tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59427510171222805992012-01-29T17:47:45.212-05:00Masked Translator is a professional freelance translator. I am the Zorro of the translation blog world! Masked Translator is not trying to sell you anything or self-promote. Masked Translator just wants to tell it like it is about the real life of a professional translator...Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.comBlogger861100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-24137339237233843632009-08-02T12:59:00.000-05:002009-08-02T13:00:34.945-05:00

When you’re translating materials into English for a client who wants to apply for a job in the United States, here’s an issue you might want to mention: letters of recommendation sometimes don’t translate well. If you translate non-American ones literally, you might see glowing recommendations like: Ms. X performed her work adequately. Sarah was satisfactory. There were no obvious faults in Mr.

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-47661965455123384422009-07-22T17:02:00.002-05:002009-07-22T17:16:58.565-05:00

First, read this:Many translators unfit in any languageThat headline sure is problematic:1. The article is about interpreters, not about translators. It's a technical distinction in our field, I know, but you'd think Jason Straziuso might be bothered to learn the difference since he's an actual reporter...2. The term "linguist" is often used as a synonym for "translator" and/or "interpreter."

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-13401259969716509972009-07-21T12:57:00.001-05:002009-07-21T12:59:40.742-05:00

Corinne McKay recently put up a post about resumes that's worth a read, particularly if you're looking for a job these days, and I posted a comment about how culturally sensitive resumes are, and I thought I’d expand on that a bit.Although the terms CV (curriculum vitae, literally “the course of your life”) and resume are synonyms, they aren't strictly the same thing--in the United States, at

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-32413292456709728582009-07-05T16:10:00.002-05:002009-07-05T16:17:25.437-05:00

The LinkedIn controversy this month got me to thinking about some of the generational differences there are in the translation world, related not just to Internet use and technology but also to attitudes and approaches to the profession. There are things I have heard of and now participate in, such as blogging; there are things I have heard of and do not participate in, like tweeting; and there

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-12107949820058809132009-07-03T12:42:00.002-05:002009-07-03T12:46:47.635-05:00

Every year just before the Fourth of July I get a strong uptick in inquiries from agencies for new translators. This is because so many translators go on vacation around this time but agencies have sustained demand for translations, particularly for clients outside the United States. The same thing happens in August when the whole world, except the United States, goes on vacation. This is why I

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-64188726994938970642009-07-02T15:27:00.002-05:002009-07-02T15:31:36.740-05:00

Regular readers who are familiar with Masked Translator's crankiness will know that I am a frequent critic of the ATA's ineffectual approach to PR. However, on Tuesday the ATA got things right for once and released a scathing attack on LinkedIn and its attempt this past week to get free translations done:Here is the ATA's press release.Go, Jiri!

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-83820345476781139312009-06-30T15:42:00.005-05:002009-06-30T16:07:36.020-05:00

This great article in the Monday New York Times is making the rounds, well worth a read, and you should do so now:Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.I have three comments.First, the best part is actually the very last couple of paragraphs, some comments from Nataly Kelly at Common Sense Advisory:“It would have been far cheaper for Facebook to pay translators 10 cents a word to

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-64447532561126000532009-06-11T19:06:00.000-05:002009-06-11T19:07:12.688-05:00

I love the fact that the Twin Translations twins took the time to leave me a comment on my last post (which really didn’t deserve much response). Translators are so nice! Their advice is great: If you’re working too hard, translating too much, clear your schedule and hit the beach for a week. It’s been a while since my last really beachy vacation and I’ve been wondering why...I realize there are

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-17808308471171050102009-05-12T12:47:00.001-05:002009-05-12T12:49:30.131-05:00

Every translator has at some time had a complaint from some client about a translation and refused to pay for it or asked for or imposed a discount. Such complaints are apparently on the rise in the current economy since agencies are shifting to cheaper and less qualified translators to save money and clients are angling for any way to save a buck.There are obviously cases of egregious problems

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-45929635090898339632009-04-24T11:46:00.002-05:002009-04-24T11:54:27.919-05:00

Many translators prefer to translate in silence. However, as a child of the mid twentieth century, I grew up watching too much TV and listening to too much radio while doing my homework and what-not, the result being that I now often feel more productive with a bit of background media.After years of experimentation, I have found I translate better to some things than others. For instance, punk

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-89663115718522223142009-04-20T15:20:00.005-05:002009-04-20T22:30:57.287-05:00

