UNIVERSITÉ ALASSANE OUATTARA

UFR COMMUNICATION, MILIEU ET SOCIETE

Département : ANGLAIS

SYLLABUS

ANNÉE UNIVERSITAIRE 2024 / 2025

 1- Course

Title of Course: PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATION

Level & Field of Specialization: Master 1: TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION

FULL TIME: LECTURE (CM) / TUTORIAL (TD) :50H

2- LECTURER

FULL NAME : Eliote N’GUESSAN

E-MAIL: elioten938@[Link]

MOBILE NUMBER: 07 49 09 83 46

3- COURSE PRESENTATION AND OBJECTIVES

This course aims at introducing students to professional translation and its implications. We
will first look at some misconceptions about translation and then go through what it means to
be a professional translator.

4- SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lecture the students will:

- Have a clear cut idea of what translation and what it is not
- Know all that it takes to be a professional translator
5- PRE-REQUISITES

Students are supposed to be bilingual and have a good command of both languages
MODULE 3: PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATION
CHAPITRE 1: MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT TRANSLATION

Although it is a profession that is very old, there are still quite a lot of misconceptions about
translation. Let us consider the above:

1.1 Translating and interpreting are the same

Really? Not at all. Translators work with written texts; Interpreters with the spoken word.
Working in the fringes of major meetings and conferences, interpreters may well have a higher
profile. But both activities require different skills, and so are distinct professions (although
some people on the private market offer both services).

1.2 Translators can also be interpreters

Interpretation and translation are not the same. Translators work with written texts.
Interpreters deal with spoken language and interpret in real-time. In result, they use different
techniques to translate. These two specializations also need a distinct set of skills.
For example, translators can often work using different software and hardware, they can
adjust their working hours. Interpreters, on the other hand, are sometimes required to travel
and stay at the client’s disposal for hours.
Myths about translations are not fair to the profession. They are often hurtful because they
present the job of the translator as something simple, not requiring much preparation. The
prejudice may often result from unpleasant experiences with translators.

1.3 Translating is just ‘changing words’

If this were true, anybody with a dictionary could translate anything. Literature, legal
contracts, marketing slogans, etc. in any foreign language would all be at our fingertips. Try it
with phrases like ‘Bite the bullet’ or ‘Hang in there’. A non-English speaker might be a little
bewildered at the request to chew on munitions, or remain suspended in an unspecified
location. Literally swapping out words on a one-to-one basis just doesn’t work. No, translators
must first understand what message the text wants to convey and find the equivalent in the
other language. Not to mention: behind every translation there is a lot of painstaking
research, reflection and self-editing. And the more effective the translation, the less visible
all of this is.

1.4 Anyone can translate (if they have 2 languages)

This is like saying: ‘Anyone with 10 fingers can play the piano’. Translation requires so much
more than just ‘knowing the language’ a text is written in. That knowledge has to be
extensive, both deep and wide, ideally gained over many years and often paired with
specialised technical insight in the subject – the terminology and concepts – you are
translating. Not to mention a sound appreciation of culture behind the languages you are
translating from, and to: of the people, their habits and history. This requires dedicated
training, throughout a career as a professional translator. And the final piece of the puzzle:
mastery of your own (native) language, so the text you produce is not just clear, but flows so
well that the act of translation is invisible. Pull off all this and you can consider the job done!

1.5 Any translator can translate texts on any subject

No. For best results, professional translators should ideally specialise in one or two fields
(medicine, law, engineering, etc.). Drafting a legal or financial text in just one language
requires expert knowledge and skills – and the same applies even more for translating them.
In the same way you would call a plumber, not an electrician, if you have a leaking tap – if your
text is in a certain specialised field, you should be looking for a translator with the related
skills.

1.6 Translators Know Every Word in Each Language They Know

Do you know every word in the English language? No one does! Just like the rest of us,
translators don’t know every word in every one of their languages. They know a lot of words,
don’t get us wrong! However, the words they don’t know they look up using proper
dictionaries and sources.
Quit thinking that because you are an experienced and professional translator, you should not
resort to dictionaries while translating.

