tailieunhanh - Ebook Issues Related To Translation: Part 1

Ebook Issues Related To Translation: Part 1 presents the following issues related to translation chapter 1, the business of translating, thoughts for the future, what every novice translator shouldnt know, what makes a translator ?, polishing of translation style, myths about translation and translators; chapter 2 issues related to interpretation, interpreting, the interpreter, what does an interpreter by working with simultaneous interpreters ?, strategies for new interpreters. | 1 Chapter 1 ISSUES RELATED TO TRANSLATION Unit 1 The Business of Translating I. The Inevitable Introduction Translation is a service business not an industry or commerce. The basic difference between industry commerce and services lies in inventories. Industrial establishments keep at least two kinds of inventory raw materials and finished goods. Commercial establishments keep only finished goods inventories. Service establishments however keep no inventories. An example will make this clear a paint factory will keep inventories of raw materials pigments thinners binding agents and finished goods paint a hardware store will keep only inventories of finished goods paint . A painter service provider will keep neither. Painters may keep inventories brushes for instance but those are not for sale. What a painter sells is painting services and services cannot be stacked in shelves because they are intangible. Now every product tangible or intangible can be compared with another product based on three parameters delivery time quality and price. Buying decisions are based on tradeoffs among those three parameters Product A is very good but too expensive. Product B is good and reasonably priced but unfortunately they don t carry that brand at your local store and you do not have the time to look for it elsewhere. So you settle for Product C which in your opinion offers the best balance of the three parameters at the time. How does all that affect our business II. Time and Tension Because we carry no inventories clients who call us for a translation know they will find none. They also know they will find no Product B that will somehow meet their needs. Finally they know that calling another translator will not help much because nobody will have their translation ready for them. So they press for immediate service. Many translators complain that jobs go to the lowest bidder but my experience is that the majority goes to lowest bidder among those who offer the fastest .