How To Use Long Translations Sensibly

When a company wants a 600 page technical report translated in two days for use at an important meeting, the translator should discuss this problem with the person concerned and offer suggestions on what is really required, since it will not be possible to supply a full translation within the short time available.

The price for the translation might also be discussed, since work at night or over the weekend could also be necessary If the translator cannot produce the best possible full translation within the time available, then an "optimal" solution should be agreed upon. Such translations could fall into one of the following categories: - "a translation that provides what is needed for the stated purpose" - "as good as possible in accordance with the customer's requirements".

In the case of the 600 page technical report mentioned above, the "ideal" translation might consist of faithful adherence to the source text, which would involve full reproduction of the detailed report. On the other hand, providing the persons attending an international meeting with 600 pages of typescript is certainly not the best way of communicating the contents of the report to them.

Due to the obvious time limitations, a summary could be proposed as an alternative. This could have the additional advantage in that key bullet points raised for discussion in the international meeting would be more easily accessible in a summary. Of course, production of the summary would itself involve the translator reading all 600 pages of the report and that alone could probably take more than the two days available. So from a practical point of view, it might be that the person who is asking for the translation could provide a summary in his or her own language - after all that one person is most likely the one person who is fully aware of the salient points in the report.

The summary could then be translated into the language required for the international meeting. However, many situations in international business occur when a full translation of a long text is required for distribution to persons or companies in other countries. This occurs with tender documents, quotations, technical documents, scientific documents, operator's manuals and repair manuals and with many other documents of all types. Translation of literary works is also required and this can be one of most fulfilling tasks for a translator - also one of the most difficult on some occasions.

One of the ways in which an experienced translator can produce a long translation in a short space of time is by dictating the translation into a digital recorder and then emailing the translation to one or more typists who in turn type out the translation and send it back to the originating translator for correction before delivery to the customer. Using this technique, a translator can produce upwards of 10,000 words per day. Almost everyone can speak faster than they can type.

A similar technique uses one of the computer speech recognition programs, which have seen a great deal of improvement over the last few years. When using one of these systems, the translator dictates the translation into a small microphone and his or her computer types the translation directly onto the computer screen. When completed, it can then be corrected, proof-read and sent to the customer. Of course a translation agency is always pleased to receive a long translation (as long as the deadline for completing the translation is long enough for the translation itself and proof-reading, etc.).

If the original text is a technical document, translation memory systems can be used and this ensures that repeated expressions are translated automatically by the memory system. The reader is then reassured by repetition of the same phrase for the same action and vocabulary is standardized by the system, avoiding any ambiguity to the reader. The same word is always used for the same object. Lower costs can result from this, which can be passed on to the translation agency's customer.

Sometimes several translators have to be used, working on different parts of a long text to meet a very short deadline. In this case, the translation memory system comes into its own, since translation memories (TM's in the language of the trade) can be sent to the various translators, to ensure that the vocabulary is standardized.

Modern systems used by translation agencies have made it easier to produce long translations in times that would have considered to be amazingly short only a few years ago and doubtless we can expect more improvement in future.