proposta de traballo "common myths"

representación do proceso de interpretación
www.jess-dresden.de

tirado de Translation and Interpreting: Languages in Action (2009) European Commission, pp. 4-5

common myths …

… on translation:

“To translate, all you need is a good dictionary.” FALSE

Translation is a profession. If a good dictionary were enough, bad translations would not be so common. (Think of all those incomprehensible instruction manuals or amusing hotel notices!)

“Good translators don't need dictionaries or reference documents.  They just translate.” FALSE

Research is an essential part of translations Translators need to analyse and take a critical look at sources of information and terms in glossaries.

“My trilingual secretary can do all my translations.” FALSE

Even if someone can speak or write in a foreign language, they can't necessarily produce a good translation.

“If you have a good knowledge of two languages, you can translate any text from one of them into the other.” FALSE

Although a few people can work into more than one target language, as a rule translators specialise in one direction only. Passive and active command of a language are not the same. Furthermore, a literary translator is not necessarily able to translate a legal contract, while a translator of management textbooks is not the obvious choice for medical literature.

“Translators will soon be replaced by computers.” FALSE

Some machine translations are very good, but computers will never translate as well as humans because the nuances and subtlety of human language are still beyond the grasp of artificial intelligence. But the increasingly powerful computer applications on the market today are a great help to translators.

... on interpretation:

“Translation and interpreting are the same thing.” FALSE

Although translation and interpreting have a lot in common, they are separate professions requiring different skills and different types of training. You can be a good interpreter without being a good translator; and vice versa.

“To be an interpreter, you just need to know languages.” FALSE

Interpreting is a profession. If you want to interpret anything more challenging than routine conversations, you need to learn special techniques that cannot be improvised.

“I know Portuguese and Finnish, so I can interpret into those languages.” FALSE

You can only interpret into a language if you know it perfectly. Ideally it should be your mother tongue. Interpreters must react and process information quickly and put it clearly, eloquently and without too many ums and ahs.

“Any interpreter will do. I don't need a conference interpreter.” FALSE

Conference interpreter is the title used for interpreters who are university graduates and have been trained to a very high level. They don't only interpret at conferences. Not all interpreters have had this training.