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Post by 🎄🌰🌰Yoosting on an open 🔥🎄 on Mar 26, 2018 14:14:53 GMT 9
A big part of my job (especially this time of year) consists of translating, or native-checking translations outsourced to translation companies.
However, we are getting so many translations from gyoshasan's lately, most of which are of really terrible quality, that it's becoming increasingly frustrating.
I can't count the number of times I wanted to slam my face on my desk reading another awkwardly phrased, grammatically wrong, and sometimes even completely mistranslated set of texts.
I know that governmental organizations have to justify their spendings, and that when choosing a company for a certain job they must have a clear justification for that choice, and that considering the lack of a good way to measure the quality of translations, the only real factor that organizations can base their decision on is PRICE. Which means the company which offers to take on the job for the lowest price gets the job, which also usually means the company with the lowest quality. In the end, that means that those poorly-translated documents, which in many cases might as well have been directly from the rear-end of Google Translate, end up on my desk, with the request to 'check if there's no big mistakes or anything like that', and I spend precious hours checking (in most cases completely rewriting) this ｃらｐ where it would've been easier for my to translate it from scratch.
I'm at a loss for ways how to explain to people at my shiyakusho that a badly translated pamphlet looks incredibly unprofessional and does more harm than good. They wouldn't accept a pamphlet with this bad quality text in Japanese. My division advises other departments to always include a native check in their translation jobs, but the message doesn't seem to come across, judging by all the bad translation jobs I have to rewrite. I'm also incredibly frustrated that these translation companies get away with sending in absolute ｃらｐ that doesn't pass for a decent translation by any standards and still have the gall to charge money for it.
Anyway, that was my rant for the day. I'm guessing a lot of you do native checks for translations, but do any of you have experience in dealing with the more structural side of the problem?
EDIT: I mean this in the sense of e.g. creating awareness in the workplace regarding translation and the importance of quality assurance, promoting a policy for translation job contracts, etc.
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Mar 26, 2018 14:23:02 GMT 9
I have experience with this in The Old Country, but not in Japan. The gist of the problem is the same everywhere, it seems: the IRAIRAISHA doesn't actually care if the end product is well done, as long as it's done. The most effective thing is to tell them that it's a waste of money and time, but I have not seen that be very effective.
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Post by 🎄🌰🌰Yoosting on an open 🔥🎄 on Mar 26, 2018 14:33:15 GMT 9
I have experience with this in The Old Country, but not in Japan. The gist of the problem is the same everywhere, it seems: the IRAIRAISHA doesn't actually care if the end product is well done, as long as it's done. The most effective thing is to tell them that it's a waste of money and time, but I have not seen that be very effective. That's interesting, I hadn't considered it from the perspective of other countries before. It just puzzles me that organizations like government bodies in Japan, usually so incredibly KOMAKAI when it comes to proper phrasing, can be so careless when it's text in another language. It comes across as if they're not taking non-Japanese speakers seriously. |
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kira
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 48 
CIR Experience: 3rd year
Location: Miyazaki
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Post by kira on Mar 26, 2018 15:35:12 GMT 9
I have faced the same problem previously where I was asked to check a really crap piece of translation for a guidebook about my city as a sports destination. What was even more appalling was that the translation was allegedly done by a university professor. I guess the only solution is to suck it up and rewrite the entire thing or close both eyes when checking and tell them that it's fine.
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Mar 26, 2018 15:54:28 GMT 9
I have faced the same problem previously where I was asked to check a really ｃらｐ piece of translation for a guidebook about my city as a sports destination. What was even more appalling was that the translation was allegedly done by a university professor. I guess the only solution is to suck it up and rewrite the entire thing or close both eyes when checking and tell them that it's fine. Hm, while I understand the feeling, I think that if the actual people who understand the language tell them bad English is fine, it won't help their apathy towards the quality of the product. |
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Post by 🎄🌰🌰Yoosting on an open 🔥🎄 on Mar 26, 2018 15:56:45 GMT 9
I have faced the same problem previously where I was asked to check a really ｃらｐ piece of translation for a guidebook about my city as a sports destination. What was even more appalling was that the translation was allegedly done by a university professor. I guess the only solution is to suck it up and rewrite the entire thing or close both eyes when checking and tell them that it's fine. The problem is that it's so frequent, and there's no sign of improvement in the situation. The last 'translation' I had the priviledge to native check was extremely awkwardly phrased, and a quick Google Translate check made it clear from the sentence structures that this literally was a Google Translate-product with some editing of proper nouns. I just hate the fact that these companies can actually make money with this kind of unprofessional garbage. |
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Mar 26, 2018 15:59:14 GMT 9
I guess you could always tell them that you will no longer edit any bad translations, but...