1.7 Computers can now do the work of translators

We must admit that machine translation has improved greatly in recent years, but it still can’t
replace humans. For some occasions – for example if you want to quickly find out what a text
is about – the results may be ‘good enough’. But try to use machines without a human to check
and the results can range from funny to downright unprofessional. Example: a funny
translation English into Spanish: In Spanish the word “éxito” actually means “success” rather
than “exit” which when correctly translated is “salida.”
Computers are fine with simple concepts, but run into trouble when the meaning of a text
depends on its context. That relates to the real world – and to understand that, to interpret
nuance and subtleties (to ´read between the lines´), you still need a human. Paradoxically,
better machine translation could actually increase demand for human translators, as its limits
become clearer and people (and businesses) realise the need for human intervention, to
guarantee – and indeed take responsibility for – a flawless and meaningful translation. So – as
in many fields where automation is increasing – it’s not so much a matter of ‘man versus
machine’ but rather using technology to increase efficiency. Nowadays machine translation is
generally accepted as just another tool that helps professional translators deliver the quality
required.
Translators carefully read texts and create their translations based on years of study. A good
translator uses many types of scholarly references to translate. They use dictionaries,
thesauruses, and online forums to create translations.

1.8 Translations from expert translators do not need proofreading

Although qualified translators have impeccable skills, they may still make minor mistakes. For
public-facing or legal documents, proofreading is always essential.

1.9 Translation is too expensive

The reality – cutting corners often generates its own costs. A good translator is a skilled
professional, with dedicated qualifications and experience. When you pay for translation,
you’re paying for that expertise. And the rate reflects the time and money the translator has
themself invested in developing these skills, keeping them up to date and delivering a ready-
to-use, quality product. If you're feeling sick, you'd want a qualified medical practitioner to
examine you – because it's your health at stake. Likewise, if you’re adapting your website to
local markets or selling products abroad, it’s worth spending a bit more on a trained translator.
Because it’s your reputation and your business that’s at stake.
CHAPTER 2: THE PREFESSIONAL TRANSLATOR

2.1 Skills of a Translator

2.1.1 Essential skills:

(a) Good command over the languages: The basic requirement for a translator is that s/he
has to be bilingual or nearly bilingual pair at least in one language. You should be able to
understand well the source texts and truly know what you are translating. Since you have to
reproduce the source language matter beautifully with the same or even additional flavor in
that language, you should be fairly well versed in the target language. That is why learned
people have always advised that we should translate only into our native language. Since your
translation will be read by the native speakers with a lot of experience in the language in which
you translate, it is essential that you reproduce a good text.

(b) Writers make good translators: If you are a writer, with a good knowledge of different
writing styles and a good practice of correct grammatical presentation of your views in any
language, then you can be very good at translation. A writer has the flair to present what he
wants to narrate in a picturesque manner. A writer’s analytical mind helps understand the
original text correctly with reference to its context and also perceive nicely the way to
reproduce it in another language.

(c) Good inbuilt vocabulary: A translator should also have a good vocabulary in the target
language and a profound understanding of the etymological and idiomatic correlates between
the two languages; otherwise he will not be able to find suitable semantic synonyms of the
words and phrases used in the original text. Using dictionaries and glossaries at every step is
time consuming and even not possible. However this problem can be overcome through
practice and assiduous reading habits.

(d) Knowledge of idioms and phrases: Knowledge of idioms and phrases in both the
languages is very much essential for a translator. You should be well versed in various types
of typical usage in the concerned languages including idioms and phrases in both the
languages so that the corresponding idiom or phrase pops up in your mind immediately at the
sight of any such usage in the source-language text. This too needs a lot of practice.

