Monthly Archives: October 2014

Who Should Check Test Translations?

30 Thursday Oct 2014

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In a previous post I stressed the importance of test translations – short texts you give a translator so they can prove their skill to you. But who should verify the quality of these translations? Certainly not you – if you were that competent in the target language, you probably wouldn’t need a translator. So, who?

My first recommendation is: don’t ask an agency or another translator to review test translations. First, because it’s disrespectful: you’re throwing into their face that you’re employing someone else. Second, because – since they are your translator’s competitors – it’s in their best interest to say the test translation is bad. This way, they can offer their services as an alternative and make money out of you. “The piece you sent us is decent, but we believe we could do much better” is a pretty common answer, and why shouldn’t it be? If the second translator or the agency can convince you to work with them, they earn a new client; if they can’t, they’re still getting paid for reviewing the test. It’s a win-win situation for them, but not for you.

Guaranteed, many people out there are honest and would call a good translation good, but you should never rely on someone to act against their interest in order to do you a favor. So, I would recommend avoiding asking translation agencies and freelance translators to review test translations.

My best advice is to ask a native speaker of the target language to review the translation. You don’t need a specialist: the vast majority of your future readers will not be specialists either. You need someone who is representative of your target audience and will read the translation with the same eyes. The best choice would be one of your fans abroad: someone who read your work in the original language, but is also a native speaker of the target language. They will be able to tell if the translation is good, and merciless in critiquing it. Of course, it would be even better if they had translation experience themselves.

When possible, don’t give the reviewer the original text. Many people, especially those who are not translators, will often consider the slightest deviation from the original text as an unforgivable sin, even if said change improves readability and even if it’s actually required by the target language’s rules. Italian, for example, has longer words and sentences than English, and it doesn’t generally use the Oxford comma, so breaking up sentences is often required in order not to end up with unreadable paragraphs; but an overzealous reviewer, confronting the translation with the original text, might consider this a great wrongdoing. Of course, if a person you know to be competent asked you to see the original text, you should give it to them. Chances are they had good reasons for asking.

Test translations are a great way to scree out bad translators and find the one you need to reach an entirely new public. Use them without fear.

 

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The Translation Diaries, Episode 2: Courtesy Forms

20 Monday Oct 2014

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In English, when you are talking to someone and want to show respect, you mostly do so by adding words. Calling someone “sir”, “madam” or “Your Majesty” means that you hold the person in front of you (or the person you’re writing to) in a certain consideration. But for the most part, the structure and content of your sentence remain the same: “Good morning” and “Good morning, madam” differ only for the honorific, but are otherwise the same sentence.

Italian, on the other hand, gets crazy with courtesy forms. The most shocking thing about it is that you show respect by changing person. That’s right, the actual, grammatical person of the verb you’re using. Sometimes you even have to change the gender! Let me show you.

Suppose that you meet a friend on the street, and you want to greet him. To say “Hi! How are you?” in Italian you could go with:

Ciao! Come stai?

Now, let’s say that you want to use the same greeting, but the person you meet is someone you’re supposed to show respect to (your teacher or your boss, for example). First of all, you need to use a more formal salute; not the colloquial “Ciao!”, but a more formal “Buongiorno!” But after that, to show your interlocutor the proper respect, you also have address them as “her”… even if they are the person we’re talking to and they happen to be male!

Here’s how you can say “Hi! How are you?” in a formal way:

Buongiorno! Come sta?

“Sta” is the third person singular of the verb “stare”, which is what we use for “to be” in this case. Now, if the honorable person were to reply “I’m fine, and you?”, and they wanted to use the same courtesy form, they would say something like this:

Io sto bene, e lei?

Which literally means “I’m fine. What about her?” Even if they’re talking to you and you happen to be male.

If English is your native language, this will probably seem absurd. But this courtesy form actually has historical roots: during the Renaissance, nobles were addressed as Sua Signoria or Sua Eccellenza, meaning respectively “His Lordship” and “His Excellency”. However, signoria and eccellenza are female in Italian, so female pronouns were used. Centuries later, we still use the third person singular (female) in lieu of the second person as a form of respect.

But it gets weirder (yes, there is weirder). It’s rarely used nowadays, at least in official Italian, but there’s a courtesy form that consists of adressing the other person with the second person plural (“voi”). That’s right, we’re making two (or three, or legion) of one person.

(we’re not alone in this, though. The French do it as well)

Here’s how you might greet, say, the Pope if you met him down the street:

Buongiorno, Santità! Come state?

