Any quality translation requires a thorough analysis of the source material prior to translation. During the analysis process, the translator will be able to identify problem areas and points that need further clarification or documentation, and can list the points that need to be discussed and negotiated with the work provider. Translation is in fact essentially a question of making choices (simply because there are always several ways of producing a quality translation) and the translator must always be prepared, circumstances permitting, to discuss those choices and have them confirmed – that is, if the work provider or his authorised agent has the required fluency in the language and subject area (and the willingness to participate).

No translator can operate satisfactorily without having a perfect understanding of the subject matter in the material due for translation. This means understanding both the surface meaning and the implicit meaning (in particular, the original author’s open or hidden agenda in writing the material). Whenever the material refers to subject areas or subject matter that the translator is not familiar with and unless the translation is of little importance, the latter has to use every available source to clarify every last detail of the material, i.e. by consulting the author or designer/creator, the client, fellow translators and colleagues, by studying the product itself if that is practical, by searching the Web, by questioning information providers, and even, when it comes to the crunch, by following a training course on that particular subject matter, or through any other efficient and fast means.

Translation service provision means transforming raw materials into an end- product – the translation. The raw materials include the ‘source’ material, the translator’s knowledge (and competences) plus terminology, phraseology, sentence structure templates or even existing content or elements that have already been used, either in a previous version of the same document (in the case of product documentation) or in other documents produced for the same work provider or in prior (upstream) translations. And this is where the contents of existing translation memories come in handy.

As a matter of fact, the need to have the raw materials ready before translation starts has become obvious with the increasing use of various automata: if a translation aid system, translation memory system, automatic dictionary or translation engine is being used, it becomes imperative to set up all the terminology, phraseology, templates, and ‘memory components’ in advance. It must be emphasized that, whenever such materials are readily available, they may still need to be updated and validated. And this holds true of human translation too.

Unless this is taken care of by the specific computer-assisted-translation tools or localisation tools, the translator may also need to tet up a version for translation (or retranslation). The version for translation or retranslation may be a version of the document containing only text (and excluding all tables, graphs, illustrations, etc.) or only subtitles or software menus. This version will also have undergone all the necessary formatting processes (i.e. tag freezing, style sheet consolidation, etc.) and will include all the relevant flags and any translation resources available.

As a matter of fact, the version for translation is the material to be effectively translated or retranslated. This means it excludes anything not for translation but includes any segments or portions previously translated but not qualified.

Set up the necessary environment. The translator may also need to assemble and prepare specific equipment and software for the job, as well as any technical support element needed to carry out the translation.

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Category: Business
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