
Mikhail Yashchuk
15+ years โข English>Belarusian, Russian
Translation โข Transcreation โข Editing โข Quality assurance โข Vendor testing
Belarusian Notary Chamber sworn translator
American Translators Association-Slavic Languages Division LinkedIn group manager
2,231 followers on LinkedIn
BLOG
Hi. I’m Mikhail. Visit my LinkedIn page below to connect and see more posts.
I've passed the RWS certification in Linguistic Prompt Design
๐I’ve passed the RWS certification in Linguistic Prompt Design.
The course covers how to create and customize prompts, evaluate LLM responses, and use generative AI for language tasks.
I regularly translate prompts and responses, so the knowledge I’ve received will be helpful in this non-MT work.

What happens if the translator and the editor donโt agreeโ
In some cases, the editor has the final say. Sometimes, the translator can decide whether to implement a correction or not. And in some LSPs, another person comes in โ the arbitrator.
Being an arbitrator, I evaluate the translatorโs and editorโs arguments and make a final decision.
Itโs important to analyze the context, respect the linguists, understand their choices and make a fair decision. Sometimes, both versions can be correct, and itโs crucial to differentiate between necessary corrections and preferential edits.
I finished school back in 1997 but still take school tests
I finished school back in 1997 but still take school tests in my 2 native languages (Belarusian and Russian) to brush up on my knowledge.
What I love about school tests is that they contain tricky cases and exceptions to the rules that standard spelling or grammar checking tools can easily miss.
๐ฑ Here are some crazy Russian examples:
ะะตัะปะพะถะฝะฐั is spelled as one word, but if we add a certain word before it, it becomes 2 words:
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ะะตัะปะพะถะฝะฐั ะทะฐะดะฐัะฐ
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ะะธัััั ะฝะต ัะปะพะถะฝะฐั ะทะฐะดะฐัะฐ
ะะฒะฐัะตะฝะฐั is spelled with one ะฝ, but if we add a dependent word/phrase, a second ะฝ appears:
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ะะฒะฐัะตะฝะฐั ะบะฐะฟัััะฐ
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย ะะฒะฐัะตะฝะฝะฐั ะฒัะตัะฐ ะบะฐะฟัััะฐ
One of the good sources of such tests isย www.gramota.ru/uchebnik/uprazhneniya.
Some of the tests are not relevant for translators, like language theory or stresses in words, but tests on spelling and punctuation are awesome. They show your mistakes, and you can see the relevant rule on the same website.
For translators, a deep understanding of their native language is more crucial than proficiency in a foreign language, since translations must be free from any grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors.
My favorite English word is DOUBLE-CHECK
No matter if Iโm editing my own or someone elseโs translation, I do at least two rounds of checks.
During the second check, I always find typos, meaning errors, punctuation mistakes, or stylistic imperfections.
In my 16 years in the industry, I can hardly remember a translation where I didnโt make any edits during the second round of editing.
My tips and a step-by-step QA procedure
โ
Built-in CAT tool QA:
Most computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools (e.g., Trados Studio or memoQ) offer built-in QA functionality. Enable the relevant options in the CAT tool menus and run QA.
โ
Export to Word and use Wordโs proofing features:
If your CAT tool allows it, export the translation to Microsoft Word. Press F7 to check for additional mistakes that the CAT tool may have missed. Ensure that Wordโs proofing options (grammar, repeated words, uppercase words, etc.) are activated.
โ
Standalone QA tools:
Use standalone QA tools for comprehensive checks. Xbench, Verifika, and QA Distiller are some of the oldest and most popular ones.
QA Distillerย is completely free,ย Xbenchย has a free limited-functionality version, andย Verifikaย (my personal favorite) has a fully functional free web version, provides language-dependent checks, and covers numerous mistake categories. Take the time to configure Verifika with the options you needโitโs worth the effort.
โ
Double-check and run QA again:
Correct any mistakes the tool found and run another round of QA to catch any overlooked errors or newly introduced mistakes.
โ
Use multiple QA tools:
If youโre doing a test translation or working on a particularly important project, consider running QA using multiple tools. Itโs better to spend time reviewing false positives than to miss an embarrassing error.
โ
Impress the client:
Go the extra mile by exporting a final QA report containing only false positives. Demonstrating your commitment to quality will leave a positive impression.
Let no mistakes slip through into your translations!
—
This is the last of my three-article series published on the American Translators Association’s Slavic Languages Division blog. All the articles can be found at https://www.ata-divisions.org/SLD/blog/
Navigating Translation Tests: Tips for Success
As a former boutique agency owner, I was responsible for linguist selection for 15 years. That meant that part of my routine was checking test translations. Here are some tips I can give test-takers.
โ Before taking a test, agree on rates, payment methods and other terms with the client.
You donโt want to pass a test only to find out the client can only pay you half of your regular rates, 90 days after the invoice, or using a payment method you canโt accept.
โ Leave comments if you want to clarify anything or support your linguistic choices.
Not all tests are idealโsome have ambiguities, some are out of context, some have inconsistent terms and some even contain mistakes.
