A translation agency recently sent me a one-page (270 words) document, asking me to quote for “a re-write, not a straight translation”. I did my sums and sent off the quote, without thinking too much about it. The agency got back to me a couple of days later and gave me the go-ahead. Fine. But …
Tag archives: quality
Shake out your web site’s welcome mat
The best way to make your web site welcoming to visitors isn’t a big “Welcome” mat on the home page. The trick is to put yourself in your visitors’ shoes and make your site easy and enjoyable to use. Simplicity, ease of navigation and consistency are the key words here. I recently visited the Herald Scotland …
How to be a good client (2)
I wrote a couple of days ago about how to be a good client – and how to get the best out of your translator (or copywriter, web/graphic designer, editor – delete or add to as applicable). The other good-client practice, of course, is to pay promptly and unflinchingly. Bearing in mind that if my …
How to be a good client (1)
I’m currently translating a speech for a government speech-writer who’s a delight to work with. Here’s why. First, he gave us advance warning (of about 10 days) that he’d be working on a speech to be delivered in mid-April. He asked if we could be on stand-by over the Easter period to translate it. So …
Accessibility – why bother?
I’ve been focusing a lot this year on web design, content and usability. Mainly because I’ve been working on my new web site, with lots of help from the wonderful and infinitely patient Zoë Tucker of Rude Goose. I’ve also attended several usability workshops run by the Nielsen Norman Group (aka NN/g) – and if anything focuses …
Ideas worth translating (2): a web that speaks your language
More from the New York Times on Web translation projects (this time from Leslie Berlin, writing in the Business pages). Projects featured include Lingua, the Global Voices translation project; Google in your language; Meedan.net and TED. As a professional translator, I have mixed feelings about such projects. Not that I fear for my job: Machine …
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Oh, you saucy devil. Translators’ false friends
In my recent (9 May) post on “EU funding to delightful effect”, I used a word that – viewed from an Italian-to-English perspective – can trip up unwary translators. The word is “evocative”. Pretty harmless, you might think. One of the Italian words for “evocative” is “suggestivo”. A word that Italian-to-English translators working on auto-pilot …
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