28 April 201612 February 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Resources Galore and the Danger of Sweeping Generalisations

Library4 Among the scores of posts published on translation blogs every day, very few manage to reach out and grab my full attention as much as Kevin Fernandez’s on The Open Mic. Provocatively entitled Why I Don’t Use Bilingual Dictionaries and Why You Shouldn’t Either, I knew I wasn’t going to agree with the content before I even started reading it. And although he softens the initial impact of his title by assuring us that he isn’t actually advocating that “we should never use them”, the beast had already been unleashed, sending everyone scurrying off to defend their respective corners.

I can appreciate that excessive use of a bilingual dictionary as a prop without exploring whether its suggestions are appropriate for the context in question is not helpful. This is especially true if you are a language student trying to get to grips with the intricacies of a language. But giving impressionable young professional translators the idea that it is wrong to even use a bilingual dictionary for their work is counterproductive.

15 April 201627 April 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Why is it important to include revision courses in translation programmes?

Today’s guest post is by Nancy Matis and was first published on the sadly now-defunct blog of The Alexandria Library. It ties in nicely with a new theme on revisions on my blog, since I will be writing more about this topic in the near future. If you would like to write a guest post on the subject of revisions, proofreading or editing, please get in touch.

I’ve never been a brilliant translator myself. But I do think I’m quite good at revising others’ translations. This is probably because I started my career working as a language reviser.

10 April 201627 April 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

What I learned in March 2016

As I’m not the most tech-savvy of people, it usually takes me a while to pick up the basics, let alone the niceties, of any program. In March I finally learned a few more commands in DNS (Dragon NaturallySpeaking), specifically how to underline, put in italics and make bold. For example, in the previous sentence, if you want to put “specifically” in italics, you say “select specifically” followed by “italicise that”. If you want to underline it, you select it and then say “underline that” and (I’m sure you’ve got the idea by now) if you want it to be bold, you say “bold that”.

Made a mistake and want to reverse what you’ve done? Just select the word again and repeat the same commands. In other words, if specifically is already in italics and you say “select specifically, italicise that”, it will revert back to normal Roman type. I also tried this with “All caps that” (the command to capitalise a word or phrase you’ve previously selected), but unfortunately it didn’t work.

4 April 201615 April 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Master de traduction LISH, Université Paris 8

LISH Today’s guest post is by Émilie Barbier and it is part of the MA in Translation and Interpreting review series. If you have studied an MA in recent years and would like to share your experiences, I’d love to hear from you. You’ll find a complete list of all the guest posts and some general guidelines for writing for this blog here.

Introduction

The LISH Master (Lettres, Interfaces numériques & Sciences Humaines), originally called the T3L Master, was created in 2006 by a team of researchers and translators at the University of Paris 8. This two-year selective programme provides students with both academic knowledge and professional training, allowing them to choose between three majors: literary translation, legal translation and online media translation. Language combinations include English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic and Italian from or into French.

23 March 201627 April 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

What I learned in February 2016

In February I learned that LinkedIn lets you classify your connections using a feature called tagging. By using simple keywords, you can group people by where you met them, the language combination they translate, whether they interpret, live in your country, etc. I must admit I haven’t tried this yet, but it does sound quite useful.

If you’d like to find out more about how to get the most out of LinkedIn, please see my miniseries on the topic. I’ve written five parts so far and I still have at least two more to go. As with most things connected with my blog, my problem is not finding the ideas, but the time, especially as I’ve been spending a lot more it with my family recently.

18 March 201615 April 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

MA in Translation at Queen’s University Belfast

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Today’s guest post is by Kasia Pranke and it is part of the MA in Translation and Interpreting review series. If you have studied an MA in recent years and would like to share your experiences, then please get in touch. You’ll find a complete list of all the guest posts and some general guidelines here.

In 2015 I graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in Translation. With an MA in Linguistics from my home country and two thirds (at that time) of the Diploma in Translation under my belt, I was not an average intake. At that time I had been living in Belfast, Northern Ireland for a few years and with only a limited amount of continuing professional development for translators available locally, I followed the advice of some former QUB students and started attending open-to-everyone weekly seminars every Monday. I’m a lifelong learner at heart and delight in being able to listen to such speakers as Lawrence Venuti, Christiane Nord or Pilar Orero, and so I did not have to think for too long before deciding to undertake the full Masters course the following year.

11 March 201615 April 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

The Benefits of an MA in Translation

The benefits of an MA in Translation When I was teaching English in France after my undergraduate degree, I did some translation work for a university and consequently decided that I wanted to pursue a career in the field. The MA in translating and interpreting at the University of Salford* really appealed to me due to its practical nature.

In this post I will focus on the translation component of the MA and how it really paved the way for my career as a professional translator.

6 March 201629 March 2020 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Revision: a Can of Worms?

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When does a revision go too far?

When is a translation not a translation?

Revision is a very thorny subject, as I mentioned in my previous post on the topic. It can generate a lot of bad feeling if you think the changes made to your work were unnecessary and if the reviser’s opinion could mean you lose a client.

But what if the reviser screams “too literal” at every turn and changes the sentences so drastically they not only no longer resemble the original translation, but barely reflect the author’s ideas either?

1 March 201612 February 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

Bite-sized Tips No. 23: Spellings Part 18 – Disagreements with the Dragon

Red Dragon My apologies for taking so long to get around to writing another Bite-sized Tips post. This one has been on my to-do list for a while, as have many others. In fact I could quite happily spend my entire working life writing for my blog were it not for the need to earn a living!

Last time I looked at ten spellings that DNS gets right when I’m dictating. Today I’m focusing on ten that DNS does not get right according to the New Oxford Style Manual, which I base both my work and this series on. And if I can’t find what I’m looking for in the style manual, I turn to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

23 February 201612 February 2021 Nikki Graham - Tranix Translation & Proof-Editing Services

The Thorny Subject of Revisions

Receiving a translation back covered in tracked changes and comments is never a nice experience because it mainly signals that the client is unhappy with your work. A mistake is a mistake and has to be owned up to and corrected. It’s something you have to learn from to improve your skills and ensure you don’t repeat. And you have to hope that the consequences won’t be too serious and that you don’t lose the client as a result.

But when there are no errors and the red highlights differences in opinion between the translator and the reviser/editor, it’s a whole other ball game. The ensuing argument can turn into a battle between who is right and who is wrong. And although one may emerge the victor, as in table tennis, points can be won by either player along the way.