Some clients complained to me that they used to hire translators whose translated works were inconsistent in terms of quality. The first half might be fine, but the second half seemed to be somebody else’s work. Some said they felt they were cheated because the translated text was not much different from automatic translation produced online. Having asked the price they paid, I think I can figure out why.
Firstly, if the translation rate is very low, translators who are new to the industry tend to take up many projects to make ends meet. They took up tasks they knew they couldn’t accomplish, and at the 11th minute, they let online automatic translation do the work. In other words, they took the easy way out by submitting machine-translated work after some editing.
Secondly, the translator worked with another translator friend to take up a lot of projects and they split the work.
Thirdly, the translator became a manager assigning translation tasks. They took one-third or half of the translation fees, and hired language and linguistics majors in universities with the remaining fees. Having received translated texts from newbies, they pasted things together and submitted to clients.
In recent years I have improved my service to assist my clients. This means translation and copy-editing are equally important in my work.
For example, having translated a legal contract, I would print the translated text to pick my own mistakes with a pen. And I’d check and key in my correction page by page on the soft copy. If my clients are generous, I’d print the first-edited version to check if I overlooked typos or sentences of poor expression.
I am confident that with one to two times of correction on printed papers, my clients are able to directly use my translated and copy-edited work in business.
For those who wish to improve their contents and thus believe in the value of translation plus copy-editing, feel free to email me at keith@keithyeow.com
有些客戶曾跟我投訴，以前聘用過的譯者產出的譯文水準參差不齊，上半段可能還可以，下半段好像變作是另一個人翻譯。有的甚至說感覺自己被騙了，因為直觀就是那些譯文跟電腦翻譯沒有兩樣。後來問一下價格，我想我大概可以明白。
第一、如果翻譯的價格偏低，初入行的譯者必須接下很多案子才能生存，所以就算接不下來也會硬著頭皮接，後來走捷徑直接將客戶交代的內容直接丟入電腦軟體自動翻譯，機器出來的譯文修改一下就交稿。
第二、譯者跟另一個譯者朋友搭檔，一起接下多個案子，一人寫一半。
第三、譯者充當發譯稿的經理人，自己吃下三分之一或一半的譯費，以更低的譯費聘用大專院校語文學系的學生幫忙翻譯，收到譯稿就東拼西湊當作完整譯稿交出去。
為了協助客戶，我在近年已經著力於加強服務，也就是翻譯與審稿同等重視。如果一份稿件例如法律合同譯完之後，我將譯文列印出來，自己用筆挑出毛病，之後再一頁頁對照電腦螢幕修改譯文。若客戶慷慨，我會將一校的譯文列印出來，再檢查一次看看有沒有查漏的錯字或表達不順的句子。
我有信心，經過一次或兩次紙本審稿，客戶拿到文件是可以直接派上用場的。有心加強內容水準而且相信譯審價值的朋友，可來信詢問：keith@keithyeow.com
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