The troubles of being the only linguistic staff in an ocean of non linguists.
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kira
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 48
CIR Experience: 3rd year
Location: Miyazaki
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Post by kira on Mar 27, 2018 10:29:38 GMT 9
Hm, while I understand the feeling, I think that if the actual people who understand the language tell them bad English is fine, it won't help their apathy towards the quality of the product. Yeah that's why I usually end up correcting all the bad English. But I guess we can give them a head's up that it's extremely bad English but we are tied down with other work to rewrite the entire thing. Also, I think it's worth a shot to have the people in your department send out a notice in the 庁内供覧 system to put in a request for English translation to your department (aka ただで翻訳できるので、国際交流員を活用してください). We haven't had much luck with this for pamphlets that the tourism department publishes but other departments do ask me to help me with their translation as they don't have to use any of their yosan. |
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Post by 🎄🌰🌰Yoosting on an open 🔥🎄 on Mar 27, 2018 16:34:53 GMT 9
I've talked to my KACHO about it, because it was just running out of hand, and we're planning to send out a KACHO-MEIREI to all depts that in the case of a translation, they should include a native check in the contract at all times.
That being said, I just found out that the last horrid translation I got to check had a native-check in the contract, yet there's NO WAY IN HELL that was checked by a native speaker, which I'd say amounts to fraud.
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Post by 🎄🌰🌰Yoosting on an open 🔥🎄 on Mar 27, 2018 16:54:09 GMT 9
An illustration: "In addition, there are hospitals equipped with medical emergency helipad and is fully prepared to provide top class emergency aids at all times."
Call me crazy, but this does not come across as a sentence that was written/checked by a native speaker.
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Post by hohoEMIsen on Mar 27, 2018 16:57:34 GMT 9
An illustration: "In addition, there are hospitals equipped with medical emergency helipad and is fully prepared to provide top class emergency aids at all times." Call me crazy, but this does not come across as a sentence that was written/checked by a native speaker. This sounds like me when I'm tired after a day of translating though. I might give them the benefit of the doubt. |
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Post by 🎄🌰🌰Yoosting on an open 🔥🎄 on Mar 27, 2018 22:51:49 GMT 9
An illustration: "In addition, there are hospitals equipped with medical emergency helipad and is fully prepared to provide top class emergency aids at all times." Call me crazy, but this does not come across as a sentence that was written/checked by a native speaker. This sounds like me when I'm tired after a day of translating though. I might give them the benefit of the doubt. How about ""The canal" that opened the future was that of the future imagined by the pioneer and with the frontier spirit in mind, it had extended to this location of today."? |
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Post by hohoEMIsen on Mar 28, 2018 9:28:22 GMT 9
This sounds like me when I'm tired after a day of translating though. I might give them the benefit of the doubt. How about ""The canal" that opened the future was that of the future imagined by the pioneer and with the frontier spirit in mind, it had extended to this location of today."? I have no excuses for this one. Please feel free to whack them on the head or something. |
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kira
Straight outta Narita
Posts: 48
CIR Experience: 3rd year
Location: Miyazaki
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Post by kira on Mar 28, 2018 9:31:19 GMT 9
Yeah the first sentence was passable despite lacking coherency but the second sentence makes no sense at all.
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Post by hohoEMIsen on Mar 28, 2018 9:36:33 GMT 9
I'm guessing that it is somewhat along the lines of, the "canal" that helped bring about changes here was created by a designer who had the future in mind. This "canal" was the bridge between our past and present and will lead us into the future. Yada yada yada.
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Mar 28, 2018 10:11:42 GMT 9
I think even the first one isn't acceptable though, especially not if it was actually proofread. The difference between most CIRs and these companies is that CIRs are not actually translators most of the time, whereas the companies say they are (I imagine). It's really unprofessional.
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Post by frooperyfroop on Mar 29, 2018 9:49:08 GMT 9
I'm with Aya Raincoat on this one. It's one thing for an individual to make a mistake, but it's another for a company to send out the translation without fixing the mistake. Definitely very unprofessional when they're charging for their services. |
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Post by ❄icepath❄ on Apr 9, 2018 13:08:19 GMT 9
I only just realized this thread existed this morning, and sassoku have a miff regarding them...
