Übersetzer-Blog

Jeder Übersetzer, der über 40 Jahre alt ist, dürfte dieses Problem kennen: Das Tippen mit den Fingern geht nicht mehr so einfach wie früher, die Unterarme schmerzen und die Hände verkrampften. Abhilfe schafft eine Spracherkennungssoftware. Damit muss nun nicht mehr mit den Händen übersetzt werden, sondern alles, was man diktiert, erscheint auf dem Bildschirm des PCs. Die zehn Finger der Hand werden beim Übersetzen ersetzt durch die eigene Stimme. Dies funktioniert sehr gut. Etliche Übersetzerkollegen haben mir bestätigt, dass sie damit auch viel mehr übersetzen können als früher mit der Tastatur.

Diese Software, die für Sehbehinderte, Legastheniker und Behinderte gleichfalls eingesetzt werden kann, kann je nach Fachgebiet des Übersetzers erweitert werden. Die professionellen Versionen von Dragon NaturallySpeaking ermöglichen das Überprüfen der bereits erstellten Übersetzungen (Word-Diktate) auf unbekannte Wörter und die Übernahme derselben ins Vokabular. Wer verschiedene Fachgebiete übersetzt, die miteinander nichts zu tun haben, wie zum Beispiel Fräsmaschinen und Medizintechnik, kann hierfür auch verschiedene Benutzerprofile erstellen, damit unterschiedlichen Termini sich nicht gegenseitig stören. Übersetzer mit Fachgebiet Medizin bzw.  Recht können für medizinische Übersetzungen bzw. juristische Übersetzungen die Spezial-Versionen Dragon Medical 12 bzw. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Legal 12 erwerben. In diesen Versionen sind bereits juristische bzw. medizinische Fachbegriffe inbegriffen.

Mit Dragon NaturallySpeaking ist das Übersetzen auf Deutsch und auch auf Englisch möglich, so dass auch Übersetzer, die das Muttersprachler-Prinzip nicht durchgängig anwenden, beide Sprachrichtungen diktieren können. Die Französisch-, Italienisch- und Spanisch-Versionen von Dragon ermöglichen daneben noch das Diktieren auf Englisch, jedoch nicht auf Deutsch. Für Übersetzer ist die niederländische Variante vielleicht sinnvoller: damit lässt sich auf Deutsch, Englisch, Französisch und Niederländisch diktieren.

Eine wichtige Voraussetzung für die Verwendung von Dragon für Übersetzer (wie auch für andere Anwender) ist die deutliche Aussprache. Echte Dialektsprecher haben es schwer mit Dragon.  Süddeutsche zum Beispiel haben damit einen kleinen Nachteil, doch auch ich, der ansonsten einen deutlichen südwestdeutschen Akzent hat und auch gelegentlich nuschelt, kann mit Dragon fast fehlerfrei diktieren, wenn ich mit meiner „Diktatstimme“ spreche.

Einen kleinen Nachteil für konservative Schreiber, zu denen ich mich auch zähle, sollte ich nicht verschweigen: Die Diktatsoftware beherrscht leider nicht die bewährte Rechtschreibung.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking kann bezogen werden von unserem Partnerunternehmen LinguaConsult. BDÜ-Mitglieder erhalten pauschal 5 % Rabatt auf alle Vollversionen.

Search for a random translation company, any translation company. Chances are the company’s homepage will contain a photo of a group of young, happy people in suits grinning from ear to ear and looking very business-savvy, most likely also caught in some group embrace or possibly even in mid-air after jumping, presumably for joy at working in such an excellent company as the one in question. They’ll maybe even have decided to be daring and abandon their ties, instead opting to carry out their business with an open top button. We all know at least one such offending company, for they are legion.

These ‘staff photos’ are in no way representative of a company, its work ethos or even translation in general, and should never be assumed to be. No reasonable person could possibly be duped into believing that these pictures are any more than poorly chosen page-fillers by an unoriginal company. Is it not somewhat self-contradictory for a company to brandish pictures of young employees in their late twenties, whilst underneath boasting that all its translators have decades of professional experience?