Lots of agencies now expect translators to purchase and use specific CAT tools. I have three clients who actually use in-house/proprietary Web-based CAT tools; these agencies have apparently decided to bypass expensive commercial products, which is good, by requiring translators to use a quirky one-of-a-kind CAT systems, which is bad. I have several other clients who prefer Trados or compatible

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-47867103352596239412009-04-01T18:19:00.002-05:002009-04-01T19:14:06.231-05:00

With all the negative financial news there have been a lot of discussions in translation blogs about whether or not translators should lower their rates. The idea being that if the flow of job offers into your inbox (due to the current downturn/ recession/ depression/ Armageddon depending on your news source) starts slowing down, one way to maybe encourage more job offers would be to charge less.

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-19537012648913025032009-03-25T02:04:00.001-05:002009-03-25T02:07:07.723-05:00

Woof. I just wanted to take a moment out of my busy napping and playing schedule to say hurray for freelancers. Can you believe some dogs are shut in their houses alone for the entire workday while their owners go to some office to work? MT and I go for a leisurely walk most every afternoon, and when the shut-in dogs bark at us as we walk by MT always tells me, “see, that dog doesn’t have it as

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-88739711002124636642009-03-11T16:26:00.000-05:002009-03-11T16:28:06.224-05:00

I routinely mistype certain words when I’m translating. Like employement (employment) and informated (informed). It’s starting to drive me crazy. Honestly I’m starting to think I should take “breech” (as in birth, which I rarely encounter in a translation) out of the spellchecker so that if I don’t type “breach” (as in breach of contract, which comes up in translations all the time), the computer

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-48626718252050974712009-02-06T15:31:00.001-05:002009-02-06T15:31:55.203-05:00

I'm inundated by bad economic news every time I turn on the evening news or pick up the paper these days. Seriously bad news. There are also ample indicators of doom and gloom out there in my neighborhood. This is taking a toll on my business. I'll tell you how.Not because I have too little business. I am still turning away enough work to keep probably two or three other translators employed more

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-35575200548943858002009-01-28T20:05:00.004-05:002009-01-28T20:34:25.480-05:00

Here's a fascinating piece from Religion Dispatches about Coleman Barks, an American poet and translator who has popularized the 800-year-old poetry of an 800-year-old Sufi mystic named Rumi--without even speaking the source language. Rumi is currently America's best-selling poet. (Someone let Aviya Kushner know that, see my previous post!)That article is interesting for a variety of reasons, but

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-17645886064238050472009-01-26T19:24:00.002-05:002009-01-26T19:28:04.834-05:00

I am a subscriber to Wilson Quarterly, and before I begin my rant about a piece in the latest issue I want you to consider picking up a copy next time you’re at your local bookshop (Barnes and Noble often carries it, too). It’s a nonpartisan journal with accessible pieces that range from politics and culture to science and religion, and I enjoy every quarterly issue immensely. I think you will,

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-31309729707849967072009-01-19T12:52:00.003-05:002009-01-19T13:17:13.481-05:00

The New York Times had an interesting obituary this morning forJohn DeFrancis, a preeminent Chinese scholar. My favorite part of the obituary was:Though his father was a laborer and his mother illiterate, he graduated from Yale in 1933 with a degree in economics. He found it hard to get a job during the Great Depression, and so he boarded a ship for China at the suggestion of a dorm mate from a

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-33273562539209281822009-01-13T00:09:00.002-05:002009-01-13T00:11:55.046-05:00

Naked Translations had an interesting post a while back about advice to translation students and one of the comments got me thinking about translators and typing speeds. This recalled something that Douglas Robinson pointed out in his book Becoming a Translator, where he wisely states that, while “speed and income are not directly related for all translators[,] they are for freelancers” (28-9).

