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Poll: Which aspect of translation/interpretation do you find most challenging?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Sep 9, 2024

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Which aspect of translation/interpretation do you find most challenging?".

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Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 21:06
French to English
. Sep 9, 2024

Managing client expectations is always the biggest challenge for me, because the client seems to expect my text to resemble theirs very closely. If they use the word "intelligent" they expect me to use it too, only I might put "smart" or "clever" depending on the context. They all think they speak English, only they don't speak well enough to write like the literate native speaker that I am.

This was clear to me right from my first week working at the agency, when a client called t... See more
Managing client expectations is always the biggest challenge for me, because the client seems to expect my text to resemble theirs very closely. If they use the word "intelligent" they expect me to use it too, only I might put "smart" or "clever" depending on the context. They all think they speak English, only they don't speak well enough to write like the literate native speaker that I am.

This was clear to me right from my first week working at the agency, when a client called to ask why I put "We did" rather than "We have done" when she had written "Nous avons fait" in French.

Having recently burned out as an English teacher in despair at the fact that the French don't seem to have the necessary DNA to understand the difference between these two tenses in English, I just sighed and told her this was why only native speakers could translate properly and that i had spent fifteen years trying to explain this point to French people without any success, and it *wasn't* because I was a bad teacher.
Nowadays I just say, I'm a professional, you need to trust me that I'm right, just like you trust your lawyer and your plumber. ▲ Collapse


Elaine Ruby
Ian Keith Jones Williams
writeaway
Siobhán Fulton
Laura Kingdon
Liena V.
Michele Fauble
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 21:06
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Other: finding the right term in the given context. Sep 9, 2024

Which is not the same as "Understanding complex terminology". In the age of the internet virtually every necessary explanation is only a few clicks away, so I don't really consider that as challenging. The same goes for the other options being proposed.
 
Josephine Cassar
Josephine Cassar  Identity Verified
Malta
Local time: 21:06
Member (2012)
English to Maltese
+ ...
Other... Sep 9, 2024

For me, if I had to choose just one, it would be whether the way I understood the source text or part of it is really what it means. I often have to ask the agency/client about this to make sure but sometimes the client doesn't answer or answers in a way that I'm sure wasn't what the source text meant which sometimes makes it worse.
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 20:06
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Sep 9, 2024

They are all part of a freelancer’s life. If I have to name one, I’d risk saying “acquiring new technical skills”…
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 21:06
English to French
+ ...
Too much Sep 9, 2024

Translation: too much screen time

Interpretation: too much booth time
 
Abdul Gaznawi
Abdul Gaznawi
Local time: 23:36
Dari to Pashto (Pushto)
+ ...
The other side(s) not paying attention Sep 9, 2024

When you are trying to help the caller and their client but still both are not paying attention to your effort.
 
carolyao0827
carolyao0827
Australia
limited time / complex terminology Sep 10, 2024

Managing client expectations - some clients may pressure you to complete jobs perfectly.

Understanding complex terminology - need additional time to learn and find the best way to interpret the content within the time frame.
 


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Poll: Which aspect of translation/interpretation do you find most challenging?






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