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Poll: If you were a "generalist", which hard core niche (broad) would you choose? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:13
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Angie Garbarino wrote:
Jack of all trades was valid in the thread over number of pairs and not over number of subjects.
I don't agree wit the statement that translators better not have more than 1 or 2 language pairs, like I also don't agree with the statement that a translator can't handle (sufficiently good) several subjects a day or simply several subjects in general. I'm under the impression that people like to exaggerate in stating how complicated things are, while in reality they simply aren't.
It's all a matter of the right amount of concentration and dedication and a proper professional attitude, combined to what matters the most : linguistic skills.
(Yes, this is only my opinion )
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Liena Vijupe 
Latvia
Local time: 15:13
Member (2014)
French to Latvian
+ ...
Lieven Malaise wrote:
It's all a matter of the right amount of concentration and dedication and a proper professional attitude, combined to what matters the most : linguistic skills.
Professional attitude aside, just how do you decide what to work on? Do you really accept anything that is being offered and have no issue handling all the work? One of the reasons why I could drop entire languages and be very picky about subjects (while also raising my rates) was because I was having too much work already, so I'm really curious...
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Lieven Malaise wrote: I don't agree wit the statement that translators better not have more than 1 or 2 language pairs, like I also don't agree with the statement that a translator can't handle (sufficiently good) several subjects a day or simply several subjects in general. I'm under the impression that people like to exaggerate in stating how complicated things are, while in reality they simply aren't. It's all a matter of the right amount of concentration and dedication and a proper professional attitude, combined to what matters the most : linguistic skills. (Yes, this is only my opinion )
Ok this is also my opinion. I agree with the above, really.
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:13
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Liena Vijupe wrote:
Professional attitude aside, just how do you decide what to work on?
'First come, first served' is my principle. I accept most assignments even without looking at the text, unless I'm asked to translate spare part lists and the like. I can do that because I have only decent customers that virtually never offer me shitty jobs.
Liena Vijupe wrote:
Do you really accept anything that is being offered
I accept everything that is conventional translation, editing, post-editing and proofreading. I really don't care if it's about nuclear plants, baby toys, garden furniture, women's underwear, legal agreements, medical devices, clinical studies, surgical procedures, packaging machines or court cases.
Liena Vijupe wrote:
and have no issue handling all the work?
Why should I have issues with that? If my schedule is full I stop accepting assignments. And being a translator for almost 24 years I know pretty well how long a certain type of text will take me to translate or post-edit. I work with stats, you know. I measure every single hour or every two hours how much words I have translated to be able to predict how many more hours I will need.
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Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 05:13
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
+ ...
| Researching vs translating. | Mar 8 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
At the end of the day the most important asset of a translator are his linguistic skills, followed by his ability to search for and correctly analyze the information at hand, not his acquired knowledge about whatever topic (we have the internet for that).
That means more time spent researching and less time translating.
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Lieven Malaise wrote:
I don't agree wit the statement that translators better not have more than 1 or 2 language pairs, like I also don't agree with the statement that a translator can't handle (sufficiently good) several subjects a day or simply several subjects in general. I'm under the impression that people like to exaggerate in stating how complicated things are, while in reality they simply aren't.
It's all a matter of the right amount of concentration and dedication and a proper professional attitude, combined to what matters the most : linguistic skills.
But would you not agree that you would get more work done if you worked in fewer areas?
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Liena Vijupe
Latvia
Local time: 15:13
Member (2014)
French to Latvian
+ ...
| whatever works for you | Mar 8 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
Why should I have issues with that? If my schedule is full I stop accepting assignments.
So do I and everybody else, I believe. What I meant was having to reject work and spend time replying to e-mails when you're already busy while also trying not to let down best clients too often.
When I was getting more work than I could handle and had to reject work I would have loved to take (or just preferred to some other for any reason) it seemed inevitable to narrow it down somehow, but keep going however you like.
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a combination of medical and engineering (IT included)
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Gianni Pastore
Italy
Local time: 14:13
Member (2007)
English to Italian
Lieven Malaise wrote:
At the end of the day the most important asset of a translator are his linguistic skills, followed by his ability to search for and correctly analyze the information at hand, not his acquired knowledge about whatever topic (we have the internet for that).
I might be the best internet researcher in the world, that doesn't mean that I would be able to read between the lines of a complex text in a field I know nothing about it, at least in my case.
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Gianni Pastore wrote:
I might be the best internet researcher in the world, that doesn't mean that I would be able to read between the lines of a complex text in a field I know nothing about it, at least in my case.
Quite rarely, this approach might be good in business, political and social communication only. In most other cases, a good translator should exactly convey what's been said or written, especially all and every mistake or ambiguity at the source side. Only such job of delivering quality feed to the analysts can be considered as a professional one. It's up to the analysts to make special glossaries for specific cases (when specific persons communicate on specific matters in a specific situation, time, location). Well-motivated analyst will always provide such glossary to his/her translator.
If a Chinese/Indian/Arab/Slavic business writes in ""English"" a technical instruction/description addressed to his foreign counterpart, the latter should be aware of every detail of the subject under discussion.
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| I voted engineering | Mar 9 |
I already specialize in certain areas of engineering. If you go to KudoZ (in my pair), you'll see that lots of engineering-related questions only get answered by a very limited number of people: there aren't many translators who specialize in these things today, everyone prefers what service economy brings to the table. How do you talk about building things? Nobody cares anymore, and yet things have to be built, there's no way around this
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Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 05:13
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
+ ...
Angie Garbarino wrote: I wonder why Jack of all trades was valid in the thread over number of pairs and not over number of subjects. Strange thing
My thought exactly.
[Edited at 2024-03-09 18:42 GMT]
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:13
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Michele Fauble wrote:
That means more time spent researching and less time translating.
In the beginning, sure. After 20+ years? Not so much. Let there be no mistake: after all these years I consider myself specialized in every single translation field I translate regularly. But does that mean I'm an expert in the theory behind those fields? Not even close.
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:13
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Christopher Schröder wrote:
But would you not agree that you would get more work done if you worked in fewer areas?
Perhaps, but I like to put my eggs in as much baskets as possible. And the longer I'm active in this business the faster I'm becoming in translating even the hardest stuff.
[Bijgewerkt op 2024-03-10 11:52 GMT]
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:13
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Liena Vijupe wrote:
What I meant was having to reject work and spend time replying to e-mails when you're already busy while also trying not to let down best clients too often.
Time replying is no issue at all. I've made it a habit to reply instantly to every e-mail I get. It takes me seconds (I'm available / I'm not available). I work with about 15-20 returning clients on a year basis, so I don't get dozens of e-mails a day.
It might be tricky to let down your best clients, but choices have consequences. I've chosen to consequently accept the work from whoever comes first. I don't hesitate a second to "let down" my best clients even 4 times in a row if it must be. It is my experience that they always come back sooner or later and mostly sooner. I've told this before, but it's true: my clients are extremely loyal and I think they appreciate the fact that I inform them of my unavailability within minutes. Besides that I don't think it's bad that your clients feel that they don't own you in any way.
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