Our team of professional natives from all over the world can help you write the best application possible in your second language, as well as provide personalized advice. Show us your application and weâll refine it for free! Also, if you need tips for a job interview with a foreign company, post your inquiry in the Forum and we will help you to prepare.

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How to apply as a language professional in a foreign company and the specific requirements for a German application: Part 1

contact@yakuyaku.com — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:57:18 +0200

If you seek a job as a language professional in a foreign company then there are probably two primary ways to go about applying for a job: 1. Submit an unsolicited application, or 2. Apply in response to an advertised position. Unsolicited Application Since youâve got nothing to lose, itâs easy to send out an unsolicited application, as they can be sent any time, however this method is primarily recommended for those who can demonstrate a particular skill set or talent and who are very motivated and have an established set of professional goals. If you take the initiative to apply for an unadvertised job you probably want to keep the application short. Because the success rate for this style of application is generally low, you should clearly and concisely state your most relevant and appealing qualifications. A short cover letter describing your motivations, as well as a list of your skills and strengths , in this case related to language profession, makes it easy for a project or personnel manager to consider you if they are in need of in-house staff. Visual presentation is very important for such an application, so make sure that you choose the right format and layout without overdoing it. For a German company, the facts related to your qualifications are most important. This is why a costly application folder may actually result in negative points, particularly in the case of unsolicited applications. Even unsolicited applications should be shorter than their standard equivalent. Don't forget to attach copies of your college and academic certificates, as well as information related to your previous work experience. Of course, a CV is a must. Also offer to send a more advanced application should the recipient wish to seek further information about you as a potential candidate within the company, and always express your willingness for an interview. (Sorry, but applications from abroad do not have any chance!) Job Offers When applying for an advertised position it is very important to know the company and its business, as well as the requirements for the job. Before you apply, gather as much information related to the position as possible. Carefully read the description of the job offer. You also may want to contact the company in order to learn more about the jobâs requirements and the sort of environment that you might expect to work in down the road. If you apply for a language position, ask about the business language within the company and in which language(s) the application should be written. At this point, if you start to notice that your qualifications donât quite fit the job requirements it may be wise to reconsider your application. All of this information is necessary in order to present yourself properly, and matching the application requirements is a key element. Application Tips Even if it is only required that you submit your application in one language it may help to prepare one in two or more languages, specifically the languages necessary for the job that you are pursuing. In the case of dealing with German personnel managers, writing an application in more than one language makes a good first impression. When applying as an in-house translator or as a language professional it is wise not to describe your motivations as being based in your personal interest in the foreign culture, unless of course you happen to be applying for a job in a cultural center. You may like the country, and with relation to Germany, maybe you have been playing football since you were a child or have wide knowledge about beer and âlederhosen,â but applying for a job is not the right time to discuss your personal interests. Instead, point out that your qualifications make you the right person for the job. Be honest and realistic. Sell your skills and abilities, but don't lie about them, especially with regards to your language proficiency. Your ability in this area will be exposed eventually, either during the interview process, or at the very latest, upon starting your new position, and thatâs not only embarrassing but also costly for the company. Describe yourself. Don't be superficial, but analyze and characterize yourself critically. Point out your personal strengths and weaknesses. It is important to be aware of these, and the former especially counts in a job interview. It makes a good impression if you can state clearly what it is that you are good at. Don't describe yourself as the perfect âall-arounder,â or as the âperfect candidate for the job.â If this is not an unsolicited application then the motivation is not that important and such a self-description just sounds arrogant. Nobody is perfect! Instead be a âspecialist,â somebody who is really competent in some points of the job requirements, but also not too bad for the rest. When discussing your strengths, not only are your qualifications important, referring to the things that you have learned in school or college, but your professional experience should really serve as your primary emphasis, if you have it. The theoretical background that you gathered in university is valuable because, as with most jobs, you will notice that each day in the office can be completely different. However the motto is: experience counts double, and for language professionals, even triple! Considering this, both professional as well as personal experience can be very relevant. A pro translator, which is considered to be the same as in-house staff, of course does not just speak academic language, but also understands and has a grasp of the recent developments in everyday language. An understanding of local dialects and âyouth languageâ are both important points when it comes to selling your qualifications. In Germany for instance, the language is gradually changing into âDenglish,â meaning that many terms are being adapted into the German language utilizing German grammar. But even if you have a firm grasp of the nuances of everyday language, don't forget to be professional. Speaking an uncommon dialect during an interview may not be advisable. A language professional has a good feeling for language and knows to point that out in their application. You can prove that by attaching documents that show that you have spent a couple of years abroad, and in the best case scenario, have spent some time working there. A student exchange program you attended or a company where you only made use of your native language is not that impressive, as many people share those same experiences. As for the interview, it is good to be on top of international current events. A language professional understands the cultural background (http://www.yakuyaku.com/translators/readarticles.php?id=69) of the langue that he or she is working in. Your future boss may ask you about the latest exhibition of artist âXâ or the latest movie âYâ. He may also want to discuss politics, economy or society, so be prepared. Read the newspaper and related media about the companyâs home country. In the next part I will outline and describe all of the documents necessary for applying for a job with a German company. Stay tuned in order to guarantee the success of your next application! If you need more specific help with your application, feel free to ask us in the Forum. Our team of natives from all over the world can help you write the best application possible in your second language, as well as provide advice. Show us your application and weâll refine it for free!

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What Makes a Good Agency?

contact@yakuyaku.com — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:34:25 +0200

