Translation as a Profession (Benjamins Translation Library)

Chapter 4. The translating profession 107The extent and nature of the tasks carried out by operators prior to and followingthe transfer phase, i.e. before and after the translator actually does the translating,vary according to the work environment and to the human, material, softwareand financial resources available. However organised, the system always aims toimprove productivity and, to a lesser extent, quality – once again because operatorscome in at maximum capacity and where they perform best. In fact, translatorassistance along those lines is generally designed to optimise human resourcesso that translators need not waste time on painstaking and sometimes fruitlessnegotiation and research: the productivity gains achieved by freeing the translatorfrom all the pre-translation tasks can be quite considerable. Being a reunion ofdiverse, but complementary, skills, it may also contribute to opening up newmarkets for services requiring more than ‘just translating’, particularly in the areaof multimedia product translation or localisation. At the same time, it may beput to use to force translators to comply with strict specifications by inserting therequired terms, phrases, and segments into the source material prior to translationor to restrict their access to language or information resources – as is the case,for example, with proprietary knowledge bases or terminology bases which, forconfidentiality reasons, the translator cannot be allowed to access.Teamwork is usually organised around a system of ‘pre-processed’ or ‘prepared’translations.A pre-processed or prepared translation is one where the answers to mostof the questions the translator might ask are provided along with indicationsand advice that will help speed up the translating proper. The translator will beprovided with:– notes explaining the main concepts in the document,– the terminology needed for the translation (either in the shape of a glossary oralready inserted in the source material),– the critical phraseology to be used in the translation,– the translation memory segments to be used in the translation,– the name and telephone number or e-mail address of a reference person whowill be able to answer any technical questions or terminology queries.In some cases, the translator will receive a version of the source material alreadyincorporating all the necessary terminology, phraseology, and pre-translated segments.The necessary documentation is fed by some less qualified operator.‘Pure’ translation is often carried out from a ‘support version’. This is eithera digital version incorporating the terminology and anything pre-translated (asabove), or a paper version with the pre-translated or pre-processed items added.Support versions also include various markings that indicate what the translatoris expected to do and where: i.e. cut or remove, adapt, reformat, leave as it is,etc. The use of support versions has become widespread with the development of