Donโt be afraid to ask the client to clarify certain things. Asking relevant questions doesnโt mean you donโt know what youโre doing. On the contrary, it shows that you are attentive to detail and donโt translate blindly.
Linguistic choices can be very subjective; there are usually many correct ways of saying the same thing in the target language. So, if you think your choice of a word or term is not obvious and might be considered a mistake, leave a comment for the reviewer. Your reasoning, supported by a link to an acknowledged website or an industry standard, will be appreciated by the reviewer.
โ Use correct quotation marks (e.g. ยซยป for Russian).
Whether you translate your test piece using Microsoft Word, a CAT tool or an online environment that may not directly support all punctuation, make sure you use correct quotes.
You can use keyboard shortcuts (e.g. Alt+0171 and Alt+0187), tickย Replace straight quotes with smart quotesย in Trados or simply copy and paste correct quotation marks into the translation.
โ Use a spell checker and make sure the UPPERCASE option is turned on.
Make sure the spell checker is turned on and all relevant options are ticked. If you work in Chrome, chooseย Enhanced spell checkย inย Settings-Languagesย so that Chrome shows your mistakes in words in uppercase.
โ If you work in a CAT tool, run automated quality assurance (QA) in Xbench, Verifika, etc.
The test translation must be spot-on, so it may be a good idea to use as many QA tools as possible, because not all of them are able to find the same types of mistakes. While such tools often produce lots of false positives, itโs better to spend time checking them than to miss an embarrassing error.
โ Check your text several times.
If time permits, leave the translated piece aside, then come back and check it against the source for meaning. Then leave it aside again and check it later without looking at the source, correcting typos, punctuation, grammar and style. Repeat the last step at least twice.
โ Rephrase sentences that donโt sound natural.
If a sentence is correct in meaning but sounds awkward, try to change itโsplit a long sentence into two, merge two short sentences into one, use a verb instead of a verbal noun, change word order, etc.
โ Check the translation for double spaces.
Run this check (by pressing CTRL+F and typing 2 spaces) several times to find all double and triple spaces and be careful with extra or missing spaces around tagsโsometimes they need to be searched for manually.
โDonโt use hyphens (-) instead of n-dashes (โ) and m-dashes (โ).
Know the rules for your language (compound words, minus signs, number ranges, complex sentences, etc.) and use the correct dashes, even if the tool you work in doesnโt directly support them.
โDonโt blindly copy source grammar structures.
Thatโs what Google Translate is for ๐. Human translations need to sound natural, and that often entails changing the original grammar and word order.
โDonโt try to hand in the test ASAP.
I came across an agency once that required completing test translations within 30 minutes. But most clients expect quality and not speed, so take your time to provide your best translation ever, since there may not be a second chance.
โAbove all, donโt take a test in a domain of which you have no knowledge.
This is the last tip, but it should probably be the first on the list.
Good luck with passing your tests and finding good clients!
This is the second in a series of posts on translation quality. The first post can be foundย here, and the third and last, on ensuring quality by using QA tools,ย here.
Keeping your customers happy...
Recently, I worked on a project and part of it was the translation of SMS messages. I translated them as short as possible, but they still were over the limit.
The challenge with SMS messages lies in the varying limits: 160 characters for Latin letters and only 70 for Cyrillic.
When a Russian SMS exceeds 70 characters, the recipient will still receive it, but the sender incurs the cost of multiple SMS messages. For large-scale campaigns with thousands of recipients, these costs can add up significantly.
The client didnโt specify any character count restrictions. However, I noticed that all the English SMS messages remained within the standard 160-character limit. So, I informed the client accordingly.
Tip: Try to go the extra mile for your clients if you are happy working with them and want to keep them.
My first article has been approved by the American Translators Association
A huge thank you to an ATA-certified Russian-English translator and a former Slavic Languages Division administrator, Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya, for editing my publication to make it sound more English!
This is the first in a series of posts on translation quality. Stay tuned for more on ensuring quality when doing translation tests and using QA tools.
๐กHow to avoid false terminology mistakes in QA reports
A glossary helps to achieve consistency, but it can be a nightmare when you have to check dozens of false positives in the QA report.
This happens when the glossary only includes terms in their base form (singular number, masculine gender, nominative case, infinitive, etc.) without considering all the possible forms the target term may have.
What can you doโ
Before importing the glossary into a QA tool, remove word endings so that the core part of the term covers all its variations.
This approach is particularly useful for small glossaries and large translation files.
Russian
ะธัะฟะพะปะฝะธัะตะปั > ะธัะฟะพะปะฝะธัะตะป
ััะตัะตะนัะบะธะน > ััะตัะตะนัะบ
ั
ะพะดะฐัะฐะนััะฒะพะฒะฐัั > ั
ะพะดะฐัะฐะนััะฒะพะฒ
American Translators Association Slavic Languages Division meetup
We had a great American Translators Association Slavic Languages Division meetup yesterday. It was pleasant to see both familiar and new faces.
We covered various topics, including strategies for finding direct clients, effective email marketing, and my personal favorite, the Apollo.io website.
We discussed deciphering Russian handwriting and advocating for the rights of translators and interpreters. We delved into modern slang used by teenagers, despite the fact that all attendees were well past their teenage years ๐. And, of course, we explored AI.
