Poll: The quality of other translators' work I have seen has increased over the past 5 years. Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "The quality of other translators' work I have seen has increased over the past 5 years.".
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Some years ago, my clients used to ask me to revise, proofread and correct other translators' work quite often. Translation quality varied hugely, from the texts where no changes were required at all to those which would be better off being trashed and redone from scratch. As unfortunately the latter tended to outnumber the former, I stopped offering that service and I only do it very occasionally on big projects with two highly qualified and trusted colleagues (both are Proz members). I think t... See more Some years ago, my clients used to ask me to revise, proofread and correct other translators' work quite often. Translation quality varied hugely, from the texts where no changes were required at all to those which would be better off being trashed and redone from scratch. As unfortunately the latter tended to outnumber the former, I stopped offering that service and I only do it very occasionally on big projects with two highly qualified and trusted colleagues (both are Proz members). I think they are as good today as they were 5 years ago... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Baran Keki 
Türkiye
Local time: 09:58
Member
English to Turkish
The quality of education, along with everything else, has suffered greatly in the last two decades here mostly due to political reasons. Add to that the advent of the internet and social media, it seems that young people these days have no interest whatsoever in reading books. There are no newspapers to speak of (or any quality journalism). While we were forced to read the 'classics' in school in the 80s and 90s, they now watch 5-10 minute 'Crime and Punishment explained' videos on Youtube.
... See more The quality of education, along with everything else, has suffered greatly in the last two decades here mostly due to political reasons. Add to that the advent of the internet and social media, it seems that young people these days have no interest whatsoever in reading books. There are no newspapers to speak of (or any quality journalism). While we were forced to read the 'classics' in school in the 80s and 90s, they now watch 5-10 minute 'Crime and Punishment explained' videos on Youtube.
They have greater opportunities to access resources in English (Netflix, Youtube etc.) when we didn't in the 90s (I remember buying Metal Hammer, Kerrang etc. looking only at the pictures, not being able to read a single word in English), and some of them think it's perfectly alright to go into translation business because they're able to watch rubbish like Ozark without subtitles.
Needless to say they have a terrible command of their target/native language, but thankfully there are dinosaurs (Ok Xer!) like us on hand to proofread/edit their 'work'. But every now and then your own work goes to these 'young colleagues' for revision/proofreading, and you have to see their 'improvements'... ▲ Collapse
| | | | IrinaN
United States
Local time: 01:58
English to Russian
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Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 02:58
Japanese to English
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| other translators' work | Aug 8, 2022 |
The quality has improved not increased. Non-English speaker?
| | | | | Downtrend or dead flat | Aug 8, 2022 |
I can't see which part of the here and now could bring about such an improvement. I have read some very good translations, I used to work in a boutique translation agency where people took pride in working to a very high standard, but then I also reviewed many a dozen test translations which were consistently awful, I even had to simplify the test texts so more people would be able to get a passing grade to help the HR people meet their targets. There was one passage, not the most difficult one ... See more I can't see which part of the here and now could bring about such an improvement. I have read some very good translations, I used to work in a boutique translation agency where people took pride in working to a very high standard, but then I also reviewed many a dozen test translations which were consistently awful, I even had to simplify the test texts so more people would be able to get a passing grade to help the HR people meet their targets. There was one passage, not the most difficult one out there, for which no one except myself and two other testees could work out a correct translation; 99% would miss all the meaningful points, and most of them would not even bother to get the grammar right. Reading some translations is a good way to start losing your faith in humanity (if by a quirk of fate you find yourself looking for good reasons to get rid of this burden). I don't know what's causing it. Education? Everybody and their uncle have a degree today, but you never know what that degree is worth. I effed up my university years and ended up with no diploma under my belt (can't say I am a top-of-the-line translator, but I do earn what I get). Then there are changing employment standards where your employees are becoming your clients. It's kind of wrong to make your clients do hard work for you, and translation is hard work. However, I don't feel like entertaining pessimistic thoughts. My little nibblings are very different from nous autres, but they are also a great source of faith in humanity. Global changes may have produced a lot of clueless people, but it's stupid to think that future generations won't be able to find a clue ▲ Collapse
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