Imperfect Translators Are Often Useful

[armei]

In my honest opinion, a translation degree is expendable.

Formal training is obviously a plus, but as long as you have a very good understanding of grammar and style, and a good amount of experience, you're good to go.

These skills are, nonetheless, less common than what you would imagine.

In Argentina, unfortunately, you have to be certified to translate official documents. In the US there's no such requirement, which I love.

 

[fifs2]

In my honest opinion, a translation degree is expendable.

Formal training is obviously a plus, but as long as you have a very good understanding of grammar and style, and a good amount of experience, you're good to go.

These skills are, nonetheless, less common than what you would imagine.

In Argentina, unfortunately, you have to be certified to translate official documents. In the US there's no such requirement, which I love.

Well with all due respect discounting a translation degree is like being happy with an accountant who can count to 1000 and use a calculator. I am a qualified translator (legal Arabic - English) and will attest that a degree is however only a starting point in the career of a translation professsional who seeks to earn a good living and deliver exceptional service every time. The degree forms a basis on which to specialise with many years of additional point training on tools (Machine translation, terminology mining & research, Translation memories, Software, Help, Documentation editors etc etc) to ensure that a translation professional is, as frenchie says, an expert in their field in the languages in which they are qualified and someone capable of producing 5k words that are flawless both in legal and language terms. CFK is, in her own words a very successful lawyer...let's not tar all lawyers (or in this case translators) with the same brush...there's good and bad eggs in all professions but that shouldn't discount the value nor breadth of the profession itself.

 

[nikad]

Ok, based on what I have read so far on this thread, I open the game, check my signature

 

[armei]

Well with all due respect discounting a translation degree is like being happy with an accountant who can count to 1000 and use a calculator. I am a qualified translator (legal Arabic - English) and will attest that a degree is however only a starting point in the career of a translation professsional who seeks to earn a good living and deliver exceptional service every time. The degree forms a basis on which to specialise with many years of additional point training on tools (Machine translation, terminology mining & research, Translation memories, Software, Help, Documentation editors etc etc) to ensure that a translation professional is, as frenchie says, an expert in their field in the languages in which they are qualified and someone capable of producing 5k words that are flawless both in legal and language terms. CFK is, in her own words a very successful lawyer...let's not tar all lawyers (or in this case translators) with the same brush...there's good and bad eggs in all professions but that shouldn't discount the value nor breadth of the profession itself.

All the skills that you mention can be learned without the formal training. You certainly don't need anybody else's help to learn CAT tools. There are a plethora of resources online.
I can attest to that since I have hired over 200 translators in the past few years. While having a degree is certainly a good predictor of quality, my best translators do not always have a translation degree or ATA certification.
Take the example of those who translate literature, they are oftentimes not 'professional' translators, but otherwise very good writers who have an in-depth understanding of both the source and target languages.

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[background=rgb(255, 255, 191)]500: five hundred: the cardinal number that is the product of one hundred and five[/background]​

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[jblawton]

All the skills that you mention can be learned without the formal training. You certainly don't need anybody else's help to learn CAT tools. There are a plethora of resources online.
I can attest to that since I have hired over 200 translators in the past few years. While having a degree is certainly a good predictor of quality, my best translators do not always have a translation degree or ATA certification.
Take the example of those who translate literature, they are oftentimes not 'professional' translators, but otherwise very good writers who have an in-depth understanding of both the source and target languages.

[background=rgb(255, 255, 191)]500: five hundred: the cardinal number that is the product of one hundred and five[/background]​

[background=rgb(255, 255, 191)]wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=500[/background]​

[background=rgb(255, 255, 191)]More »[/background]​

In the past I've had to correct or redo translations of official documents (academic transcripts, etc.) which were prepared by 'official licensed' translators. So I basically paid for their seal/stamp, as I spent as much or even more time reading the contents as if I would have translated the whole thing to begin with.

I agree translation requires experience in the language. It also requires an ability to understand context, intent and tone of the document. Although a 'formal' education is not necessary for this, it shouldn't be seen as useless.

I can read a lot of medical info in Wikipedia or WebMD and memorize it. Doesn't make me a physician. As all careers, there should be a mix of skills. A formal education conveys a commitment to a profession, which is proven by the person's continuous interest in improving their skills through cultural exchange, language immersion, etc. In the end, it all comes down to understanding what you need, and finding the right fit. For some things (e.g., legal stuff), I would prefer a 'formally educated' translator over a lawyer who watched too many episodes of Perry Mason.

 

[armei]

In the past I've had to correct or redo translations of official documents (academic transcripts, etc.) which were prepared by 'official licensed' translators. So I basically paid for their seal/stamp, as I spent as much or even more time reading the contents as if I would have translated the whole thing to begin with.

I agree translation requires experience in the language. It also requires an ability to understand context, intent and tone of the document. Although a 'formal' education is not necessary for this, it shouldn't be seen as useless.

I can read a lot of medical info in Wikipedia or WebMD and memorize it. Doesn't make me a physician. As all careers, there should be a mix of skills. A formal education conveys a commitment to a profession, which is proven by the person's continuous interest in improving their skills through cultural exchange, language immersion, etc. In the end, it all comes down to understanding what you need, and finding the right fit. For some things (e.g., legal stuff), I would prefer a 'formally educated' translator over a lawyer who watched too many episodes of Perry Mason.

I think we're agreeing on pretty much everything. I originally meant to say that a degree is not a condicio sine qua non for good translation. Not that a degree is useless.

 

[Jibaro 1]

Google translate for day to day things .................I don't think they have a degree

 

[Ceviche]

Google translate is horrible but serves the purpose.

 

[PaulBee]

Google translate for day to day things .................I don't think they have a degree

Agreed. Google translate is best for people who know basic Spanish and hope to get the grammar correct (but if having the message perfect is important,
please do not rely on Google translate !) They sometimes makes basic errors. Also, English vocab is complex and Google translate
doesn´t even make the best guess. IE. I once saw this message from an expensive hotel in Mexico, geared to gringos:
"The foreigner must warehouse 25% of the payment in advance". Of course, Google had used "warehouse" as a synonym for
"deposit". Jejejeje.

 

[Ceviche]

Though some times I prefer the stupid google translate than the expensive but lazy local translators!