Unpaid translation work

[Emily Saunders]

If someone is looking for truly cheap translation services, may I  
suggest using Google translate.  It's what my students frequently do  
(sigh!) and provided they've spelled everything correctly in English,  
haven't used too many glaring idioms, and have put punctuation in  
where it belongs*, you'll get a moderately correct translation 8 times  
out of 10 (I can tell they've done it because they submit assignments  
that use grammar we have yet to cover in class such as past  
participles...).  And then 1 time in 10 (in my experience) you get  
some really funny results.

Try out the sentence:  "On Mondays we go to swim lessons," for an  
example of "say what?"
*And then the results of a misplaced comma (a student did this and it  
took me awhile to figure out how he'd arrived at the sentence he  
submitted in his homework):  "I, like anatomy, and want to become a  
doctor."

But it's free!  (BTW If anyone else has some examples of Google  
translate howlers [in either direction] that they can share -- so I  
can scare my students away from it -- I'd be much obliged.)

Emily Saunders


On 05.09.2011, at 13:07, Paul B. Gallagher wrote:

> Cori Weiner wrote:
>
>> As promised, here is the backstory to the request for pro bono
>> translation work:
>>
>> The State Department had interest in undertaking a project to improve
>> relations between Russia and the US.  However, as mandated by
>> Congress, it receives only a small percentage of the financial
>> backing required -- which is where Social Sphere comes in.  SS
>> volunteered its own time to take on this project, and they have, in
>> turn, requested that others, including translators, volunteer their
>> time for the greater good as well.
>>
>> It's true that what some of you may consider the 'outsourcing' of
>> translation is forcing your field to sacrifice, but it's one of the
>> sacrifices that will help the project roll.  If during the soft
>> launch, they encounter problems along the lines of peregruzka, and if
>> an editor (needed mostly to catch egregious errors rather than issues
>> of style) does not correct them, they may very well decide to pay
>> translators out of their own pocket.
>>
>> This is a complicated situation, and I'm only the messenger, but if
>> you would like for me personally to continue this dialogue, I would
>> be happy to off-list. (For the record, Mr. Gallagher, I also feel
>> that the government wrongly undervalues soft power in favor of
>> warfare.)
>
> Thank you for the update.
>
> It's no surprise to me that Congress with its current makeup has  
> underfunded this program, but the reasons for that are beyond the  
> purview of this list, and my analysis would likely be offensive to  
> list members on the other side of the aisle.
>
> -- 
> War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
> --
> Paul B. Gallagher
> pbg translations, inc.
> "Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
> http://pbg-translations.com
>
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