五洲翻译

　　This note is written in the hope of saving translation buyers (clients) some frustration. It does not discuss the translating of fiction, biographies and other non-technical books which are usually undertaken by literary translators who work directly for publishers.

Translators and Texts

　　Competent translators translate into their mother tongues. They also unravel the meaning of each text before translating it, a difficult task when a text deals with a subject which very few people understand. To comprehend such text, the translator may need to refer to a specialized dictionary, consult an expert or seek clarification from the author.
　　Commercial text may be a 50-word status report from a bank, a 1,000-word offer to maintain machinery or a 20,000-word marketing plan. Medical text may describe the clinical trials of a drug or the injuries suffered in a road accident. Texts about alloys, computer software, installing automated teller machines, engine valve-timing and etc are called technical but any text that can be used as evidence in court and may, therefore, become legal and its translator may be obliged to visit a solicitor or a notary to swear an affidavit that his translation is true and accurate. Patent translating, in which we specialize, demands composite skills. For example, translating a pharmaceutical patent specification into Dutch could require the services of a translator with a degree in bio-chemistry, who is familiar with patent terminology and whose mother tongue is Dutch.

Translations

Translations should be versions of the text in another language which:
..is faithful to the original but
..is written in the idioms of the language of the translation yet
..suffers no loss of precision.
（信.达.雅）
　　Text may be arranged in a way which seems clumsy, but there may be good commercial, technical or legal reasons, which its translator may not know. A good translator will therefore make the fewest changes necessary to render a translation in the idiom of his mother tongue. At the end of the day, it is the translator, or his employer, who is liable for any loss a customer suffers as a result of a faulty translation.
　　Translations have limitations, a faithful and precise translation into idiomatic Swedish of a brochure about machine tools is unlikely to be an effective sales aid. The writer of such a brochure should be au fait with Swedish safety regulations, the performance and cost of competing machines and the type of manufacturing which prospective customers undertake. Many translations of sales texts need to be copy-written subsequently.
Some organizations operating in esoteric or high-tech fields use house language, which a translator cannot know. Glossaries should be supplied with such texts.

Paying for translations

　　Most translators work at home and communicate by phone, fax or e-mail. Their pay relates to the number of words they translate - either the words in the source text or the words in the translation.
　　Source text rates discourage verbosity and make it possible to calculate the cost before translating begins.