Professional Translation

El trabajo ocupa una gran parte de nuestra vida. Los sociólogos especializados en el estudio de las condiciones de vida y de trabajo de las personas a partir de los años ochenta del siglo XX, en los países altamente desarrollados, coinciden en que dedicamos al trabajo mucho más tiempo que antes, trabajamos de manera más intensa que en épocas anteriores, y la identificación con el contenido del trabajo que desempeñamos sigue ocupando el lugar central de nuestra existencia.

A principios del siglo XXI, la traducción es una actividad laboral de muchas personas. Dicha actividad se desarrolla, en gran parte, en forma de empleo en las empresas que ofrecen los servicios de traducción. Frente a la precariedad del empleo en la actualidad —sobre todo del empleo femenino y de los jóvenes— resulta imprescindible el estudio de las condiciones del empleo que se dan actualmente en el sector de los servicios de traducción, como primer paso para fortalecerlo. La tesis doctoral de Anna Kuznik, defendida en junio de 2010 en el Departament de Traducció i d’Interpretació de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, contribuye a conocer mejor las características de los puestos de trabajo de los traductores internos en las empresas de traducción de Barcelona y, por lo tanto, permite profundizar en el conocimiento de una realidad económica geográficamente situada y muy actual.

En dicha tesis se analiza y describe el contenido de los puestos de trabajo de los traductores internos. Las actividades desarrolladas por el personal traductor constituyen el principal foco de interés de la investigadora. ¿Qué significa realmente trabajar en el sector de servicios de traducción hoy en día? ¿Cómo se organiza el trabajo y qué piensan de ello las personas? ¿Qué actividades cubre el precio de cada trabajador en el sector de la traducción? ¿En concepto de qué concretamente paga el empleador cuando ingresa una retribución cada mes a la cuenta de su trabajador, traductor interno? Éstas son las principales preguntas que han motivado la investigación.

Tras una primera etapa de investigación empírica realizada en la región noroeste de Francia (Rennes, año 2007), la autora recoge los datos en el corazón de la ciudad de Barcelona (año 2009), concretamente en 10 empresas de tipo PYME que ofrecen los servicios de traducción. La investigadora entrevista a los directores; lleva a cabo 7 sesiones de observación de los traductores internos en situaciones reales de trabajo de 4 horas consecutivas y analiza los informes elaborados por los estudiantes que han realizado sus prácticas de traducción en las 10 empresas elegidas.

Los resultados indican que el trabajo en las empresas de traducción es una actividad colectiva, con características de la organización reflexiva y flexible. El contenido de los puestos de trabajo de los traductores internos resulta ser muy heterogéneo y complejo, lo que tiene sus consecuencias en la necesidad de personal polivalente. En la dimensión organizativa, la traducción como actividad específica, en la mayoría de los casos, se encuentra fuera de la empresa debido a las estrategias de externalización; pero permanece en las empresas de traducción en la dimensión individual del trabajo como un tipo de competencia específica y una concepción empresarial. Anna Kuznik concluye que sólo la consideración conjunta de ambas dimensiones (la organizativa y la individual) permite entender el sentido que tiene la traducción en las empresas de traducción hoy en día.

Mind the gap: Language Service Providers' views on the technological training of professional translators 1. Introduction Translation, like language, has been an intrinsically human skill that has enabled communication and transferral of messages across borders and among users of different languages over the centuries. Newmark (1991) wrote that thought, meaning and language are part of translation and for centuries the act of translation encompassed grosso modo the understanding of a given Source Text (ST) and the transferring of its messages into the Target Text (TT) respecting the style and nuances of the original. Before the current digital revolution, the translator's tools to produce professional translations were paper dictionaries, books, parallel texts and consultation to experts from specialised fields. Translation was back then a pen and paper affair embodying very personal, internalised skills with no input from machines apart from the type writer.

Translating socioeconomic texts poses a challenge for translator training since it encompasses a wide range of text types and competences to be developed. Its high degree of specialization makes the teaching and learning of the subject a challenge for both learners and teachers within the frame of the various curricula of university degrees in Spain.
This work deals with the curriculum design of a specialized module in socioeconomic translation within the Degree in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Malaga. From the overall educational context provided in the Degree, the description of a practical training specially oriented towards the professional practice is addressed.
Given the time constraints imposed by the curriculum, it is advisable to implement in the teaching and learning of this subject a professional approach for one main reason: the motivation of students is enhanced by a field of specialization that in principle is regarded as hostile in contents. With a proper contextualization of the translator training activities and an adequate gradation of their difficulties, the student places the translating task within the translation market towards which (s)he is finally addressed at later stages of the training.
Teaching suggestions are provided in this work so that they can be modified for their use in similar contexts.

