Re: FWD: Preparing a translator test

[Sybille Sterk <sybille -at- wowfabgroovy -dot- net>]

I had to check out translators for our company, ensuring that they were 
qualified enough for the subject matter and also that their style (and 
other skills, for example maintaining the formatting) fitted the company 
style. We gave each translator (we went through a translation agency) two 
pages of text, pieced together from different manuals (some of the text was 
more hardware orientated, other sections more software orientated and again 
other sections were scientific descriptions. I tried to include all the 
different types of text that the translator might come across whilst 
working for us. Those translations were then sent to our sales offices in 
France, Spain, Italy, Japan and Germany to be checked over. The formatting 
I checked myself.

This test gave us a good basis to select the translator.

I think it is quite common to expect a translator to do a test translation 
(this is also often called a "Sample Translation"), so a professional 
translator shouldn't really have a problem with that. I have worked as a 
translator myself and have been asked to do sample translations.

Many translators are working from home, rather than on-site. This is 
generally not a bad thing if the circumstances allow it, because most 
translators get much more work done this way. However, if you do have 
translators working from home, I would ensure that there are at least two 
people the translator can contact in case he needs any information. If the 
translators work on-site, I would try to make them feel as part of the team 
(however brief) as it improves communication, i.e. the translator will be 
more inclined to ask questions when he/she doesn't understand something, or 
is unsure about something. It also allows the translator to suggest 
corrections or improvements.

It might also be a good idea to ask for references to find out if the work 
of the translator in the past has been of the same standard throughout. 
Some translators's standards vary very much from one translation to the next.

Hope this helps,

Sybille


At 23:34 01/03/00 , anonfwd -at- raycomm -dot- com wrote: