A translator is a key actor in the process of importing or exporting ideas, concepts, rationales, thought processes, discourse structures, preconceived ideas, machines, services, myths and so on. He is also a vital go-between in operations and actions involving international cooperation (customer information, extradition procedures, sales, purchases, exchanges, travel, etc.). He is in fact an extremely powerful and critical agent facilitating and even at times enabling economic, strategic, cultural, technical, literary, legal, scientific and ideological exchanges throughout the world.

The effectiveness of the communication process is the ultimate test of quality in a translation, not the ways and means used to express the message.

The contents of the translation must be true to the facts and to the interpretation of those facts within the limits of the domain or specialist field concerned. Ideally, the translation should not contain the slightest technical, factual or semantic error. In fact, zero-defect quality is very seldom achieved, mostly because there are approximations, omissions, ambiguities, and even errors in the original. But it remains every serious translator’s ideal, and accuracy, at least, must be the rule.

The message must be meaningful in the target language and culture even though concepts or their interpretations may vary from one culture to another. This has a number of implications:

– concepts or connotations that become meaningless in the target culture have

to be deleted;

– concepts or connotations may no longer be perceptible in the target culture, simply because they were implicit in the source material and the implicit meaning fails to surface in the other culture or language;

– concepts or connotations may require additional clarification in the target culture;

– concepts or connotations may take on a different meaning, become nonsensical or even offensive in the target culture – as in the well-known examples of products whose names carry obscene, vulgar or ridiculous connotations in the target culture.

Any person using the translation must be able to clearly understand the information and the message conveyed. For the translator, this may mean having to adapt both the contents and the register of language to the end-user’s level of technical competence. Just like any other medium of communication, the translation must be readable, coherent, logical and (preferably) well written.

The translation must be effective both in terms of communicating a message and of making sure that the message fulfils its initial purpose (and nothing but that purpose). It must in fact fulfil both its initial purpose and any subsequent purpose(s) that its end-users or beneficiaries might consider.

To achieve an acceptable and effective translation, the translator must take into account:

a) the cultural context within which the message will be received and interpreted – the culture being national, corporate or local,

b) the end-users’ value systems – failing which the translation will be rejected outright,

c) the most effective way of arguing points, presenting information, organising contents according to the aim to be achieved – failing which the translation will not fulfil its purpose,

d) commonly accepted rhetorical and stylistic conventions in the target culture – failing which, the message will be seen as ‘alien’ This may pervade the whole message or be visible in certain aspects, as for instance, when the translation fails to comply with a specific company style guide,

e) language stereotypes (i.e. standard terminology and phraseology) – failing which, the translation will be felt to have been written by an ‘outsider’ (because the use of the appropriate terms and phrases is seen as the hallmark of technical competence and a sign that the writer or speaker belongs to the narrow circle of’specialists’ in a given field).

Find Translation Jobs online. Get the list of translation companies ready to give you Translators Jobs. Receive Translation Work from direct clients.

Looking for translation jobs? Visit http://www.translationjobspro.com – where you\’ll find translation jobs for all language pairs.

Author Bio: Find Translation Jobs online. Get the list of translation companies ready to give you Translators Jobs. Receive Translation Work from direct clients.

Category: Jobs
Keywords: translation, jobs