I even learned 2 new words: ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฉ (short for interpreter) and ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ (short for translator). Have you seen these terms used before?
โ๏ธLastly, the Slavic Languages Division is actively seeking a new editor for our SlavFile newsletter, which is published a few times a year. If youโre interested in volunteering or know someone who might be, please let me know.
Apologies for not taking a photo at the beginning of the conference when more people were present.
๐กDid you know you can open a Trados package directly on your phone?
The client sent a source PDF document and a Trados package. I wondered what the detailed word count was, but they didnโt provide a separate Excel sheet with the word count.
So, I simply clicked the Trados package on my phone, and it opened as if it was a regular zip file. I was then able to access the Reports folder and the XML file to view the figures I was interested in.
Some agencies are reluctant to provide formal references to translators
In this case, it would be a good idea to check your profile on the agencyโs translation platform to see if thereโs a summary of completed projects, ratings, etc.
Remember, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words
Have you seen ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด movie?
What I liked is that the scriptwriter is familiar with the translation industry.
Here are some quotes:
๐ฌI thought translators worked from home. Thatโs why I married you.
๐ฌWhy did you give us only the first 20 pages? Where is the entire context?
๐ฌYou wonโt be able to translate more than 20 pages per day, anyway.
๐ฌAre your translations edited?
๐ฌWhy canโt we use the Internet? โ You can find all you need in the library.
โ๏ธ I am now officially a sworn translator
I started my translation journey back in 2008, but decided to apply to the Belarusian Notary Chamber to become a sworn translator only now.
I submitted my English and Law diplomas, proof of translation jobs, a letter from tax authorities, an application form, and some other documents. I thought it would be enough to be immediately certified, but I had to wait until a monthly meeting of the commission of public notaries.
The commission analyzed my application and even closely studied my university grades. I was a little anxious about my C grade in English literature, as I didnโt enjoy reading Shakespeare when I was a student ๐.
However, they didnโt care and seemed more interested in my Law diploma with distinction and 15+ years of translation experience.
Non-natives teach how to translate into English ๐ฑ
Iโve examined the websites of 3 different Russian companies that offer professional courses for translators. The companies have been in business for years and employ language experts.
What struck me is that they offer such courses as:
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Legal translations from Russian into English
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Sports Translations (RU-EN)
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Medical translation and editing (Ru-En)
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Scientific translation from Russian into English
The course instructors are native Russian linguists who live in Russia, not in an English-speaking country.
Itโs understandable for non-natives to teach beginners, but these courses are specifically designed for experienced translators.
Another problem is that, unlike ATA and ITI, both the ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ง and Russiaโs ๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง seem to be totally OK with their members translating into non-native languages. They even give recommendations on how to translate into English in a document titled โTranslation. Recommendations for translators and clientsโ.
Is it OK to translate into your non-native languageโ
I do translate into English, but rather rarely, and only when my clients ask me to.
In this case I say my English level is C2 Proficient but itโs not even close to that of native speakers, therefore, my English translations may contain errors and lack fluency.
Recently, I read a translation by a Russian person and stumbled upon โThe planned number of usersโ. It looked like an awkward word-for-word translation to me, so I had to search the internet. It turned out I was wrong and the phrase is idiomatic in English (please correct me if Iโm wrong).
ย
So, the opposite must be true tooโwhen I read an English text, I can miss a phrase that would sound awkward to a native speaker. So, translating into your native language only makes perfect sense.
โ
Here is what ATA and ITI have to say.
ย
๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง:
โProfessional translators work into their native language. If you want your catalog translated into German and Russian, the work will be done by a native German speaker and a native Russian speaker. Native English speakers translate from foreign languages into English.โ
ย
๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง & ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ :
โMembers shall translate only into a language which is either (i) their mother tongue or language of habitual use, or (ii) one in which they have satisfied the Institute that they have equal competence.โ
Editor wanted + some bragging ๐
I have been in the translation industry since 2008 and joined the American Translators Association (ATA) in 2018.
ย
Today, I found out that my humble contribution was mentioned by Eugenia Tietz-Sokolskaya, the Slavic Languages Division (SLD) administrator, in the Winter 2023 edition of SlavFile.
In the meantime, we are looking for a new editor for our quarterly SlavFile newsletter.
If you can be that person or know someone, let me know.
๐Donโt type the same text again.
No, I’m not talking about TMs or CAT tools.
I often have to type the same text when I give translation quotes, send completed jobs, issue invoices, ask queries, explain my workflow, etc.
There are lots of great text expansion tools out there, but I donโt like having too many programs running on my PC.
Since I already use Microsoftโs AutoHotkey that automatically opens dictionary websites with the highlighted word (please see my previous post), I decided to add several lines to my existing script.
For example, you can add these scripts and the tool will turn seninv or sendq to a long text.
::๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท::๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ’๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ!
๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ
ย
::๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฒ::๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ด $๐๐๐. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง-๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐บ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฌ๐ข, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ
You can even use text expansion when translating.
If you have to use the same long word combination in your target language over and over again, it would make sense to create a short script.