This is not to say that a freelance translator’s own personal website should not contain a photograph. Indeed, by all means! The difference in this case, however, is that the freelance translator is attaching a face to a name – one photo of one person in a one-person business. This is the person who will translate for you. But then, who are these people in company staff pictures? Has the management simply rounded up four or five of the most photogenic employees in the company and ordered them to pose for a picture and look happy? There are no captions detailing the members of the photograph or their positions inside the company, thus rendering the entire point of such photographs a moot one.

Internet vs Hardbacks

As you are undoubtedly aware, there is a wide variety of online foreign language dictionaries available to choose from. These dictionaries are an excellent tool for general translations such as press releases or reports, but struggle as translations get more technical. To combat this, a large number of online dictionaries are configured to be open to user contributions, but even this innovative system has its limits and flaws. Online dictionaries first require user contributions to be verified by other users before being published as canon – but who is verifying the translations? No authoritative bodies participate in this process or preside over it, rather other translators who – and I do not wish to detract from their good intentions – may themselves not definitively know if the term to be verified is correct. This can cause terms to ‘become’ correct through seeming correct to a large number of translators, and can lead to the indiscriminate creation of Anglicisms in lieu of a proper German equivalent of a word.

This is where bound technical dictionaries come in. With an unambiguous publisher and no exhaustive listings of the possible definitions of a given word in every context imaginable, physical dictionaries remain an indispensible part of a translator’s assets. On which note, I searched three online dictionaries for the word ‘asset’. Naturally, I’ll refrain from specifying which online dictionaries these were; I don’t want to seem to be targeting any online dictionaries in particular, or indeed at all! In my first search, the top three German translation entries for ‘asset’ were ‘Asset’. The second dictionary’s top entry was ‘Vermögen’ and the third dictionary’s was ‘Aktivposten’. I then compared this to my hardback dictionary, and the German word ‘Asset’ did not feature at all. I’m aware that this is just one example and that it fortuitously happens to prove my point, but the online dictionaries contained on average 20 different German terms for ‘asset’, the only distinguishing categories for which being something like ‘financial’ or ‘economic’. Not the best way to translate a contract, I think you’ll agree. Of course, translators always work under time pressure and cannot afford to spend the time required to look up every single word in a physical dictionary, hence the miracle of online dictionaries. This blog entry is merely attempting to demonstrate and remind us that although revolutionary, online dictionaries are not (yet) suitable standalone reference points. Every translator should own a technical dictionary in order to support his/her work and to act as a proverbial safety net.

For a British national, becoming a sworn translator in Germany is a much more irritating and expensive process than I had previously imagined. And I thought British red tape was bad!

As a translator, I have many translator friends, many of whom are German. From conversations with them, I received the impression that becoming a sworn translator, for them at least, was as easy as cutting out a newspaper coupon and mailing it off. Well, I was wrong. It has been one month since I decided to get myself sworn in as a translator, and my progress has been minimal. After enquiring with my local court as to how to become a ‘beeidigter Übersetzer’, I received a response informing me that I would have to provide written academic proof that I could speak English and German. I, the British national working as a translator of German in Germany, would have to provide written proof of my abilities in English. Perhaps I should send in this blog…

Needless to say, my German colleagues at the translation office find this absolutely hilarious and won’t let me forget it, adding in a pinch of good-natured Schadenfreude for good measure.

The required documents for becoming a sworn translator are a print-out of an application form, a university degree certificate, a transcript of your exam results and a German version of your CV. Fair enough, except that my examination transcript doesn’t technically prove that I can speak English since I sat no English language exams during my time at university.

The first step is subjecting your university degree to an examination by the court to make sure that it carries the same academic weight as the alternative state examination to become a sworn translator. I like nothing better than paying a couple of hundred euro just for a court to quickly (in the slowest possible sense of the word) check if it’s ever sworn in another Master’s degree-holder post-Bologna process.

Misgivings aside and placing faith on the court’s basic human powers of logic, I had my family mail over all the necessary documents and sent them off, and am now in the ‘check my mail every day with an ever-increasing sense of hope and trepidation’ phase. I swear I’ll be sworn…

In today’s competitive global economy, effective communication plays a key role in capturing a share of the international market. It is no wonder that the global outsourceable translation market has long since crossed the 5 billion dollar mark. With the pinch of the current recession, it is all too tempting for companies to allow price to be the deciding factor when contracting translation services. This is however a risky policy which in many cases results in poor quality with detrimental repercussions for the company’s image and possibly ultimately higher overall costs due to costly corrections, lawsuits etc. So what should companies focus on when outsourcing translation work? We have put together our top ten tips on how to get the best translation.