(e) Technical terminology: Good knowledge of technical terminology commonly used in

the concerned field in the respective languages is essential for translation. One should have
at least working knowledge in the field in which the translation is to be undertaken; otherwise
you can neither make out what the original text says, and even if you understand, can’t
reproduce it in the target language as you are not aware of the technical vocabulary used in
that field of human activity. A person who has not studied chemistry, physics or mathematics
can not translate texts related to those fields. One who does not play, discuss or watch live
shows of games like cricket, polo, tennis or chess, will prove quite inefficient in translating
such texts even though he may be a towering personality in the concerned languages or in
translation of literature. Using glossaries and standard dictionaries however solves this
problem to a great extent.

(f) Specialize in one or a few subject areas: If you know a lot about a subject, you can
provide better translation. You can choose an area of expertise from your professional history,
if you have one. If not, you may be able to find family members or close friends with expertise
in a subject matter that you can learn from. You can also take up a course in any subject to
learn more about it, or ask a colleague with expertise in an area to train you in translating
related material. Having a specialization will also make it easier to market yourself to your
ideal clients. Translators who specialize in very narrow subject areas like cosmetics or waste
management also do very well. They can speak directly to a special target group, and their
clients view them as valuable experts worth paying good money for.

(g) Reading Comprehension: This implies to the ability to read text and understand its
meaning. It’s not simply word in, word out. You have to be able to read the source material
and understand it all, text and context.

(h) Research: Even the most experience translator will need to be able to look things up.
Not just words in a dictionary, but concepts, local information for target and source texts;
there are many things you simply won’t know going in to a job that you’ll need to find out.

(i) Composition: Translation is as much writing as it is mechanical work. You read the
source, digest and comprehend it, and then you have to compose it in the target language. A
composition skill in both languages is an absolute must.

(j) Method of translation: You should have a finely tuned sense of when to metaphrase
(translate literally) and when to paraphrase, so as to assure true rather than spurious
equivalents between the source- and target-language texts.
(k) Handling cultural elements: One of the vital attributes that a translator ought to
imbibe is that he should have flair to gain knowledge of the socio-cultural aspects of people
of various parts of the world. This can provide him a comparative knowledge of various
cultures. He should be familiar with the cultural differences between the regions in which the
source and target languages are spoken. Translators also need to function as cultural
consultants and let the clients know when something looks inappropriate in the target culture.
In such a case the original cultural references should be used with a translator’s note;
otherwise a similar cultural field prevalent in the target language region may be identified and
utilized if compatible (matching) to the context; of course with the client’s permission.

(l) An eagle’s eye-view: Ability for critical analysis of various types of texts: this helps the
translator in proper understanding of the original text and also reproducing it with all its
grandeur in the target language. Critical analysis or an eagle’s eye-view on the part of the
translator helps him make out the inherent contextual meaning of the terms used in the text
and also a good reproduction of the same in the target language.
(m) Good general knowledge: General knowledge is very important for translators. If a
translator keeps vigil over the happenings all around, including news, administration,
judiciary, sports, scientific development and all that, it becomes easy for him to access any
text offered to him for translation. This practice also makes him familiar to many a technical
terms in various fields of human activity. It can help you pick up mistakes in texts. Watch the
news every morning because current affairs may come up in your work.

2.1.2 Additional Skills:

(n) Practice of precision: Modern man is fast running out of time and patience to go
through lengthy masterpieces. A translator should therefore adopt precision in his work. This
can be well done by the knowledge of substitution of many words and phrases with a single
word in a given language.

(o) Calculative about his own caliber and limitations: A translator should always assess
and introspect about the quality of his work and time taken for it. This helps him in negotiating
before accepting an assignment so that he is not embarrassed in future for non-compliance
of his promise.
(p) Ability to work to deadlines: Generally clients and the controlling officers as well
desire the given translation work to be over within a stipulated period of time. A translator
should be calculative enough about his own capacity to negotiate in a logical and polite
manner keeping in view other assignments in his hand.