In the 15 years since I started diversifying into translation I have worked with around 100 different clients and have encountered dozens of others, many of them translationagencies. Based on this experience it is worth reflecting on what distinguishes these agencies in terms of their interaction with the translator. Initial contact Letâs start with the initial contact. It is good practice for translation agencies seeking new freelance suppliers to spend some time researching individual translatorsâ backgrounds â eg from their respective websites or from online directories such as the main ITI Directory, the Scottish Network Directory at www.itiscotland.org.uk, or the new ITI German Network Directory at www.itigermannetwork.org.uk â and then send out personalised invitations that are relevant to the circumstances. A less desirable approach is to send out impersonal mass mailings. Application forms Some agencies adopt a rather informal approach, while others use more or less complex translator information forms as a basis for their supplier databases. Before asking translators to complete lengthy forms, it is a good idea to negotiate a mutually satisfactory rate as a basis for future collaboration. Free test translations The issue of free test translations has been discussed at some length in various forums over the years. In my view, while anyone is entitled to request a test translation, professional translators should not be expected to provide these free of charge. In other words, test translations should be treated just like any other job. In this context, anyone who has not seen it yet and can understand German will no doubt find the âGratisschnitzelâ article published by the Austrian translatorsâ association Universitas quite entertaining. It can be found on page 4 of the document available from www.universitas.org/download.html?FILE_ID=112. Confidentiality agreements As members of professional institutions such as ITI, professional translators sign up to a code of conduct that includes confidentiality clauses. I am not a legal expert, but lengthy and complex additional confidentiality agreements as requested by some agencies would therefore seem rather unnecessary. Deadlines In certain circumstances, urgent deadlines requiring a translator to work outside normal office hours are unavoidable. While many freelance translators tend to work irregular hours and may well be quite happy to adjust their schedule to accommodate urgent assignments, out-of-hours or weekend work should not be taken for granted. A good agency is a freelancerâs ally, and should be prepared to negotiate appropriate surcharges with the end- client where appropriate. Auxiliary tasks As the job title suggests, a translatorâs main task is translation. Handling of auxiliary tasks such as PDF extraction or layout refinements in complex file formats such as PowerPoint should not be taken for granted. In this respect, a statement published by a well-known translation memory software provider back in 2002 speaks for itself: âPricing is not just set on a per word basis when complex file types are involved. If you are translating in file types other than Word-like web pages, or desktop publishing formats, you will want to charge file maintenance fees to compensate you for the extra skill required to manage and translate within such file types. Typically, a 10%-20% surcharge (depending on project complexity) is customary.â Discounts Some clients ask for discounts on the grounds that a job is particularly large. I would suggest that such a priori discounts are inappropriate, because: a) a commitment to undertake a large job within a standard timescale may well prevent a translator from taking on work from other clients in the meantime; and b) it could be argued that translators who can offer the additional project management skills and resources required for handling such projects should in fact be rewarded, rather than penalised. Similarly, translators are often asked to accept a sliding discount scale that was originally suggested by the aforementioned TM software provider, but is by no means cast in stone. Such a scale takes into account internal repetitions, so-calledopinion 100% TM matches and TM matches with varying degrees of fuzziness. In my experience, fuzzy matches may well require more time to adapt to a new text than translating the relevant sentence from scratch, and therefore I do not offer âfuzzy discountsâ. On the other hand, like probably most colleagues I do give discounts in some cases for repetitions and 100% matches. At this point, however, I feel it is worth pointing out that the origin and quality of 100% matches is a crucial factor that often seems to get overlooked in the âgreat discount debateâ. In other words, the 100% matches for which the client may expect a discount could have been based on poor previous translations undertaken by third parties, in which case any revision can be more time- consuming than a new translation. An inquisitive translator is good news The brochure Translation â getting it right, written by Chris Durban of ITI, is aimed at end-clients and is available to download from the ITI website, www.iti.org.uk. Part of the text says: âNo one reads your texts more carefully than your translator. Along the way, he or she is likely to identify fuzzy bits â sections where clarification is needed. This is good news for you, since it will allow you to improve your original. ... Ideally, translators strip down your sentences entirely before creating new ones in the target language. Good translators ask questions along the way.â A good translation agency will try to convey this philosophy to the end- client, for the benefit of all parties involved. Similarly, the agency will automatically enquire about reference material in cases where such material is not provided by the end-client. Feedback Feedback on completed translation assignments is important and should be encouraged. In my experience, many agencies seem to adopt a kind of âno news is good newsâ principle, which is fine in some ways, but even better is the occasional positive feedback. Any agencies and indeed end- clients who might be lost for words in this respect could take some guidance from the Comments section of my website at www.HETranslation.co.uk. Constructive corrective feedback is also to be encouraged, of course. Less helpful are general statements such as âthe client was not happyâ, issued several months after a translation job was delivered. Not only is this detrimental to morale, but I also feel that in many cases, such generic criticism fails to stand up to closer scrutiny. âFaffometerâ It is worth introducing the concept of a âFaffometerâ for measuring the satisfaction level of the working relationship between agency and freelance translator. Sadly I cannot claim to have invented the term â it appears to have been introduced by Business Productivity Expert Mike Pagan, although he uses it in a slightly different â potentially also very useful â manner. For him it is an Excel spreadsheet divided into equal time periods in the working day, each of which is allocated a productive task, and where the least possible amount of time is spent âfaffing aboutâ. See his video newsletter at http://video.mikepagan.com/Newsletter/Faffometer (it is less than two minutes long) for more. I am still in the process of refining my own Faffometer. At the high end of my Faffometer scale are agencies who tend to be reluctant to ask the end-client whether source texts can be made available in a format that can readily be processed with a CAT tool and, faced with IT challenges that may be beyond the capabilities of their project managers, expect translators to deal with auxiliary IT aspects such as extracting text from PDF files and preparing nicely formatted documents or presentations in the target language. Ideal scenario At the other end of the Faffometer scale is an agency I have been working for on a very regular basis for around 10 years, with a total job count approaching 2,000. This rather high figure is partly explained by the fact that all jobs, however small, are assigned a separate job number. While this may seem tiresome, it avoids can-you-please-just-translate- these-few-words-for-free scenarios. The agency invariably deals with any and all file format conversion and translation memory aspects and handles any and all pre- and post- processing tasks that may be required. Specifically, all their texts (regardless of the format of the original source document) arrive in the form of specially formatted MS Word files, where any pre-processed text (eg 100% translation memory matches or internal repetitions) is clearly identified. Such text can simply be formatted as hidden and automatically ignored on import into TM tools such as DÃ©jÃ Vu and MemoQ. The attraction of this approach is that discount negotiations and sliding discount scales are never an issue, while the pre-processed text contained in the original file can be helpful for reference. In addition, the agency tends to make translation memory and glossary extracts from their in-house TM and terminology management systems available, always tries to obtain reference material from the end-client, and happily responds to terminology clarification requests. My advice to agencies: â If a test translation is required, please be prepared to pay for it. â Use a personal approach when trying to expand your freelancer database. â Agree a mutually satisfactory rate before asking translators to fill in registration forms. â Lengthy confidentiality agreements may be unnecessary and inappropriate. â Be prepared to offer adequate compensation for urgent assignments requiring translators to work out of hours. â Please justify why large jobs should be discounted. â Sliding scale discounts should only be introduced after negotiation. â Offer translators the freedom to use their preferred translation memory tool. â Provide meaningful and timely feedback. This article was originally published in: ITI BULLETIN July-August 2009 About Herbert Eppel: Herbert Eppel is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist, and a member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and the German Association of Translators and Interpreters (BDÃ). Originally from Heidelberg, Germany, Herbert has been living and working in the UK since 1988 and runs HE Translations, a professional translation service for texts from a wide range of technical and scientific subjects with particular focus on renewable energy, environment and sustainable development. For further information see www.HETranslation.co.uk

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How To Catch High-Rate Clients

contact@yakuyaku.com — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:56:08 +0200

When I began my career as a JapaneseâSpanish freelance translator, I was incredibly stressed from the need to acquire clients. Most of the clients I was approaching were Japanese companies, who (theoretically) pay well. However, the rates I was being offered were, well, basically insulting for a professional translator. I am talking about 0.04 USD per character for Japanese to Spanish PATENT translations. Yes, PATENT translations. As I didnât know what usual rates were, I started accepting all of these jobs and, indeed, it was a great help to understand how the business works. Nowadays, a newcomer to the industry would be able to check what average rates are easily â thank you, Google - but back then I had no access to this information. The only thing I had was strong confidence in my language skills. Thatâs all. However, raising my rates caused me several problems in future years. Even a raise of 0.01 caused me to lose several clients â although most of them, I must say, remained with me. So I would like to give some advice for skilled translators who want to establish themselves as freelancers. Please note that this only works for SKILLED translators: 1. Set a price for your time First of all, decide how much you want to earn for eight hours of translation. The price of living is not the same in N.Y.C. as it is in Budapest, and you should also bear in mind the competitiveness of your language pair. Then, after you have a clear idea of how many words you can translate without rushing on an average day, decide what your rates will be. Your rates should be like those on a restaurant menu: They canât change depending on the client. 2. BE POLITE If anyone offers you a translation assignment below your rates, tell him what your rates are, and BE POLITE. Project Managers often deal with translators who give replies such as âSorry, the rates you are offering are just ridiculousâ. Well, nobody likes this kind of answer, and you can be sure that this translator wonât be offered a job again. âSalesâ is mainly about networking, and you should be sure to be super polite with your potential clients. 3. LIMITS Set a maximum of characters per day, and increase your rate when you must rush over this number. Clients (GOOD clients) will understand. Thatâs just being professional. 4. QUALITY MATTERS And if you make a mistake, offer a discount. If you go to a restaurant and you are served corn soup with a fly floating in it, you are not obliged to pay for that, right? Obviously, a single typo or spell mistake is not enough to be penalized, but big untranslated texts, mistranslations, etc., might cause trouble for YOUR client. If the work isnât up to your quality standard, you should be humble, apologize, and offer a discount. If you are not willing to offer discounts to your clients when you cause trouble for them, I am afraid you must not take much pride in your own work quality. 5. Recycle Study both your target and source languages everyday, no matter how confident you are. Also, check as many translation tools as you can and be sure you can at least understand how they work. It is my opinion that, if you follow the advice above, you shouldnât have problems finding translation assignments for decent rates. Remember also that decreasing rates is easy, while increasing them is almost impossible. So try to be as professional as you can from Day 1.