State is, of course, the second person plural of “stare”, while Santità is “(Your) Holyness”.

You will almost never see this courtesy form used today. There are notable exceptions in some dialects, especially those from southern Italy (Neapolitan being the most notorious one), but for the most part it’s considered obsolete. It is, however, still considered the “right” form to adress royalty (although we have no royalty) and some important figures, mostly religious ones.

In italian there are also words like “signore” and “signora”, which are sometimes used were you would expect to see “sir” or “madam”, but the changing of person and (sometimes) gender is the thing that shocks foreigners the most. Many people think we’re crazy (and, being Italians, we might well be).

Courtesy forms come up a lot in translations. With three different levels of formality, it’s a pain to decide which one you have to use at a given point in a translation, especially when the English text gives you no clue about it.

What’s the appropriate form to use, for example, when a werewolf speaks to her pack alpha? Second person plural (from now on SPP) would seem right, since pack alphas are a kind of royalty, but it also might sound archaic. On the other hand, third person female (TPF) risks sounding like the character is addressing her accountant, not someone who could very well rip her to pieces. The translator has to look the contest and employ every little bit of his cultural awareness to make sure the translation is flawless.

It gets easier with other genres. Fantasy generally uses SPP, which is perceived as more “ancient”. Stories set in the contemporary present usually go with TPF, because that sounds more realistic. But then again, no two stories are alike, and translating courtesy forms the correct way can be sometimes challenging. But challenges are, after all, among the things that make translating a beautiful work.

 

Did you write a story were etiquette and formality make all the difference? Give a look here to see how I can help you reach new readers, and contact me for information and business proposals.

How to Avoid Bad Translators and Scammers

12 Sunday Oct 2014

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There is a common denominator in the mails I get from self-published authors, a concept that might be summed up with: “I had issues with other translators in the past, so I am more cautious now.” Sadly, I understand all too well: scammers are common in all places on the Internet, while people who are just bad at their jobs are simply uncountable.

I hate scammers and bad translators. They hurt me and the other honest professionals by giving our entire category a bad name. I always did my best to denounce them and – when I worked as proofreader – make sure they weren’t paid for the butchery they called “work”, but they seem to pop up like mushrooms after the Autumn rain. Without being as tasty.

What makes a bad translator? Unfortunately, there is no perfect answer. A shady-looking person might be simply inexperienced at communicating with perspective clients, while the most cordial and seemingly competent freelancer could be a very good scammer. There are, however, some indicators that might tell you that you’re dealing with a dishonest or incompetent person.

 

Inability to Provide References

Bad translators usually cannot provide good references. When someone boasts a long translation experience, but refuses to give you the contact(s) of someone who could vouch for them, you should become very suspicious. “I worked with these guys, but they’re very busy people and don’t like to be pestered, so I’m not giving you their emails” is a silly excuse: if someone allowed you to list them among their references, then they are willing to spare some time to tell people how good you are.

Even when a translator does provide references, it wouldn’t hurt to check on those names and see if they are people who work in the field (editors, authors, other translators, etc.) or just average Janes and Joes who happen to be among the translator’s friends on Facebook. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Boasts of Incredible Speed and/or Very Low Rates

The Internet is full of offers that are too good to be true. Someone who promises to translate your work in no time and for almost no money isn’t probably telling you the whole truth.

Between direct witnessing and firsthand reports, I know there are many ways for unethical translator to cut corners, from using low-end translation tools (or even Google Translate), to cutting out entire portions of the text, to simply not revising the translation before sending it out. I’ve even been told of one case in which a translator “subcontracted” a job: they had several people translate one chapter each, then melded everything together. I’ve never seen that particular translation, but I suspect it wasn’t very consistent.

In short, if someone tells you they can translate your 200,000 word novel in a week, I wouldn’t bet on the quality of the final product.

For the same reason, someone working for rates that cannot make a living wage is most likely either quite naive or producing low-quality translations. This isn’t always true: one of my best friends doesn’t charge much for their translations (which they do in their free time, having a 9 to 5 job as well), yet those are among the finest I have ever had the privilege to read. But generally speaking, you shouldn’t expect excellent work for a low price, just like you wouldn’t expect Michelin Star cuisine from a cafeteria. Quality has its price, and translators have bills to pay like everyone else. Everyone saying otherwise is selling something, and you probably shouldn’t buy it.