(q) Ability to adhere to a given framework: Sometimes translators are given formats and
even target word counts or even character counts that they must not exceed. Adhering to
such specifications require resourcefulness and some linguist acrobatics or lateral thinking on
the part of the translator. A lot of reference material is available for substituting many words
and phrases with one word. It also requires precision that every translator should imbibe as a
regular phenomenon in day to day practice.

(r) Flexibility and adaptability: Translation is a fast-changing profession and translators

have to be prepared to pick up new skills and offer new services such as transcription,
copywriting, post- editing etcetera in various subject areas.

(s) Curiosity: Curiosity is one of the best attributes you can have as a translator. It will help
you to learn new skills, research unfamiliar subjects, look up unfamiliar words you come
across, spot potential problems with translation jobs and really get to the heart of what your
clients want.

(t) Picking up new ideas quickly: A freelance translator does not know what kind of text
will drop into his inbox. You should be aware about what are the different topics that
translators find themselves translating on any given day.

(u) IT skills: Knowledge of Computer, DTP and Lay-out designing is of immense help. DTP
operators commit mistakes which in turn the translator has to make good by repeated proof
corrections. This is time consuming and irritating. You should be able to type fast with all your
fingers even if you use a speech-to-text software program, since you will need to edit the texts
you produce. Thus you can prepare the translation on the computer itself, without a pen or
paper, thereby reducing the time consumption to less than half and also saving a lot of wages
that would have been paid for DTP and lay-out designing.
Computer Assisted Translation popularly known as CAT tools is now an everyday aid for most
translators. Staff translators probably have access to newer and more expensive software.
These tools are important for translators who do a lot of similar and repetitive work, like
software translation or computer-games.
All translators, whether working from home as a freelancer or as staff translator need to be
familiar with the word processing software. The most commonly required software suite is
Microsoft Office. There are open source alternatives available which may be equally as good.
It has auto correction with spell-check options besides grammar suggestions in specific
portions of your translation text, of course in English only. IT specialists in other language have
to work hard to provide such facilities in languages other than English too.
A computer-savvy translator saves a lot of his time in finding the synonyms, thesaurus and
meanings with a single click rather than lifting heavy-weight dictionaries and pondering into
it.

2.1.3 Desirable personal attributes:

(v) Punctuality: A translator has to be punctual in his personal life. The nature of the job
of a translator is always time bound. It may be for the sake of publication in a periodical,
newspaper, journal, an NGO or a corporate house’s requirement who in turn will pay you for
your work. If you are not punctual in your daily routine, then other works delayed will delay
your translation work and hence cross the deadline, after which your work may be rendered
useless.

(w) Artistic vision: A translator has to be artistic in his attitude. He has to reproduce a text
created by others beautifully and impressively in another language; and that can be achieved
only with an artistic approach on the part of the translator.

(x) Self-confidence: A high level of self-confidence is necessary for a good translation.

Reading and assimilating the text, pondering and finding good equivalents and then inventing
an appropriate structure of the sentence in the target language for an effective and powerful
presentation, everything requires a lot of patience and perseverance that is not possible
without self-confidence.

(y) Resourcefulness: Nobody can become an encyclopedia. A translator has to ponder into
most appropriate equivalents of various words used in the source language in the target
language. For the purpose he has to look into the standard dictionaries, glossaries, use the
web and internet software of translation or even personally interact with some friend or
specialist in the field. The larger the sphere of such resources, the better results you get. A
translator therefore has to be highly resourceful.
(z) Assiduous Reader: It is a fact that no dictionary or thesaurus can ever be a fully
adequate guide in translating, and not even the CAT or computer assisted translation or
whatsoever. Assiduous reading is a more comprehensive guide to a language than are
dictionaries. A translator can gain wide range of vocabulary, knowledge of syntactic usage and
all that of the source and target languages and their cultural aspects mostly through his
reading habit.

(aa) Utmost dedication: Translation itself is a monotonous and boring subject. The
translator however makes it interesting with his inherent interest of reproducing something
in a still beautiful manner in another language, which is not possible without dedication. If you
are dedicated to the job in hand, then you will be able to enjoy every bit of your work.