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-72564327449512006612009-01-08T14:14:00.002-05:002009-01-08T14:18:24.951-05:00

Consider for a moment which of your translation clients (e.g. agencies) sent you a Christmas card in 2007.Now consider for a moment which clients sent you a Christmas card in 2008.Other considerations being equal, the companies that did send you one in 2007 but not in 2008 are the ones that are in big trouble and may not be around to send you a card in 2009.Any other economic tea leaf ideas out

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-5812332742172167662009-01-06T23:55:00.002-05:002009-01-07T00:04:58.851-05:00

You probably have done translations for an agency or two that promotes the fact that it is “ISO 9001:2000 Certified” in its brochures or on its Web site; more and more (especially larger) translation agencies are going through the certification process required to add this information to their promotional materials in an attempt to stand out from their competitors. (ISO 9001:2000 means “

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-39003267269094427652009-01-01T01:35:00.001-05:002009-01-01T01:36:18.131-05:00

One benefit of keeping track of your jobs is not being thrown in jail by the IRS. Another is that at the end of the year, you can look back over your own data and cull some statistics that will help you be an even better businessperson the following year. A successful translator amasses a great deal of language-related knowledge over the years. But we have other business assets. Of course there

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-28637587449651123672008-12-03T16:38:00.004-05:002008-12-03T16:57:38.764-05:00

I just picked up the new Enya Christmas album, And Winter Came, and the last track is a very lovely retake of her 1988 version of "Silent Night" in Irish--in her heavily Ulster-accented Irish. Of course, Irish does not have a single standard the way many other languages do, so her pronunciation deviates only from the "schoolbook" pronunciation you'd get from the national Irish curriculum (which

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-52873876466863980982008-11-23T22:23:00.002-05:002008-11-23T22:32:51.206-05:00

An interesting blog I've just come across by a translator in Nigeria. I appreciate the Nigerian and African takes on the profession very much--check it out:Headfirst into the MeddleLanguages like Hausa and Swahili are not low diffusion languages since they have tens of millions of speakers, but translators translating from African languages into European languages run into many of the same

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-31264293683428423972008-11-22T20:41:00.001-05:002008-11-22T20:43:18.131-05:00

Normally I like to focus on translation on this blog and not interpreting, but this is another interesting piece that was on "All Things Considered" on NPR today:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97356045.

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-29676787327290893092008-11-22T20:38:00.001-05:002008-11-22T20:40:18.602-05:00

NPR's "All Things Considered" had an interesting piece of the art and science of (literary) translation today:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97002969.After listening, looking on the Web page at the different translations of Les Misérables is quite interesting, too.

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-74239299289404590402008-10-18T16:45:00.006-05:002008-10-18T16:53:12.125-05:00

There’s a good article by Motoko Rich in the NY Times today about U.S. publishers and books in translation. Rich interviews David R. Godine who, as we mentioned in a previous post, published Le Clézio in the U.S. before the author was awarded his recent Nobel Prize. And Godine makes some great points:• Foreign authors in translation can give a tiny publishing house literary credibility• Rights to

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-33810374023431541192008-10-11T16:55:00.011-05:002008-10-27T15:12:08.601-05:00

A couple of times a year I get an e-mail that reads basically:Dear Masked Translator, I’d like to be a literary translator. How do I get started? Sincerely, Earnest and HopefulWell, first let’s take a moment to contemplate the many ways there are to translate literature:Column A:paidpublishedwith copyrightwith royaltieswith contract in handColumn B:unpaidunpublishedwithout copyrightwithout

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-60146588759767743242008-10-09T21:48:00.004-05:002008-10-09T21:56:56.408-05:00

Last week Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize in literature, said “the U.S. is too isolated, too insular” to produce a prize-worthy author and that Europe was the center of the literary world. Well, he must have been prescient, because today the Nobel Prize in literature was awarded to a European, French author Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio.

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-86195224666374193892008-10-08T15:45:00.000-05:002008-10-08T15:47:03.476-05:00

I turned in a job Sunday evening to a big translation agency and just now (Wednesday afternoon) received an e-mail from the “Quality Manager” at a large agency who was reviewing my translation. Dear Masked Translator,Hi, how are you doing? I'm your QM for this job. This is due soon, so please reply ASAP. Thank you!On page 6, there are a few things that look off to me. Since I don't speak or read

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-27181594938567679912008-10-02T01:41:00.001-05:002008-10-02T01:43:48.081-05:00

Horace Engdahl, the Swede who announces the Nobel Prize in literature, gave an interview to the AP yesterday in which he stated:“…You can’t get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world … not the United States…. The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don’t translate enough and don’t really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-84876737640878764752008-09-26T16:53:00.003-05:002008-09-26T17:07:11.738-05:00

I pointed out in a recent post that my business account was at Washington Mutual, which failed yesterday as a result of a classic "run." Basically what happened was that WaMu had been sufficiently capitalized to stay in business--despite its toxic-asset holdings--with $19 billion in liquid assets, but then with all the bad news many of WaMu's customers panicked withdrew almost $17 billion, moving