You would need to type GD and AutoHotkey will turn it into ะะฑัะธะน ัะตะณะปะฐะผะตะฝั ะทะฐัะธัั ะฟะตััะพะฝะฐะปัะฝัั
ะดะฐะฝะฝัั
(GDPR). When the translation project is over, just delete the script that you donโt need anymore.
::๐๐::ะะฑัะธะน ัะตะณะปะฐะผะตะฝั ะทะฐัะธัั ะฟะตััะพะฝะฐะปัะฝัั
ะดะฐะฝะฝัั
(๐๐๐๐)
๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ
The text expansion feature works in CAT tools, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Gmail, Chrome, and any other programs. Please see my previous post for details.
๐This free tool saves lots of time and reduces wrist strain
AI will replace you sooner if youโฆ
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt specialize
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt take into account the target audience and purpose of the text
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt raise queries
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt tell the client about mistakes in the source
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Translate word-for-word
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt use QA tools
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt use separate tools for checking grammar, punctuation, etc.
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt invest in continuous professional development
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt provide value to the client
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Translate into a language in which you are not native
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt ask for feedback
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Donโt talk to the client and donโt know what matters to them most
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Rush to hand in your translation without taking time to check it carefully
ยทย ย ย ย ย ย Ignore opportunities AI brings ๐
Test translation tips
I have been checking test translations for years. Here are some tips I can give:
โ
Leave comments if you want to clarify anything or support your linguistic choices
โ
Use correct quotation signs (e.g. ยซยป for Russian)
โ
Use a spell checker and make sure the UPPERCASE option is turned on
โ
If you work in a CAT tool, run QA in Xbench, Verifika, etc.
โ
Check your text several times
โ
Rephrase sentences that donโt sound natural
โ
Check the translation for double spaces
โDonโt use hyphens (-) instead of n-dashes (โ) and m-dashes (โ)
โDonโt blindly copy source grammar structures
โDonโt try to hand in the test ASAP
โAbove all, donโt take a test in a domain of which you have no knowledge
Do you use Microsoft's Copilotโ
I devoted early January to Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
I took 3 short courses โ
Two were theoretical, focusing on the fundamentals of large language models like OpenAIโs GPT-4 and Googleโs PaLM 2. We explored transformers, tokens, context windows, and more.
The third one was more practical โ we experimented with various prompts for idea generation, term extraction and text editing and rewriting for different purposes.
Ekaterina Chashnikova focused on ChatGPT and Bard, but I went for Microsoft Copilot that is now part of Windows 11. It is based on the most powerful GPT-4 engine and is free to all Windows users.
Learning new languages can be easy. Sometimes.
I’m happy I effortlessly absorb languagesโcourtesy of my parents. It allows me to take a laid-back approach, sparing me from the traditional struggle of learning.
Here are my languages:
1. Russian – my first native language that was spoken in my family
2. Belarusian – my second native language. I learnt it when my family came back to Belarus when I was at the 6th grade.
3. Polish – another Slavic language. I picked it up by watching TV first and speaking with Poles later. At first, it was like Chinese to me ๐โI understood nothing. Now I fully understand spoken and written Polish and can talk, but have some difficulty with writing.
4. Ukrainian – it was easy to learn it (by watching TV again) when you know 3 other Slavic languages. I didn’t have a chance to speak the language, but understand 99% of it.
5. German – my supervisor spoke it with our German partners when I worked for a transportation company. I listened to him and gradually started understanding and speaking on regular transportation or very basic daily topics with my colleagues from Germany.
6. English – the only foreign language I formally studied at school and university.
โ๏ธAn alternative to using Track changes
Track changes have their pros and cons.
โ Pros:
-The client can ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ and not just returned an unedited file
-The ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฌ is visible
-The ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ can be seen (punctuation, spelling, complete retranslation, etc.)
-The original translator can ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ/๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ each change
โCons:
-The original (crossed out) and edited (inserted) letters, words, punctuation signs, spaces and symbols ๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ especially when you have to make many edits
-It may result in double spaces/lack of spaces, typos, punctuation ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ฌ, because you can’t clearly predict the final version when the edits are accepted
-If imported improperly, ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ containing both crossed out and inserted symbols can be brought to the TM
๐Best practice for me:
I don’t use track changes, but send the client a list of corrections. You can use Word’s ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ feature or a stand-alone software like ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐๐ซ (the link is in the Comments below). You can even add comments to the Excel table, if needed.
๐Free but powerful translation quality assurance tool
English proficiency certificate
Believe it or not, but I am 43 and I’ve never taken an English proficiency test before.
I was a little embarrassed when my godson asked me what my English level was yesterday and I didn’t know what to say, so I decided to give it a try.
๐Do you happen to work in a web-based CAT tool that has no dedicated spell check?
Turning on Chromeโs spell check is a must but is not enough, because Chrome ignores words in ALL CAPS.
You may want to go to Settings-Languages-Spell check and turn on Enhanced spell check.
Note: The text you type will be sent to Google, so make sure there are no confidentiality or NDA issues.
American Translators Association Member Card
๐ก An easy tip to evaluate quality if you donโt speak the target language
Go to Google Translate and back-translate the translation to the source language.