(bb) Scientific approach: A scientific approach makes the process of translation systematic
and brings an inner beauty in the translated text.

(cc) High level of patience: The original text has been authored by somebody else and its
subject may be scientific, technical or even an advertisement that the translator may find
uninteresting. Moreover, pondering into equivalents in various glossaries and moving word
by word with a low pace is really very painful. Completing big volumes in this way therefore
needs a high level of patience on the part of the translator.

(dd) Courageous and challenging: Have courage to accept such work that you have not
done earlier and set to work with a challenging mood thinking that if somebody else can do it,
why not I? You should also have the moral courage to ask and ascertain from others, about
the synonyms of things, cultural activities in the target language, especially from those people
who are well versed with the target language, irrespective of the consideration that whether
the concerned person is educated or not.

(ee) Love and enjoy every bit of your work: A translator must love his work. However, just
because you love something does not mean you will be good at it. Everything takes a
combination of skill
and effort; some of it you may be born with, but every successful person works extremely
hard at what they do. You should enjoy writing, experimenting with words, testing out what
goes where best. A keen interest in your work will enable you to reproduce the original text
in a beautiful and impressive manner. This attitude will also help you ensure completion of
the assignment within the stipulated time and prescribed framework. It will add both volume
and quality to the work.

(ff) Respecting other’s abilities and wisdom: A translator should always be humble and
aware of his own limitations. Since he needs the help of others at every step, he can’t do so
unless he thinks that others are even more learned than he himself is. Respecting others’
abilities and wisdom therefore always brings dividends.

(gg) Soft spoken, but able to say ‘no’ at the right time: A translator has to be soft spoken
because he needs others’ help in finding equivalents and also to enhance his business
possibilities. Even with such humble attitude he should also have the courage to say ‘no’ when
he feels pressurized to accept a translation work-piece with a subject that he is not well versed
or with such a time limit that he cannot help. This needs a strong will-power on the part of the
translator.

2.1.4 How to improve these skills?

You can improve and acquire all these skills like your vocabulary, imagination and cultural
competence etcetera in many ways; viz.:
(a) Read newspapers and journals, watch TV and listen to radio in your source and target
languages;
(b) Learn from forums, blogs, YouTube, etc.;
(c) Choose an area of specialization relevant to your academic, professional or other
related experience;
(d) Take courses in translation or your area of specialization; the courses can be online or
in person, short or long;
(e) Take up courses in language and inter-cultural communication and study related
materials;
(f) Cultivate the practice of loud-reading and writing something everyday with pen and
paper in the concerned languages. This will enhance your vocabulary, sentence
structure, writing style and also the relevant spoken languages;
(g) Enjoy learning and strive to constantly learn new things;
 (h) Diversify your work experience to learn the vocabulary and basic principles of several
sectors. However, do keep in mind that it’s impossible to master everything. Never
translate material you do not comprehend;
(i) Continuous translation practice in a number of subject areas will also gradually
improve your translating skills over time, especially if you can have them looked at
and corrected by a native speaker;
(j) Purchase and refer to language and style guides, and update these resources
regularly;
(k) Keep up to date on the latest developments and terminology through various media
in your source and target languages;
(l) Practice typing until it is as natural as breathing. This keeps your mind focused on
translating and not on your fingers;
(m) Try to acquire and enhance your lay-out designing and IT skills;
(n) Hire someone for IT and computer support and learn from them;
(o) Do not allow yourself to be pressured into a project you do not feel comfortable
translating. Learn and have the courage to say ‘no’;
(p) Use standard dictionaries, glossaries, thesaurus, phone-a-friend and other resources
without hesitation;
(q) Never stop learning!

(r) Visiting/living in the second language region is the best option;

(s) Make friends with related people, viz., proof readers, writers, dramatists, poets, from
various walks of life like doctors, engineers, science teachers and IT-experts etcetera.
It is better if they belong to the specific cultures and speak the concerned languages.
They can serve as your resource persons at the time of need;
(t) Don’t stay up for days at a time and live on junk food;
(u) Practice, practice, and practice… Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day.