So a few months ago I re-translated a whole signboard that I was supposed to proofread. This signboard is allegedly up now, allegedly with my translations on them.
A few months later (now), I discovered they did another piece of work, this time one of those pointing communication sheets for GAIKOKJINS in the three languages. The translations are simple enough that if they screw up it's seriously ridiculous, but a closer look at their work made me annoyed again.
Their work is so inconsistent! The font sizes are not the same, their words are not aligned, they're just slightly off... and yeah maybe I'm being nitpicky but kari nimo pro nandesukara you shouldn't be making this kind of mistakes. Not to mention their punctuation is super inconsistent, like the Japaneese has no full stops or question marks, yet the Chinese and English translations do, and the Korean translation is like... only one of the sentences have a full stop and the rest don't (not even a question mark for that question)? Like, excuse me I can do this so much better so why is my CO forking out extra money for this subpar work??
I'm so tempted to send in my resume to this gyosha and say, "look you guys have sucky translators and proofreaders. hire me. my CV doesn't look fantastic but it definitely looks better than the 'professional work' you've been handing up to your clients." Someone please stop me from being so zuuzuushii...
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Post by hohoEMIsen on Apr 9, 2018 13:39:58 GMT 9
I only just realized this thread existed this morning, and sassoku have a miff regarding them... So a few months ago I re-translated a whole signboard that I was supposed to proofread. This signboard is allegedly up now, allegedly with my translations on them. A few months later (now), I discovered they did another piece of work, this time one of those pointing communication sheets for GAIKOKJINS in the three languages. The translations are simple enough that if they screw up it's seriously ridiculous, but a closer look at their work made me annoyed again. Their work is so inconsistent! The font sizes are not the same, their words are not aligned, they're just slightly off... and yeah maybe I'm being nitpicky but kari nimo pro nandesukara you shouldn't be making this kind of mistakes. Not to mention their punctuation is super inconsistent, like the Japaneese has no full stops or question marks, yet the Chinese and English translations do, and the Korean translation is like... only one of the sentences have a full stop and the rest don't (not even a question mark for that question)? Like, excuse me I can do this so much better so why is my CO forking out extra money for this subpar work?? I'm so tempted to send in my resume to this gyosha and say, "look you guys have sucky translators and proofreaders. hire me. my CV doesn't look fantastic but it definitely looks better than the 'professional work' you've been handing up to your clients." Someone please stop me from being so zuuzuushii... This is actually an extremely great idea. Maybe you'll really get hired, who knows? Probably has a shitty pay tho. |
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Post by 🎄🌰🌰Yoosting on an open 🔥🎄 on Apr 9, 2018 15:43:18 GMT 9
A big problem seems to be the chain of ITAKU. The design-company commissions the translation part to a translation company, which probably then commissions some しtty freelance translators, and in the end no one takes responsibility for the low quality, because there's no quality-assurance benchmarks or people able to measure the quality, until it lands on our desk (if we're lucky, and it doesn't just get printed).
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Post by Aya Raincoat on Apr 9, 2018 15:51:03 GMT 9
I, for one, approve you anger and nitpicking!
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Post by しくchill on Aug 29, 2019 16:44:47 GMT 9
After this morning's fiasco where I was told I can only "spell check" (i.e. not change any wording or fix unintelligible sentences) a horrible gyoshasan translation because it was ordered by an external group and not my CO itself, I want to post here too about my adventures with gyoshasan up until this point.
Well, by adventures, I really just mean fixing 20ish pages of mangled copy for our city's official tourism site. That's not the fun part of this story - you all now how it goes. The twist is that the CIR in that department (not a native English speaker, thus why I did the corrections) had me attend a meeting with her kacho after I finished the corrections. The purpose of this meeting was to basically convey to the tourism department that the gyoshasan (and gyoshasan in general) did a shit job and wasted the city's time and money by pointing out how much the translation had to be changed to even be usable. I also might have been brutally honest and told them that I was embarrassed to share the site with my hulemdos and family until the corrected copy was uploaded.
It worked, and now they have their CIR write copy and have me edit everything. I don't mind the break from translating tax documents and whatnot. But the irony is that now I'm doing my best work for a department that I don't technically work for. My own department doesn't use gyoshasan a lot, but they do work with a lot of external groups (NPOs mostly) that provide their own horrible quality English translations. Unfortunately I'm usually told that it's impossible to change those, partly because it's usually flyers that have already been printed, and partly because my office doesn't want to risk being "rude" by providing a more accurate English translation for free, I guess?
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