Jianjun’s Blog

Many translators would agree that living in the country where your source language is spoken is the best way to build upon your existing language skills and give your translation career a certain credibility. It’s hard to disagree with this view. Immersing yourself in the local language and culture is the ideal way to equip yourself with the linguistic and cultural knowledge needed for a career in translation. What better way to learn obscure slang and the latest ‘buzzwords’ than through daily interaction with native speakers from all walks of life?

Not all translators have the luxury of living in the country where their source language is spoken, whether it is due to family obligations or financial circumstances. Trailing spouses and partners of expats may find themselves living in a country where neither their native nor source languages are spoken, working as translators in countries where their language combinations are in lesser demand.

Thanks to the Internet, however, there are still ways for translators and other language professionals to maintain, even improve, their language skills and keep up with the latest terminology and developments in their chosen areas of specialisation. As a former freelance translator looking to re-enter the highly competitive world of Chinese-to-English translation, it’s important for me to know what the latest trends in the PRC and Greater China are, which political and social ‘buzzwords’ are in fashion and, like all other translators, continue to learn new words and expressions on a daily basis. Language is constantly evolving and 普通话 (国语 in Taiwan) is by no means an exception.

I have a list of resources I have found invaluable and would like to share with fellow Chinese-to-English translators, especially those of you who are no longer living in the ‘Middle Kingdom’. If there’s a resource I may have missed and which you feel a translator should have among their list of bookmarked sites, then do not hesitate to leave a comment with a link to the resource in question.

• Online Dictionaries : There are a number of fairly good online dictionaries. One of my personal favourites is Jukuu, which lists a number of example sentences with every search result. iCIBA is also a link worth bookmarking. It’s important to note that these dictionaries do not necessarily provide translations for highly specialised or technical terms. Links to specialist online dictionaries and glossaries will be dealt with in a separate post.

• Internet Slang : For those who come across obscure slang while browsing online forums, check out 网语网. It’s quite possible that much of the slang and terms listed on that site will be out of date by the time I finish writing this post. Nevertheless, it’s one of the best resources I have found thus far for the rapidly-evolving language of ‘net speak’.

• New Terms & Buzzwords : The Chinese Terms section of the People’s Daily Language Tips website is full of useful words and phrases. The site is actually aimed at ESL learners but those wishing to boost their Chinese vocabulary may find it equally helpful. Latest additions include 高清晰度的卫星图片 (high-resolution satellite photo) and 堰塞湖 (quake lake). The Shanghai Daily’s Buzzword Blog is another great resource, which gives the reader a bit of background information about each ‘buzzword’.

• Glossaries : While I intend to cover specialist glossaries in another post, I thought I would share a link to a site which has a sizeable collection of subject-specific glossaries. FanE.CN’s has over 20 pages’ worth of glossaries and word lists for subjects ranging from media and traditional Chinese snacks to needlework and real estate.

Online newspapers, radio and blogs are also excellent ways to stay informed about linguistic and social developments in the Chinese-speaking world. I will review a selection of these in my next post.

This is all for my debut post at Jianjun’s Blog. Check back often for more of my articles on the challenges of Chinese-to-English translation.

I never liked job bidding in the translation industry. It’s something invented by a few large commercial job sites modeled on freelancer bidding systems for software engineers, web coders, etc. But the system doesn’t work the same way for translation business. I often hear professional translators grumbling about the ludicrous low rates and swindlers winning the jobs. Let’s not complain about that; just stay away from it.

The basic mechanism of a bidding system is price oriented, which goes against the nature of translation. In this system, the job goes to the person who can do the same job with the lowest rate possible. This works fine in many cases. For example, you can set a budget for a coder to add a slide effect to your photo album. No matter who wins the job at whatever low price, you know what to expect - a slide effect. There’s something concrete you are paying for, something you can see and evaluate on your own. But translation is not that straightforward.

Translation is a process whose quality is determined by a number of factors and is not easily measured. Although literal translation might not be for you, unless you set it as a criterion, you can’t say it’s a quality problem. Even if you set it as your quality requirement, what you regard as literal translation may not be so for another person (say, the translator). And what about a translation that changes your original content to the fancy of the translator (I see more of these than literal ones)? It’s obviously not literal, but could do more harm.

A coder bids for a coder’s job, but bidders for a translation job are not always translators.

There is a myth that bilinguals are translators. This is not always the case, but the other way round is definitely true. To translate, you have to understand the original text thoroughly. But this is only the first step. Accurately carrying the meaning over and re-create an equivalent language effect/impact in the target language is the real challenge. This skillful handling of text entails special training and years of practice. Daring to do it doesn’t mean being able to do it.

While the low price may not mean low quality for a coder, it means no quality for a translator.

Frankly speaking, professional translators don’t really care to bid for jobs. What makes a person professional are years of practical experience and a stable client base built upon a good track record. So, why care about bidding for a low price job?

Not very long ago, a job post offering 0.01 USD/word rate attracted over 35 bidders on ProZ.com (I didn’t personally see the post. Some colleague relayed it to me as a joke.)! There’s no quality for such jobs. They are the same people who brandish a high profile CV and, at the same time, use the low price as a selling point. They are professionals that are thirsty for clients - fake pros.