![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Based on the experience of the past two days, it would appear that getting 6-7 hours of sleep in one session is not as important, perhaps, as making sure that the few hours prior to leaving for work (say, 6-9 pm) are among those spent in the arms of Morpheus. To that end, I shall try to stave off the desire to sleep until around 2 pm, and then hit the hay.
* * * One of the fundamental principles of reviewing a translation is to have the review performed by someone other than the original translator. There is merit in this as a general principle, as it provides a barrier against the two basic types of errors one can expect a translator to make: errors of knowledge and errors of carelessness.
An example of the former might be translating the term "большая полость" as "large cavity," when in fact the accepted term is "vestibule" (for the curious, consider the situation when two vehicles dock: after some mechanism clamps the docking ports together, you end up with two hatches situated across from each other, separated by a space that is -- or had better be -- sealed along its perimeter; that space is the "vestibule"). If the translator didn't know enough to use "vestibule" in the original translation, then nothing -- barring a fortuitous accident -- will fix that shortcoming of knowledge. Another example of an errors of knowledge might be ignorance or misinterpretation of common idioms. The greatest diligence in the world will not fix this kind of error.
However, the good news is that once you gain enough experience in a particular subject, the chances of committing this kind of error go way down. When I worked here full time back before 2001, I consistently noted that experienced translators and interpreters rarely suffered from this kind of shortcoming.
As concerns errors of carelessness, it would be difficult to catalog the sundry and different ways one can commit them. Typographical errors are typical here (misspellings, switched or incorrect numbers, etc.), as are omissions and misunderstood text. An example of misunderstood text might be when the original says "Turn the thingamajig on," and for some reason you understand it to say "Turn the thingamajig off." (This is particulary easy in Russian, where the difference between "on" and "off" is one silly little letter, to wit: включить vs. выключить.)
Typically, errors of carelessness are the hardest to find and correct, since whatever quirk caused you to commit the error in the first place is likely to be repeated and cause you to commit it again when you check the translation, particularly if you are fatigued from having actually done the work recently. The way your eye scanned a paragraph the first time, for example, will be duplicated almost exactly, which makes it that more likely that you'll miss that last sentence, or the "not" in the middle of that clause, or again see "726" when the original actually states "762."
This is what I think people mean when they say they are "too close" to the work, by the way. The only rational approach if one must review one's own work is to let some time pass between translation and review. (I think I've mentioned needing a hiatus between work and review often in my LJ; this is why.)
* * * Although my work assignment has me here until 9, the Russians appear intent on leaving early. Who can blame them? I think I've had enough fun for the, um, day, too.
Cheers...
An example of the former might be translating the term "большая полость" as "large cavity," when in fact the accepted term is "vestibule" (for the curious, consider the situation when two vehicles dock: after some mechanism clamps the docking ports together, you end up with two hatches situated across from each other, separated by a space that is -- or had better be -- sealed along its perimeter; that space is the "vestibule"). If the translator didn't know enough to use "vestibule" in the original translation, then nothing -- barring a fortuitous accident -- will fix that shortcoming of knowledge. Another example of an errors of knowledge might be ignorance or misinterpretation of common idioms. The greatest diligence in the world will not fix this kind of error.
However, the good news is that once you gain enough experience in a particular subject, the chances of committing this kind of error go way down. When I worked here full time back before 2001, I consistently noted that experienced translators and interpreters rarely suffered from this kind of shortcoming.
As concerns errors of carelessness, it would be difficult to catalog the sundry and different ways one can commit them. Typographical errors are typical here (misspellings, switched or incorrect numbers, etc.), as are omissions and misunderstood text. An example of misunderstood text might be when the original says "Turn the thingamajig on," and for some reason you understand it to say "Turn the thingamajig off." (This is particulary easy in Russian, where the difference between "on" and "off" is one silly little letter, to wit: включить vs. выключить.)
Typically, errors of carelessness are the hardest to find and correct, since whatever quirk caused you to commit the error in the first place is likely to be repeated and cause you to commit it again when you check the translation, particularly if you are fatigued from having actually done the work recently. The way your eye scanned a paragraph the first time, for example, will be duplicated almost exactly, which makes it that more likely that you'll miss that last sentence, or the "not" in the middle of that clause, or again see "726" when the original actually states "762."
This is what I think people mean when they say they are "too close" to the work, by the way. The only rational approach if one must review one's own work is to let some time pass between translation and review. (I think I've mentioned needing a hiatus between work and review often in my LJ; this is why.)
Cheers...
