In Australia and the United States, it’s very common to have someone from “the community” to check our translations.
But, who is “the community” we are referring to?
“The community” is composed of those people who left their countries and migrated to another country. Take for instance people from Spanish speaking countries that have migrated to Australia and live in communities as if they were living in their own countries. In many cases, they’ve learned Basic English skills which help them to communicate in everyday situations. They’ve spent 20 or 30 years in an English speaking country and, sometimes, they have not been in touch with the Spanish language for a long time.
And this is what happens:
Our clients (government agencies, health care centres, hospitals, etc.) commission a translation to a translator. The translator has been professionally trained to provide the best quality translation possible. The translator needs to keep up with the language on a daily basis and undergo training sessions to retain his/her skills and/or accreditation.
The client believes that by giving “the community” to check the translation they are doing a good job. In the end, the translator ends up doing a job twice or three times or spending a lot of time trying to explain to the client why “the community” is not correct. Sometimes, the client is not well versed in our language.
According to my experience, and some of my colleagues’ experience, we encounter 5 top mistakes “the community” makes:
- Grammar errors
- Spelling mistakes
- Calque from the English source
- Mistranslation or misunderstanding of the text
- Low register
In recent years, grammar rules and spelling have changed in the Spanish language. We, as translators, are aware of these changes because we participate in forums, training and other translators’ resources. However, “the community”, those who check our translations, are not aware of the changes and, in fact, we end up explaining why they are not correct.
Therefore, the client should trust the translator when doing his/her job. However, if the client really needs to have a second opinion, they should ask the translator to work with a proofreader instead. This is a normal practice which will be discussed in a different post.
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