On an odyssey that takes us from Homer to Darwin, from scientists to savages, and from how to name the rainbow to why Russian water (a ‘she’) becomes a ‘he’ once you have dipped a tea bag into her, ‘Through the Language Glass’ explores some of the most intriguing and controversial questions about language, culture and the human mind.

That immediately got me interested, so I bought the book. It’s a great read and it contains a lot of interesting information on how language influences the way we look at things. Or maybe not. Find out for yourself!

It is probably easier for people whose native language is English or another major language, because they will always find ways to listen to their language, but it is much more difficult if your native language is rarely spoken outside of your native country. I can imagine, for example, that it is fairly easy for a native speaker of English to keep up their native language in my country, the Netherlands, because we have plenty of access to TV and radio channels, newspapers and magazines, journals and books in English. If, however, I would decide to move to the UK or the US, it would be a lot harder for me to find sources in Dutch.

Also, it may be less of a problem if you mainly translate highly technical texts with their own language and terminology, which you can keep up with by reading specialized journals. But being up-to-date with your native language is essential if you translate more creative texts.

There are several problems which can arise if you don’t keep up your native language. For one, language changes all the time: new words are created, other words are no longer used. Spelling sometimes changes. And then there’s the problem of the target language interfering with the native language. When people have lived in another country for a while and don’t get the chance to hear their own native language on a regular basis, their second language tends to interfere with their native language. The result: translations that are too literal and read like translations, rather than a text written by a native speaker.

How to keep up with your native language
Here are a couple of tips to help you keep up with your native language:

• If possible, try to watch TV channels from your native country, preferably programmes such as talk shows. They will help you keep up-to-date with the latest news and developments and the latest language use. If you do not have access to TV channels, try the internet; many TV channels make their programmes available on the internet. If you can’t find a way to watch TV programmes, watch DVDs of recent films or TV series. DVDs can easily be ordered online.
• Listen to radio shows from your native country. This is very easy to do these days via sites such as www.tunein.com, which allow you to listen to digital radio stations from all over the world.
• Read in your native language. Not just journals and articles on the subjects you specialize in, but anything from newspapers and magazines to contemporary literature. There are plenty of (free) online newspapers and magazines to be found on the internet and books can be ordered online, or you might even be able to get them from a local bookshop or library if your language isn’t too “obscure” in the country you live in.
• Use websites of businesses, organisations or the government in your native country as a reference. They can be especially useful if you want to keep up with the kind of language and tone of voice used for a specific target audience (e.g. informal language for a young audience, more formal language for a wide audience).
• Visit your native country on a regular basis, preferably once a year. That is the only way to “soak up” everyday life and notice what has changed, both in society in general and in the language. And of course to speak your native language.

All these tips can, of course, also be used to keep up with your source language!

Newspapers at a newsagent in the Netherlands: available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Polish, Russian and Chinese

Dictionaries don’t seem to be very helpful either when it comes to explaining the difference. Here’s what the Oxford Dictionary of English has to say about it:

interpreter: a person who interprets, especially one who translates speech orally.
translator: a person who translates from one language into another, especially as a profession.

The Oxford Thesaurus of English only adds to the confusion by listing “interpreter” and “translator” as synonyms.

The Dutch Dikke Van Dale says:

tolk iem. die t.b.v. personen die elkaar niet verstaan het gesprokene mondeling of in gebarentaal overbrengt van de ene taal in de andere
synoniem: vertaler
vertaler iem. die vertaalt

The media are struggling with it too. On 22 August, the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant wrote in an article titled “Proces Joran stagneert door ontbreken tolk” (correct) that a legal process was hampered because there was no “officiële vertaler” (incorrect) available. And the book The Translator is really about an interpreter. The title of the Dutch translation (De tolk) is correct by the way, undoubtedly because it was translated by a translator who does know the difference between an interpreter and a translator.

Confused? It’s quite simple actually:
An interpreter (Dutch: tolk) deals with oral speech, whereas a translator (Dutch: vertaler) deals with written text. Some language service providers offer both services, others only offer either interpreting or translation services.

So if you are looking for a language service provider, make sure you look for the right person: if you need someone to interpret the discussions during your meeting, look for an interpreter; if you need someone to translate the minutes of the meeting, look for a translator.

Transcreation basically means recreating a text for the target audience, in other words “translating” and “recreating” the text. Hence the term “transcreation”. Transcreation is used to make sure that the target text is the same as the source text in every aspect: the message it conveys, style, the images and emotions it evokes and its cultural background. You could say that ranscreation is to translation what copywriting is to writing.

