Translation Issues 4-97 (December 1997) by Annegret Zimmermann

I work with a small team of scientists, specializing in technical documentation and translation. In the following text I will look from a different angle on the work of a technical translator. This paper is trying to answer the following questions:

1. Must a technical translator understand what he or she is translating?
2. Must a technical translator translate as faithfully as possible from the original, or is it sufficient if he/she simply translates the information?
3. If the answer to the first question is "Yes", and the answer to the second question is "Translate the information", what does the client gain from such translations?

 

The Classic View Point

I am a chemist and in 1992 I got by chance into the business of technical translation. Five years later, I still earn my living in technical documentation. I work freelance and mostly write German versions of English manuals (paper and online) for equipment and software used in chemical laboratories.

But still -- after 5 years -- I am astonished at the big gap between writers of technical documentation and their translators.

Technical writers tend to look on (or sometimes even look down on) translators as a sort of text processor (admittedly in human form); a person who moves text from one language to another.

I don’t think this is an adequate view of the technical translator’s job. The first and biggest mistake is thinking that you can translate a text without understanding it. Believe me, you can translate a text correctly only if you understand it and know the context; if you don’t, the result not only may be funny but also may be grossly incorrect. (We all know the word-by-word translations of documentation for certain low-cost digital clocks and similar products).

The second mistake -- or misunderstanding -- is that technical translations must be as faithful as possible to the original. This, I agree, must be the main goal when literary texts, business letters or contracts are translated -- nobody wants to read the translator’s version of the latest bestseller by Ken Follett, or of a business contract.

The main goal of technical translation must be that the translated text contains the same information as the original, but adapted to the new language. To achieve this includes rather more than translating.

 

A Different Approach

Let me start by describing my work: Being in the happy situation of working for clients who do not regard their translators as human word processors, for me translation of technical documentation includes

• complete understanding of the text (sometimes this is not as trivial as it sounds; it can include intensive research).
• some terminology work (i.e. accumulating the correct German vocabulary).
• checking the original text for inconsistencies, errors, etc (and of course informing the client so that the original might be corrected).
• adapting the safety information for local regulations.
• adapting the documentation to the German target group. (The training of laboratory personnel [my target group] differs quite distinctly even between the UK and Germany, both members of the EU. This includes adding or removing text. Of course, any changes are discussed with the client.)
• if necessary, adding update information.
• writing the German version in easy-to-understand German (or, put it like this: by using controlled language).
• adapting the layout to the default German version used by the client.

If you define the translator’s task in such a way you need someone who does not only know the language but understands what it’s all about -- in short: you need an expert with sufficient language knowledge more than a translator with excellent language knowledge and usually little technical knowledge. (That’s the way I got into this business).

But what does the client gain if translations are made in this way?

• First, and most important of all: the client gets better documentation product in the target language.
• Second, there are a lot of by-products which can be used to improve the original version of the documentation. For instance, the translator can be used as a tester of the manual, by continually checking for inconsistencies, errors, bad writing. In this way, the translator acts as a sort of quality control.

 

Resume

Do you agree with the hypothesis that a technical translator also should be a technical communicator? How do YOU make your translations? I would like to hear your opinions!  

"transline Deutschland - Übersetzungsdienst für technische Übersetzung"