Benefits of Being a Translator

To make one translation as truer as possible to the original version, translator needs to have access to all the relevant resources for translation; to be precise: 1) ______. Moreover, discussions and researches into the topic that we are translating above is the most important strategy to professionalize our translated version.

Let me bring my personal example of being a freelance legal translator for the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. In March 2007, a senior researcher of the Asian Human Rights Commission, based in Hong Kong, assigned me to translate a book, 2)____________. This book was within the field of international law and human rights. To legally professionalize my work, I gathered all relevant international and national legal instruments in English versions and those that were already translated into Khmer (Cambodian vernacular). I even gathered the documents that were translated into Khmer by the UN Office of High Commissioner in Cambodia and those translated by the Senate. Furthermore, I even accessed the online documents,3)__________.

4)___________translated by different official institutions, I found the inconsistencies in using the words, phrases, paragraphs, legal terminology and other literary mistakes within the United Nations Cambodia Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Senate and the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia.5)____________, translator shall have the obligation to make the national legal document consistent. Not just translation related to laws, but just any field of translation. To me, translator shall officially report the inconsistencies to the institutions concerned, via the national press or online media, until you get the response for measures to rectify such the mistakes. Cambodia does not have some kind of “Translation Association” or 6)___________. The process would go faster, if all the translators in Cambodia have an institution, representing them.

The above argument has initiated another argument: “the benefit of being a translator.”

Personally, I think being a translator is like being paid to critically read the material. Why? As stipulated in the third paragraph, translator needs to access to different documents to critically (or comparatively) read the document that we are doing the translation on. In short, reading to translate means we are discussing with and criticizing the authors, which is the best reading skill I have learned.

Lay Vicheka is a Content Manager of Search Newspaper and Manager-General of Cambopedia Translation Co. Ltd.

 

While-reading activities

Fill in the text with options A-F, one of the options is extra.

a) …lengthened 117 pages b) Seeing these minor defects c) Since I very critically read different documents…… d) …posted on the senate’s and the national assembly’s websites e) Having seen such the inconsistent defects,… f) … any kind of such grouping yet… latest updated print dictionaries, computer-based dictionaries, as well as internet dictionaries

 

1. Read the text thoroughly and find adjectives which could match the definitions

ü closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand

ü upgraded

ü working for different companies at different times rather than being permanently employed by one company

ü controlled by or connected to another computer or to a network

ü not staying the same throughout; having self-contradictory elements

Post-reading activities

1. Do you agree with the author’s opinion about benefits of being a translator?

2. Make a list of other benefits of being a translator/interpreter? Discuss your ideas with the group mates.

3. What could be the benefits of being a freelance interpreter? What could be the drawbacks?

4. Read the text below and complete the table

 

	benefits	drawbacks
Freelance translator

 

Jobs in Translation

Freelance translators may work for a translation agency, an offline translation company, work directly with end clients or get translating jobs from any of the online marketplaces.

Companies with no online presence tend to get fewer translator jobs and offer relatively lower rates. On the other hand, while working as a freelancer for a translation agency you may get regular work and be independent as well. The problem is that these agencies take a large percentage of payment from the client, which lowers the earning of the freelancer who does the translator job.

Working with direct clients and finding any translation job from a marketplace assures relatively better earnings. But many service providers, especially the fresh entrants are not sure about what rates to charge. This leads them to make mistakes when quoting a price for translation jobs. Sometimes they suffer a loss by quoting a lower than standard rate for a translator job. Other times they may lose a client because of quoting a higher rate.

Most of the popular online marketplaces like Proz.com or translatorpub.com do not provide much help in this matter. In these sites, the service provider has to make his own bid and negotiate with clients. So the service provider has to develop an understanding of the standard rates by applying to each translator job. A translator needs to realize that the price of a translator job is influenced by a number of different parameters. These are the target and the source languages, the level of expertise needed and the time of the week, among others.

The average earnings of translation service providers range from less than 10 Euros to more than 100 Euros per hour. A major percentage of service providers earn between 10 to 30 Euros per hour. About 2% earn upwards of 40 Euros, and 1.2% earn more than 100 Euros per hour.

 

 

 

Read the card below. Take a minute to prepare a speech of 1.5-2 min. Tell a speech to your teacher keeping the structure of a speech. Mind your grammar and try to use grammar and vocabulary of upper-intermediate level.

2.