I’m hosting an “Ask Me Anything” event about translation through March 8 on the #AuthorsAMA channel at AMAfeed.com. I’m looking forward to seeing what kinds of questions I get! I hope to provide a window onto what translators do and to have some interesting conversations. Come and visit me and ask me anything!
UPDATE: Hosting this AMA was an interesting experience. I answered 65 questions and many of them were really thought-provoking. The AMA Feed site has a variety of channels with a wide range of topics ranging from authors to art, self-help to business tips, crowdsourcing to cannabis. So I wasn’t sure at all what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised not to be asked a single question about Google Translate replacing human translators. I got questions on topics such as language learning, differences between French in France and French in Quebec, my path to becoming a translator, and the financial aspect of a career in translation. I discussed both literary translation as well as commercial translation for the business world. Here’s a sample of some of my favorite questions below, along with my answers:
Is there any genre you would prefer not to translate, what would that genre be, and why?
Interesting question! As I mentioned previously, I don’t translate poetry, because this is a very particular kind of translation that requires a special kind of skill and devotion, and a lot of time. Other than that I don’t really have any genre restrictions. It probably depends more on how I feel about a particular book than on what genre it belongs to. With a work of fiction, it would be hard to devote yourself to capturing all its nuances and recreating it successfully in English if you didn’t enjoy and admire the book. You want to be able to take on the author’s voice, and if you don’t like that voice, then this would be an onerous task to carry out for the length of an entire book.
What are some challenges you face as a translator?
There are a variety of challenges that come up! I guess one of the main ones would be juggling different translation projects at different stages of completion. I do both book translations, working with publishers, and commercial translations (marketing materials, business documents, etc.), working with translation agencies and direct clients, so I’m often handling smaller jobs while continuing to make progress on a big project.
As a freelancer, my work flow varies, so sometimes I need to find new clients or to check in with my repeat clients to see if they have any work for me. These emails and marketing activities, combined with keeping up with bookkeeping, sending invoices, etc., can get pretty time-consuming and take time away from actual translating. Still, they’re necessary!
The work itself can be challenging, too — usually in a good way! Some authors can be hard to adapt into English, maybe because they have a very dense writing style or use a lot of cultural references. So at the beginning of a project, it takes some time to get used to such an author’s voice and find ways of bringing it across into English. But it’s a great feeling when you find just the right way to translate a tricky passage!
Many freelancers find working from home challenging. But I happen to like working from home, and I’m very motivated, so I’m usually able to keep myself on track. I like being able to make my own schedule and be available to my kids.
Does one need formal education to be a translator? Or do you simply need to be a language expert?
Glad you asked this question! The answer is a bit wordy, I’m afraid.
There’s no single professional path to becoming a translator. There are degree programs in translation and interpretation, and many translators have these credentials, but many others do not. The American Translators Association has a certification program involving an exam in a specific language combination, and this is one way that translators can demonstrate their qualifications.
I’d say the short answer is that you need to be an expert in your particular language pair, and you need a general college level of education in order to work with the kinds of documents and subjects that come to you. As a rule, translators should work into their native language. So I only translate from French into English and not the other way around (with only rare exceptions).
Many translators have a family or personal connection to the languages they know. They may have grown up bilingual or lived in another country for an extended period of time. However, being bilingual is not enough on its own to make someone a good translator. Writing and research skills are also important. Good spelling, grammar, and attention to detail are essential — in both languages but especially in the one you’re translating into (the target language).
Many translators have come to translation as a second career. In some cases, they have experience in fields such law or accounting and finance, and this expertise is useful for specializing in those fields as a translator. In my case, I got a Ph.D. in French and was an academic for a few years before moving into translation.
Do you think a translator should be allowed to edit the text they are translating and why?
I guess the short answer is: it depends!
For book translations, I work with an editor, so I leave the editing to her/him. I will insert notes if I see passages that I feel need editing (perhaps they’re too long, or maybe something is unclear and needs clarification from the author). If there are cultural references that need explaining, I will insert an explanation or a translator’s note.
When translating other things, such as reports or presentations, the translator may need to do some editing if the original is not well-written. If there are repetitions or things that are unclear, I will “clean them up” a bit. This is necessary because if I don’t do it. no one else will, and I won’t be able to deliver the best translation possible. Additionally, if the translation is badly written, the translator may get blamed when this is actually a characteristic of the original text. But this is pretty light editing, just enough to enable me to produce something that is acceptable and readable in English.
If someone is translating a legal contract or a medical document, then accuracy is the most important feature. I don’t work in those fields, but if something needs to be changed in such documents, the translator would need to query the client to see if the change is approved.