翻译质量差的三个(令人惊讶的)原因
This post was originally published on 内容规则. It is reposted with permission.
通常, 当有人告诉你你的翻译很差的时候, the first tendency is to blame the translators. Blaming the people doing the work might make sense. 然而, in my experience, 翻译不佳的原因往往是翻译人员没有尽力翻译内容. The problem lies every place else.
以下是翻译质量差的三个原因:
- Your source content is poor.
- Your workflow isn’t working.
- Your translation memories are a mess.
Poor Quality 翻译s Reason 1: Source Content
经常, when a translation is of poor quality, 您只需要查看源内容本身就可以了. 源内容有很多地方可能是错误的. My examples are for English source content, 但是您可以在其他源语言中发现类似的问题. 以下是我经常遇到的一些英语问题:
Long Sentences
你知道永利登录网址谈了多久了吗 the scourge of the long sentence? Gosh, it’s been years. 然而,, time and again, 我仍然发现源内容充斥着30个句子, 40, 50, and even 95 words. Yes, 95 words is my new all-time high. And I wish I was joking, but I’m not. 英语中的长句子很难理解. They become impossible to translate.
Let me state it again – with feeling…
Your sentences should contain fewer than 26 words.
Grammar Errors
如果源内容中有语法和风格错误, translating that content can be a real challenge. Do everyone a favor and keep those (short) sentences grammatically correct.
语气
永利登录网址与客户的内容对话变得非常亲密. 一个友好的语气往往是语法不正确的,通常充满俗语. When we create content in this way, we often use sentence fragments, 造词, and all sorts of punctuation. Very friendly may be your brand’s tone of voice. 但是,请记住,亲密不一定是翻译的.
Poor Quality 翻译s Reason 2: Workflow Issues
在内容生命周期中,有许多地方会导致工作流失败. 有时候,问题出现在内容创作者和本地化团队之间的交接过程中. Even more often, the problem is in the 本地化团队和翻译人员之间的交接.
我曾经与一位客户合作,他不断向翻译人员发送新的和修改过的内容,直到, 并包括, 翻译本应该归还的那一天. At this company, “冻结”内容的概念和他们使用的语言一样陌生. 似乎每天都有新的和修改过的内容被转发给翻译. 每天都有一些翻译危机. 不奇怪! 这位客户想听听我关于更换翻译公司的建议. 显然,更换供应商并不能解决问题. 改变工作流程和对翻译人员不切实际的要求是必要的.
工作流的另一个问题是缺乏国内审查(ICR)。. 让我一直感到惊讶的是,有些公司并没有对每种语言进行审查. In some languages, 内容被简单地扔给公众,没有第二组训练有素的眼睛首先评估它. Don’t let this happen to you. If you are going to go through the time, 努力, and expense of translating your content, 你需要找个人——最好是一个以英语为母语的员工——来复习内容. 否则,您可能会遇到不准确或翻译不佳的内容.
“让我一直感到惊讶的是,有些公司并没有对每种语言进行审查. #xl8”]
Poor Quality 翻译s Reason 3: 翻译 Memories
I recently did a multilingual content quality evaluation for a customer. 作为评估的一部分,永利登录网址仔细研究了他们的 translation memories (TM). 永利登录网址的发现令人惊讶(但并不太令人惊讶):
- Multiple translations for the exact same segment.
- 同样的翻译,同样的片段,被列举了30多次.
- 换句话说,原文和译文不匹配, the source and target no longer lined up in the TM. 这导致错误的翻译与源段配对-对于大量的翻译单元.
从臃肿或损坏的tm中翻译内容即使不是不可能,也会使任务变得困难. 翻译的质量会受到影响,你的成本也会迅速上升. To keep your TMs in working order, 每次翻译完成后,应该有人清理tm. 如果这是不可能的,那么TMs应该在定时和一致的基础上进行清洗. 如果不是这样,TM很可能最终只能勉强使用. Sometimes, that is worse than not having a TM at all.
What About the Translators?
你翻译的问题有可能是译者的错. 在这个领域,有些人并不擅长他们的工作. 确实发生了. 然而, if you see a systemic issue with your translations, 例如, all or most of the translations are problematic, 我建议你不要去找做这件事的人. The problem could lie in what you provide, how you provide it, or the resources the translators have to do their job.
作者简介
瓦尔斯威舍 is the Founder and CEO of 内容规则, Inc. Val喜欢帮助公司解决复杂的内容问题. She is a well-known expert in content strategy, structured authoring, 全球内容, content development, and terminology management. Val believes content should be easy to read, cost-effective to create and translate, and efficient to manage. 她的客户包括谷歌、思科、Visa、脸谱网、罗氏和IBM等行业巨头. Her fourth book, 《永利最新网址》,” was published in 2021 by XML Press.
瓦尔是北德克萨斯大学技术通信项目顾问委员会成员. When not working with customers or students, 瓦尔正坐在缝纫机后面缝制她最新的被子. She also makes a mean hummus.
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