Don't you just love it...

When it comes to languages, everyone's an expert, it seems.

We got a note today from one of our clients objecting to the way a couple of phrases had been translated in an ops training plan, and that was enough to set off some members of the staff. "Where does she get off," was the common refrain, "telling us our business?" It took a little while to calm everyone down, and anyway, the offending party was out of the country, so a "necktie party" was out of the question.

Indeed, one of the most frustrating aspects of the translation profession is when when someone who's only half-literate in English (and who ought to know better in any event) tells you that your translation is wrong, and is not only wrong in that assessment, but also offers an alternative that is riddled with mistakes. It also just so happens that in one case, we are taken to task for not being "literal" enough (tell me, what's the difference between "to minimize flow" and "to reduce flow to the greatest extent possible"?), while in the other, the suggested "correction" bears no resemblance to the original text, so we're being dinged for being too "literal."

One thing is for sure. The suggested revisions are, with all due respect to Rudyard Kipling, not among the "nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays." Because for sure, they're not right.

Cheers...

P.S. One of the staff offered to start critiquing the quality of documents received for translation on their engineering merits, but I don't think we'll pursue that avenue. At least not yet. :^)

I guess I must've been tired...

The day wound down to its usual close and I came home, made and ate dinner with Galina, and then went off and lay down with a book on PHP while Galina watched the tube. I fell asleep and now here it is, nearly 10:30 pm, and if the past is any indicator, my little "nap" will probably let me stay up all night, so I'll probably have to lie down again at 3 am and force myself to catch a few winks, even if it means staring at the ceiling until five in the morning.

(I do so wish I could master this technique on those days when I've got to throw my personal waking schedule topsy-turvy and go into work at midnight to work a sim.)

At any rate, I'll probably take this opportunity to get some computer-related stuff done while Galina's asleep (reinstall Borland C++Builder and try to resolve the issues with the GlossaryBrowser, including the creation of a new install). Among other things that need doing this weekend are a couple of work-related tasks: edit the telemetry job that's been on my desk this past week and finalize the lexicon database deltas.

Cheers...