- Consecutive translation (in terms of work organisation) means that several translators translate batches of the same job in successive time intervals. The 'batch in progress' is the one being translated; the 'upstream batch' the one prior to the batch in progress and the 'downstream batch' is the one that will be translated immediately after the reference batch. Batches may not be translated in the sequence of the original material but harmonisation is easier since a translator can (should) normally have access to all previously translated batches.
Multiple pass translation can be performed on digitized material. A translator translates everything he can translate without risk, error, or uncertainty. His translation is then passed on to a second, more experienced translator, who also translates everything he can translate without risk, error, or uncertainty and amends the initial translation when required - mostly to improve style and readability. The result of this second 'pass' is then taken up again by a third, even more experienced translator, who applies the same principles of (a) 100% accuracy and (b) amendment when required. Three successive passes guarantee optimum performance and quality, since the ultimate pass is made by a translator who has all the qualities required to be totally 'autonomous'. Strange as it may seem, the time taken for the three passes is always lower than the time it would take to achieve the same quality with a single translator except if that translator happens to be the most competent one. In fact, multiple pass translation is conducive to productivity gains in the sense that each translator works within the limits of his or her guaranteed competence. This way, each operator's competence is brought into play exactly when and where it is needed (i.e. where the previous operator, who is presumably less qualified, less efficient and therefore less costly, has left off). Multiple-pass translation thus maximises the cost/benefit ratio and overall efficiency.
3.3 Working alone vs. translating in a team
3.3.1 Working alone
The most familiar set up in the translation industry is when the salaried or freelance translator carries out the whole translation process single-handed. This means that the translator receives the material for translation, searches for relevant information on key concepts, processes the terminology, translates, proof-reads, revises, formats the document, delivers the translation, and stores the translated material in the appropriate files and archives. Incidentally, freelance translators will also in the meantime have to look for new contracts, make estimates, negotiate, send out invoices and chase after sums due...
3.3.2 Translating in a team (assisted translation)
Team work is now gradually becoming the norm in translation companies and is also becoming more widespread among freelance translator networks. It has become quite frequent in effect to hand over the pre- or post-transfer tasks to one or several specialist operators - and agencies have also started setting up teams for the high-volume high-tech jobs, even though in that case the team members may never see each other as they are distributed over the world.
The translator is therefore likely to work more and more frequently in an organisation where various tasks and functions will be allotted to different specialist operators (what opponents call 'assembly-line translation'). Typically (with all kinds of permutations and combinations) the team will include, for any one job:
- someone in charge of physically preparing the material (scanning, disassembling, separating text from code, securing code, converting code, extracting the terminology, extracting the graphics, etc.). That same person may subsequently re-assemble the material after translation and take care of all the back-ups and archiving, for instance;
- a terminologist-cum-phraseologist (in charge of dealing with all the terminology and language-related problems and, as the case may be, of retrieving and validating any applicable translation alignment or memory),
- a so-called pre-translator (who will input all the available items or resources into the material for translation),
- one or several information suppliers (who will supply the necessary technical or language-specific information),
- a keyboard operator, to type in dictated translations,
- one or several proof-readers and quality controllers and testers in charge of overall quality control,
- someone in charge of readying the material for delivery or publication - who will reassemble the material and format it ready for delivery.
The extent and nature of the tasks carried out by operators prior to and following the transfer phase, i.e. before and after the translator actually does the translating, vary according to the work environment and to the human, material, software and financial resources available. However organised, the system always aims to improve productivity and, to a lesser extent, quality - once again because operators come in at maximum capacity and where they perform best. In fact, translator assistance along those lines is generally designed to optimise human resources so that translators need not waste time on painstaking and sometimes fruitless negotiation and research: the productivity gains achieved by freeing the translator from all the pre-translation tasks can be quite considerable. Being a reunion of diverse, but complementary, skills, it may also contribute to opening up new markets for services requiring more than 'just translating', particularly in the area of multimedia product translation or localisation. At the same time, it may be put to use to force translators to comply with strict specifications by inserting the required terms, phrases, and segments into the source material prior to translation or to restrict their access to language or information resources - as is the case, for example, with proprietary knowledge bases or terminology bases which, for confidentiality reasons, the translator cannot be allowed to access.