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-64617724695247726952008-09-24T16:44:00.001-05:002008-09-24T16:44:50.262-05:00

Just a random thought:One problem I’m plagued by when using translation software is that I have this nagging sense that I have to translate every phrase, every word, every header, every line in every table, etc. in the software. In the current case, I’m sitting in front of my computer looking at a large table of biochemical data. Fields that all look pretty much like this: “30 μl Y ng A/ml.” In

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-14848036748916216792008-09-23T16:39:00.000-05:002008-09-23T16:40:09.960-05:00

Corinne at Thoughts on Translation has an interesting post today about what, if anything, freelancers are choosing or having to do in response to the tanking U.S. economy. One thing she has done is change her terms of business to require prepayment in most cases. I think that is not only reasonable but I might go a bit farther and require prepayment of jobs whose total estimated price will be

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-91816260131631449922008-09-21T12:24:00.002-05:002008-09-21T12:30:05.803-05:00

Is it appropriate for a translation agency to call a freelancer (knowing, as the agency should, that it is also a person's home) at 9:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning? I don't think so, but an agency did that this morning. In the past two weeks, our house has gotten agency calls:* On a Wednesday morning at 3:30 a.m.* On a Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m.* On a Friday evening at 9:00 p.m.* On a Monday

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-41707406593166565782008-09-20T11:33:00.000-05:002008-09-20T11:34:34.575-05:00

1. Thou shalt withhold sufficient taxes from thyself and save receipts for deductions.2. Thou shalt under no circumstances resort or take recourse to the phrasing of things in an unnecessarily long, wordy, and verbose and somewhat less-than-succinct manner even though, or despite the fact that, thou art being paid by the word.3. Thou shalt not guess the meanings of words or abbreviations of which

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-7989188412186270532008-09-17T16:00:00.000-05:002008-09-17T16:01:46.389-05:00

When I first started out as a translator, I was afraid other people I knew who happen to speak both Language X and English would steal my translation work. Surely if they knew how easy it is to make money as a translator, they would all give up their academic careers, their dot com bubble jobs, etc. to take away the few clients I had managed to scrounge up. I was afraid established translators

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-72710639279009801342008-09-09T00:29:00.000-05:002008-09-09T00:30:03.187-05:00

I’ve seen a lot of bizarre behavior from translation agencies in my day (and don’t even get me started on the direct clients), but here’s are some of the most breathtakingly bizarre episodes:1. I raised my rates and had an uppity agency dude argue with me (seriously, the argument lasted maybe 15 minutes) that I was not raising my rates. We were arguing about my rates in general, not for any

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-74340190810355895342008-09-08T23:46:00.000-05:002008-09-08T23:47:18.407-05:00

I had two disappointing time-zone-related interactions with translation agencies this week. First, there was a 3:00 a.m. call from someone who must surely have dialed an international prefix and area code in order to reach our phone in the United States, so it’s not like they didn’t know the time change was several hours off. Callers from Asia seem to get North American time zones, actually, and

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-33942407002631700002008-09-03T23:45:00.004-05:002008-09-04T00:08:09.689-05:00

Jill at Musings of an Overworked Translator (an excellent translation-related blog incidentally) had an interesting post about late invoicing, etc., and the comments to that post were quite interesting, too. It all got me to thinking: why isn't there any good accounting software for translators out there?Sure, Translation Office 3000 or whatever it's called is out there, but it's clunky and,

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-43491194106177378492008-09-02T15:28:00.004-05:002008-09-02T15:32:20.268-05:00

In our ongoing quest to make translators and agencies alike more aware of copy flow and what exactly formal copy-editing is, we'd like to recommend that every translator buy a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition) and learn it inside and out. There are other style guides out there, too, which are also very good--but the CMS is one of the most commonly used standard style guides in

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-5235026422588198202008-08-25T10:39:00.004-05:002008-09-02T15:34:35.463-05:00

As with the names of women authors, the names of women translators have not always come down to us when women translators’ works have gone unrecognized or when they were published anonymously or under men’s names. Women have been prohibited from translating various works at various times, particularly ideological or religious texts. Even today, women translators often first gain notoriety for

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-17664196267518079862008-08-22T12:04:00.000-05:002008-08-22T12:05:56.043-05:00