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China: What Are We Gonna Do About it?

contact@yakuyaku.com — Thu, 20 May 2010 03:54:38 +0200

As a translator-slash-project manager, this situation is rather alarming. With the spread of both Internet access and the ability of individuals to purchase personal computers, China is rapidly going online. On top of this, we have the problem of the ârisingâ standards of living there: people (especially in the larger cities, and even more especially those who have corporate jobs and the like) generally have more money and more access to more cutting-edge technology, which means that more companies are going to start gearing their products towards the Chinese, due to the sheer volume of money and population (= potential consumers) there. This in turn means that more companies will need translations and localizations for the region. This is where the first problem begins. China has a LOT of people. And a LOT of those people speak English to some degree. Also, a LOT of those people live in rural areas and donât make very much money. Say these people all caught on to the Internet-translation-as-a-job thing... What would happen then? A huge chunk of the proper freelance translation community would be out of work. With the sudden enormous influx of translators from a Third World country who are used to earning less than half of what their First World counterparts are, a large percentage of companies needing translations are going to abandon their non-Chinese translators in favor of extremely cheap labor. Obviously there will be a slew of quality issues for these companies, but unfortunately a lot of them arenât really going to care, since theyâre saving so much money. As a project manager, this has another negative effect on my work. If I need to find a translator for a translation into Chinese, and I donât have any trustworthy translators with whom I have previous experience on file, then I have to go out looking for a new one and pray that they know what theyâre doing. Unfortunately, anyone on the Internet can say anything they want about their work history, experience, and qualifications, and a lot of times these are somewhat embellished. On top of this, there are a lot of translators in East Asia who will take on virtually any translation assignment, regardless of whether or not they actually have the resources/ability to handle the languages or subject matter involved, and simply use Google Translator or some such tool to translate the entire project. This, obviously, is problematic. So with this expected surge of new âtranslatorsâ, how am I supposed to weed out the real, honest translators from those who just figure theyâll Google whatever material theyâre given for a quick buck? And if I canât weed out the fakes from the real deal, then how am I supposed to with this wave of Chinese language-related projects expected to be coming in? Honestly, I donât know. And as a project manager, that troubles me. Anyway, that was my quick view on the problem with Chinaâs recent bubble and its imminent effects on us as translators. As always, please feel free to discuss in the forum any ideas you may have regarding this subject.

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Translation-related Apps for the iPhone: What's Up?

contact@yakuyaku.com — Fri, 14 May 2010 10:05:23 +0200

Today, I'd like to review two particular (free) apps: the Infoseek-based "Japanese Translation (Lite)" app; and the wwwJDic (Japanese-English dictionary) app, based on the well-known wwwJDic website by Jim Breen of Monash University. As both of these apps are Japanese/English*-specific, these reviews may not come in extremely handy to translators dealing with other languages, but hopefully they can at least help give you a general idea of the kinds of translation-related apps that are currently out there, as I'd assume that iPhone/smartphone apps particular to other languages probably won't be that far off. *(The Japanese Translation (Lite) app is actually Japanese-English/Chinese/Portuguese/Korean/French/German/Italian/Spanish, whereas the wwwJDic app is strictly Japanese-English.) App #1: wwwJDic (Japanese-English dictionary) The Basics This app is basically an iPhone-ported version of the popular Japanese-English dictionary website of the same name. Since the dictionary used on the website is arguably one of the best online J-E dictionaries around, this should have been a nifty little app which could be used in a translation pinch or in times when you just can't think of/don't know a particular word and are nowhere near a computer. Unfortunately, the app does not contain the actual dictionary database - rather, it connects you via the Internet to the website's database - so it's not always exactly lightning quick. In fact, I'm sad to say that about 5-7 out of 10 times I try to translate a word, I get an error message. As far as I can tell, either a LOT of people use this app, thus creating an unbearable load for the servers, or the app was just poorly designed on the tech side. Either way, it's a bit disappointing. (Judging by the App Store comments from other users who purchased this app, I'm not the only one having this problem.) On the plus side, though, when I am actually able to fully utilize the dictionary, it's pretty much just as good as it's parent version. If only they could do something to fix the stability issues or else somehow include the entire database in the app itself, this would make for a really handy pocket dictionary. Buy or Don't Buy? Well, it's free, and when it does work it's quite useful, so if you're a Japanese-English translator with an iPhone then why not? How it will Affect the Industry Honestly, I'd have to say that this particular app should have virtually no effect on our industry and the way we do our jobs. This has nothing to do with the quality of the app - it's just nothing new or revolutionary. App #2: Japanese Translation (Lite) (Infoseek-based text translation program) The Basics The Japanese Translation ("æ¥æ¬èªç¿»è¨³LITE") app is - while not nearly as exact or concise as the previously-mentioned wwwJDic dictionary - a relatively useful little app. Put simply, it's an iPhone version of Google Translator or Babelfish, except you can only translate from Japanese into English, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, French, German, Italian or Spanish, or vice versa, but not exclusively between any of the non-Japanese languages listed. Both single words and whole phrases/blocks of text can be translated. Overall, this app is OK. I did have some minor issues with it, however. For example, the translation screen consists of two empty spaces, one on top of the other (top = your entered word/phrase, bottom = the translation), with a "Translate" button in between. Theoretically this is perfect, as it's simple, easy to use, and all you really need. Unfortunately, when you attempt to input text to be translated, the pop-up iPhone keyboard tends to get in the way of the Translate button, and according to some of the comments at the App Store, can almost completely obscure the button depending on the languages for which your iPhone is set to display keyboards. My other issue was with accuracy. Word-to-word translations were generally OK, but like Google Translator (in most cases), you only get one possible translation per word. This means that, for example, were you to try to translate the word "lead" from English into Japanese, you may get the definition for the noun (the metal) or you might get the verb (to lead a battalion, etc.). For someone who has little to no understanding of the language into which they're translating, this can be quite problematic. Buy or Don't Buy? This app is also free (there is also a pay version with several extra features, which escape me at the moment), and it isn't by any definition a "garbage app", so if you think you may have a use for it, then go for it. How it will Affect the Industry Again, I doubt this will have any significant effect on our industry or how we do our jobs. As with the wwwJDic app, dictionary/translator apps and programs exactly like this have been around on regular cell phones (not to mention the Internet) for years, so I really don't see this particular one upturning the translation world anytime soon. Next week, I'll review a couple more of the smartphone apps I've been testing out. This time I'll try to focus on more broad-scale apps (i.e.: not only Japanese-based apps). Anyone know of any good, helpful apps relating to translation or interpretation? On the other hand, know of any horrible ones that should be avoided at all costs? Let us know in the Forums.

