Your favorite saying/quote(s) for a translator? Thread poster: Linh Hoang
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Linh Hoang Vietnam Local time: 10:14 Member English to Vietnamese + ...
Dear my fellows, You may have been working as a translator for years. What's your favorite saying/quote(s) about a translator? Could you share it? Do you think this one true: "The reason why you should date a translator: they can stay up all night if you want them to."?_^_ | | |
Jack Doughty United Kingdom Local time: 04:14 Russian to English + ... In memoriam Bad translator's reply to query | Dec 6, 2016 |
"Don't ask me what it MEANS, I only translate this ruddy stuff!" | | |
Definition of a good translator | Dec 6, 2016 |
"A good translator leaves no work for a reviewer. A good reviewer findes room for improvement even then." Some words I try to live by. But sometimes it looks like what I said about a project where the source was written extremely bad (by a barely literate non-native, if you need some assesment). "I'm gradually turning this pile of horse s**t into a masterpiece." | | |
Favourite quote for a translator | Dec 6, 2016 |
"When I have problems, I escape into translation" - I don't know its author. I've found it in the space of the internet. | |
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Gerard de Noord France Local time: 05:14 Member (2003) English to Dutch + ... Translations (like wives) are seldom strictly faithful if they are in the least attractive | Dec 6, 2016 |
Translations (like wives) are seldom strictly faithful if they are in the least attractive. Roy Campbell 1901–57 South African poet: in Poetry Review June-July 1949 | | |
Rosalind Haigh United Kingdom Local time: 04:14 German to English + ...
Gerard de Noord wrote: Translations (like wives) are seldom strictly faithful if they are in the least attractive. Roy Campbell 1901–57 South African poet: in Poetry Review June-July 1949 An unpleasant enough statement even over 60 years ago, but in today's climate? You have got to be joking. | | |
Daniel Frisano Italy Local time: 05:14 Member (2008) English to Italian + ... Somebody please explain this to her | Dec 7, 2016 |
"A cuarantevot ains, no ise ore che tu cjatis un lavôr?" ("At 48, don't you think it's time to get a job?") My 75-year mother on the phone the other day, after I've been doing this for 19 years. | | |
Daniel Frisano Italy Local time: 05:14 Member (2008) English to Italian + ... Here's another one (don't tell anybody or we will all be jobless) | Dec 7, 2016 |
HER - So what do you do? ME - I am a translator. HER - Like when they show in TV like Putin meeting like Angela Merkel and there's someone in the middle translating what they say to each other? ME - Well, technically that's called an interpreter. I do written stuff. HER - Who would need that? It sounds useless. ME - Well, next time you buy a new cell phone and you find the instructions in Italian, it's because somebody translated them from English. HER - Would... See more HER - So what do you do? ME - I am a translator. HER - Like when they show in TV like Putin meeting like Angela Merkel and there's someone in the middle translating what they say to each other? ME - Well, technically that's called an interpreter. I do written stuff. HER - Who would need that? It sounds useless. ME - Well, next time you buy a new cell phone and you find the instructions in Italian, it's because somebody translated them from English. HER - Wouldn't it be easier to just write it directly in all the languages? ME - ... (Yes, she was blonde, and, no, I am not saying that all blondes are like that.) ▲ Collapse | |
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Linh Hoang Vietnam Local time: 10:14 Member English to Vietnamese + ... TOPIC STARTER Like good translator! | Dec 7, 2016 |
I like good translators, of course. Aha. It would really take time to turn such s**t into a masterpiece. It certainly makes us crazy!!! Aleksandra Muraviova wrote: "A good translator leaves no work for a reviewer. A good reviewer findes room for improvement even then." Some words I try to live by. But sometimes it looks like what I said about a project where the source was written extremely bad (by a barely literate non-native, if you need some assesment). "I'm gradually turning this pile of horse s**t into a masterpiece." | | |