The diverse approaches to translation quality in the industry can be grouped in two broad camps: top-down and bottom-up. The author has recently published a decade-long study of the language services (Quality in Professional Translation, Bloomsbury, 2013). Research for the study covered translation providers from individual freelance translators working at home, to largescale institutions including the European Union Directorate-General for Translation, commercial translation companies and divisions, and not-for-profit translation groups. Within the two broad ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ camps, a range of further sub-models was identified and catalogued (e.g. ‘minimalist’ or ‘experience-dependent’). The shared distinctive features of each sub-group were described, with a particular focus on their use of technologies.
These different approaches have significant implications for, first, the integration of industry standards on quality, and, second, the efficient harnessing of technology throughout the translation workflow.
This contribution explains the range of industry approaches to translation quality then asks how these map on to successful integration of standards, and features of the leading tools which are designed to support or enhance quality. Are standards and technologies inevitably experienced as an imposition by translators and others involved in the translation process? Significantly, no straightforward link was found between a ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’ approach to assessing or improving translation quality and effective use of tools or standards. Instead, positive practice was identified across a range of approaches.
The discussion outlines some painless ways these developments are being channelled to improve quality, or more frequently, to maintain it while meeting tighter deadlines. Some models existed beyond, or were partially integrated in, ‘professional’ translation (e.g. pro bono translators, and volunteer Open Source localizers).

Translation usually takes place at translators’ workplaces, yet much translation process research refers to data collected under controlled conditions such as the classroom or the lab. Pursuant with recent descriptions of translation as a situated activity comes the necessity of investigating that activity where and when it occurs. Many of the methods that have proved useful in the lab have also been applied in the field, and some of the challenges associated with investigating translation at the workplace are common to any kind of empirical translation research. However, certain workplace constraints present special challenges to everyone involved. Some solutions that were developed for a workplace study in Switzerland may prove useful in other investigations and might allow new questions to emerge in this developing field.

Francisco Ayala (Granada, 1906-Madrid, 2009), member of the Royal Academy of Spanish Language, sociologist, hispanist and renowned writer, was also a translator for many years, especially, at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, when he was forced into exile in Buenos Aires. As far as we know, little attention has been devoted from Translation Studies to his facet as a translator and theorist. As we will try to narrate in the following lines, Francisco Ayala earned a living from translation for many years and reflected about this activity in his Breve teoría de la traducción (1946; Brief Theory of Translation). Among other authors, he translated Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke from German, Almeida from Portuguese and Léon Bloy from French. In this paper, we will only be able to outline a part
of Ayala’s merits, since, in our opinion, his vast production, as a writer, translator and theorist constitutes a fabulous playground for researchers in our discipline.

In sociology, a profession is roughly defined as an occupation based on specialized training in order to provide skilled services for a certain financial reward and as such is a subset of occupations. An occupation has to have met a number of criteria to reach the status of a profession. The question of the study is whether translation in Iran is only an occupation or it fits the narrower and more prestigious classification of a profession. The study employs a framework, proposed and initially applied to the context of Canada by Godbout (2009), to determine the status of translation in Iran on a spectrum ranging from occupation on one extreme and profession on the other. Based on her framework which entails the most frequently discussed criteria of a profession in the literature on the sociology of occupation-profession, translation in Iran has been evaluated in terms of a number of aspects including a) translation as an academic discipline, b) authority to control access to the profession, c) criteria for admission to the profession, d) a code of ethics enforced by the profession, e) professional development, and f) recognition of the profession's authority by the public society. In the following additionally, translation in Iran in relation to Bourdieu's (1991) sociological concept of capital is discussed. Overall, against the background of the six attributes, it is concluded that while the professional status of translation in Iran is improving, currently in 2014, translation in Iran is a profession in waiting, or in Etzioni's (1969) words, a semi-profession.

translation educators discuss specialized translation, they seem to have trouble agreeing on what constitutes specialized translation and, more fundamentally, what is a special language (Scarpa, 2010). For some, it refers to the translation process; in other words, specialized translation is synonymous with professional translation. For others, the translation of any text that refers to a specialized subject is ipso facto specialized. Those tend to oppose specialized translation and general translation. Still others feel that only the translation of texts aimed at specialists should be considered specialized, opposing the translation of texts by and for specialists to texts by specialists for non-specialists. While this variety of opinions fuels academic debate, it also brings into focus the fact that specialized translation instructors often lack a connexions • international professional communication journal 2013, 1(1), 59–63 ISSN 2325-6044clear mandate. This lack of clarity is so...