One could argue that any translation job is a transcreation job, since a good translation should always try to reflect all these aspects of the source text. This is of course true. But some types of texts require a higher level of transcreation than others. A technical text, for example, will usually not contain many emotions and cultural references and its linguistic style will usually not be very challenging. However, marketing and advertising copy, which is the type of copy to which the term transcreation is usually applied, does contain all these different aspects, making it difficult to create a direct translation. Translating these texts therefore requires a lot of creativity.

Required skills
In addition to creativity, a transcreator should also have an excellent knowledge of both the source language and the target language, a thorough knowledge of cultural backgrounds and be familiar with the product being advertised and be able to write about it enthusiastically. In addition, it certainly helps if the transcreator can handle stress and is flexible, since the advertising world is a fast-paced world and deadlines and source texts tend to change frequently.

Types of texts
Types of texts offered for transcreation vary from websites, brochures and TV and radio commercials aimed at end clients, to posters and flyers for resellers. They could be about any consumer product: digital cameras, airlines, food and drink, clothing and shoes and financial products. Transcreators are often required to deliver two or three alternative translations, especially for taglines, and a back translation, to help the end client, who typically does not understand the target language, understand the translated text. Transcreators are also expected to provide cultural advice: they should tell the end client when a specific translation or image does not work for the target audience.

What makes transcreation difficult?
In addition to the difficulties posed by creating a target text containing all the aspects of the source text (message, style, images and emotions, cultural background), marketing and advertising copy often poses other difficulties for the transcreator as well. Taglines, for example, often contain puns or references to imagery used by the company. They tend to be incorporated in a logo or image, with limited space and a fixed layout for the text. In addition, they are often used for multiple target groups: not just consumers, but also resellers and stakeholders, which means the text should appeal to all of them.

Want to give it a try?
I presented a webinar on transcreation on 26 January 2012, a recorded version of which is available from the eCPD Webinars online shop.

“If my rates are too high, I won’t be able to find any clients”
If you raise your rates, there will always be clients who will find them too high and who won’t hire you. But do you really want to work for clients who underpay you for a job that requires specialised skills? There are plenty of clients out there who know what it takes to create a professional translation and who are prepared to pay a decent rate for quality. There are even clients who will not work with translators offering low rates, because they don’t trust “cheap translations”. If you offer quality translations, you will be able to find quality clients who are willing to pay for what you have to offer. It will take time and effort, but that’s all part of running a business.

“I only see job offers on the internet offering low rates”
There always have been, and always will be, clients who are only interested in making a quick profit and they won’t go away, not as long as there are translators who are prepared to work for these low rates. If you are serious about your business and you are able to offer quality translations, you don’t want to work with these clients. And you don’t have to, because there are plenty of serious clients out there who are willing to pay for quality. It just takes more effort to find them, or have them find you. Make sure you market yourself professionally, provide samples of your work and be active on the internet and/or in networks so clients can actually find you. You are in charge of your business, so you set your rates.

“I’ve only just started and am not very experienced yet”
Obviously, more experienced translators can ask higher rates than less experienced translators. Be careful, however, not to charge rates that are too low when you are just starting, because it will be very difficult to raise those rates to a decent level once you have gained some experience. If you start too low, you will most probably lose most of your current clients and you will have to find new clients, which means you will basically have to start all over again.

“A client asked me to lower my rate in exchange for a high volume of work”
Whether you are working on a 1500-word job or a 15,000-word job, the average number of words you translate per hour will remain roughly the same. So why should you be paid less for a big job? In addition, taking on a big job also means you will have to turn down other jobs and may lose (potential) clients. So why should you settle for less during the whole time you are working on this big job?

“I don’t need to earn that much, my partner earns enough to pay the bills”
Good for you, but that doesn’t mean that your work is worth less. Besides, there are plenty of translators who do have to earn a living translating. By underselling yourself and your work, you are damaging the profession’s reputation and you are ruining the market for others.

From Santa Claus (after the Dutch folklore saint Sinterklaas) and his sleigh (the pronunciation of the Dutch slee is almost identical) to a dumbhead talking poppycock, the contributions of the Dutch language to American English are indelibly embedded to some of our most vernacular terms and expressions.

