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Back to the grind...
Dec. 18th, 2008 09:55 pmIt's almost as if my clients had the middle of the month marked, waiting for my return. (Which is not to say I'm complaining, but there are things I have to get done by the end of the year, including some things that are fun.)
A couple of items from a group of small files I agreed to do look a lot like "back translations," which is where a translation is translated back into the original language, for the purpose of checking the quality of the original translation. In theory, the exercise sounds like it ought to work, but in practice - especially when so much original material is available on the Internet - it's not exactly a cakewalk.
From the translator's perspective, problems occur when it's not really clear what the translation (your source) says. Early on, I learned to be liberal with the notation "[sic]" to flag items that indeed make little or no sense because they reflect what is said in the original, e.g.:
Sometimes, things get really hairy, but this isn't the time or the place to get into that. After all, it's the holiday season. Good will, and all that.
Today, however, when back-translating the Russian word "топливо" ("propellant") used to describe Freon gas used in an air conditioning system, I wondered what the English was. Freon can be used as a propellant (it used to be used as a propellant in aerosol sprays), but not in the context of an air conditioning system, where it is more likely called something like "working fluid" or "refrigerant."
In this case, it so happened that I found the English original document on the Internet, and it indeed refers to Freon as "propellant," among a number of other juicy phrases that seem out-of-kilter to my native ear ("Medical equipment in accordance with vessel."), leading me to wonder if the English isn't a translation from some other language. Remember playing "Telephone" when you were a kid? It's the same principle, only not as much fun.
Be that as it may, I wonder, how useful an evaluation tool is a back-translation if parts of the source document make no sense?
If the foregoing makes no sense, then I am further gone than I thought, fatigue-wise.
And it occurs to me I haven't even mentioned - until just now - my new Blackberry Storm, which arrived today (thanks to my ever-lovin' daughter). That'll have to wait until tomorrow, I guess.
Cheers...
A couple of items from a group of small files I agreed to do look a lot like "back translations," which is where a translation is translated back into the original language, for the purpose of checking the quality of the original translation. In theory, the exercise sounds like it ought to work, but in practice - especially when so much original material is available on the Internet - it's not exactly a cakewalk.
From the translator's perspective, problems occur when it's not really clear what the translation (your source) says. Early on, I learned to be liberal with the notation "[sic]" to flag items that indeed make little or no sense because they reflect what is said in the original, e.g.:
Flip the switch up to turn the light on, or down to turn the light on. [sic]Even more hazardous is when your source makes little or no sense but you know what the original ought to read, either from experience or from a document you found somewhere. There is a temptation to "fill in" and make the source sound better than it actually is.
Sometimes, things get really hairy, but this isn't the time or the place to get into that. After all, it's the holiday season. Good will, and all that.
Today, however, when back-translating the Russian word "топливо" ("propellant") used to describe Freon gas used in an air conditioning system, I wondered what the English was. Freon can be used as a propellant (it used to be used as a propellant in aerosol sprays), but not in the context of an air conditioning system, where it is more likely called something like "working fluid" or "refrigerant."
In this case, it so happened that I found the English original document on the Internet, and it indeed refers to Freon as "propellant," among a number of other juicy phrases that seem out-of-kilter to my native ear ("Medical equipment in accordance with vessel."), leading me to wonder if the English isn't a translation from some other language. Remember playing "Telephone" when you were a kid? It's the same principle, only not as much fun.
Be that as it may, I wonder, how useful an evaluation tool is a back-translation if parts of the source document make no sense?
If the foregoing makes no sense, then I am further gone than I thought, fatigue-wise.
And it occurs to me I haven't even mentioned - until just now - my new Blackberry Storm, which arrived today (thanks to my ever-lovin' daughter). That'll have to wait until tomorrow, I guess.
Cheers...