2.2 Pride, income and enjoyment

2.2.1 Professional pride

We all want to feel that the job we are doing is important, that we do it well, and that the
people we do it for appreciate our work. This is important to the people who pay the bills and
even for the translator himself. The pragmatic considerations of keeping your job (for in-
house people) or continuing to get offered jobs (for freelancers) will mandate a willingness to
satisfy an employer’s or client’s needs. The areas in and through which translators typically
take professional pride are reliability, involvement in the profession, and ethics.

Reliability:
Reliability in translation is largely a matter of meeting the user’s needs. Translating the texts
the user needs translated, in the way the user wants them translated, by the user’s deadline.
The demands placed on the translator by the attempt to be reliable from the user’s point of
view are sometimes impossible; sometimes disruptive to the translator’s private life;
sometimes morally repugnant; often physically and mentally exhausting. If the demands are
at all possible, however, in many or even most cases the translator’s desire to take
professional pride in reliability will override these other considerations, and s/he will stay up
all night doing a rush job, cancel a pleasant evening outing with a friend, or translate a text
reliably that s/he finds morally or politically loathsome. Professional pride in reliability is the
main reason we will spend hours hunting down a single term. What is our pay for that time?
Virtually nothing. But it feels enormously important to get it right: to find exactly the right
term, the right spelling, the right phrasing, the right register. Not just because the client
expects it; also because if you didn’t do it right, your professional pride and job satisfaction
would be diminished.

Involvement in the profession:

This has to do with what translator associations or unions we belong to, what translator
conferences we go to, what courses we take in the field, how we network with other
translators in our region and language pairs. These “involvements” sometimes help translators
translate better, they help us feel better about being translators; they enhance our
professional self-esteem, which will often sustain us emotionally through boring and
repetitive and low-paid jobs. Reading about translation, talking about translation with other
translators, discussing problems and solutions related to linguistic transfer, user demands,
nonpayment, and the like, taking classes on translation, attending translator conferences,
keeping up with technological developments in the field, buying and learning to use new
software and hardware – all this gives us the strong sense that we are not isolated underpaid
flunkies but professionals surrounded by other professionals who share our concerns.
Involvement in the translation profession may even give us the intellectual tools and
professional courage to stand up to unreasonable demands, to educate clients and employers
rather than submit meekly and see the inwardly. Involvement in the profession helps us realize
that translation users need us as much as we need them: they have the money we need; we
have the skills they need. And we will sell those skills to them, not abjectly, submissively,
wholly on their terms, but from a position of professional confidence and strength.
Ethics
Ethics in translation can be defined in many ways.
The very first definition is the traditional conception of ethics according to which a translator
should not distort the meaning of the source text. Doing so is unethical.
But this conception of translator ethics has later on been considered too narrow. Even from
an external point of view (the user). As there are many cases when the translator is explicitly
asked by the user to “distort” the meaning of the source text in specific ways, as when
adapting a text to a specific audience for television, a children’s book, or an advertising
campaign.
From the translator’s internal point of view, the ethics of translation are more complicated
still. What is the translator to do, for example, when asked to translate a text that s/he finds
offensive? Or, to put that differently, how does the translator proceed when professional
ethics (loyalty to the person paying for the translation) clash with personal ethics (one’s own
political and moral beliefs)? What does the feminist translator do when asked to translate a
blatantly sexist text? What does the environmentalist translator do when asked to translate
an advertising campaign for an environmentally irresponsible chemical company?
As long as thinking about translation has been entirely dominated by an external (non-
translator) point of view, these have been non-questions – questions that have not been
asked, indeed that have been unaskable. The translator translates whatever texts s/he is asked
to translate, and does so in a way that satisfies the translation user’s needs. The translator has
no personal point of view that has any relevance at all to the act of translation.
From an internal point of view, however, these questions must be asked. Translators are
human beings, with opinions, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Translators who are regularly
required to translate texts that they find abhorrent may be able to suppress their revulsion
for a few weeks, or months, possibly even years; but they will not be able to continue
suppressing those negative feelings forever. Translators, like all professionals, want to take
pride in what they do; if a serious clash between their personal ethics and an externally
defined professional ethics makes it difficult or impossible to feel that pride, they will
eventually be forced to make dramatic decisions about where and under what conditions they
want to work.
And so increasingly translators are beginning to explore new avenues by which to reconcile
their ethics as human beings with their work as translators.

