| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: How many typos do you consider acceptable in 1000 words? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
|
|---|
Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 06:48
French to English
Tom in London wrote:
Annoyingly, just yesterday I was re-reading a translation I did a few weeks ago (YOU SHOULD NEVER DO THIS) and found a typo.
I can't stop thinking about it- and why the client didn't pick it up. It was for a website, and is now live....groan...
If it's on a website, it can be corrected surely? It's not like in days of old when things were printed up and mailed to 20,000 people.
I have already emailed clients to let them know of errors, although they've mostly been errors introduced into titles by the layout guy who just types the titles quickly and only copies and pastes the stuff he can't be bothered to type.
I will admit to only doing this with clients whose websites I would like to reference to potential clients, because I don't ever check whether any other work is online even.
| | | | | False analogy | Jan 16, 2022 |
neilmac wrote:
(PS: The query in itself seems rather daft, sort of like asking a mechanic how many bolts they consider necessary to hold your vehicle together.)
[Edited at 2022-01-08 10:57 GMT]
I think this is a false analogy. If a mechanic performs substandard work, it may have serious consequences for the driver and passengers of a car. A translation with typos (or any other mistakes for that matter) will rarely have consequences for anyone.
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Consequences | Jan 17, 2022 |
Gerard Barry wrote:
A translation with typos (or any other mistakes for that matter) will rarely have consequences for anyone.
Legal? Medical? Boeing 737 MAX manual (if it actually gets translated)?
[Edited at 2022-01-17 13:44 GMT]
| | | |
Novian Cahyadi wrote: Gerard Barry wrote:
A translation with typos (or any other mistakes for that matter) will rarely have consequences for anyone. Legal? Medical? Boeing 737 MAX manual (if it actually gets translated)? [Edited at 2022-01-17 13:44 GMT]
It depends. Most translations are done for information purposes only and are not legally binding.
| | |
|
|
|
Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
Gerard Barry wrote:
It depends. Most translations are done for information purposes only and are not legally binding.
So I got curious and looked it up. As it turns out, aircraft manufacturers only provide the manuals in English, or at least that’s what Boeing does. It is up to the airlines if they want to translate them or not. Occasionally, some manuals which were not properly translated were spotted in the wild. Several professional pilots even found entertainment values of these… exceptionally questionable crosslinguistic renditions, yes.
Thankfully, the original English version usually complements the translated manual, and both are always present in a flight. If that was not the case, the manual would be written bilingually. You’re right, Gerald. I am not aware of any flight incident caused by a poorly-translated manual. And surely, the pilots themselves are more than skilled enough to handle emergency situations without relying too much on them.
Not that it’d make me any more comfortable when I have to take a flight, anyway. Not in the slightest.
[Edited at 2022-01-19 15:11 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:48
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:48
Serbian to English
+ ...
| Legally binding or not ... | Jan 20, 2022 |
Gerard Barry wrote: Novian Cahyadi wrote: Gerard Barry wrote:
A translation with typos (or any other mistakes for that matter) will rarely have consequences for anyone. Legal? Medical? Boeing 737 MAX manual (if it actually gets translated)? [Edited at 2022-01-17 13:44 GMT] It depends. Most translations are done for information purposes only and are not legally binding.
translations are more than "just words".
It is true that plenty of translations some of which are even supposed to be legally binding are done purely as an exercice in box ticking and will only ever be used as paperweight or will just collect digital dust.
But you can NEVER be sure in advance which one will be used in potentially dangerous situations.
I know of one case when on single translation error/typo nearly killed tens of people. Happened yeaaars before before the Internet, you won't find it on any website.
A factory hall was being assembled somewhere in Serbia. In the instructions manual for assembling the frame of the building there was lots of various bolts to be used. The bolts that were holding the two halves of the roof together were supposed to be ways stronger than any other bolt. The translator made a mistake and put instead the specs for other "ordinary bolts".
Nothing happened. The roof was holding together. They continued the work inside the factory hall.
Until these bolts snapped and the whole roof went crushing down on newly installed machinery.
Luckily in the middle of the night.
Now imagine you are the translator and the bolts had the bad grace to snap in the middle of the morning shift?
Translations are just words, right?