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Translation-based Smartphone Apps: Whatâs The Score? (Part 2 of 2)

contact@yakuyaku.com — Mon, 10 May 2010 05:58:47 +0200

Welcome to Part 2 of this epic two-part series. So as promised, I downloaded and experimented with a few of the iPhone translation apps. I wonât mention the names of the apps I used â partially because you never know what kind of clients I may get involved with in the future, and partly because I canât remember â but I downloaded and tested out four different apps.* Since I personally am only proficient in English and Japanese, and can understand a small amount of Spanish, I only dealt with apps that supported those three languages, although there were many other applications which were built for languages with which I have no experience and therefore did not bother to try. Anyway, last week I submitted (from here on to be pronounced âsubmatâ) the prediction that these apps, being basically the same exact thing as any number of translation/language related programs that are available for your PC and/or normal Stone Age cell phone (âdumbphoneâ). I was certainly in for a big surprise. These apps were so far advanced, so unbelievably revolutionary, so disgustingly perfected that I literally evacuated my bowels after several minutes of use. Actually, no wait â I was talking about that toilet that was sent back in time from the year 2561, not iPhone apps. Sorry. My bad. So yeah, the apps pretty much completely validated my theories about them. Each of the ones I tried out were simply handheld versions of online dictionaries, Google Translate/Babelfish-style translation programs, or phrasebooks a la Lonely Planet. Itâs not that these apps were unusable or of bad quality (well, some of them were...); itâs just that they were nothing new or especially progressive, and therefore nothing to make me believe that any sort of threat was posed toward my particular field of expertise. Conversely, there was nothing to make me think that these apps were going to make my job any easier or help me to work more efficiently, either. There was one thing that came to mind, though: although these apps may not have much of an impact on the TRANSLATION industry and the way translation work is done, I think they could possibly have quite a large impact on INTERPRETATION... But that, my friends â as well as possible readers whom I donât particularly like as well â is an article for another time. Thank you, and good night. *Screw that. Iâm going to review these apps in my next article.

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Translation-based Smartphone Apps: Whatâs The Score? (Part 1 of 2)

contact@yakuyaku.com — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:32:42 +0200

As an iPhone owner and translator, I was admittedly a bit worried when confronted with the fact that there was yet ANOTHER thing which may in some way threaten the future of my career/industry/source of income. But then I remembered The Process: this sort of thing pops up pretty much every week, and I write an article about how it will or wonât destroy the translation profession, and then a few days later I forget all about it and nothing whatsoever changes, then I find a new thing to write about. So Iâm going to break this article into two parts: Part 1 â this one â will consist of my completely uninformed opinion regarding smartphone translation apps, without ever having used one nor done research on them, and my predictions as to how they will affect me/my job/your job/the fate of the planet. Part 2 â not this one â will be written in a few days, after Iâve actually downloaded and experimented with some of these apps, done a bit of research on the subject, and am actually able to formulate an informed opinion on the matter. I will then compare and contrast my uninformed predictions with my newly informed predictions, and see how spot-on â or shamefully off â I was. So, hereâs what I think: Not much at all. I donât mean that as in âI donât care enough to think about itâ. I mean it as in âI really donât think these apps are going to make much difference/cause many problems as far as translators go at allâ. Weâve had Internet-based dictionaries/translation engines, electronic dictionaries/translators, and cell phone-based dictionaries/translators around for years now, and while all of those put together have certainly encouraged some changes â both positive and negative â in the translation industry, I donât believe that the addition of the same exact product on a slightly different medium is going to have much of an effect on anything at all. This sentiment is especially applicable if these smartphone translators are anything like the handheld electronic translators Iâve used in the past. Iâve owned a couple of them, and although it was admittedly several years ago, they were basically garbage. Expensive dictionaries that required batteries â thatâs about it. Iâm assuming that these smartphone apps are probably closer to the normal PC/Internet-based translation programs/dictionaries out there, though, which means basically the same thing: nothing much will change. This is due to the fact that we already have all of this stuff, and in much more easy-to-use formats; although an iPhone is obviously more portable and less space-eating than an entire PC, itâs much easier to type up long sentences and paragraphs on a proper PC keyboard, as opposed to the tiny, touch-sensitive imaginary keys on a smartphone. So basically, my hypothesis is this: these apps are probably going to be less than impressive, and will likely have no effect whatsoever on our work as translators. Now, for the actual research to commence... Iâm going to download and try out several of these apps on my iPhone now, and Part 2 of this article should be up in a day or two. How right are my predictions? Will I be proven completely wrong, and be regrettably forced to not only apologize, but also to warn you all that âTHEYâRE TAKINâ OUR JOBS!â? I doubt it. But weâll see... To Be Continued...

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When Does âLocalizationâ Become âCensorshipâ?

contact@yakuyaku.com — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:49:01 +0200

But one seemingly simple yet relatively deep and complicated question has always bothered me: when does the âlocalizationâ of content stop being âlocalizationâ and turn into full-on âcensorshipâ? And to what degree should this sort of censorship be tolerated? As a recent example, Iâll use the newest installment in the Yakuza series. Yakuza 3 â an imported Japanese PlayStation game â was recently released in the US. Almost immediately, it came under fire for the huge cuts it suffered at the hands of Western localizers. Apparently, a significant chunk of the cut scenes, minigames, and events were removed from the US release, deemed âinappropriateâ for American audiences. This gets me wondering: how much of the cut content was actually âinappropriate for American audiencesâ as in âcultural differences would prevent full understanding and therefore only serve to confuse the player and impede their progressâ, as opposed to âAmericans are generally far more religious and uptight than Japanese people, so we canât show them this kind of nudity and/or violenceâ? I assume that someone purchasing the third installment in a game series would normally have a pretty good idea as to what kind of content they were getting into, especially with a series such as Yakuza, which is relatively well-known. The games even receive ratings similar to films, giving the consumer an even better idea of what the game in question contains. What Iâm trying to say is, basically, shouldnât this be enough as far as âprotectingâ the consumer from âinappropriate contentâ is concerned, with regards to the publishers? Shouldnât the âlocalizationâ have ended with the changing of certain references, place names, and linguistic changes? Regardless as to what country this game is purchased in, by default (due to content) the player will generally be an adult â or at least old enough to understand that the game may contain some ânaughty bitsâ. Just look at the cover - this fact is not going to surprise anyone. So who are the publishers to decide even further who this game is for, and what parts they should be allowed to play? This is not the first time this sort of censorship-disguised-as-localization has occurred, but it was the first example off the top of my head. Please feel free to discuss your opinions/experiences on the matter (or share more examples) on the forums.

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Translamagination: Inside the Mind of a Full-on Weirdo

contact@yakuyaku.com — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:43:04 +0200

Itâs also pretty much against the rules to discuss the private matters of clients and clientsâ clients. However, sometimes, you get a client whoâs just so mental, so absolutely tweaked in the head that you have no choice but to laugh out loud at the sheer ridiculousness of the material youâve been hired to translate. I wonât go into details here, but Iâve got one such document right here, at this very moment. This epic work of complete and utter fiction is obviously a labor of lunacy, the product of paranoia, and the result of something clever that begins with an R. It involves a totally fabricated story similar to a hybrid of the Bourne series, the Da Vinci Code, and Mission: Retarded. My dilemma now is this: I KNOW, due to my uncanny and amazing skills of ârecognizing the rant of a psycho when I see oneâ, that everything written in this purported âreportâ (the author is apparently reporting a long, intertwining string of victimizations through which she was, well, victimized) is false. Seriously, itâs ridiculously made-up sounding, full of unimaginable âcoincidencesâ, and just plain crazy. So since I know that this is all a total lie, does it still count as âwrongâ if I share the spoils of this comedy gold with my friends? Also, is it even fair for me to be getting paid for this, since itâs providing an obscene amount of entertainment for free? Discuss.

