Translation as a Profession (Benjamins Translation Library)

12 Translation as a ProfessionTranslations may also be categorized according to their end purpose orfunction (or end-use) with regard to a particular environment or activity as,for instance:– judicial translations (translated for use in, or in relation to, court proceedings),– medical translations (for use by physicians and healthcare professionals),– commercial translations (for use in a sales or marketing context),– editorial translations (any type of material designed for general publication),– marketing/advertising translations (translations for use in marketing/advertisingcampaigns or drives),Categories of translations can also be set up according to types of media requiringthe use of highly specific environments, tools and procedures. Relevantcategories are:– multimedia translation (translation of documents involving images, sound,text and code, e.g. Web sites and CD-ROMs),– audio-visual translation (subtitling, dubbing, voice over translation or translatedspeech that is heard with the original speaker’s voice in the background,over-titling),– localisation (the adaptation of Web sites, videogames, or software and documentation,i.e. on-line help, user documentation, user manuals, etc. to aspecific local linguistic and cultural environment).To complicate things still further, translations can also be categorized accordingto the kind of platform, equipment, software and procedures required or used,with four broad types known as (i) all-through human translation, (ii) translationmemory-assistedtranslation, (iii) computer-assisted human translation, and (iv)part or full automatic translation or machine translation.When referring to their work, translators use all the above categories but thosecategories intersect and overlap. The translation of the contents of a Web sitedescribing contagious diseases and including a self-diagnosis test managementsystem, could thus be described as multimedia (and maybe even multimodal)medical translation – or, most probably, as “localisation” – while the translationof DNA analysis results used in an extradition procedure could be defined aslegal-technical judicial translation.7. An overview of the translator’s jobThe activities involved in providing a translation service are organised into threephases: