It would be Utopian in international standardisation.
Spurs from breaking into ring main
- Thread starter 10monty
- Start date
Sponsored Links
Fair enough.
However, you surprise me. I presume that those on committees related to international standardisation would be 'subject experts' in the field concerned and, more-or-less by definition would include people with a wide range of first languages and, in many cases, reasonable fluency in other languages (like English!) - so I would have thought that they would be somewhat like the 'best of all worlds' people I work with.
Maybe it's the payment issue you're talking about. I imagine that members of Standards Committees get little, if anything, more than 'expenses' (that was certainly the case in my fathers' day) - but I don't know if they would expect more meaningful payment for undertaking translations. If they did, then one can't help but think that, if the BSI (and the price of their publications) is in any way typical, there must be a good few pennies in their bank accounts!
Kind Regards, John
It is of no relevance how it has been done.
It is of no relevance how it has been funded.
It is clear from what people have been saying here that it has been done on an amateurish and insufficiently competent basis.
Please don't say that I am seeking some kind of utopia when what I am doing is advocating that things be done properly. And if that means that we need people who are both bi-lingual and SMEs then that is what we need.
It is of no relevance how it has been funded.
It is clear from what people have been saying here that it has been done on an amateurish and insufficiently competent basis.
Please don't say that I am seeking some kind of utopia when what I am doing is advocating that things be done properly. And if that means that we need people who are both bi-lingual and SMEs then that is what we need.
You still haven't clarified what you mean by "done properly".
As I've indicated, my personal view (and experience) is that the most accurate technical translation is often achieved (if that constitutes "done properly") not by a professional translator but, rather, when it is undertaken by someone with expert relevant subject knowledge, currently working in the relevant field, who happens to be fluent (including relevant technical language) in the two languages concerned.
Kind Regards, John
Sponsored Links
No, they are appointed as National Experts, from a variety of countries. They are usually fluent in English and their mother tongue, but need not speak or understand any other languages.
Yes, along with world peace, and an end to climate change...
Did you really mean SMEs?
I think you must have misunderstood me, since otherwise I can't understand your 'No' ....
I did not mean that individual committee members spoke 'a wide range of first languages' (not that they could - one can only have one 'first' language!). I meant that the members on an international committee would be 'international' experts, each with a first language ('mother tongue') and, in many/most cases, fluency in English. Since that seems to be exactly the same as you wrote, did you actually mean 'Yes'?
And do you not agree with me that an expert trained in their discipline of expertise in their mother country (and mother tongue), who is also fluent in English, is the ideal sort of person to translate material relating to their field of expertise from English into their mother tongue (or, slightly less ideal, from their mother tongue into English)??
Kind Regards, John
I did, sorry. Thought I'd changed it when I realised what you meant..
Not necessarily - translation is a particular skill, over and above fluency in both languages. I'd agree that the person you describe would be good at the final pass through the translation, to make sure it makes sense.
The national experts though usually have a 'day job', and many struggle to justify the time spent attending meetings, reviewing drafts, etc, and find it difficult to spend the time to perform translations. That is often done by staff of the National Standards Body, who might be good at the languages but not so good at the technical aspects.
I suppose that can be true to some extent, if one is concerned with precise correspondence of the words (as well as the meaning) of original and the translation.
That apart, at least in fields I work in, I think such a person is close to the ideal - and, in my experience, the quality of the 'back-translations' is at its greatest when both forward and backward translations have been undertaken by people such as I have described (rather than professional translators). Needless to say, the less technical/specialised the material, the better do the 'professional translations' become.
Yes, I've sort-of acknowledged that issue, when I was talking about remuneration.
Some companies I know who, when they can, adopt the approach I have described have told me that, when they 'got out their clipboards', they came to the conclusion that the approach tended to be beneficial in terms of utilisation of the man-hours (more commonly women-hours!) of salaried employees they were paying. In other words, they reckoned that more time was often spent by employed 'subject experts' (not necessarily the same one who might do the translation) in trying to sort out imperfect translations than would be spent by one of their experts doing the translation - particularly when they factored in the cost of the translator they had not had to pay for at least one of the stages of the process.
Kind Regards, John
Why do we need people who are bi-lingual and small-or-medium enterprises?
Indeed. I'm not even sure that a person can be an 'SME' - or does that go right down to a one-man (or one-woman!) enterprise?
Kind Regards, John
DIYnot Local
Staff member
If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.
Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.
Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local
Sponsored Links