A friend just forwarded me a job posting for an in-house translator at a major international corporation. The job is somewhere in Europe at the corporation’s new “Competence Centre.” Gasp. I encounter this all the time, and as an American it makes me gasp each time. In American English, “competence” has a bit of a bite or a sting to it. Merriam Webster defines “competent” as “having requisite or

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-10036800299908445522008-08-14T22:32:00.005-05:002008-08-20T22:27:56.707-05:00

5. Gregory Rabassa (1922– )(OK, you've probably heard of Rabassa.) Rabassa is a second-generation Cuban American who is currently a Distinguished Professor at Queens College and a winner of the National Medal of Arts and the National Book Award for Translation. He is a highly regarded translator of numerous works from Spanish and Portuguese into English, including Gabriel García Márquez’s One

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-3193530130189041892008-08-04T12:20:00.002-05:002008-08-04T12:51:26.598-05:00

Here's the latest thing that's got that bonnet bee of mine buzzing: when translation agencies spam their vendors (i.e. freelance translators).There are two kinds of agency spam. The first type, the lesser evil, is when project managers send out mass e-mails looking for someone to take a given job. There are a couple of problems with this. First, while it is efficient for the agency and for the

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-8745636968412167832008-07-23T01:43:00.002-05:002008-07-23T01:50:29.538-05:00

Very little research is done into the political and social attitudes of American translators. Anecdotally I've always had the impression that most of us lean Democratic politically and progressive socially. Here is an interesting link that backs this up:Huffington Post FundRace 2008Based on this search, American translators have donated $12,281 to Republican candidates and $104,132 to Democratic

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-28320595035588119162008-07-21T15:24:00.000-05:002008-07-21T15:25:14.521-05:00

I just finished grading a bunch of translation tests and I’m irritated that some of these translators were willing to waste their time on these tests. Two of the translators in particular had me ranting and raving. One took a medical translation test (into English) and did not know that “kalium” is not an element in English (it should be “potassium”). I would give them a little credit (although

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-73993101267490440742008-07-16T10:55:00.005-05:002008-07-16T11:39:20.993-05:00

I often get asked by friends and acquaintances what languages I'm teaching my kids. I always say, "English, of course." And then when the list doesn't continue, my conversational partner is inevitably disoriented and confused. After all, I speak a couple of languages: why wouldn't I want my kids to speak them, too?First, a disclaimer. My background is in second-language acquisition, linguistics,

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-37634274463027328052008-07-13T00:13:00.000-05:002008-07-13T00:14:20.339-05:00

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean annual gross wage for translators and/or interpreters is $41,690. According to the ATA compensation survey for 2007, the average gross earnings for translators and/or interpreters is more like $60,423. What’s with the discrepancy? Apparently the BLS statistics come from surveys sent to companies about their employees, so these are

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-44395563234763589992008-07-10T15:22:00.002-05:002008-07-10T15:24:30.400-05:00

This is a fascinating item you have got to read:The Tort of Negligent Translation.Needless to say, conservative bloggers are going haywire over this--but not over the issues of nuance in translation, which is fundamentally what is going on here.

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-64155040504690292772008-06-28T00:14:00.003-05:002008-06-28T00:18:02.066-05:00

In a recent post, ThoughtsOnTranslation gave some terrific tips for freelance translators to grow their businesses, translators who are at the make or break point of being able to live off their translation work. One of her suggestions got me thinking. She wisely suggests making sure you’re never late with a job and also researching and proofreading it carefully. But there’s something else that

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-6482296341231803892008-06-22T15:13:00.003-05:002008-06-22T15:21:01.385-05:00

The last time I found myself stuck with unpaid invoices from a translation agency that had gone bankrupt was about five months after 9/11. Even though the translation industry in the United States is apparently not in any particular recession right now (the weak dollar is pulling translation work from abroad into the United States), last month an agency I have worked for for years has gone

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-19958940932910092932008-06-13T21:19:00.000-05:002008-06-13T21:20:33.607-05:00

I don’t know about other translators, but I have the occasional superstition when I work. Through either a miracle or clever business negotiations I recently received about twice my normal per word rate on a job. This doesn’t happen as often as I like, but it happens often enough that I’ve noticed I have a superstition about these jobs:I work extra hard on them because I’m being paid more per

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-52400986183060418732008-06-11T23:44:00.002-05:002008-06-11T23:48:56.101-05:00