This broader “internal” definition of translator ethics is highly controversial. For many
translators it is unthinkable to do anything that might harm the interests of the person or
group that is paying for the translation (the translation “commissioner” or “initiator”). For
other translators, the thought of being rendered utterly powerless to make ethical decisions
based on personal commitments or belief structures is equally abhorrent; it feels to some like
the Nürnberg “ethics” of the SS, the claim that “we were just obeying orders.” When the
translator’s private ethics clash substantially with the interests of the commissioner, to what
extent can the translator afford to live by those ethics and still go on earning a living? And on
the other hand, to what extent can the translator afford to compromise with those ethics and
still go on taking professional pride in his or her work?

2.2.2 Income
Professionals do their work because they enjoy it, because they take pride in it – and also, of
course, to earn a living. Professional translators translate for money. And most professional
translators (like most professionals of any field) feel that they don’t make enough money, and
would like to make more. There are at least three ways to do this, two of them short-term
strategies, the third long-term: translate faster (especially but not exclusively if you are a
freelancer); create your own agency and farm translation jobs out to other freelancers (take
a cut for project management); and (the long-term strategy) work to educate clients and the
general public about the importance of translation, so that money managers will be more
willing to pay premium fees for translation

Speed:
Speed and income are not directly related for all translators. They are for freelancers. The
situation is somewhat more complex than this, but basically the faster a freelancer translates,
the more money s/he makes. (Obviously, this requires a large volume of incoming jobs; if,
having done a job quickly, you have no other work to do, translating faster will not increase
your income.) For in-house translators the links between speed and money are considerably
less obvious. Most in-house translators are expected to translate fast, so that employability,
and thus income, is complexly related to translation speed. Translation speed is enforced in a
variety of unofficial ways, mostly though phone calls and visits from engineers, editors, bosses,
and other irate people who want their job done instantly and can’t understand why you
haven’t done it yet. Some in-house translators, however, do translations for other companies
in a larger concern, and submit records of billable hours to their company’s bookkeeping
department; in these cases monthly targets may be set (200 billable hours per month, invoices
worth three times your monthly income, etc.) and translators who exceed those targets may
be given bonuses. Some translation agencies also set such targets for their in-house people. A
translator’s translating speed is controlled by a number of factors:
1. typing speed 2. the level of text difficulty 3. familiarity with this sort of text 4. technological
support 5. personal preferences or style 6. job stress, general mental state

Project management:
Another effective way to increase your income is to create your own agency. Farm out some
of your work to other freelancers and take a cut of the fee for project management, including
interfacing with the client, editing, desktop publishing, etc. Most agency-owners do not, in
fact, immediately begin earning more money than they did as freelancers; building up a
substantial clientele takes time, often years. A successful agency-owner may earn three or
four times what a freelancer earns; but that sort of success only comes after many years of
just getting by, struggling to make payroll (and sometimes earning less than you did before),
and dealing with all the added headaches of complicated bookkeeping, difficult clients,
unreliable freelancers, insurance, etc.