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Translation: Like Hugging a Foreigner... with Words

contact@yakuyaku.com — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 06:06:36 +0200

What being a translator is really about is âpeopleâ, and âconnectionsâ, and âthe oneness of all living beings, sentences, and syllables in the universeâ. Personally, I became a translator with the hopes of bringing together people who would never have been able to meld without the deconstruction of the metaphoric barrier that we call âlanguageâ between them. The slogan in the logo of a certain translatorsâ community I happen to be familiar with says âLove for languagesâ, but as for me, I like to say âLove for languages, and people and animals and nature and the Earth and stuffâ. To really be a great translator, one who translates the true meaning â nay, essence â of a phrase, one needs to feel that warm, fuzzy âje ne sais quoiâ down in the cockles of oneâs soul, that lightly-toasted feeling of wanting to act as the proverbial bridge between the river and the Kwai. Many folks just do it for the fortune and fame to be gotten from patent translations, or for the look of burning desire they get from a woman at a bar to whom they confide âI translate iPhone games for a livingâ. And thatâs all fine as well. But when it comes down to it, when you really need a word to be in a different language from the one in which it is at present, you donât need a dictionary, or an Internet, or even a guy who speaks that language and maybe lives in your neighborhood, and whose house is close enough that you could possibly walk on over and ask him directly how to say the word, except you havenât been formally introduced and that would be a bit awkward. No, you donât need those at all. All you really need is these. Actually, you canât see me right now, but Iâm holding my hands up. Because Iâm referring to my hands. And by my hands, I mean âourâ hands. And what do I mean by that? Why am I holding my hands up? Am I about to strike you? Of course not; I am a person of peace. Do I have a question? No, on the contrary, I am about to answer one: I am holding my hands up, because hands are for what? Thatâs right â holding. When you translate a word or phrase in the truest sense, you need to take that chunk of text by its tiny little hand â which for English, is probably the tip of a lowercase âfâ â and guide it along through its transformation into its new, beautiful form. Love the word, care for it. And in doing so, you are vicariously loving and caring for the unknown foreigner on the other end of your translation, and super-vicariously for every other foreigner to whom he shows your labor of linguistic love. Isnât that a pretty thought? Showing true, deep, nearly carnal love for words and language is not only a prerequisite for being a great translator; itâs also a requirement for being a citizen of the universe. The ability to caress a sentence, to fondle a phrase, to undress an adjective and impregnate an idiom... these are the skills that once acquired will allow you to do more than merely trans-late. They will enable to to trans-LOVE. Thank you very much.

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Machine Translation and the Future of Translation

contact@yakuyaku.com — Thu, 06 May 2010 04:06:10 +0200

Compared with the machine translations of 10, 20, or 30 years ago, more contemporary automated translation engines â such as Google Translate â have really come a long way. However, they are still extremely far from perfect. Try, for example, entering an Italian or Spanish phrase into Google Translate, and translating it into English. Chances are the translation was pretty close if not perfect (depending on length, grammar, complexity, etc. of the phrase). Now try translating, say, a Japanese phrase into Estonian. The translation you get is probably barely even close. Obviously, languages like English/Spanish/Italian which share many words and even grammatical structures are going to translate much more smoothly and naturally than completely unrelated languages such as Japanese/Estonian or Danish/Chinese. But sometimes, even Google Translate â used with pair of similar or even root-sharing languages â can surprise you. For example, with the many different ways to conjugate verbs in Spanish, even with a single, properly placed pronoun (I/you/we/he/she/it/they/etc.), the automatic translation you get can sometimes be laughably incorrect due to funky verb conjugations, dialect, even complicated punctuation. Even so, automatic translation these days is much more advanced than it was even five or ten years ago. Does anyone else remember playing the âBabelfish gameâ? Youâd put a simple phrase into Babelfish, translate it, translate it BACK, and repeat this process using two or more languages, eventually ending up with a bizarre, sometimes even psychedelic or surreal chunk of language that was almost invariably completely nonsensical and hilarious. Of course, you can still do the same thing with Babelfish or Google Translate these days, but I must admit that it takes a good number more clicks now than it did previously. If youâve ever seen Star Trek, with its âUniversal Translatorâ, or listened to/read/seen/played any of various incarnations of the Hitchhikerâs Guide to the Galaxy series with its âBabelfishâ (from which the Babelfish translation engine got its name), then youâre probably familiar with the direction in which a lot of people perceive the future of automatic/machine translation to be heading: a person says something â anything â in virtually any foreign language, and as the words leave their mouths, they are automatically translated by a machine (or an actual tiny fish, in âHitchhikerâsâ case), and heard by the listener in their native tongue. While this is obviously fantastical and inconceivable for a number of obvious reasons which I wonât bother going into here, one canât help but wonder: just how close to that ideal can machine translation actually come? And, even more importantly: how will that affect us as translators? Luckily for us, I really doubt that machine translation will ever get THAT far. However, it is true that the more precise and easy-to-use machine translation becomes, the harder it will be for translators to get work, and the less money will generally be available for these hardworking humans. I donât presume to have the answers to the big âWhat do we do about the human/automatic translation battle?!â question, but I can offer two opinions I have on the matter: 1) As I stated earlier, I donât believe it is possible that machine translation will ever reach the levels of science fiction-based examples of the âfuture of translationâ; and 2) letâs all hope that, if machine translation IS ever perfected, itâs 50 years away, and not 5.

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Geocultural Elements in Video Games, Part 1: Religion

contact@yakuyaku.com — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 09:31:59 +0100

Seeing as how the video game industry is exactly that â an industry, as opposed to a human rights association or humanitarian charity â there are several factors which contribute to the necessity for geocultural sensitivity in game development. One reason is the need for market acceptance, i.e.: if you develop a video game based on the awesome and gallant warriors of Country A decimating the evil, cartoonish goons of Country B, and then attempt to market that game in Country B, you probably shouldnât expect truckloads of revenue to come pouring in from that area. Market acceptance, of course, leads to another important factor: profit. If you can make a game that not only avoids offending peoples and cultures of a wider spectrum, but also appeals to people of many locales, then obviously your game will sell better. This also helps with general corporate image as well, which leads to better sales down the road. There are a number of elements which require a certain amount of attention and sensitivity throughout the process of not only translating but also developing, marketing, and localizing video games, and here Iâll introduce several of them throughout the next few articles. Today, I will discuss one of these elements: Religion. Religion has, for the duration of the existence of the concept itself, been a sensitive subject. And this is putting it ridiculously lightly. Throughout history, hundreds of millions of people have been killed, exiled, shunned, tortured, insulted, discriminated against, and just plain offended over the subject of religion. So it goes without saying that when dealing with religious subject matter, imagery, history, or interpretation, extreme care must be taken. One recent example of the subject of religion (as well as other social issues, such as gun crime and local violence) in a video game leading to problems was the case of the PS3 title, Resistance: Fall of Man. In March of 2007, the game was released in Europe, and quickly drew fire from the Church of England for several reasons. First, the developer â Insomniac â apparently failed to receive permission to use the image of Manchester Cathedral in the game (this is another important part of geocultural localization, which will be discussed at a later date). Another main reason was the way in which the cathedral was used: the game is mainly based on destroying the hordes of aliens which are invading the Earth in the alternate history of the gameâs storyline, and a good amount of graphic violence takes place within the cathedral itself. Being a relatively major symbol of the Anglican/Christian faith, one can see why church officials would be opposed to images of alien soldiers having their faces shot off against the backdrop of the holy sanctuary that is Manchester Cathedral. Ultimately, it was decided that accusations of copyright infringement were groundless, and Sony apologized publicly to the Church of England for use of the image of the cathedral, but many Christians throughout the world were still upset. The Church demanded that Sony â who had sold over 2 million copies of the game by that time â make a substantial donation to the Manchester-based anti-gun violence program run by the Cathedral, and the issue was even raised with then-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on television. Ironically, the controversy surrounding the game actually helped to boost not only awareness of the title but also sales as well, which to be perfectly honest somewhat serves to undermine the argument that these issues should be handled with care... but I digress. Depictions of locales, artifacts, persons, deities, and stories of religious significance on a much smaller scale are also found in many games, to varying degrees of controversy. These include the swastika-like symbol known as the gammadion, or the manji in Japanese, which is actually a centuries-old symbol used in many religions and in many contexts throughout the world. This symbol appears frequently in video games, mainly of Japanese origin, in both positive and negative contexts (for example, in one game it may be used as a âpower-upâ whereas in another game it may be a harmful item or enemy projectile). Another more specific example would be a scene in the game Xenogears â which itself deals with philosophical and religious themes - in which a number of robots are shown being crucified near the end of the game. Both of these examples have sparked controversy and even, in some cases, outrage among people of many faiths and cultures. The main point of this article is very simple: when developing, localizing, marketing, or even planning a video game, take extreme care with how you handle anything which could be considered religious imagery, content, or themes. Offending and angering not only direct customers, but also the community to which they belong, at the most basic and primal level is definitely a good way to drive your product â and your corporate image â into the ground.