If the output closely resembles the original text, itโs likely that the translator simply translated words rather than conveying the intended meaning.
On the other hand, if the output differs from the original in terms of word choice and sentence structure (while still conveying the original message), it may be a good sign that the translator made an effort to understand the meaning of the original text and provide an idiomatic translation.
Hereโs an example.
SOURCE: Compact and portable, ready to use in just two simple steps
โTRANSLATION A: ะะพะผะฟะฐะบัะฝัะน ะธ ะฟะพััะฐัะธะฒะฝัะน, ะณะพัะพะฒ ะบ ะธัะฟะพะปัะทะพะฒะฐะฝะธั ะทะฐ ะดะฒะฐ ะฟัะพัััั
ะดะตะนััะฒะธั
BACKTRANSLATION A:ย Compact and portable, ready to use in two easy steps
โ
TRANSLATION B: ะะตะณะบะพ ะฟะตัะตะฝะพัะธัั, ะทะฐะฝะธะผะฐะตั ะผะฐะปะพ ะผะตััะฐ, ัััะฐะฝะฐะฒะปะธะฒะฐะตััั ะทะฐ ััะธัะฐะฝะฝัะต ัะตะบัะฝะดั
BACKTRANSLATION B: Easy to carry, takes up little space, installs in seconds
The tip may not be applicable to every language pair and domain, but for ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ฌ (Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Russian) in marketing context it often works like magic.
๐We had an awesome time at the American Translators Associationโs ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ค ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ meetup yesterday!
We talked about the amazing possibilities of ๐๐ก๐๐ญ๐๐๐ and large language models, such as improving the quality of source text, contextualizing it, and even assessing and correcting machine translations (๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ-๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ). However, we also acknowledged limitations, like hallucinations and privacy concerns.
We also shared some ๐ ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค as linguists and talked about interpretersโ and translatorsโ work in ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ.
We even briefly touched on ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ! ๐ฎ
P.S. If you work with Slavic languages, check this link for some useful free resources. http://www.ata-divisions.org/SLD/
Want to know how long a company has been operating? Try this quick tip ๐ก
When you want to work with a new company, an important thing to consider is how long the company has been in business.
Hereโs how you can do it:
1. Visit the Wayback Machine website (web.archive.org).
2. Enter the companyโs URL address.
3. The first available date will give you an idea of when the website was first created.
ย
You can even click on different dates to see what the website looked like in the past.
Hereโs an archive of my company’s website. It starts with 2010 because we used a different domain name in 2008 and 2009.
Yesterday, a strange email came in.
It had all possible red flags I can think of.
– weird subject line
– typos
– numerous recipients
– different translatorโs names (๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐ and ๐๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐)
– date
– โfreelance 4translatorโ
– reference to โthis listingโ
Iโm not sure you will read this, but just in case ๐
Dear Marina or Mirona, please avoid sending such emails in future.
Sometimes numbers need to be translated too
When I attended school in the USSR, we were taught that there were two types of numbers: Arabic (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) and Roman (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X).
I was confident there were no other types of numerals. Imagine my surprise when I traveled to the UAE, an Arabic country, and saw numbers that were different from โour Arabicโ ones.
I did some research (thanks, Wikipedia) and discovered that the numbers I saw in the UAE are called ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐, while the ones used in Europe and other countries are ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐.
๐ต The most amusing thing was seeing a banknote with a โzeroโ denomination. Fortunately, on the other side of the note, the โzeroโ is translated to English โfiveโ to put foreign visitorsโ minds at ease.
Hereโs a list of Eastern Arabic numerals from 0 to 9.
ู ูก ูข ูฃ ูค ูฅ ูฆ ูง ูจ ูฉ
Please note that these numerals are written and read from right to left.
My most unusual experience in the translation industry
One day, our agency received a piece for translation. We completed the job and the next day, another client approached us with an editing project. To my surprise, it was our translation.
๐Two different clients from different countriesโฆ What were the chances of that happening?
This was about 15 years ago. I was young, inexperienced and didnโt know what to do. Without disclosing to the second client that it was our translation, I accepted the editing job. Additionally, I thought we couldnโt simply tell the client that the translation was good and no changes were needed, so we made some edits.
I submitted the edited file, but the next day, the first client returned, inquiring about the mistakes in the translation. It was a disaster.
๐ Fortunately, it eventually ended well and we continued working with the clients, but I learned a tough lesson – never hide anything from your clients.
Could ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง become a new term for individuals with disabilitiesโ
In the UAE, where English is commonly used in government agencies and businesses, individuals with disabilities are referred to as ‘people of determination.’
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด,ย ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ดย ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ด โ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏโ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด.
If you ask me, it reflects a positive perspective on the abilities and potential of these individuals and is more preferable than terms like โdisabled,โ โchallenged,โ โhandicapped,โ or โimpaired,โ which may be considered offensive.
The client sent multiple source or reference filesโ
You need to switch between them numerous times to find what you need?
๐Use the ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ฌ feature in Adobe Acrobat to make a single file. Then press Ctrl+F and easily find the necessary context or all instances of the term in question.
If the files are not in the PDF format and the output is not perfect, try the ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐๐ option first.
