| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: How much would you say that the quality of your work has improved since you began translating? 投稿者: ProZ.com Staff
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| End-product quality vs. quality of a translator's work | Sep 6, 2013 |
Helen Hagon wrote:
I think translation / writing quality can be measured, but perhaps not so easily and it is more difficult to quantify.
Helen, I think you are talking about end-product quality, i.e. quality in the eye of the end-user(s). However, when you read a translated book or use localized software or go onto a localized website, you are evaluating a lot more than the original translator's work. There are many other stages in the publishing/localization process which I won't go into here. My point is, while end-product quality is extremely important, originally my question focused on quality on a more personal level. It could be rephrased like so:
Are you a much better translator than you were when you started out? If so, how much have you improved?
| | | | Mario Chavez (X) 
Local time: 01:15
英語 から スペイン語
+ ...
| Thanks for the clarification | Sep 6, 2013 |
Mikhail Kropotov wrote: Helen Hagon wrote:
I think translation / writing quality can be measured, but perhaps not so easily and it is more difficult to quantify. Helen, I think you are talking about end-product quality, i.e. quality in the eye of the end-user(s). However, when you read a translated book or use localized software or go onto a localized website, you are evaluating a lot more than the original translator's work. There are many other stages in the publishing/localization process which I won't go into here. My point is, while end-product quality is extremely important, originally my question focused on quality on a more personal level. It could be rephrased like so: Are you a much better translator than you were when you started out? If so, how much have you improved?
Do we measure a writer's writing using quality metrics? No. We say that a writer (say, Stephen King) is a great/good/average/excellent writer in this or that genre because the book/novel/story is popular, sells well, has been translated to other languages, etc.
Editors may nitpick and say: wait a second, I have overhead costs here: paper, reviews, publishing, marketing costs, paper, ink, printing time, front-end costs, etc. If a book doesn't sell, I lose money!
We are writers. It doesn't matter if we write in Turkish, Russian, Japanese or French. We produce, yield, generate and give origin to new texts all the time.
If you guys want to grab a tape measure or a laser micrometer, or a word counting utility to measure your work's quality by the letter, word, hour and money you make, go ahead. I prefer otherwise.
And in answer to the amended poll question: yes, I'm a much better writer of English and Spanish (my two working languages) and I have expanded my discrete vocabularies over the years, which have served my customers well. I've also acquired other skills that help me perform translations.
| | | | | Would love to hear from those who answered 'It's about the same' | Sep 6, 2013 |
So far 1.2% of poll-takers answered that their quality has remained about the same. I do wonder about their circumstances. Did you start out only very recently? Or did you only start translating when you were very sure of your quality? I'm genuinely interested.
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I was just reading over some of my very first translations last night and the quality of my writing has certainly increased. I sounded very mechanical in those texts and I've found better ways to convey more abstract terms or ideas.
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I started a long time ago, so I've had a long time to improve.
Like others, I learn more about the world with every translation. I learn how concepts are expressed in different domains.
My style has improved, too. When I started, I had some fixed ideas that I have since abandoned.
As on of my Georgetown Jesuit mentors used to say, "You don't stop learning until you're dead."
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