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Why The Tranzlation Industry Is Like Hella Lame

contact@yakuyaku.com — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:05:03 +0100

WHAZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP?! You know what? The tranzlation industry is like, hella lame. On the real. Itâs getting to be so that an honest, hardworking trizz-anslator such as myself â who is awesome â canât even get real work and stuff. I been working for like hella days â like years even- as a professional American-Canadian tranzlator and obviously I got MAD SKILLZ WHUUUT. But cuz the industry is full-on wack these days, itâs like I gotta get a real job with a boss and customers and stuff, otherwise I canât even pay for my beard manicures and my premium top-shelf hizz-eadbands. People be calling me up on the Peanutphone and be like âHAY YO PEANUT, I WANT YOU TO BUST OUT YOUR TRANZLATION SKILLZ ON THIS HERE VIDEO GAME,â and Iâm like âWORD, I CAN DO THISâ but then they want stuff like âinvoicesâ and âpurchase ordersâ, and some other garbage I ainât even never heard of before, like âproofreadingâ and âspellcheckâ and stuff. You want me to prove that I read your text? What is you? Stupid? Itâs like, how the hell is I supposed to TRANZLATE some words if I donât read them words first?! Thatâs hella dumb. Of course I read that shizz. Well, most of it, at least. If some of the words is big I usually just cut those ones out cuz Iâm clever like that. And then these fools want me to âspellcheckâ. Iâm like I DONâT EVEN PLAY HOCKEY, SON. On the real, yo. When a dude send me a bunch of words and be like âHAY YO PEANUT WHERE THEM TRANZLATION SKILLZ AT SON?!â he also usually wanna be giving me a time limit, too. Some people call it a âdeadlineâ. He says âHAY YO PEANUT DELIVER THIS BACK TO YOUR BOY BY MONDAY THE 5TH, SONâ and Iâm like what? DELIVER this? Like Iâm some kinda pizza boy or some wack nonsense? Peanut donât play that. PEANUT get you your wizz-ords when PEANUT FEEL like getting you your wizz-ords. Word. Just last month this dude wanted me to tranzlate his text into some kinda wack boingboing language that I donât think even exists. But money is money, so Peanut was like WORD, I CAN DO THIS. So I went on the Googles and found this thing what you can put in some wizz-ords, prizz-ess the button, and then BAM you got some wizz-ords in a different language! Stuff was legit fly, son. So I hit up the Googles and tranzlated all them wizz-ords and âdeliveredâ them to Dude like I was some pizza boy. Then Dude gets all up on my case like I did something wrong. He be like âHAY YO PEANUT THIS AINâT NO BOINGBOING LANGUAGE I AXED FOR, WHAZZUUUUUP?!â and I was like I did what you said, yo?! But he wasnât having none of that. He was like âHAY YO PEANUT I NEED YOU TO REDO THIS A.S.A.P., SONâ. Thatâs when I got hella mad, cuz you know Peanut got no love whatsoever for the Association of Scientists Against Pornography, and I told him he could go get some hockey playing spellchecking fool who ainât even clever enough to use the Google to tranzlate his stuff and who so dumb he prolly be using a dictionary and whatnot. Some tranzlator that dumb prolly got an invoice, too, cuz he hearing people talk all up inside his dome. Then Dude just hung up the phizz-one and stopped returning my texts. This shizz be happening all the time. Punk. Anywayz, Peanut ainât trippin. People prolly stop returning my texts cuz they afraid that a tranzlator of my ca.. cal... callib... callibur gonna take all they jizz-obs away from they clients. What with these MAD TRANZLATION SKILLZ, I canât even blame them. I mean, if I was a tranzlation agent, and I was working with a legit superstar baller like THA PEANUT, Iâd be hella scared, too.

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Quick Tips for Choosing a Translator

contact@yakuyaku.com — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:18:50 +0100

A âbad translationâ can be bad for many different reasons, and to varying degrees. You can get completely nonsensical, random translations from the likes of Google Translator of Babelfish, or you can get them from an obviously non-native speaker who has a bit too much confidence in their linguistic skills. You can also get bad translations by translators who are indeed native speakers in their target language, but who have extremely limited abilities in the source language, causing errors which may be grammatically correct but have little to nothing to do with the source text. There are also many translations which are technically correct â in the sense that they adhere to both the source text and the general rules of spelling and grammar â but which are too awkward and/or rambling to properly follow. Unfortunately, unless you either know the translator to have adequate ability or have a good system for selection, you never know when these bad translations will pop up to ruin your day. Here, we will outline some basic steps you can take to avoid having to deal with these bad translations by choosing an appropriate translator from the get-go. Check Accreditation A number of professional translator associations - for example, the ATA (North America) or the JTF (Japan) - make an attempt to set quality and accuracy standards by administering difficult, peer-evaluated tests for various specified language pairs. Professional translators with experience and accreditation evaluate these tests to decide whether or not to award certification. Translators with these accreditations are generally reliable, and usually have proven skills. Check Available Samples If possible, look for a native speaker of the target language who will be able to read samples of the prospective translator's work. Even better would be to find an evaluator who also has a background in the source language, and even more so if you can find someone with knowledge of the source material as well. A bit of this sort of research can provide you with a pretty good estimate of a translator's skill level. Proper, natural-sounding writing can be difficult enough as it is; writing properly while also conveying a set meaning into another language can jack up the challenge level considerably. You should NEVER assume that a ânative speakerâ of a language equals a âproficient translatorâ. Pair Up the Translator with the Material Not all documents are exactly the same, and no translator can translate all documents adequately and efficiently. Thoroughly check a translator's experience and fields of specialty. If a translator does not have experience translating technical documents, then you probably shouldnât assign them a highly technical user manual for a drill press. If youâre looking for someone to translate a press release for a trendy new restaurant or club, then you might not want to go with a medical translation specialist. One of the most common misconceptions about the translation business is that it is a scientific and exact process - simply trading words from one language with words of another language, and having them make sense. If you have an understanding of the complex ways in which languages and cultures differ from each other - as well as of the inherent challenges of proper writing - you should be able to select a translator without having to scramble around for someone to proofread and subsequently correct an entire project by the deadline.