Refusal to Do a Test Translation

A “test translation” is a short text (usually between 500 and 1,000 words) that the freelancer translates as a proof of skill and goodwill. When in doubt, always ask for a test translation before working with a translator, especially if they have no references and/or previous experience. If they refuse, do not contact them anymore. If they accept, ask a native reader to check their work; do not give this “test reader” the original, just ask them if the writing looks good and fluent. Most people will do this quick favor for free, and it could save you money, headaches and drama.

On a sidenote: some translators might ask you to pay for a test translation. I never would, provided that you’re not going to sell the translation or otherwise make money out of it. It is, as I said, a token of goodwill.

Asking for All the Money Up Front

Most translators, including myself, will ask you for an advance before starting a job. However, be very, very aware of anyone who wants you to pay the entire sum immediately. Few honest translators (indeed, few honest professionals) would ever do such a thing. If the freelancer you contacted insists on that, avoid them like the Plague.

This should be an obvious point, but I keep reading on the Internet of clients who cry out in outrage because the translator disappeared with the money. A little investigation turns out, most of the time, that those clients had paid everything up front. Never make this mistake. Always keep part of the money as an insurance that the job will get done.

Refusal to Sign a Contract

Another obvious (but oh, so overlooked!) fact. Informal agreements may look nicer, but are way less legally binding and can lead to all sorts of trouble. When someone says that you don’t need a contract, or straight out refuses to sign one, you might want to avoid them. A contract guarantees both parties, and anyone who gets outraged because someone on the other side of an ocean “doesn’t trust them” isn’t probably the kind of person you want to do business with.

 

Remember that no list is all-encompassing, and that scammers find new ways to rob people of their money almost every day. This post is just a way to give you some advice, but is by no means a complete guide. If you know other telltale signs, or you want to share your experience, leave a comment to this post or send me a mail.

 

The Translation Diaries, Episode 1: You Can’t Conceal Your Gender

07 Tuesday Oct 2014

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Your character comes home for the holidays. Pressed by parents and siblings to tell them about her time at college, she finally admits that yes, she has met someone – the special kind of “someone”. She gets pestered even more until she confesses that her significant other works as a cook in a pretty little restaurant close to her faculty. They are kind, funny, generous, proud – everything both your character and her family admire the most. Your character’s parents also like the fact that he works hard to support himself and pay for his studies; they are open-minded about their upper-class girl dating a working-class guy (he works in a fashionable business, at least). It helps that she described her lover as a good Catholic and a patriot.

Five chapters later, your character’s parents make her a surprise visit and tell her they are very eager to meet her boyfriend. She blushes and flushes, tells them that people in the food industry work very antisocial hours, but finally agrees to introduce her lover to them on the cook’s day off. When that day comes, your character’s parents meet a girl with beautiful green eyes and honey hair, who introduces herself as your character’s girlfriend.

Of course they don’t approve. Where would the conflict be if they did?

Now, if you’re writing in English, you can pull this off with relative ease. Keep using gender-neutral words such as “they” and “person”, never once let a gendered pronoun escape your main character’s mouth, and you will be on the right track. It’s not easy to deceive your readers this way without your writing sounding unnatural, but it’s doable.

When I translate your novel into Italian, however, things get a little bit trickier.

Italian is a gendered language, meaning that we have different words for a male cook and a female cook (those would be cuoco and cuoca, respectively). Pronouns, too, are gendered, so I can’t simply use “chef” instead – I would still have to specify if it’s uno chef (male) or una chef (female). This rule would require me to reveal the gender of your character’s lover the first time she’s mentioned, with foreseeable consequences.

Can I still translate your book without ruining your Big Reveal? Of course I can. I will have to toil, sweat and curse (we Italians are pretty good at that), but I will find a way. I might have to retool a couple lines of dialogue, perhaps even alter some paragraphs – the horror! the horror! – but I will present you with something fluent to read and faithful to your intent (i.e. your character doesn’t mention the cook’s gender, but neither does she lie openly).  Don’t bother about my chances to get into Heaven; a good translation of your work is everything that counts.

That’s the beauty of translation: it gives you creative challenges at every chapter, every page – sometimes every line. It’s by no means a mechanical or repetitive task. I love it because it keeps my mind awake and allows me to do a little bit of magic every day. It also lets me read amazing novels as part of my job, which is nice.

Do you have a novel with mysteriously gendered characters, romantic drama and/or a terrific plot? Jump to this page to see how I can help you reach new readers, and contact me for information and business proposals.