โ PMs, send your translators all references as a single file. This way, the chances are higher they will actually open and refer to them.
๐ ยญยญAlways ask where your translation is going to be used
A client sent a translation job the other day. It included a list of updated names for internal policies.
โฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐บ
โฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐บ
โฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐บ
It was tempting to quickly translate the names and consider the job done. But we asked the client where the translation was going to be used:
๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด (๐ฆ.๐จ. โ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฏ-๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐บโ), ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด.
โ It takes you just a minute to ask such a question, but builds trust and shows the client you really care.
How to stand out as a translator in Chrome
When I take part in browser-based chats or calls, I often notice translators donโt care about proper punctuation and typography.
Itโs not a big deal in casual friendly chats. In professional environment, on the contrary, PMs and vendor managers pay attention to such โlittle thingsโ, because they may think the translator will be as careless in translation projects too.
โ”ะะฝะต ะฝัะถะฝะพ 2-3 ัะฐัะฐ”, – ัะบะฐะทะฐะป ะพะฝ.
โ
ยซะะฝะต ะฝัะถะฝะพ 2โ3 ัะฐัะฐยป, โ ัะบะฐะทะฐะป ะพะฝ.
I use ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฌ extension for Chrome. It automatically converts hyphens to N-dashes or M-dashes, dots to ellipsis, and standard quotation signs to correct ones in your language.
๐It supports multiple languages and itโs free!
By the way, do you know you can easily put N-dashes, M-dashes and quotation signs on mobile devices using standard iOS and Android keyboard?
Tips for self-checking translations ๐
This is what we ask our translators to do.
ย
– After the text is translated, leave it aside for some time
– Compare the translation against the source for major issues (meaning, terminology, etc.)
– Leave the translation aside for some more time if possible
– Read the translated text without looking at the source
ย
The last step is very important and canโt be skipped!
โ
It helps to spot punctuation and grammar issues and see if the text flows well and sounds natural. During this step translators usually make many changes which results in a high-quality target text.
ย
P.S. The above steps should not replace standard editing by a second person. Even the most experienced and careful translators can make minor stylistic or major meaning mistakes.
How many websites and apps does it take to translate a documentโ
Here are applications and websites our translators and editors use when working on clientsโ projects.
1.ย ย ย ย ย ย Trados Studio for translation
2.ย ย ย ย ย ย Source PDF file for seeing the text in context
3.ย ย ย ย ย ย Style guide for following clientโs preferences
4.ย ย ย ย ย ย End clientโs website in English and target (if available) languages
5.ย ย ย ย ย ย Clientโs instructions
6.ย ย ย ย ย ย Gramota for checking tricky punctuation rules
7.ย ย ย ย ย ย ChangeTracker for making a list of changes between translated and edited files to give feedback to the translator
8.ย ย ย ย ย ย Verifika for running QA
9.ย ย ย ย ย ย Orfogrammka for checking spelling, grammar, punctuation, style, semantics, and typography
10.ย ย Kartaslov for marketing and transcreation jobs to find synonyms, word collocations, associations, etc.
11.ย ย Google โ my favorite ๐
The list may be different depending on the language pair, project, market, client, personal preferences etc.
๐ Make sure your clients donโt treat you as ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ณ and are aware how much time, knowledge, and effort you put into their projects.
A great way to start a new year is to renew the corporate ATA membership
Iโm sorry we joined ATA too late โ in 2018. We should have done it from the very start, back in 2008.
As an American Translators Associationโs Slavic Languages Division group manager, I invite ATA members working with Slavic languages to join our LinkedIn group at https://lnkd.in/daXCa6C9
Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have.
P.S. ATA is open to individuals and companies from all over the world, not just the USA.
Editing, proofreading, review, revision, checkโฆ Who can tell the differenceโ
Hereโs what the ISO17100 standard says about the terms:
–ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Check: examination of target language content carried out by the translator
–ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Revision: bilingual examination of target language content against source language content for its suitability for the agreed purpose
–ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Review: monolingual examination of target language content for its suitability for the agreed purpose
–ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Proofreading: examination of the revised target language content and applying corrections before printing
ย
ย
To make things even more complicated, there are two notes in the standard:
1.ย ย ย ย ย ย The term bilingual editing is sometimes used as a synonym for revision.
2.ย ย ย ย ย ย The term monolingual editing is sometimes used as a synonym for review.
ย
ย
I have seen the above terms often used interchangeably when an LSP wants a vendor to check the translation against the source for all sorts of mistakes. Many translation agencies that are ISO17100 certified sometimes mix up the terms too.
ย
No matter what the client may call it, most often they want you to check the target against the source for all types of issues.
ย
It would be a good idea to ask the client about their quality expectations and if they want just a check for โrealโ mistakes like meaning, grammar, and punctuation or would they also expect you to improve style and consistency. In the latter case several rounds of checking may be necessary to ensure top-notch results ๐
Does your translation occupy more space than the English source? It doesnโt always have to ๐๐ป
When one translates from English into French, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Arabic, Russian, Hindi and many other languages, the text can expand by up to 35%. The problem can be even more serious, if source text is wordy.