Teamwork is usually organised around a system of 'pre-processed' or 'prepared' translations.
A pre-processed or prepared translation is one where the answers to most of the questions the translator might ask are provided along with indications and advice that will help speed up the translating proper. The translator will be provided with:
- notes explaining the main concepts in the document,
- the terminology needed for the translation (either in the shape of a glossary or already inserted in the source material),
- the critical phraseology to be used in the translation,
- the translation memory segments to be used in the translation,
- the name and telephone number or e-mail address of a reference person who will be able to answer any technical questions or terminology queries.
In some cases, the translator will receive a version of the source material already incorporating all the necessary terminology, phraseology, and pre-translated segments. The necessary documentation is fed by some less qualified operator.
'Pure' translation is often carried out from a 'support version'. This is either a digital version incorporating the terminology and anything pre-translated (as above), or a paper version with the pre-translated or pre-processed items added. Support versions also include various markings that indicate what the translator is expected to do and where: i.e. cut or remove, adapt, reformat, leave as it is, etc. The use of support versions has become widespread with the development of translation memory systems as these automatically provide the translator with the pre-translated segments, the terminology, and the phraseological matrices.
In a minor variant of 'pure translation' the experienced translator is deliberately spared all the time-consuming and somewhat complicated ancillary operations such as disassembly, message extraction, screen captures, layout, tagging, code freezing, etc. so that he can concentrate solely on the actual translating of the text parts.
3.3.3 Working in pairs
In some sectors of the translation industry (i.e. localisation and, to a lesser extent, media translation), translators often work hand in hand with at least one technical expert (often an IT specialist). The productivity gains stemming from this kind of collaborative effort, where each partner uses and builds on the material provided by the other, can be quite considerable. It obviously requires mutual trust and very close cooperation as the quality of the end-product depends on the interaction between the skills and competences of the translator on the one hand and the IT engineer on the other.
3.4 Being 'autonomous' vs. being 'revised'
Autonomy means no revision takes place. This, in turn, means that the translations are not checked, corrected, amended, improved or 'qualified' except, of course, by the translator himself.
3.4.1 The autonomous translator
The totally autonomous translator is someone whose translations do not need revising because they are invariably perfect. Most autonomous translators, though, do feel - and say - they do, or would, appreciate it if someone else made a quick check of all their translations. Autonomy is a matter of skill (positively) or cost (when there is no other choice because there is no money for revision).
3.4.2 The revised translator
Revision covers the whole range of operations required to achieve optimum quality in a translation which may originally be sub-standard, flawed, or otherwise not up to specifications or 'not compliant'.
A revised translator is one whose work needs to be improved and upgraded (brought up to standard) by a reviser. The reviser is by definition expected to be more competent than the translator, either because he has the technical expertise that the translator lacks, or because of greater experience and/or specific training. The reviser may either be called in by the translator himself, or imposed on the translator by the work provider. In the latter case, the revised translator has to learn to accept and cooperate with the reviser but translators - more especially the most professional among them - rarely resent having someone else at least proof-read their work.
3.5 PRAT vs. CAT
The PRAT or Pencil and Rubber-Assisted Translator is clearly on the way out, though there are still a few specimens at large. The Computer-Assisted Translator has taken over. Still, that species encompasses a wide variety of sub-species and groups depending on the quantity and complexity (and, of course, performances) of the equipment and software.
4. Partners
The translator's partners include:
- the work provider or her/his representative,
- the contractor's and the work provider's accounting and financial depart- ment(s),
- the author or designer of the source material,
- the project manager,
- information providers (including documentation managers),
- the terminologist and phraseologist (or the pre-translator),
- other translators working as part of the same team,
- the proof-reader or reviser or post-translator.
not to mention a host of support staff and technical experts, depending on the context and environment.
The translator may also need to be in contact with the tax and social security officials responsible for collecting the various taxes and contributions that she/he has to pay. The list is ample proof that the translator sitting in an ivory tower now belongs firmly in the past.
