You’re a new translator. What are the most common mistakes you might make?

The teacher that thought me the most about translation had a favorite saying that went like "to translate is to betray the text:" by that he meant to discourage us from being too literal in our translations. Your goal shouldn't be to find the counterpart of each word in another language, don't miss the forest for the trees.

I remember having to check a translation from french to dutch where the verb défendre had been translated as to forbid, whereas it meant to defend, in this case. Défendre has both meanings but context is everything. And understanding this context means a certain general knowledge, ‘un bagage’, as we say in french.

There are times when you come to words, idioms and expressions that are unknown or culturally inappropriate to refer to in the target language. You have to find ways to get the message out. With utterances, I ask myself "What is really being said? What is the real message that is being communicated." This is my approach to translating idioms or metaphors or whatever. I then write the sentence is plain or simple English. This then gives me a good start.

In my opinion, proofreading is a critical step in the translation process. No matter how short the document —actually even more if it is short— delivering an error-free translation is pure respect for your client. Over the years, I would say the QA step is the one that I have most refined. For professional grammar/spelling checking (and so much more!), I highly recommend Antidote (French & English only). Check, correct, read aloud, adjust, and check again before delivering. Also, honesty goes a long way: I once (or twice...) spotted an error in a translation I had already delivered, and told the client. Instead of being mad, they were grateful because they had not sent to print yet and were able to correct. They’re still a client today.

Once again, honesty is key: to yourself and to your client. ? Are you a specialist in the field? No, but the deadline gives you plenty of time to research the terminology: tell the client you are willing to investigate the subject, then go for it! Do not hesitate to ask them questions to clarify anything you don’t understand. ? You know the topic and the client is a regular, but you are crushed in work? Maybe pass on this one or ask for an extension of the deadline. You don’t want to rush and deliver lower quality. Always ask for feedback to all of your clients, for all jobs. Then take in the reviewer’s comments to grow.

You may think your shit generative "AI" is useful, but it's not. Everybody knows it's not, and nobody wants it. Why do you do it?

You will sometimes receive a 20-page style guide to complete a 200-word translation. Some clients are super correct and will pay for your time studying it if they plan on working with you on the longer term. Some won’t. Anyways, if you take the job, make sure to take into account any guideline and ask for plenty of clarification if needed. You can deliver the translation along with a short summary (“As per guidelines, I have kept all the products names and the tagline in English…”). This way, the clients will feel reassured that you stuck to the instructions.

In my opinion, to remain competitive and deliver high-quality work, translators must commit to a lifelong learning journey - and that is not optional. It is not just about acquiring new vocabulary or linguistic skills, but also being aware of the new technology developed and applied by our industry. Even though our daily routines (or lack thereof) make us insecure about investing time and money in specialisation courses, my personal experience has taught me that the effort actually pays off. Even when the content of the course was not what it had promised to be, the networking opportunities were surprisingly rewarding.

As service providers who often work on their own, translators might be particularly susceptible to overwork. Many of you might identify with this situation: a project manager calls you requiring 20k words to be translated in 3 days, telling you how much that client is important to them. You feel the pressure to say yes and think about all the bills you could with that money. So, for the next 3 days, you skip going to the gym, eat fast food, sleep 5 hours a night and isolate yourself from your friends and family. When that becomes a routine, you may ruin your mental and physical health, in addition to risking not delivering a job you can be proud of.