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Translating Dialects

contact@yakuyaku.com — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:47:45 +0100

Some dialects may vary only slightly from the standard language (for example, the Osaka and Kyoto dialects in Japanese), and some seem to be a completely different language (Okinawan dialect and, well, the rest of the Japanese language). As for the reason these dialects exist, there are a variety of factors, including country of origin, local region, culture, history, etc. But on top of these dialects, most languages have a set âstandardâ or âofficialâ dialect, which is used for things such as the news and newspapers, contracts, language arts classes in schools, and in business settings. Letâs say you are contracted to do a Japanese to English translation â a contract, or a user manual, for example. Of course, the source text will be written in standard Japanese (known as âhyoujungoâ), and it goes without saying that the translation you deliver will have to be written in proper English. But what if youâre contracted to translate a comic or book or movie script â and itâs all written in dialect... What do you do then? This sort of job is relatively rare, but does come in every once in awhile. A long time ago, I was hired to translate the script of a Japanese indie comedy film into English, back when I had just started out as a translator. When I saw the script, I sort of freaked out. This was because about half of the actorsâ lines in script were written in extremely thick Osaka dialect. Now this wasnât a problem for me at all as far as comprehension goes, because I actually learned (REALLY thick) Osaka dialect before I could ever speak standard Japanese, but I was told to âmake sure that (I) keep the style and tone of the charactersâ respective ways of speaking and dictionâ. Since English dialects and Japanese dialects are totally different, I was stumped at first. Especially because the very fact that these characters spoke in such thick Osaka dialect, as well as the flow of the dialect itself, was basically the punchline or at least an important component of the majority of the jokes and gags in the film. The problem is, the difference between, say, âAmerican English and British Englishâ is completely different than the difference between âStandard Japanese (or âTokyo dialectâ) and Osaka dialectâ, which I assumed meant that there was no way I could translate the script perfectly. After racking my brain for awhile (keep in mind, I had just started out), I came up with an idea: âThe âstandard Japanese charactersâ would speak normal, proper English, and Iâd have the âOsaka dialectâ characters speak with a thick, exaggerated version of the way kids back in my old neighborhood spoke, slang and all.â This not only helped make the translation go a lot more smoothly â it also made the job a lot of fun. (In the end, the client actually really liked the translation and I received a pat on the back, as opposed to having my translation thrown out, as I was kind of afraid would happen.) Another example that has always stuck in my mind is an old episode of the famous manga âRanma Â½â by Rumiko Takahashi. When I was in high school, I used to watch that show all the time, but unfortunately I could usually only get my hands on the English dubbed versions. I donât want to sound too much like an âotakuâ or anything, but thereâs a character in the story named Ryoga Hibiki, who in one particular episode is searching for a place called Nerima Ward in Tokyo. He ends up getting lost, and when he asks an old man on the street which way Nerima Ward is, the old man tells him âTokyo? This hereâs Shikoku!â (an island in the southwest of Japan, several hundred miles from Tokyo and generally considered to be deep in the countryside), in a thick, stereotypical Southern-American accent â as viewed by most non-Southern English speakers. In Japanese, of course, there is no âSouthern accentâ as we know it, and another viewing of the same episode in the original Japanese later revealed that that particular character actually spoke with a thick, stereotypical Shikoku accent â as viewed by most non-Shikoku-dwelling Japanese people. It was the sudden popping of this memory into my head that gave me the idea for my script translation when I was freaking out about how I was ever going to translate it. There are some situations in which â even though the source text may be written in some form of dialect â you can just forget about the dialect aspect and translate the text into the standard version of the target language. But in situations such as the one I just mentioned, where you absolutely have to play the dialect card in order to keep the original tone, meaning, or style of the original, itâs necessary to think not only about the relationship between âone language and anotherâ, but also âone dialect and anotherâ as well. Of course, this problem doesnât present itself when translating contracts, patents, etc., but every once in awhile youâll find yourself translating a comic or book or something similar, when youâll need to deal with dialects. Well, I say âneed toâ, but personally I find it to be fun to translate in and out of dialects every once in awhile, and itâs a good way to learn more about your language pair as well. But for reals though, you hella couldnât even do that for, like, some kinda article or whatever that youâre fittinâ to like, you know, post all up on a Website or whatever, dude. Cuz that would just end up looking all busted and broke and stuff, you feel what Iâm saying, man? Oops...

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The Pro Translator's Checklist, Part 2

contact@yakuyaku.com — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:09:39 +0100

As previously stated, some of these may seem quite obvious âeven for a beginner â but many translators seem to neglect many of them on a regular basis (and then wonder, âWhy havenât I been getting any work in recently?!â). Donât let that happen to you â read and follow these points as much as possible. 1. DONâT assume that a new client has previous experience using or working with translation services and translators, and donât assume that they donât, either. You just may find yourself been perceived as condescending - or conversely, green and amateur â due to the way you over/underuse certain terms or discuss types of software, etc. 2. DONâT respond to a request for services with laments about how swamped you are with work, or how tight your schedule is with other projects. You might be able to show a client just how in-demand you are, but you are also likely to make them think twice about requesting your services again. If itâs absolutely, positively impossible for you to accept a project, thank the potential client for their consideration and drop them a note when your workload lightens up. 3. DONâT assume that you already know everything there is to know about your own language pairs or specialties. Translation is the type of profession in which you can (and should) continue to learn and grow, as long as you stay open-minded. 4. DONâT make excuses for your rate - remember: you are a professional, offering a professional service. Do the necessary research in order to make sure that your rates are within industry standards. 5. DONâT provide a final quote without first checking the *entirety* of the source text. You could end up screwing yourself over majorly. 6. DONâT neglect to ask a client for a style preference or style sheet on especially long or continuing projects. Although the client may be responsible for providing you with these materials, you should always ask to be sure they havenât forgotten. 7. DONâT put off checking the source text of a new project. At the very least, go through it qucikly as soon as possible, even if you are in the middle of working on a different project. 8. DONâT wait till the last minute to make requests to the client, such as âMay I have a more legible copy?â or âCould you send some sort of reference materials?â These things may take time - or may be downright impossible â and if thatâs the case, then you need to know this as early as possible. 9. DONâT assume that your client has examined the source text as thoroughly and carefully as you do â or even at all. You may find that some text already exists in the target language, which is good news; or you may find that there is more text in a third language, which can change things drastically. 10. DONâT forget that human translation is an organic product. Keep an open mind when it comes to having completed translations reviewed, be ready to admit when youâve made a mistake, and be ready to defend yourself with concrete resources â donât try to deflect criticism or complaints with âIâve been doing this for a long timeâ... Thereâs always the chance that youâve have been doing it the wrong way for a long time. And thus completes the second half of the Pro Translatorâs Checklist. Iâm always open to fresh views and opinions regarding this work, so please donât hesitate to submit any additions, amendments, or criticisms you may have in the Forum.

