The Trouble with Translation Styles

One of the beautiful things about translation is that each translator has the opportunity to rewrite a translation in a particular style. You might have your own personal style, or have been trained to use a particular style guide (such as the AMA Manual of Style), or even developed your own unique translation style over the years. Admittedly, this requires close contact with your target industry and often involves an incredible amount of back-and-forth with a single or a small group of direct customers who are interested in your specific set of skills.

I can virtually feel the blood of certain translators boiling as they read this and think "What on earth do you mean? I have my own translation style - I was born with it!"

Well, I'm not here to argue with you, perhaps you were born with your own translation style, but every good translator will know that not everyone will appreciate your innate translation style. Furthermore, your clients will usually be expecting you to translate according to their particular style of writing and communicate the message as they would, which often means you actively have to suppress your own translation style. Thinking that "you know best" simply because you are a translator is a very dangerous game to play, because that type of confidence should be earned from years of experience and appropriate feedback. Nobody walks out of translation training fully fledged - you have to spread your wings and attempt to fly first, and perhaps fall out of the nest a few times for good measure before you soar - it's part of the learning process.

One of the specific problems that I have encountered in terms of translation styles involves working with agencies, so if you're long past the stage where you depend on agencies to rake in your earnings, sit back and have a giggle.

I'll say it upfront: I think that working in a truly global industry is a wonderful thing. Moreover, the Internet allows certain agencies, particularly multinational ones, to be running 24/7 - translators and administrative employees in every timezone ensure that profits are being generated even while the company shareholders are tucked away in bed. Perhaps they are dreaming about what yacht to buy next, but they certainly aren't taking any pains to worry about trivialities like translation style. Sure, they want the "best and most accurate translations, delivered on time, every time" and sure, they don't care that you, as a translator in their employment, believe that translating more than 2 500 words a day decreases quality - all they care about is their bottom line. So if you don't give them exactly what they want, they won't work with you to ensure that you develop into the type of translator that they want - they will simply move on to the next name on their long list of eager potential employees (I'm sure we've all experienced the joys of the recruitment emails - and at this point I must digress to say a phrase that will grate the nerves and sensibilities of any good translator: "Please respond giving your best rates.")

And therein lies the problem - writing styles, even in a language like English, differ greatly based on whether a translator grew up in the US, the UK, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia or India. Of course, I'm complete overlooking the fact that some translators are English majors, and that some were trained by non-native speakers of the target language, or that some translators treat their preferred style guide as the equivalent of the gospel, or that some translators are industry experts (I'm not judging here, I'm just pointing these things out). These differences are all pertinent, of course, but even if we disregard these facts, we all know that what sounds appealing to a Southern European may sound distressing to South American in exactly the same language, based purely on the style of translation used, irrespective of whether the language is correct or not.

Personally, I have found that this often comes to light when receiving that wonderful staple of agency translation known as "anonymous reviewer feedback".

Sometimes these have been absolutely scathing - implying that I'm not worth my weight in salt as a translator and should simply throw in the towel, buy a rice paddy and spend my days splashing my ankles in the mud. This in turn has sometimes made me so bitter that I return the favour and even whip out my good old Collins grammar textbooks and pick the next translation that I review to absolute shreds. Unfortunately it does give me a sense of gratification, even though I know that it is precisely the wrong thing to do. The anonymity can be intoxicating - one could potentially be as rude as one likes without fear of direct repercussions and the receiver usually cannot - or does not have the time - to fight back. It has been a very long time since I have indulged in this particularly shameful act, but then again, I have grown, both as a person and as a translator.

The truly sad part about this state of affairs is that the translator reviewing the work is by no means the end-client. True - some translations are objectively bad - and of course one should do their absolute best to pick up errors that the original translator may have missed. I'm not questioning that for a moment. I'm talking about how translators from a certain English-speaking country that shall remain nameless will review a translation more harshly because insufficiently "adjectival" language was used on a medical advertisement intended for audiences on the opposite side of the Atlantic or Pacific oceans (I guess that gives it away, doesn't it!), for example. This is a subjective analysis of course, and I'd love to hear your thoughts, but my impression after a number of years in the industry, and particularly as a doctor, is that many EU audiences want their texts to be factual and concise - if you go overboard with the sales-speak, you're going to drive customers away rather than entice them. Certainly highly-educated audiences also tend not to appreciate the same over-the-top approach that might be considered completely appropriate to fields that employ greater numbers of blue-collar workers (who are no less valuable to society and who themselves may be extremely highly educated too!). The way you sell to audiences on one side of the globe is not the same way you sell to audiences on the other.

Should we stay in our lanes and stick to translating solely for audiences within arms reach? Of course not - that is impractical and unnecessary in my opinion. Should we demand that anonymity is lifted when reviews are performed? Perhaps, but keeping us isolated from one another is one of the major ways that agencies make their money, so that's simply not going to happen.

Should we be more gentle when responding to our fellow translators anonymously? Definitely - although if you're frustrated after a long day of translating and expecting an easy review, or are getting paid peanuts, or are simply a right old curmudgeon who is trying to discredit every other translator to drive business your way, that is probably not a realistic option for you.

I believe that we should merely bear these points in mind - and learn not to take feedback personally. I believe we need to make every attempt to educate project managers about these differences. We need to identify clients and agencies that are a good fit for our particular style and learn to keep the communication channels open when it counts (i.e. when you are less of a cog in a machine and more of a valued service provider) to ensure maximum satisfaction. Language is dynamic, intricate and powerful. Mastering a language, even your native tongue, is like trying to grasp a flame in your fist - grasp at it too hard and you will simply end up with toasted hypothenar eminences (the bumps that contain the muscles that move your little finger, among others) and an empty palm. Scathing reviews or glowing feedback from fellow translators might influence your day positively or negatively, but the real test is going out there and sourcing your own clients and getting their feedback (which they in turn might formulate as a result of presenting your documents in a target language that they do not understand during a business meeting and being laughed out of the room - consider yourself warned). I know, it's not for everyone, but those are the opinions that really matter. Everyone else in the process is just a middle-man trying to get a piece of the pie.