LL-L "Careers" 2004.01.17 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 17.FEB.2004 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject:  LL-L "Careers" 2004.02.14 (08) [E]

> From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
> Subject: LL-L "Careers" 2004.02.14 (02) [E]
> Ben Bloomgren wants to know how to become a translator...

I have some reflections.

First of all I think a translator must know the business.
In the early seventies I did a student summer job in Essen-Bredeney in
Germany for Babcock-Persta. I had to translate French Framatome standards
for nuclear plants from French into German. I'm an engineer, not a
translator and my mother tongue is Limburgish, my school language was Dutch.
What was a very big help for me at the time, was that I could review my
translations regularly with an elder person, formerly head of the
development department of Babcock-Oberhausen, at the moment running out in a
part-time regime, transiting to his pension.
Although I had had nuclear physics in my curriculum at Leuven University, It
was an invaluable help to have had these reviews.

Secondly, I think, for commercial stuff, the language one is translating to,
must be the mother tongue of the translator. Very focused brochures will
even select translators “regionally” and make the distinction between:
French-French and Belgian French,
Netherlands Dutch and Belgian Dutch,
Germany-German and Austrian German,
Etc.
I’m doing projects in logistics momentarily, and see there is quite some
difference between the US and the UK in name giving for material handling
and transportation equipment. So I presume, in this field, one takes this
into account, when looking for a translator.

Thirdly, although I’m not a translator, I’m working in multilingual
environments. Dictionaries are generally not sufficient for technical
environments. Even “technical” dictionaries or dictionaries focusing on a
specific field are not.
What I’m doing for myself, at a very low cost:
At exhibitions in these countries I try to get versions of a very same
equipment catalogue in ALL languages they have at the exhibition booths.
When I need to translate, I put the relevant brochures in the different
versions side by side.
A similar exercise can be done when browsing through West-European websites.
Some of them have versions in different languages, and there is no penalty
for stealing a translation from the website of a competitor.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Roger

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