OK, so, not long ago, I finished my first paid translation project. (Hoorah!) It was a collaborative Russian-to-English project, in which I and two others translated a menu for a Mexican restaurant in our city.
(Yes. A Mexican restaurant in Siberia. I recommend it!)
Technically, I was the native-speaking “proofreader” rather than the translator. But I put that word in quotes for a reason. My partners and I assumed that mine would be a quick task, simply looking for misspellings or awkward phrases.
However, in a situation like this — where no one is a bona fide professional — proofreading a translation can end up involving a lot more than just checking grammar and mechanics.
If you’re thinking about picking up some amateur translation or proofreading work on the side, I’d like to share a few lessons I gathered from this experience.
These lessons are rather basic, so experienced translators will probably roll their eyes at them. That’s OK. I’m posting them because I’ve learned the hard way that they’re not obvious to everyone.
Aspiring translators, take note!
1. Check your expectations: Are you proofreading? Editing? Localizing?
Only after I was neck-deep in the project did I realize that my partners and I had gone into it with very different expectations of my role.
They expected me to double-check grammar and word choice. We called it proofreading, but in fact, they were asking me to act as both proofreader and editor. (You can read about the difference between proofreading and editing here. Basically, editing goes into more depth with the terminology.)
On my end, I was expecting even more. I wasn’t content to fix errors in a word-by-word translation. I wanted to make sure the menu was localized … that is, modified for a non-Russian audience, using terms people might actually see on a similar menu in the United States. (Note how I assumed the tourists would be more comfortable with U.S. conventions!)
That disconnect led to a little … discontent. Particularly when my partners didn’t understand why I was taking so long.
Make your expectations clear ahead of time, both with the client and with any partners you may be working with. That will help you understand your role and its demands, which in turn will help you more accurately plan your turnaround time.
2. Proofreading (read: editing) is NOT a fast job, and you must know the source language well.
Even if your translator is super-awesome and professional, you’re going to catch mistakes. It takes time to track them down.
If you and your partners are not so experienced, that adds even more time to the job. And it becomes even more important that you know the source language well!
Basically, to edit, you also have to be able to do the actual translation. If you don’t understand the source language, you can’t catch the errors. Just because something is grammatically correct in the target language, doesn’t mean it was translated correctly.
In the worst cases, your editing task might become a re-translation.
This was almost a problem for me, because I’m only a rough intermediate level in Russian. On this project, though, I was lucky — Russian food words are my strong point. Menus were the first thing I learned how to read when I arrived, and I’ve been “studying” them ever since.
3. Translating word-for-word doesn’t cut it.
I feel like this should go without saying, but again, it’s apparently not as obvious as I thought.
When you translate, you have to adapt the text for the target audience — in this case, English-speaking visitors and tourists. Choose terms and expressions they would actually use, if available.
Otherwise, you get ugly, clunky translations that make readers scratch their heads in confusion. “Is this English, or what?”
If you’re an editor or proofreader, make sure all your translation partners know this. If they set out to work with this mindset, your job could end up much easier.
And, for the love of language, JUST SAY NO to Google Translate!
4. Research is a must.
OK, confession time: I just about lost my temper over this.
While I was editing-localizing-proofreading, it became clear that my partners hadn’t done very thorough research as they were translating. It’s understandable for Russians to lack knowledge about Mexican food, as well as about specific English cooking terms and menu conventions, but that’s why we have Google.
I had to do much of the research myself. Needless to say, it added a lot of extra work on my plate when we were already pressed for time.
So, a message to translators: don’t assume you know — look it up.
And to editors: double-check everything.
5. Professional presentation is a must.
Just because we’re amateurs, that doesn’t mean we have to act like it!
When you submit your work, make everything clear, systematic, and easy to read. Go the extra mile to make the text as user-friendly as possible, and don’t assume your client will just figure it out themselves.
If you’re presenting the translation in a single document with a side-by-side comparison, as we did, make sure both sides are matched up or at least clearly marked. That’s especially important for a text that will be designed and formatted by someone who barely speaks the target language.
6. Be consistent, even in the small things.
If you translate a term one way in one paragraph, then another way later on, you’d better have a good contextual reason for it.
Whether you’re translating or editing, keep track of recurring terms and make sure you translate them the same way throughout the document. There’s software for this, but until you can shell out money for it, at least keep track of the terms yourself.
You should also use the same formatting patterns, from the font down to punctuation. This goes back to professional presentation, which I strongly believe in, even as an “amateur.” Anything less shows lack of concern for the project, for the client, and ultimately for your own reputation as a translator.
Again, these are very basic tips, like the first chapter of Translation 101 … but they go a long way.
If you can add a few pointers to this list, please post them in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you.
Do you have any experience in translation or proofreading? What went wrong (or right) in your projects, and what have you learned?