The work provider or contractor is the translator's main partner, both as regards the commercial aspects of the contract and, more importantly, as regards the quality of the work being undertaken. The work provider can help ensure maximum quality by deciding or accepting to:
- check the quality of the source material,
- make available to the translator any linguistic resource (terminology or phraseology) and technical documentation resources that may be of use in the translation,
- help the translator become familiar with the product(s) or the process(es) described in the source material, if this can help the translator gain a better understanding of the material to be translated,
- clearly specify applicable conditions and constraints,
- provide the translator with the appropriate software tools for the job - if need be,
- answer the translator's queries and provide access to the relevant informers,
- approve the finished translation.
The author or designer of the source material can and should provide the translator with all the information required regarding possible anomalies, unclear meaning or ambiguities which the translator may have noted. He is also the natural source of any technical information that might be required.
The project manager is the translator's interface with everyone else. He must provide the translator with the necessary job specifications and, if need be, forward to the work provider any queries that the translator may have about the work in hand.
The translator's informers are either those that the work provider (or contractor) has designated for the job, or those that the translator has contacted directly. They are vital in ensuring that the translator has access to all the information needed to ensure maximum quality. If the work provider has an in-house documentation service, this will obviously be the translator's first source of information.
The terminologist cum phraseologist can also be a vital partner for the translator, by supplying most of the necessary linguistic raw materials (terminology and phraseology and, increasingly, translation memories).
Other translators in the same team (or in the same network) are also, strictly speaking, partners, especially when working on the same project. This kind of teamwork obviously requires close co-operation on the part of all concerned, generally based on the principle that the team will put each person's 'fortes' to maximum profit.
Proof-readers or revisers (or post-translators) are essential complements to the translator, in the sense that translators and revisers are jointly responsible for the quality of the end product. The proof-reader will correct all blatant errors or mistakes and signal anything that seems not to meet all the necessary quality requirements. The reviser will actually carry out all necessary corrections and/or adaptations.
The technical experts may act as the translator's alter ego. This is particularly the case in companies involved in localisation and/or audiovisual translation (see above). Software localisation and, to a lesser extent, multimedia and audiovisual translation require the combined skills of the 'language expert' and the 'technical expert', (an IT engineer, a programmer, an infographics specialist, etc.) each carrying out specific, closely related tasks requiring very close co-operation and a high degree of mutual understanding.
5. Job profiles
5.1 Translator
Naturally enough, the basic job profile is that of the translator: someone who carries out all of the tasks that make up the provision of a translation to a client (work provider).
What is relatively new is that translators tend more and more to identify with a group on the basis of specialisation, to the point of setting up their own organisations or associations or, at least, forums. This is the case with financial translators, for instance.
The existing specialisms are still clearly identified professionally. Thus, media translators still are a category apart, including subtitlers/overtitlers - on the one hand - and dubbing authors - on the other hand.
Newcomers to the scene are the localisers, with the three clearly separate subgroups of:
- software localisers
- Web site localisers
- videogame localisers
5.2 Specialist operators
The various tasks that a freelance translator will normally carry out single- handed can become 'jobs' in their own right in certain professional environments. In services, companies or groups with significant multilingual communication requirements (particularly translation companies), this 'division of labour' may come about either because the company is large enough to allow its staff to specialise in certain types of tasks, or because circumstances make it impossible to complete contracts without streamlining the operation (as happens in the case of particularly large contracts or when time to market is of the essence).
Originally designed to enhance quality and/or to increase productivity, this kind of skills specialisation, has led to the emergence of new skills profiles and job definitions in those services and companies that:
- employ large numbers of translators, either as salaried staff, or as freelance sub-contractors,
- often translate by batches (with several translators working on different sections of the same document or on different related documents),
- make extensive use of computer-assisted translation, requiring access to large- scale terminology or phraseology resources and/or prior text processing to ensure that the texts do not include items or segments that the translation software will not be able to recognise and process,
- make extensive use of translation memories,
- use translation engines,
- are bent on optimising and enhancing translator productivity by reducing the effort spent on time-consuming and repetitive tasks,
- design, assemble and update terminology and phraseology resources to be shared by all those working on a same project,
- design and update huge translation memories, notably when these, too, are to be shared by all employees and/or subcontractors,
- insist on specific terminographic and phraseographic practices,
- insist on quality controls and want to make sure that all the relevant skills are available at the very moment they are needed.