[Edited at 2022-01-20 00:52 GMT]
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 06:48
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Gerard Barry wrote: neilmac wrote:
(PS: The query in itself seems rather daft, sort of like asking a mechanic how many bolts they consider necessary to hold your vehicle together.)
[Edited at 2022-01-08 10:57 GMT] I think this is a false analogy. If a mechanic performs substandard work, it may have serious consequences for the driver and passengers of a car. A translation with typos (or any other mistakes for that matter) will rarely have consequences for anyone.
Are you aware translations are not always addressed at professionals?
A simple example, hair color used at home. Many people do that, imagine a beginner who relies fully on a how to guide tucked in the packaging. Or ingredient allergies, people read labels, how about a mistranslated ingredient? An uninformed consumer/user can’t use logic there, they just read it line by line.
And now an example from real life. A direct client told me a translator messed translation on their website instructing users to act the wrong way (resulting from mistranslation), which they did, and consequently the client lost money. It affected their business, profit and reputation. The error was such that the users could not know it was an error, they simply followed the steps asked.
| | |
|
|
|
Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
Tom in London wrote:
Unless you actually leave out the crucial information so that it isn't in the manual at all - leaving pilots to search for something that isn't there.
The translator can't be held liable if the source text didn't include that information to begin with. Even if the manual was typo-free, I don't see how it could help preventing those fatal accidents from happening.
[Edited at 2022-01-20 16:14 GMT]
| | | | | My own experience | Jan 20, 2022 |
Novian Cahyadi wrote: Gerard Barry wrote:
It depends. Most translations are done for information purposes only and are not legally binding. So I got curious and looked it up. As it turns out, aircraft manufacturers only provide the manuals in English, or at least that’s what Boeing does. It is up to the airlines if they want to translate them or not. Occasionally, some manuals which were not properly translated were spotted in the wild. Several professional pilots even found entertainment values of these… exceptionally questionable crosslinguistic renditions, yes. Thankfully, the original English version usually complements the translated manual, and both are always present in a flight. If that was not the case, the manual would be written bilingually. You’re right, Gerald. I am not aware of any flight incident caused by a poorly-translated manual. And surely, the pilots themselves are more than skilled enough to handle emergency situations without relying too much on them. Not that it’d make me any more comfortable when I have to take a flight, anyway. Not in the slightest. [Edited at 2022-01-19 15:11 GMT]
That's interesting. I suppose I'm only speaking from my own experience. My last two jobs as an inhouse translator involved translating legal and financial texts. In both cases, the translations were - thankfully - only for informational purposes. I don't think I'd ever agree to do a translation that would be legally binding. Between the complexity of the source texts and the fact that source texts are themselves often poorly written and/or full of ambiguities, I just wouldn't want to take on that level of responsibility.
| | | |
Anton Konashenok wrote:
None are acceptable, but some will creep in anyway despite the use of spell/grammar checkers. Were it not the case, we wouldn't need proofreaders. By the same token, some typos will remain after proofreading, just proportionally fewer.
I used to work as a magazine production editor. Every article would be proofread by four different people, and it still wasn't enough. Mistakes still got through occasionally. We can aim for perfection, and we can achieve it a lot of the time, but not always. I have just edited a typo in this post, for example. Let's hope there aren't any more.
[Edited at 2022-01-24 09:38 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-01-24 09:39 GMT]
| | | | S_G_C
Romania
Local time: 07:48
English to Romanian
None. Regardless of the language.
| | |
|
|
|
Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 06:48
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| One is often unaware of typos | Jan 25, 2022 |
Ice Scream wrote:
As far as I am aware, I have never made a typo.
Everyone else seems to do it all the time. Odd that.
| | | | | The log etc in your own eye | Jan 26, 2022 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
One is often unaware of typos.
That’s my point. One is never aware of one’s own typos. But they’re there, guaranteed.
| | | | Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 00:48
German to English
| Run a second spell check after editing | Jan 26, 2022 |
Ice Scream wrote: Samuel Murray wrote:
One is often unaware of typos.
That’s my point. One is never aware of one’s own typos. But they’re there, guaranteed.
I learned early on to check the spelling again after editing my own or someone else's work. It doesn't take much time or effort but spares embarrassment.
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Poll: How many typos do you consider acceptable in 1000 words? | Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.
More info » |
| | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
