Translations may be categorized according to their end purpose or function (or end-use) with regard to a particular environment or activity as, for instance:

– judicial translations (translated for use in, or in relation to, court proceedings),

– medical translations (for use by physicians and healthcare professionals),

– commercial translations (for use in a sales or marketing context),

– editorial translations (any type of material designed for general publication),

– marketing/advertising translations (translations for use in marketing/advertising campaigns or drives),

Categories of translations can also be set up according to types of media requiring the use of highly specific environments, tools and procedures. Relevant categories are:

– multimedia translation (translation of documents involving images, sound, text and code, e.g. Web sites and CD-ROMs),

– audio-visual translation (subtitling, dubbing, voice over translation or translated speech that is heard with the original speaker’s voice in the background, over-titling),

– localisation (the adaptation of Web sites, videogames, or software and documentation, i.e. on-line help, user documentation, user manuals, etc. to a specific local linguistic and cultural environment).

To complicate things still further, translations can also be categorized according to the kind of platform, equipment, software and procedures required or used, with four broad types known as (i) all-through human translation, (ii) translation- memory-assisted translation, (iii) computer-assisted human translation, and (iv) part or full automatic translation or machine translation.

When referring to their work, translators use all the above categories but those categories intersect and overlap. The translation of the contents of a Web site describing contagious diseases and including a self-diagnosis test management system, could thus be described as multimedia (and maybe even multimodal) medical translation – or, most probably, as “localisation” – while the translation of DNA analysis results used in an extradition procedure could be defined as legal-technical judicial translation.

The activities involved in providing a translation service are organised into three phases: pre-translation, translation, post-translation.

Pre-translation includes anything that takes place up to the moment the translator actually receives the material for translation: everything that has to do with getting the job, writing out estimates, negotiating, getting the specifications right, contracting.

Translation in turn is divided into three stages: pre-transfer, transfer, post-transfer.

Pre-transfer includes all operations leading up to the actual ‘translating’, including preparation of the material, documentary searches, alignment, memory consolidation, terminology mining, deciding on options, etc.

Transfer is the well-known core activity of shifting to another language-culture combination.

Post-transfer covers anything that has to be done to meet the quality requirements and criteria prior to delivery of the translated material. It mostly pertains to quality control and upgrading. It also includes formatting and various preparations for delivery.

Post-translation covers all activities that follow delivery of the translated material. These include possible integration of the translated material (as in simulation of subtitles, layout prior to publishing, integration in a Web site or in an international soundtrack, etc.) but also, of course, all the “administrative” business of getting paid, setting up an archive of the project, consolidating the terminology for future uses, and much more.

The process can be broken down further, in the following chronological order. The translator ‘gets’ the job. This entails:

– prospecting for the ‘job’,

– checking that the translation does not already exist,

– negotiating with the client,

– agreeing on the service to be provided.

The translation contract is formed when the translator and the client come to an agreement on the terms and conditions of the service to be provided.

Get Translation Jobs today. Receive the list of translation agencies to offer you Translators Jobs. Search for Translation Work from direct clients.

Searching for translation jobs? Go to http://www.translationjobspro.com – and get translation jobs for any language combinations.

Author Bio: Get Translation Jobs today. Receive the list of translation agencies to offer you Translators Jobs. Search for Translation Work from direct clients.

Category: Business
Keywords: translation, jobs