• Representation and promotion of interests of translators and interpreters
  Many professional associations take part in discussions about the translation and interpreting profession and are involved whenever new rules and regulations affecting the profession are being developed.
• Information about new developments in the business
  Most associations publish their own newsletter or bulletin with information about whatever is of interest to their members: new rules and regulations, information about and reviews of software and books, articles on how to market your services, interviews with fellow translators, etc.
• Continuing education
  Professional associations often organise workshops and/or conferences on subjects which are important for their members, allowing them to improve their language and business skills and to keep up to date with the latest developments in the business.
• Networking with other translators and interpreters
  Membership of a professional association gives you an opportunity to meet fellow translators and interpreters, either at meetings of local chapters or at workshops or conferences organised by the association.
• Professional services
  Many professional associations offer professional services such as model terms of business, professional insurance, debt collection services and legal advice for free or at a discount and specifically tailored to the translation profession.
• Searchable member directory
  Professional associations often have a searchable database of their members, which potential clients can use to find a service provider.
  [Thank you Céline Graciet for adding this one]

Can anyone become a member of a professional association?
No, all professional associations have minimum requirements for membership. Some offer different types of membership. For some associations/memberships, sending in copies of credentials and references will suffice, while others require passing an exam or work assessment.

Which professional association should I become a member of?
It is always useful to become a member of a professional association in the country you live and work in, so you can visit their meetings and use any professional services they offer. In addition, it might be useful to join an association in a country of your working language(s), to be able to keep up to date with developments in that country/language and to meet other translators working in the same language.

Where can I find a list of professional associations?
The website of the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs/International Federation of Translators and Interpreters (FIT), the international umbrella organisation of associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists, contains a list of FIT members all over the world.

“I speak a foreign language, so that makes me a translator”
Just because you speak a foreign language, even if you speak it fluently, doesn’t mean you are a good translator. Spoken language is very different from written language, so just because you are able to have a conversation in a certain language, doesn’t mean you are able to write in that language.

“I was raised bilingually, so that makes me a translator”
Being raised bilingually doesn’t automatically make you a translator. There is more to translating than just knowing two languages: you should also be able to translate, ie. convert one language into another in such a way that the translation reads like an original text. There is a difference between being able to understand and use two languages, and being able to translate between them.

“Modern translation tools are so advanced, they can easily replace human translators”
The translation tools currently available are only able to translate a sentence word for word. Since they cannot understand context, they cannot distinguish between different meanings of the same word. In addition, they simply copy the word order of the source language, which often leads to awkward, even unintelligible sentences in the target language, which the translation tool is unable to rewrite. Translation tools can be useful to find out what a text in another language is (roughly) about, but they are as yet unable to create a good, reliable translation.

“I have a text of around 2500 words. Can you get the translation back to me in an hour?”
Most people can’t even type 2500 words in one hour, so translating 2500 words in one hour is out of the question. How many words a professional translator can translate in one hour depends on different factors, such as the type of text (a creative marketing text takes longer to translate than a straightforward manual) and the level of technicality (a text on a highly technical subject with a lot of specific terminology takes longer to translate than a general text without any specific terminology).
On average, a professional translator can translate around 250 to 350 words per hour, so it would take 7 to 10 hours to translate a 2500-word text.

“We don’t need to translate our website and marketing materials, all our customers can read English”
Even though these days a lot of people do read English, they often aren’t comfortable enough with the English language to understand all the details and subtleties of the language. As a result, they will be reluctant to buy a product or service which is not offered in their own language. Research shows that even people who speak English confidently still prefer products in their own language.

“We offer advanced dictionary and search tools which will help you create your own translations”
Good (online) dictionary and search tools are extremely useful for translators, because they can save a lot of time in looking up terminology or background information. However, even though correct terminology and a good understanding of the subject matter is very important, it is not enough to create a good translation: you also need excellent translation, language and writing skills to be able to produce a good, correct and readable translation.

“Translation can’t be that difficult, there’s only one possible translation for every text”
Language isn’t an exact science: there never is just one correct answer. Ideas can be phrased in many different ways. Ask ten translators to translate the same sentence and chances are you will get ten different translations which are all correct. Some translations may be more appropriate for the context and the intended target audience than others, which is why it is important to hire a translator who is familiar with the context and target audience.

“What do they teach you at a translation course, do you have to learn all the dictionaries by heart?”
Even if it would be possible to learn all the dictionaries by heart, it’s not very useful for translation, apart maybe from the fact that it will save time because you never have to look up a word again. But knowing the translation of every single word in a specific language doesn’t make you a translator, because translating is more than just translating individual words, it involves translating concepts and images rather than words. This requires a thorough knowledge of the source and target language and, preferably, of the cultural backgrounds of both languages. And this can only be achieved through talent, training and lots and lots of practice.

Bill Bryson in Mother Tongue

What’s another word for Thesaurus?

Steven Wright

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

Samuel Johnson

Language is the dress of thought.

Samuel Johnson

He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Kunst and Alterthum

A different language is a different vision of life.

Federico Fellini

But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

George Orwell

To know another’s language and not his culture is a very good way to make a fluent fool of yourself.

Winston Brembe