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The Pro Translator's Checklist, Part 1

contact@yakuyaku.com — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:16:51 +0100

1. Always remember to thank a client for taking the time to contact you with an inquiry or quote. This should be done regardless as to whether or not youâre actually receiving work from them. 2. Always be sure to respond to inquiries from clients, prospective clients, and even people about whom you have doubts as to whether or not theyâd even be interested in your services. Feeling ignored or unimportant is a huge turnoff for anyone, especially to someone who is looking for a person to do a job for which attention to detail is extremely important. 3. (This is an extension of the previous item...) Always respond to inquiries after an absence as well. This includes going on vacation, moving house/offices, having computer/server problems, being sick, anything at all... Even if itâs too late to take on a job that may have been offered, showing that youâre professional and polite could lead to more work down the road. 4. Always be honest about your ability to meet a deadline. Promising a client that you can finish a translation in two days, and then having to take an entire week to finish it not only makes you seem unprofessional and green, it also makes you look like a liar. 5. Always check the entire source text before agreeing to a certain deadline and fee. âEight pagesâ certainly sounds much longer than âthree pagesâ, but âeight pages of a book for small childrenâ is usually going to take much less time and effort to translate accurately than âthree pages of a patentâ. 6. Always provide a fair quote in regards to your rates. That is, donât assume that one client can afford to pay twice as much as what you would charge another client for the same work, and then charge accordingly. You may unwittingly drive off a client altogether, if not a job that most others would gladly accept for much less money. 7. Always check through the source text when what appears to be a mistake or discrepancy comes up. Thereâs a good chance that itâs explained further along in the text, and especially if this is obvious, youâll end up looking lazy or dependant. 8. Always offer to review your own work for free when asked to go over it again, no matter how long. âBeing careful not to make mistakesâ should be included in your initial fee; thereâs no reason to charge a client for doing what you should have been doing in the first place. 9. Always request confirmation of reception of deliveries, purchase orders, invoices, and quotes. This is especially true for deliveries. You donât want a client to assume that you were being lazy or had forgotten about them when the server eats your mail, and with a confirmation you can be sure that theyâve received your submission. 10. Always be respectful and polite in regards to other translators as well as clients. For one thing, no one likes dealing with someone who constantly badmouths others; and on top of that, for all you know you may be missing out on amazing opportunities that a client would have introduced to you, had you not already expressed your dislike for someone else related to the projector company of origin. Hopefully these ten items will be of use to you in your dealings. Next week, the list will continue with the DONâTâs.

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Crowdsourced Translation

contact@yakuyaku.com — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:40:45 +0100

Wikipedia defines âcrowdsourcingâ as follows: Crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an "open call" to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions. For example, the public may be invited to develop a new technology, carry out a design task (also known as community-based design and distributed participatory design), refine or carry out the steps of an algorithm (see Human-based computation), or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data (see also citizen science). Recently, a variety of online-based companies have been utilizing the crowdsourcing method for translations of their respective websitesâ contents. Some of the more high-profile projects have been those conducted by online social networking sites such as Facebook and Hi5. Crowdsourced translation, when properly managed and administered, can make extremely large projects of unwieldy volume go much more smoothly and quickly, and in some cases even make the translation of the material even more accurate. On the other hand, if not properly managed and quality assured, it can create days, weeks, or even months of extra fix-up work for the administrators. This is especially true when specialized terminology and/or distinctive writing styles are required for the finished product. There are many advantages to crowdsourced translation â especially for websites/services such as the aforementioned. One of these advantages is that on top of (usually) being free of charge, it also allows for more rare or minor languages to be translated not only accurately but also in proper modern parlance. Another advantage would be the fact that the source material is, by the nature of the act, translated just the way the end users would want it to be. This not only helps boost user satisfaction, but also provides the company in question with a way to avoid complaints about âunnaturalâ or âimproperâ translations, since they can always answer such accusations with a âitâs not us, itâs youâ deflection. Some freelance translators and translator associations are against crowdsourced translation, especially when the work is done free of charge, because they feel that it takes away valuable work opportunities. Unfortunately for this section of the translation industry, in some cases â be it due to financial reasons, time restraints, or other causes â crowdsourced translation is not only the most effective way to go, itâs sometimes the only method plausible. Facebook, for example, undergoes constant criticism by its users regarding its language and terminology, but in crowdsourcing the siteâs recent multilingual translation, the company responsible not only saved literally hundreds of thousands â if not millions - of dollars in translation/proofreading/quality assurance fees, they were also able to get the siteâs terminology and general linguistic feel just as the end users preferred. As crowdsourced translation continues to evolve and expand into other areas of business in general and the world of online translation in particular, we can expect to see new technologies and translation methods based on or related to this practice crop up gradually. Whether this is a good or bad thing is a subjective matter, but one that will no doubt become more and more a source of discussion in the days and years to come.

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Manners: A Gaping Hole in the Translation Industry

contact@yakuyaku.com — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:40:39 +0100

And while I do understand that not everyone shares the same set of values and social code, I do feel that there are a few certain basic points which any person living and working in modern society has the responsibility to not only learn, but to follow as well. On that note, I would like the opportunity to voice my opinion on a related matter in a brief open letter to the general translation community. This particular grievance pertains mainly to translators in general, but also to many PMs as well: if you were blessed with the mental capacity to allow for the mastering of a language unrelated to your own, then one would assume that you would also have the ability to retain some of the manners, politesse, and general social niceties that Iâm sure your parents must have taught you somewhere along the line. As a project manager, I deal with a wide variety of clients, translators, and other project managers. By default, all of these people are of adult age, and I would guess that most of them have at least finished high school or the equivalent thereof in their respective countries. Why then, I ask you, do I feel as though Iâm trying to communicate with half-feral ghetto children when dealing with 1 out of 5 translators? This is not just a broad generalization â donât get me wrong, the majority of the translators I deal with regularly are polite, considerate, and professional human beings. However there is also a relatively large group of translators who seem to have learned manners and couth from a rusty nail. No greetings, no âplease/thank you/youâre welcomeâs, no apologies for mistakes or tardiness, no common courtesy whatsoever. I receive ridiculous demands for rate raises and deadline extensions, and yet I also receive outright refusals to take responsibility for corrections or to answer questions from the end client. Although these are rather industry-specific examples, the general attitude reflects on all aspects of my day-to-day dealings with these people and Iâm sure that the situation would change very little should they be members of a different profession. The way I see it â and I donât mean to sound as though I consider myself to be âbetterâ than anyone else â I am a project manager, which means that I not only dole out jobs and projects, but I also decide 1) how much to pay a translator, and 2) whether or not to hire a translator again. At the same time, as far as the translator is concerned, I am also a customer. Thinking of these two factors together confuses me even more... The question goes from âWhy must you be so rude and disagreeable?â to âWhy would you even think to be so rude and disagreeable toward not only a CUSTOMER (who, in this country, is supposed to be equal to âGodâ), but to the person who is at the same time temporarily-but-technically your BOSS, and who has the power to make the decisions regarding whether or not you ever get any quality work from them again?â While the attitude and manners of a translator admittedly have nothing to do with the personâs actual work skill, they have a lot to do with my decision to work with them again in the future, and also with my decision regarding how much you get paid. I feel that this is an especially important factor, so please allow me to reiterate in capitals: I, THE PROJECT MANAGER, DECIDE HOW MUCH YOU GET PAID. Considering this, I would think that most people would decide to extend at least the most basic common courtesies and politeness to a person in this position, but apparently Iâve been placing overly high expectations on the general population. Once again, I want to make it clear that these views do not cover ALL â or even most â of the translators I work with, only a certain percent. But as the number of translators with whom I work increases, the number of people with no sense of civility or courtesy does also. So please, heed my modest request: Manners were one of the first things you probably learned when you were a child. With the slightest bit of practice, they shouldnât be that hard to remaster. Please do so.

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