TEN TOP TIPS FOR TRANSLATIONS

1. Always use a professional translator who translates into his/her mother tongue –who in other words is a native speaker of the target language. Only a native speaker can get to grips with the subtleties of the language and ensure that idioms and metaphors are interpreted correctly.
2. Just being a native speaker is not enough. Especially for complex subjects, choosing a native translator who is also a subject specialist with an in-depth understanding of the industry and an excellent command of the technical terminology is vital.
3. Setting a clear and feasible deadline can greatly influence the quality of the final text. A translator working under extreme time pressure will inevitably have to make compromises. In an ideal scenario, translators should be able to produce around 2,500 words per day. Allowing extra time for proof reading when setting the deadline will also help to ensure the highest quality standards can be met.
4. In order to obtain the best translation results, the source text must also be error-free and comprehensible. The translator should not have to waste valuable time trying to second-guess what is intended which could result in an incorrect interpretation.
5. Especially when translating technical manuals and for repeat orders, consistency is key to a successful translation project. This can be achieved by providing the translator with any prior versions and existing glossaries. A competent translator will of course also have his/her own terminology management system which is updated regularly.
6. Experience is the father of wisdom, as the saying goes. This is particularly true in the translation industry. A translator backed by years of experience has learnt to avoid the many pitfalls which can be detrimental for many inexperienced colleagues both in terms of terminology and business practices.
7. When placing an order for a translation, clear specifications about exactly what must be translated and the purpose of the translation will also avoid any unforeseen costs. Special formatting requirements should also be addressed.
8. Keep it simple and accept the limitations of language or allow sufficient time. Catchy headlines and puns cannot always be translated word for word. Just as the advertising specialists had several attempts to come up with that perfect sales slogan, a translator may also need more than one attempt and a little extra time to find the perfect solution.
9. Translators with linguistic qualifications are a safer choice than relying on in-house employees who happen to speak the language. Not only do they lack the routine, and thus may need far longer with poorer results, but they are also prevented from attending to their own specific tasks.
10. Open channels of communication between the client and the translator will help to keep things running smoothly. A translator should be given a contact familiar with the source texts to discuss any problems and equally the translator must be available to update the client on progress to date and to receive any amendments to the original specifications.

There you have it. A rough guide to getting the best from your translation service provider. We hope that this will help you make the right choice when outsourcing your texts. In order to get a top quality translation, price cannot be the sole deciding criterion.

50 Prozent Rabatt auf die normalen Übersetzungspreise für Studenten – das ist ein Wort! Und zwar für 20 verschiedene Sprachen. Dieses Angebot habe ich gerade bei einem Internetkonkurrenten gefunden. Wie ist dies möglich? Zumal der Anbieter an anderer Stelle mit „Qualität hat ihren Preis“ wirbt.

Ich unterstelle dem Wettbewerber mal, daß er keine 40 angestellte Übersetzer beschäftigt, die er auslasten muß: 20 deutsche Übersetzer und 20 fremdsprachige Übersetzer, schließlich wirbt die Online-Agentur, deren Impressum aktuell  eher zweifelhaft ist,  auch mit dem Muttersprachlerprinzip. Ergo müssen Billigübersetzungen für Studenten – wie andere Übersetzungen auch – an Freiberufler vergeben werden. Kein freiberuflicher Übersetzer wird jedoch der Agentur gegenüber einen Studentenrabatt einräumen, weshalb sollte er dies tun?

Wie ist der Rabatt dann möglich? Ich weiß es nicht. Man kann natürlich spekulieren. Ich weiß nur, daß Qualität immer ihren Preis hat und daß die Studenten von heute die Auftraggeber von morgen sind.

In diesem Blog möchten wir einige Gedanken zu unserer Arbeit, dem Übersetzen, aufschreiben. Es sollen dabei Themen besprochen werden, die für andere Übersetzer und unsere Kunden interessant sind.  Die Artikel sollen sowohl auf Deutsch als auch auf Englisch erscheinen.