Being designed first and foremost to enhance translation quality, the respective jobs of pre-translator, terminologist, phraseologist, editor, reviser, project manager, etc. must be held by people who are, or have themselves been, practising translators. Only translators can alleviate the tensions and conflicts which reluctant cooperation between the 'high-tech newcomers' and the 'old-fashioned translators' might cause. Old hands are likely to resent attempts to 'assist' them in their work or to 'revise' their production. They will tend to interpret the new set-up as a step towards depriving them of their autonomy and/or taking over part, if not all, of their jobs. As a matter of fact, specialisation is in effect all too easily associated with automation.
The new professional skills profiles (tantamount, in many cases, to job qualifications) are as follows:
5.2.1 Full-time pre-translator
The pre-translator fully processes the material to be translated before the translator actually begins work on the job along the lines set out in Chapter two. All translators do carry out pre-translation tasks, but the full-time pre-translator never goes beyond the pre-translation stage.
5.2.2 Information retriever and documentation manager
The information retriever and documentation manager carries out all the information search and management tasks related to all translations on hand along the lines set out in Chapter two.
When one person is specifically in charge of information retrieval and documentation management in a company or organisation, that person will also carry out general documentation management duties in relation with the company's or organisation's translation domains and customers.
5.2.3 Terminologist
Whenever the specialised function and job of terminologist exists that person will:
- create the translation memories and keep them up to date,
- compile the dictionaries used for the various ongoing translations,
- create and update the terminology resources used in the company or service,
- advise the translators on the best terminology to use, particularly when standard terms, local usage or neology are involved,
- facilitate access to the company's or service's terminology resources,
- update and extend the company's or service's terminology resources,
- answer any queries by translators on questions of terminology, e.g. new dictionaries available, terminology standards, language policy decisions, clients' comments, trouble-shooting, etc.
Two further aspects should be underlined: (a) the terminologist is generally also a 'phraseologist' and (b) the task of the terminologist is now recognised as a bona fide job within certain companies. There are also a small number of free-lance terminologists who either carry out work on behalf of a number of companies or organisations, compiling and managing their terminology resources (i.e. generally the company's or the organisation's in-house dictionary that is made available on CD-Rom or over the intranet), or create dictionaries for publication.
However, it must be stressed that 'pure' terminologists are few and far between. With a few exceptions, terminology-management skills are considered as one of the basic components of the translator's (or the multilingual multimedia engineer's) skills profile and the few practising 'full-time' terminologists are to be found in international organisations or in major translation companies.
5.2.4 Phraseologist
Whenever the specialised job of phraseologist exists, that person will:
- create the translation memories and keep them up to date,
- compile the phraseology used for the various ongoing translations,
- create and update the phraseology resources used in the company or service,
- advise the translators on the best phraseology to use, particularly when standard phrases and local usage are involved,
- facilitate access to the company's or service's phraseological resources,
- update and extend the company's or service's phraseological resources,
- answer any queries by translators on questions of phraseology, e.g. new directories available, phraseology standards, language policy decisions, clients' comments, trouble-shooting, etc.
At the present time, phraseologists remain weird and wonderful animals, but will probably come into their own in the near future as clients become more and more demanding when it comes to using the 'right' phraseology.
Incidentally, the phraseologist is the expert in controlled or simplified languages. Such languages are designed so that (1) a given term or phrase can only have one meaning and that a given concept can only have one name or designation and (2) a given phrase can only have one meaning and a given meaning can only be expressed as one phrase.
Both the terminologist and the phraseologist are in the business of'rationalis- ing' or simplifying language so that ambiguous meaning is reduced or eliminated altogether. 'Rationalised/Controlled French' and 'Simplified English' are two examples of these kinds of controlled language.
5.2.5 Pure translator
In a task-based organisation, the translator is the person who converts the material processed by the 'pre-translator' into the (translated) material that the 'post- translator' will proofread and revise. He thus also becomes a specialist operator in the same way as the terminologist.
5.2.6 Post-translator or post-editor
The post-translator is responsible for checking, proof-reading and revising work carried out by a human translator, while the post-editor works on material translated by some sort of machine translation engine. Many different job denominations and job definitions can be found in the profession but the job mainly consists in proofreading and revision (see below).