The nature of translation is always a hot topic of discussion on translator blogs and at conferences, etc. There’s a little swirl of discussion about this underway right now on Yndigo and GITS. One thing that should perhaps be more overt in the conversation is the notion of the translator as mercenary. Professional translators translate for money. I don’t know how many go home from a long day of

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-32260317216116673772008-06-08T14:53:00.002-05:002008-06-08T15:18:48.213-05:00

I have often railed here against book reviews in the New York Times (NYT) and elsewhere that summarize a translation with a trivial adverb ("lovingly," "thoughtfully," "jarringly"), which is a hallmark a reviewer who hasn't the faintest idea how to review the translation per se but nonetheless feels a need to comment on the translation. These kinds of reviews are all too common, and reviewers

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-41039850231866837122008-06-08T11:12:00.002-05:002008-06-08T11:13:02.589-05:00

Got a call from a large agency at 7:22 a.m. on a Sunday morning today. That is just wrong.

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-72916411592586456612008-06-06T11:53:00.001-05:002008-06-06T11:56:48.348-05:00

I have a controversial point to make here, so hear me out.I have a friend who’s a lawyer. He does not proofread his own documents. He doesn’t even type; his clients don’t want to pay his hourly rate for typing. He just dictates, which is faster, and his secretary does the typing. This lawyer friend of mine’s time is valuable. He has years of education and years of experience.I have more years of

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-18122158606466625852008-05-30T16:21:00.000-05:002008-05-30T16:22:03.394-05:00

Greed For translators this usually means saying yes to too much work or to something just because the agency is offering you one or two more cents a word. It occasionally means putting off your life because an extremely lucrative offer has come your way. I can recall not wanting to go over to a friend’s house for dinner because I had the chance to make a week’s worth of income if I just stayed

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-56532187775528696452008-05-22T16:05:00.003-05:002008-05-22T21:10:12.232-05:00

Dear Translation Agencies of the World:Here are the Top 10 irritants that you, knowingly or unknowingly, do to freelance translators the world over. Could you please learn from this list and improve?1. Phantom Jobs. Stop contacting translators with the promise of a large future job or jobs when the work hasn’t even been officially placed with you. Either you have a job to place, or you don’t--

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-76654227861178142002008-05-18T23:12:00.002-05:002008-05-18T23:43:56.681-05:00

The United States is an interesting country for a variety of reasons, not least because of its names (America, U.S., USA, etc.). It's a plural country in most languages, but in U.S. English it takes a singular verb. The demonym "American" is a bit controversial since North and South America are also full of "Americans," too, though in a different sense, yet English lacks a term such as Spanish "

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-59559214117678325252008-05-06T22:26:00.005-05:002008-05-06T22:34:07.612-05:00

Today I received a PO in which the target language was “American.” In this case, it was a Swedish agency, but I’ve seen the same phenomenon from other Europeans in the past. But the Scandinavians are particularly and notoriously bad about this. Far too frequently they call British English “English” and American English “American,” which is ridiculous. “American” is not a language! Eons ago I

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-89026094554381234822008-05-04T23:29:00.001-05:002008-05-04T23:30:57.009-05:00

In the May 3, 2008, New York Times Book Review, several translated novels were reviewed. As is standard for the New York Times Book Review, most of the reviewers have given the translators of these novels an adverb, or adjective.For example, Howard Goldblatt's translation of Mo Yan's Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out was deemed "fluent and elegant" translation. Julia Lovell’s translation of Yan

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-7889032933850911222008-04-30T18:12:00.002-05:002008-04-30T18:16:27.825-05:00

There is no such thing as a style guide or grammar book that says that the split infinitive should be avoided. Yet, there is a widespread belief that prohibitions against the split infinitive are copious, as this Language Log post exploresWhen was the last time you actually read a style guide or grammar book? How much do you really know about grammar, usage, punctuation, and style? Do you use the

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-35702391654675764742008-04-28T15:11:00.006-05:002008-04-28T16:03:21.193-05:00

So I was reading this article on CNET, which is actually a great Web site for tech news and reviews with splotches of geek humor mixed in, all about how it sucks to be your own IT person. And I realized reading this article that most translators, self-employed ones, end up being their own tech people, too. One of the most important skills in being a self-employed translator probably lies in the

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-75876367921390611592008-04-22T15:29:00.000-05:002008-04-22T15:30:04.181-05:00

