Translators--who?

["Brierley, Sean" <Sean -at- Quodata -dot- Com>]

Hallo:

There's an interesting topic: the qualifications of translators.

I have found that not everybody in the UK would qualify as a writer in their
native tongue. Similarly, not every English-speaking American could be a
technical writer in English. Do we, then, assume that every Russian has what
it takes to write tech docs in the Russian language or, more to the point,
translate written technical documents from Russian to some other language?
How about Russian engineers? If a Russian is an engineer, are they
automatically the right person for writing or translating Russian tech docs?
Should we expect that a translator have the skills of a writer in all the
languages with which they work?

I mean this as food for thought and not a flame.

Hey, good luck to your Russian friend, Dianne--and I understand this is not
a response to your post. This is a new thread.

Best regards,

Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Dianne Blake [SMTP:write-it -at- home -dot- com]
> 
> Dear Friends,
> 
> A friend of the family is planning to move to the United States from
> Russia - probably in May.  Does anyone know of any companies that might
> be looking for a Russian translator - either verbal or written?  If not,
> do you have any ideas on where to get him started in that direction.  He
> also plays chess professionally.
> 
> Please respond off-list so that we don't clutter up the list.  Your
> assistance is much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Dianne Blake