ย
Hereโs an example from a survey that we translated.
ย
๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ?
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65 ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ
ย
The above sentence works fine in English, but you donโt have to translate every word if thereโs a shorter way to express the same meaning in the target language.
Here is how our linguist translated the question.ย
๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ? โ
It may seem too straight-forward for an English speaker but is totally fine in Russian surveys. The word-for-word translation would be over polite for a Russian language audience.
If the context, style guide, text domain and purpose allow, translations should be concise and straightforward.
This saves the reader time and helps them quickly and correctly understand what the author wanted to say without having to wade through words and word combinations that carry no useful meaning.
It helps the client achieve their goal too ๐
Is 3,600 words per hour a new standard โ
I came across a research made by an LSP.
ย
Over the years, the company was measuring how long it takes their best vendors to edit machine translation output. The takeaway is that the quality of MT is getting better and it takes less time for translators to do editing. No surprises here โ
ย
According to the research, now it takes a translator slightly over 2 seconds to edit 1 word of machine translation. However, the benchmark for a perfect translation that doesnโt need any editing is 1 second per word which makes 60 words per minute or 3,600 words per hour.
ย
Is the โgood oldโ standard (that we use at our translation agency) of editing 1,000 words per hour gone? Will a translator be able to understand context, do research, check meaning, terminology, consistency, grammar, punctuation and style at a pace of 3,600 words per hour?
ย
According to The Editorial Freelancers Associationย (US) the median pace of monolingual copyediting is between 4 and 10 pages (1,000 and 2,500 words) per hour depending on the subject (fiction take less time, medical texts take longer). And monolingual copyediting has nothing to do with translation or texts in foreign languages.
A client sent one page for translationโฆ ๐
It may seem like a piece of cake, but hereโs what steps we had to take:
- Export the PDF file to Word
- Create a Trados project with the clientโs TM and termbase to ensure consistency with previous jobs
- Do pre-translation analysis to understand the text, its purpose, and audience
- Translate the file. Google search didnโt take much time and there were no queries for the client this time. PHEW!!
- Have a second person edit the translation
- Check 20 false positive issues in 7 categories produced by the Verifika QA tool
- Save the Trados bilingual file to a Word document
- Check spelling and grammar in Word (just in case Verifika missed anything)
- Check 2 stylistic improvements the Orfogrammka tool suggested
- Adjust the textboxes and font sizes because the target copy occupied more space than the original
- Export the Word file to the original PDF format
- Compare the layout of the original and target PDF files
ย
Iโm not making aย mountainย out of a mole hill โ some of the steps took a minute or less.
Iโm trying to say that your clients need to know what efforts you make to deliver top-notch translations, so they value your work and stay with you ๐
Join ATA's Slavic Languages group ๐
As a new American Translators Association’s Slavic Languages Division group manager, I invite all ATA members working with Slavic languages to join our LinkedIn group.
SLD facilitates networking and sharing of knowledge through social media,ย quarterlyย SlavFileย newsletter, andย blog, as well as conference activities and aย certification exam practice group.
Please use the below link โฌ๏ธ
Sometimes just one sentence is enough to understand the translatorโs skills โ๏ธ
Hereโs what our translator had to deal with the other day. To be able to show you this example, I changed a few words because of the NDA with our client.
โ๏ธย Michigan State Primary Care at Outpatient Care Commerce
What can go wrong here?
1.ย ย ย ย ย ย Michigan State is not a state name, but a short name of an educational establishment (Michigan State University).
2.ย ย ย ย ย ย Primary care is not a type of medical care, but a primary care facility.
3.ย ย ย ย ย ย Outpatient Care, again, is not just a type of care, but an outpatient care clinic.
4.ย ย ย ย ย ย Commerce is not a synonym for business, but a town (Commerce township, Michigan).
So, the correct translation to another language should be something like:
Primary care facility at outpatient care clinic at Michigan State University in Commerce township.
What a great time we had at LocLunch Monterey yesterday ๐
I reminisced about 1999 when I worked in Monterey County.
Stefan Huygheย shared some great examples from his article “Bet you didnโt know that much of your English is actually Dutch”.
Caroline Crushellย talked about the Irish language and accent. I love how the Irish pronounce letter R!
Thank you, Paulina Perepelkin, for sharing your optimism about future.
We discussed how crazy it is to learn Russian, Polish, Ukrainian or another Slavic language because of cases and genders resulting in a huge number of different word endings.
We even discussed Carmel’s former mayor Clint Eastwood.
One major global problem with MT ๐ก
Numerous machine translation enginesโฆ Statistical, rule-based, hybrid, neural MT typesโฆ Constant developments, new players, promising technologiesโฆ
ย
Machine translation helps save time and money and is here to stay forever.
ย
But when we talk about MT quality, we assume the source is error free, consistent in terminology, is written in a clear understandable way and does not require any Google search to understand the context and real meaning.
ย
But is it always the case โ
Trying to reduce costs doesnโt start with the translation stage.
Sometimes source content is created by unskilled technical writers or even non-native speakers, text in the original language is not edited by an industry expert, new document is made by combining parts of previous documents written by different authors, etc.