Here is a topic appropriate for today that few translation blogs ever mention: translation is one of the greenest jobs out there.I’m talking specifically about self-employed translators. Translators who work in office buildings for agencies or other companies obviously can do their part to reduce their carbon footprint, consumption of resources, and waste output, but self-employed translators who

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-28575226175243504892008-04-17T21:21:00.002-05:002008-04-17T21:53:29.594-05:00

I got an inquiry the other day from one of the big agencies I work for. It is the perfect example of another big waste of translators’ time. The agency starts out by saying, "Hi! How are you? I have a new job opportunity for you! We are trying to impress this new client of ours, and so we’re trying to place this job with our best linguists possible! Obviously, we think that’s you! If you could

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-30248579509088988292008-04-11T23:10:00.001-05:002008-04-11T23:10:39.941-05:00

At a dinner party I once shocked someone by explaining that a translator cannot simply produce an exact equivalent of the source text in the target language. She said, “Why not? Why don’t you just translate what it says?” So I explained that there really wasn’t any such thing as an exact equivalent.For example, in French you might introduce yourself by saying, “Je m’appelle X.” How would you

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-39534929385846684932008-04-08T16:20:00.000-05:002008-04-08T16:21:03.417-05:00

Here is a pet peeve of mine. This has happened 4 times in the last couple of weeks!An agency contacts me and says they have, let’s say for example, a 15,000 word medical translation from one of my source languages into English. Then they invariably want to know what I would charge and when I could get it back to them. So, I let them know about my rates and I check my schedule to see when I’m free

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-79504799827727128432008-04-08T15:26:00.000-05:002008-04-08T15:27:25.679-05:00

Sometimes when I’m translating I find that the target language (in this case English) doesn’t have the word that I am searching for. This occurred earlier today when I was looking for a word that was a combination of “glimmer” and “bleed.” Blimmer? Gleed? Nope. I was forced to make do with a lesser word. The issues that come up in literary translation sure are different from the ones that come up

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-13570743754787189832007-04-24T18:19:00.000-05:002007-04-24T18:21:13.379-05:00

I just finished a translation that was essentially the text from a stationary company’s catalog. It went on at length describing the new calendars, diaries, wallets and business card holders they’re coming out with for next season. The only thing they forgot to send the translator was pictures. This happens shockingly often.So there’s one diary they produce that has a “leather feel.” Is that the

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-34246200814435691172007-04-22T19:25:00.000-05:002007-04-22T19:47:41.464-05:00

A colleague and friend from France was over brunch this Earth Day (www.greendimes.com), and at one point in the discussion we turned to cultural differences between the French and American educational systems, since this friend teaches French, by day to children and by night to adults. One of the biggest differences between France and America, she noted, was that Americans culturally expect there

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-43489634780265516562007-04-19T16:44:00.000-05:002007-04-19T16:52:39.219-05:00

There are other aspects of the hobby/professional divide within translation that should be mentioned: money and professionalism. Translation can be extremely lucrative, but there are some limits to how much most translators can earn. There are limits to how much clients will pay per word. Limits to how many words you can translate before getting too bleary eyed to do a decent job.Translators who

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-8668113580974468152007-04-18T22:20:00.000-05:002007-04-18T22:21:25.299-05:00

One of the many translator’s organizations I belong to recently decided to send a letter protesting the Swedish government’s decision to stop funding translations of Swedish literature. Great! Who wouldn’t want to be part of a vibrant, dynamic professional organization that will stand up to the government of a tiny European country with a population roughly equivalent to the state of New Jersey’s

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-83771980059793925982007-04-16T20:57:00.000-05:002007-04-16T21:09:33.529-05:00

April 17 is tax day in the United States. Our hope is that, if you are reading this blog, you are a full-time, self-employed translator and not a hobby translator or the like since hobby translators tend to pull down the going rates for translations. However, either way, you are probably finishing off your Schedule C this weekend and thinking about how to do things differently next year.Of course

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-60305110220300671642007-04-16T20:43:00.000-05:002007-04-16T21:11:58.548-05:00

Many Canadians and Americans are not aware that the governments of all European countries actually subsidize the translation of their literatures to promote their cultures abroad. Many times, translators seek out stipends or other funding so they can pursue translation of works that, left merely to supply-and-demand economics, would never be translated.A series of pieces in the New York Times

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-22286140315226443442007-02-25T16:14:00.000-05:002007-04-16T20:56:31.852-05:00