The tasks carried out by the post-translator and post-editor have now become a job in their own right, mostly because (a) automatic translation is coming back in force and, some would say, with a vengeance and (b) translation quality standards make it compulsory.
Post-translation and post-editing maybe distributed even more finely between various operators with corresponding jobs.
5.2.7 Proof-reader
The proof-reader's function is the same in the translation industry as in publishing, except that he works on translated material. Proof-readers are juniors who do the material checks and carry out what most often goes by the name of 'linguistic revision' aimed at linguistic correctness.
5.2.8 Reviser
The reviser is a highly skilled experienced translator whose job it is to upgrade the translated material to all applicable quality standards and requirements. Both he and the translator are jointly and severally responsible for the ultimate quality of the translation.
In practice, the job denominations of the 'proof-reader' and the 'reviser' (and even sometimes 'editor') are used indifferently to refer to any person involved in the post-translation quality control process. This is unfortunate, as it tends to blur the real differences in the respective levels of skills and experience required. Revisers (who often go by the name of'editors', differ from proof-readers in terms of competence and authority. They are expected to have the skills and experience that the translators do not yet possess and are therefore recruited from the ranks of the most experienced and most competent translators while, as we said, proofreading is generally a task for beginners.
There are now more and more full-time in-house revisers because of the emphasis on quality: revision can, precisely, provide that extra quality. At the same time, the emphasis put on revision by all translation quality standards is shaping up an environment with more and more professional freelance revisers coming from the ranks of the highly-skilled translators. The provision in the EN15038 European standard that all translations be revised reinforces the need for professional revisers or 'editors' of all breeds. It is to be hoped it will also enhance their status... and consideration.
To make the picture complete, one must add that there is also room for rewriters. A rewriter literally rewrites a translation either to bring it to required quality levels if it is hopeless or to create a (different) document with a different function and/or for a different audience.
5.2.9 Online QA operator
The on-line QA operator, or tester, must have all the required linguistic, technical, and cultural skills plus a real fault-finding ability. Translators more and more often do the testing after the translated material has been integrated onto its support medium. This is a quite sensible proposition: they have the required skills to test the various functionalities as anyone else would, and, on top of that, they have the more exclusive competences it takes to assess the quality of the embedded linguistic components. Such testing is called online testing or online QA (i.e. online quality assurance).
5.2.10 Editor/integrator
In a broad sense, 'editor' generally refers to the person who is responsible for page layout, illustrations, formatting, screen captures, message integration, code reassembly and any other task required in order to install the translated document on the support medium in the required format, ready for delivery or distribution. In fact, the editor-integrator is in charge of all the reassembly work plus the integration of the reassembled material onto to its medium.
5.2.11 Translator plus
At a time when there is a clear move towards increased operator specialisation as part the division of tasks within the global process of providing a translation service, a parallel (reverse) move towards dual competence and, one might say, dual jobs, is also becoming apparent.
This means translators combine their translation skills with another type of competence, especially where and when the workload does not justify employing a full-time translator (whether freelance or in-house), or when the job of 'translator' is not recognised as such within the company, or when the particular circumstances of the job so dictate. The translator may thus be translator-cum- information manager, or translator-cum-terminologist, translator-cum-technical writer or translator and interpreter.
The combination of translation with information management was (and still is) a way of creating a translation post where the company only recognised documentation research and management skills. Many in-house company translators have previously held jobs in information management or were originally attached to the documentation department.
In this same area, the 'watch translator' is responsible for collecting and translating information relating to a particular domain or subject which is of particular interest to the client. This job involves the skills of a research librarian and translator (and also, most of the time, of a Web master, since the watch translator is very often called upon to disseminate the information over an intranet or mailing list). The kind of information sought may be strategic, commercial, technological or other. The end-user usually needs to be kept up-to-date with latest developments in the specific field and to be able to use the information immediately. Watch translators will make use of standard search engines and RSS threads, but may also use customised systems for certain types of data watch for specific clients. Machine translation may also be used if the volume of information involved is too large to be processed rapidly by human translation.
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