Are there any technologies that help MT engines fix source issues, understand meaning and translate the meaning and not words?
How long does it take to become a good translatorโ
โ๏ธ When posting jobs many LSPs require 2 or 3 years of experience.
โ๏ธ The translation industryโs most stringent standard, ISO 17100, suggests:
–ย ย ย ย ย ย A person has a degree in translation but no real-life translation experience
–ย ย ย ย ย ย A person has a degree in any field + 2 years of translation experience
–ย ย ย ย ย ย A person has 5 years of professional translation experience
๐ In my experience as a translator, editor and recruiter, a person achieves excellent translation skills after 5 to 7 years of translating and receiving regular feedback from a seasoned editor. At Lexicon Center, we only use translators and editors with at least 10 years of experience in a particular field.
I had a great time hosting the virtual side of #Locworld Silicon Valley After-Party ๐
A huge thank you toย Michelle Kuniko,ย Marina Gracen-Farrell,ย รscar Curros,ย Stefan Huyghe,ย Paul Barlow,ย Joseph Holtman,ย Stephanie Harris,ย Marie Flacassier,ย Iti Sahai,ย Gary Lefmanย and around 70 other localization professionals who met offline ๐
Sorry not all of them are in the picture.
Does MTPE make a translator's writing style worseโ
At yesterday’s #LocTalk panel discussion by Josef Kubovskรฝ, Derick Fajardo and Igor Afanasyev I brought up a question.
โ๏ธWhen a person actively does post-editing, they gradually (and unwillingly) adopt machine translation approach in their human non-MT translation jobs.
They may start copying source sentence grammar structures and word combinations that may not be characteristic of the target language. It results in unidiomatic translations that don’t sound natural.
This is what I have seen a lot.
Solution?
โ For translators: be very careful to accept MTPE jobs if you have a good writing style and specialize in marketing, transcreation and other demanding fields.
โ For LSPs: think twice before giving a particular translation job to a translator who offers MTPE.
Finding a good translator... ๐๐ป
WHERE: A popular translation platform.
WHO: A translator with 15 years of experience, 90 positive reviews and 5 million translated words.
WHAT: A 500-word general translation. Deadline – 2 days.
OUTCOME: Overall, very good style and understanding. But when our editor dug deeper, he found 3 minor meaning mistakes, 2 stylistic issues, 1 unnecessary comma and 1 ambiguity. The editor pointed out the issues to the translator, and she quickly made necessary changes.
QUESTIONS:
Is it just bad luck?
Do clients avoid leaving negative reviews unless there are major issues with the translation/translator?
Or do they just don’t dig deep enough?
๐ TAKEAWAY: Always use an editor, because even a very good translator can make mistakes
What are the most frequent and tiring operations you do when translating? For me, itโs searching on Google and using online dictionaries.
Until recently, I copied the word or word combination in question in the CAT tool, opened my browser, typed in a web address, pasted the copied text and clicked the Search button. This is time consuming and involves lots of clicks and mouse movements that is not very good for your wrist.
I thought there should be a way to automate this. I started searching and came across Microsoftโs AutoHotkey. Itโs small, extremely powerful, and free.
I canโt write code from scratch, but I can do some basic editing, so I used the code made by Zack Webster and tweaked it to my liking.
Now, all I need is highlight a word or phrase and press a keyboard combination.
CTRL+G opens Google
CTRL+M opens the Multitran dictionary
CTRL+T opens the Academic dictionary (CTRL+A would make sense here, but this is a standard shortcut for SELECT ALL, so I used another one)
โ The shortcuts work in CAT tools, Microsoft Office, Acrobat, Chrome, etc. and you can use your own keyboard combinations that you can easily remember.
You can download the tool (please use version 1), original script, and instructions at https://github.com/zaxwebs/google-it. Donโt forget to add the script to Startup so it loads each time you turn on your PC.
And this is my script.
^๐ฎ::
๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ,^๐ค
๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ 150
๐ถ๐ณ๐ญ := “๐ฉ๐ต๐ต๐ฑ๐ด://๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ.๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ/๐ฎ.๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ?๐ญ๐ญ1=1&๐ญ๐ญ2=2&๐ด=” . ๐๐ต๐ณ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ(๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐_๐๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, “+”) . “&๐ญ1=1&๐ญ2=2”
๐๐ถ๐ฏ, %๐ถ๐ณ๐ญ%
๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ
^๐จ::
๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ,^๐ค
๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ 150
๐ถ๐ณ๐ญ := “๐ฉ๐ต๐ต๐ฑ๐ด://๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ/๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ?๐ฒ=” . ๐๐ต๐ณ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ(๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐_๐๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, “+”)
๐๐ถ๐ฏ, %๐ถ๐ณ๐ญ%
๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ
^๐ข::
๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ,^๐ค
๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ 150
๐ถ๐ณ๐ญ := “๐ฉ๐ต๐ต๐ฑ๐ด://๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ.๐ข๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค.๐ณ๐ถ/” . ๐๐ต๐ณ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ(๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐_๐๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, “+”) . “/๐ฆ๐ฏ/๐ณ๐ถ”
๐๐ถ๐ฏ, %๐ถ๐ณ๐ญ%
๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