Handling a badly written ST
Thread poster: Louise Souter (X)
Louise Souter (X)
Louise Souter (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:20
Spanish to English
+ ...
Jul 17, 2010

I am working on a translation with a tight deadline for an agency. The ST is quite badly written (typos, random abbreviations, sentence fragments, lack of context etc). I already emailed my contact at the agency to explain that there were typos because some of these affected my translation. However, despite my best efforts, I cannot see how the translation can read well as an English text without a full revision in consultation with the end client. How to I explain this to the agency without sou... See more
I am working on a translation with a tight deadline for an agency. The ST is quite badly written (typos, random abbreviations, sentence fragments, lack of context etc). I already emailed my contact at the agency to explain that there were typos because some of these affected my translation. However, despite my best efforts, I cannot see how the translation can read well as an English text without a full revision in consultation with the end client. How to I explain this to the agency without sounding like I am trying to avoid responsibilty for a (possibly) poorly written TT?

Thanks
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Kevin Lossner
Kevin Lossner  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 17:20
German to English
+ ...
Document the problem. Jul 17, 2010

Louise Souter wrote:
The ST is quite badly written (typos, random abbreviations, sentence fragments, lack of context etc)... How to I explain this to the agency without sounding like I am trying to avoid responsibility for a (possibly) poorly written TT?


Despite a lot of contrary wishful thinking, sometimes GIGO is unavoidable.

Document the problem carefully and point out particular places where ambiguities require consultation with the customer. More cannot be expected, and if there is a dispute, your careful record of the problems communicated will be important.

[Edited at 2010-07-17 15:52 GMT]


 
Henry Hinds
Henry Hinds  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:20
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
ST - TT Jul 17, 2010

What are those? You know how much trouble undefined acronyms are for us as translators.

 
Aude Sylvain
Aude Sylvain  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 18:20
English to French
+ ...
source text, target text Jul 17, 2010

Henry Hinds wrote:

What are those? You know how much trouble undefined acronyms are for us as translators.


AFAIK


 
Stephen Franke
Stephen Franke
United States
Local time: 10:20
English to Arabic
+ ...
Decline the job, if original text not corrected & additional time not allowed Jul 17, 2010

Greetings.

That situation is a dilemma.

My advice would be to decline that job, and soon, if [1] the original creator does not correct such flawed -- if not mentally-sloppy -- text, or, if such correction does come to pass, then [2] the agency does not allow you suitable additional time for you to do and deliver a proper translation.

Having to handle a batch of garbage from the start gets everyone's hands dirty in the process, but that practice also soils a
... See more
Greetings.

That situation is a dilemma.

My advice would be to decline that job, and soon, if [1] the original creator does not correct such flawed -- if not mentally-sloppy -- text, or, if such correction does come to pass, then [2] the agency does not allow you suitable additional time for you to do and deliver a proper translation.

Having to handle a batch of garbage from the start gets everyone's hands dirty in the process, but that practice also soils and stains your valuable reputation as a professional translator.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Stephen H. Franke
English-Arabic
San Pedro, California, USA

------------------------------------------------

Louise Souter wrote:

I am working on a translation with a tight deadline for an agency. The ST is quite badly written (typos, random abbreviations, sentence fragments, lack of context etc). I already emailed my contact at the agency to explain that there were typos because some of these affected my translation. However, despite my best efforts, I cannot see how the translation can read well as an English text without a full revision in consultation with the end client. How to I explain this to the agency without sounding like I am trying to avoid responsibility for a (possibly) poorly-written TT?

Thanks


[Edited at 2010-07-17 21:52 GMT]

[Edited at 2010-07-18 18:37 GMT]
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Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:20
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Ask before spending time on it Jul 18, 2010

In my opinion, a target text of an adequate quality should be possible with any source text (unless the mistakes are misleading and introduce ambiguity or terminology issues). Now, the question is what to do with the source text.

In my opinion, you should ask your customer whether they are interested in examples about quality issues in the source text and how to fix them. It would be pretty useless to spend time documenting mistakes without first knowing whether your extra work wil
... See more
In my opinion, a target text of an adequate quality should be possible with any source text (unless the mistakes are misleading and introduce ambiguity or terminology issues). Now, the question is what to do with the source text.

In my opinion, you should ask your customer whether they are interested in examples about quality issues in the source text and how to fix them. It would be pretty useless to spend time documenting mistakes without first knowing whether your extra work will be useful to someone along the line (i.e. the people who wrote the documents at the end customer), so it's best to ask.
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Handling a badly written ST







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