Over the course of the 100-some years that linguistics has been a field of scholarly and scientific inquiry, it is surprising how little expertise people have in linguistics whose jobs are language-focused, e.g. translators. Many people mistake the ability to speak a language, or the ability to produce well-crafted language, for an ability to understand how language works, in terms not only

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-38139405871112717222007-02-20T01:53:00.000-05:002007-02-20T01:57:36.158-05:00

India's national language academy, the Sahitya Akademi, announced its 2007 winners of its prestigious translation awards today. The winners will each receive a stipend of 20,000 rupees.The winners and their languages are listed below; the diversity of languages in India will be impressive to citizens of most other countries:Hemeswar Dihingia (Assamese)Jyoti Bhusan Chaki (Bengali)Rangina Daimary (

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-32763684673680305532007-02-20T01:40:00.000-05:002007-02-20T01:51:49.101-05:00

A recent New York Times article criticized the ethics of a translator who translated photocopied diary entries written by his wife, who was cheating on him (as the translation elicited).Although the American Translators Society and other organizations regard as unethical the translation of material that is illegally obtained or for which the translator suspects an illegal or dishonest purpose,

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-73659741565184283502007-02-19T17:09:00.000-05:002007-02-19T17:21:20.836-05:00

One of the greatest struggles in client education any translator has is the "myth of the black box." This myth basically holds that translating means putting language in one end of a magical "black box" (a term borrowed from software development), and then a translation that is 100% equivalent comes out the other.This myth is perpetuated even by some translators, who may accept two-way

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-41152937477680513932007-02-18T18:35:00.000-05:002007-02-18T18:37:39.679-05:00

Once every few weeks the New York Times book review features a work that has been translated. This was the case today. They always have someone review the book and the reviews are often little gems of writing themselves. There is one constant exception to this. The obligatory, absurd reference to the translator. It’s as if the reviewers have been told to mention the translator. And yet they have

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-34356121461552010792007-02-18T18:16:00.000-05:002007-02-18T18:27:31.870-05:00

The well-known biblical translator Bruce Metzger died on February 13, 1993, in Princeton, NJ, at age 93. He is survived by his wife Isobel and sons John and James and a sister.A Presbyterian minister, Metzger was best known for his collaboration on the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, first published in 1952 and updated in 1989.Metzger was instrumental in correcting biblical

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-66323371219948742112007-02-18T13:06:00.000-05:002007-02-18T18:27:49.937-05:00

Certain countries in Europe especially suffer from something we shall call "English arrogance." This trait arises in cultures where English is widely spoken and studied, from an early age, which in combination with English-language television creates a population of highly fluent English speakers.The problem is merely that these highly fluent English speakers are for the most part not native

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-14089458320118309482007-02-18T12:55:00.000-05:002007-02-18T18:28:08.770-05:00

There are many examples of false cognates when translating between Amrican English and various European languages. One that comes up for almost all languages in are the terms "irony" and "sarcasm."Although both terms originate in classical Greek rhetoric and you would think their modern meanings in various languages would be similar, in fact they are not. Most Continental languages use their

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-2740616243598037352007-02-16T09:37:00.000-05:002007-02-18T18:28:55.610-05:00

The United States is a large country. The mainland extends over four time zones:* Eastern Time (ET): New York, Washington DC, Miami* Central Time (CT): Chicago, St. Louis, Houston* Mountain Time (MT): Denver, Phoenix, Salt Lake City* Pacific Time (PT): Seattle, San Francisco, Los AngelesIn addition, there is Hawai'i Time (HT) and Alaska Time (AT). Canada actually has two other time zones (

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-90489197978581057262007-02-15T22:39:00.000-05:002007-02-18T18:29:11.950-05:00

I find myself constantly amazed at the touchy feely articles people write about translation. When I come across an article on translation, I always sit back, ready to enjoy it. And I'm frequently disappointed by what the writer has to say. This is especially true when people are writing about literary translation. Literary translators frequently write about what it FELT like to translate

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5942751017122280599.post-53949863699125001622007-02-15T22:23:00.000-05:002007-02-18T18:29:32.846-05:00

Welcome to this inaugural post of the Masked Translator. The purpose of this blog is to discuss issues in the translation industry and in the practice of translation--issues that are hard to discuss with colleagues, clients or translation agencies because translation is not always a field of directness or honesty.The topics we will discuss in this blog include professionalism, technique, history,

Masked Translatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01930652371980240478noreply@blogger.com0