The Diligence Delusion
Back in around 2004, about a year after I'd kicked off my career as a freelance translator, I thought I was the bee's knees when it came to translation.
I had a degree in economics, a pass at the highest level of the Japanese government's Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), and had won prizes in several translation competitions.
I hadn't failed a single trial (test translation) for an agent, and I was getting plenty of work.
But the main reason I thought I was the god of translation was that I perceived most of the translations I saw around me as being of poor quality.
The agents would send me past translations as reference material, and I'd also be looking at previous translations online as I researched each job.
And I thought they were all awful!
I'd zoom in on what I perceived as unnatural translations, verbose expressions, archaic word choices, incomprehensible sentences ... you name it, I thought it was all terrible.
I thought the translators that had produced this stuff must all be idiots.
Until one day it hit me.
They weren't the idiots.
The idiot was me.
I realized that they were probably getting paid about the same as I was per word, and that the only reason my translations were better was because I was putting so much effort and time into them.
I call this the diligence delusion.
Or the meticulousness mirage.
Okay, enough poetry!
The reality was that there was nothing really wrong with their translations. They were "good enough," or to use a phrase popular in the translation industry, "fit for purpose."
And there was nothing special about me at that time. Sure, I was studying my field (business/finance) pretty hard but I had nowhere near the level of expertise that I have now. I just thought I was good because my product was good.
Thankfully, I figured out what was going on pretty early, and adjusted my approach, but there are a lot of freelance translators who carry the diligence delusion around with them for their entire careers.
They think they're supermen, and spend their days chasing so-called "premium clients" - mythological creatures that they believe will one day come to their rescue.
They're beset by repeated crises of confidence as they constantly wonder why things just don't seem to be working out in the way they'd hoped on the success front.
If you feel like you need a quick reality check on the actual importance of translation quality in the marketplace, check out the following Wikipedia article excerpt about the English-language version of a Japanese video game:
The game received positive critical reception upon release. Computer and Video Games scored it 93%, including ratings of 92% for graphics, 93% for sound, 90% for playability, and 89% for lastability. They praised "the great intro sequence", "super-smooth gameplay, beautifully defined graphics, rocking sound track, amazing explosions and incredible end-of-level bosses", concluding that it is "the game which breathes new life into shoot 'em ups on the Mega Drive". Mean Machines scored it 91%, including ratings of 92% for presentation and graphics, 88% for sound, 90% for playability, and 89% for lastability, concluding that it is one of "the best Megadrive blasts in ages." Sega Force scored it 86%, including ratings of 84% for presentation, 89% for visuals, 83% for sound, 89% for playability, and 82% for lastability, concluding that it is "almost as good as Hellfire" but "not quite."
Pretty stellar reviews, huh? And no mention of the translation quality.
Yet this is about the Sega Mega Drive port of a game called Zero Wing, which is now infamous for its dodgy translations during that "great intro sequence."
The word salad included gems like these:
Somebody set up us the bomb.
All your base are belong to us.
You have no chance to survive make your time.
At the time of release, though, they went unnoticed, and didn't seem to interfere with anyone's enjoyment of the game.
And before you ask, no, I was not the one responsible for those translations! They were done in 1992, when I was a hard-partying student in Manchester and probably didn't even know how to say hello in Japanese!
For more insights on freelance translation and how to make a real go of it, check out my ebooks on Amazon/Kindle:
88 WAYS TO BE SUCCESSFUL AS A FREELANCE TRANSLATOR
NEW (May 2019): SUCCESSFUL TRANSLATOR VS. UNSUCCESSFUL FREELANCE TRANSLATOR (SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON)
(Links are for amazon.com, but you will need to purchase from your country's Amazon/Kindle site.)
Also follow me on Instagram (mattstanton_translation) for twice-weekly success tips straight out of the pages of 88WAYS, photoquotes from me, pics from my life here in central Japan, and more!
Best of luck on your journey.
Matt
Freelance British English localisation specialist. Copywriter. Content writer. Views all my own.
5 年Funny - I did JLPT tests as well and I was chosen to go on a study tour Japan by The Japan Foundation, representing the UK (!), when I was just 17. The Japanese dearly love the English. It is very endearing; the home stay family of an entirely different student still write to me every New Year. I am now 46 and they met me just the once at a party in the centre in Tokyo when I was a kid. I well understand that translating from Japanese to English is a pretty niche market. I sometimes wish I had gone down the JP-EN route, because clients would be easy to get and easy to hold on to. I was held in far more respect than I deserved at so young an age as a 'gaijin' who spoke Japanese. I imagine clients are loyal too, once they have made the connection. What a great thing to have made a success of. :)
One of those "Creative Types"
5 年Matt, you make a convincing argument for work that is "fit for purpose." I would like to think that I am not delusional, but the vast majority of translation work that I have done in my career has been either in-house (press releases, corporate website content, collateral materials, etc.) or books. In other words, content intended for publishing (and pubic consumption). In this capacity, I have always felt it my obligation to write English void of unnatural translations, verbose expressions or archaic word choices. I realize, however, that my situation differs from freelance translators who benefit from increasing their output. Just my two kopeks. Thanks for the informative article.