Raising the status of the profession:

Some business consultants become millionaires by providing corporate services that are not
substantially different from the services provided by translators. Other business consultants
are paid virtually nothing. Any business’ growth lies in the general perception of the relative
value of the services offered. The higher the value placed on the service, the more money a
company will be willing to budget for it. Many small companies (and even some large ones)
value translation so little that they are not willing to pay anything for it, and do it themselves;
others grudgingly admit that they need outside help, but are unwilling to pay the going rate,
so they hire anyone they can find who is willing to do the work for almost nothing. One of the
desired outcomes of the work done by translator associations and unions, translator training
programs, and translation scholars to raise the general awareness of translation and its
importance to society is, in fact, to raise translator income.

2.2.3 Enjoyment
Why do you like the profession of translation?
Probably not the fame and fortune; not the immortal brilliance of the texts to translate. It
must be somehow the fact of finding a sustaining pleasure in the work itself.
But in what, precisely? And why? Is it a matter of personal style?
Some people just happen to love translating, others don’t?
Or are there ways to teach oneself to find enhanced enjoyment in translation?

Not all translators enjoy every aspect of the work; fortunately, the field is diverse enough to
allow individuals to minimize their displeasure. Some translators dislike dealing with clients,
and so tend to gravitate toward work with agencies, which are staffed by other translators
who understand the difficulties translators face. Some translators get tired of translating all
day: they take breaks to write poetry. Some translators get tired of the repetitiveness of their
jobs, translating the same kind of text day in, day out: They develop other areas of
specialization, actively seek out different kinds of texts, perhaps try their hand at translating
poetry or drama.
Still, no matter how one diversifies one’s professional life, translating (like most jobs) involves
a good deal of repetitive drudgery that will simply never go away. And the bottom line to that
is: if you can’t learn to enjoy even the drudgery, you won’t last long in the profession. There
is both drudgery and pleasure to be found in reliability, in painstaking research into the right
word, in brain-wracking attempts to recall a word that you know you’ve heard, in working on
a translation until it feels just right. There is both drudgery and pleasure to be found in speed,
in translating as fast as you can go, so that the keyboard hums. There is both drudgery and
pleasure to be found in taking it slowly, staring dreamily at (and through) the source text,
letting your mind roam, rolling target-language words and phrases around on your tongue.
There are ways of making a mind-numbingly boring text come alive in your imagination, of
turning technical documentation into epic poems, weather reports into songs.
In fact in some sense it is not too much to say that the translator’s most important skill is the
ability to learn to enjoy everything about the job. This is not the translator’s most important
skill from the user’s point of view, certainly: the user wants a reliable text rapidly and cheaply,
and if a translator provides it while hating every minute of the work, so be it. If as a result of
hating the work the translator burns out, so be that too. There are plenty of translators in the
world; if one burns out and quits the profession, ten others will be clamoring for the privilege
to take his or her place.
But it is the most important skill for the translators themselves. Yes, the ability to produce
reliable texts is essential; yes, speed is important. But a fast and reliable

Conclusion:
This course aims at teaching translators how to enjoy their work more by emphasizing "pre-
translation" skills, or attitude skills that should precede and support any "verbal" or "linguistic"
approach to a text. These skills include intrinsic motivation, openness, responsiveness, a
desire to continuously learn new things, a commitment to the profession, and a joy of words,
images, intellectual challenges, and people.
Therefore, following could serve as a summary of the basic presumptions underpinning this
course:

- Translation is more about people than it is about words.

- Translation is more about the jobs people do and the way they see their world than it
is about registers or sign systems.
- The translation is more about the creative imagination than it is about text analysis
governed by rules of interpretation.
- The translator is more like an actor or a musician (a performer) than like a tape
recorder.
- The translator, even of highly technical texts, is more like a poet or a novelist than like
a machine-translation system.
Suggestions for further reading

Introduction to translating: Anderman et al. (2003), Duff (1989), Finlay (1971),

Robinson (1991)
Translator handbooks: Fuller (1973), Hatim and Munday (2004), Jones (1997), Picken
(1989), Samuelsson-Brown (1993/2010), Sofer (1996/2009)
Translation practices explained: Alcaraz and Hughes (2002), Austermühl (2001), Dias
Cinta and Remael (2007), Gillies (2005),