This report (written in Swedish) on the authorization of professional (non-literary) translators was commissioned by Kammarkollegiet, the governmental agency responsible for authorizing (certifying) translators and interpreters in Sweden. Its main parts are: a. a short overview of the current professional translation situation in Sweden; b. a survey (based upon questionnaires answered by authorized translators, non-authorized translators, buyers of translations and translation agencies) on some aspects of professional translation in Sweden, and on the views of the respondent categories regarding the present model of translator authorization; c. an overview of some current theories and approaches to translator competence, translator certification and translation tests; d. suggestions regarding a future model for the Swedish translator authorization.

Online at: http://www.tonosdigital.es/ojs/index.php/tonos/article/view/1124
This work, supported on the trans-humanisation of translation framework, is aimed at providing qualitative data about the professional context of translation, and the interactions that take place among human and technological agents. For this purpose, an empirical research based on two focus group sessions was carried out and a total of five translation
professional participated. In these focus groups, it became apparent that participants used a wide range of tools –both generic and specialised– in the translation process. In contrast, in spite that participants appeared to be comfortably installed on the technological paradigm, they also reported many interactions with human agents, especially clients, project managers, colleagues and experts. The nature of these interactions with human and  technological agents was positive in general terms. Thus, for example, participants alluded to a number of tools (Internet, Wikipedia, corpus, forums, etc.) and some human agents (colleagues and experts) as allies when addressing translation difficulties. Our results seem to point to the  centrality of technology in the translation process, as well as to the social, cognitive and collaborative nature of translation today.
Available at: http://www.tonosdigital.es/ojs/index.php/tonos/article/view/1124

Translation quality has come to assume a fundamental role in professional translation projects with projects being increasingly complicated and deadlines being significantly shortened over the recent years. Delivering a foolproof translation is one of the foremost aims of translation companies. To this end, the project managers in translation companies attach utmost importance to quality assurance parameters to maintain their business. With this in mind, most of the professional companies benefit from translation technologies, the most famous of which are CAT (Computer-aided translation) tools, also called as Translators Workbench. With the basic functions of these tools including Translation Memory (TM) and Term Base (TB), translators and project managers strive to ensure that the translation product is consistent. Furthermore, these tools offer quality assurance controls and translators and project managers can check the translation product by means of these quality assurance parameters before submitting it to the customer or initiator. By the same token, the translation industry has itself quality standards including ISO 17100, EN 15038, LISA QA and SAE J2450 which are mostly referred to in professional translation settings. In this study, the translation quality assurance parameters in a CAT tool (e.g. Memsource) are compared with the metrics commonly used in the professional translation industry in terms of the error categories. The results of the comparison offer that Quality Assurance (QA) parameters in CAT tools are more limited compared to professional Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) metrics. Moreover, professional quality standards are more comprehensive while quality assurance parameters in CAT tools take mostly linguistic errors into consideration.

Nuestra comunicación versa sobre el cómo son vistos y percibidos los supervisores (tutores externos), y sus compañeros de trabajo, por parte de los alumnos de la Licenciatura de Traducción e Interpretación, que han realizado sus prácticas en el curso académico 2008-2009 en las empresas que ofrecen servicios lingüísticos en Barcelona. En calidad de integrante del Grupo de Interés “Prácticas profesionales” de la Unidad de Innovación Docente en Educación Superior de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (GI-IDES UAB) y Coordinadora de Prácticas en la Facultad de Traducción e Interpretación de la UAB (años 2008-2011), presentamos los resultados de un estudio empírico realizado en el marco de nuestra tesis doctoral (UAB 2010).

Two decades ago translation buyers relied mostly on professional translators working for language service providers (LSPs). Cloud-based machine translation (MT) and the social web now give them two additional options, raw MT and crowdsourcing. This article reports on the emerging modality of paid crowdsourcing, as conducted since 2008 by companies such as SpeakLike, Gengo, One Hour Translation, tolingo and subsequent entrants into what we term here as cloud marketplaces. Paid crowdsourcing represents an entirely new way of managing translation, and translation buyers seem to be increasingly turning to cloud marketplaces to find it. Thus far, however, this trend has been ignored by both academy and industry observers.

Our initial premise was that cloud marketplaces would fill the gap between raw MT and unpaid crowdsourcing on the one end, and conventional LSP practices on the other. It was expected that, compared with LSPs, cloud vendors would offer faster, less expensive services offset by lower quality. It was also expected that they would offer translators lower rates and poorer working conditions. However, a close reading of the published service offerings indicates that the demarcation lines between cloud marketplaces and conventional LSPs are not as clear cut as first thought.

La traducción médica es una de las actividades más presentes en el entorno profesional, pero también una de las menos investigadas. Este campo hace que sea deseable la creación de recursos documentales específicos para traductores y redactores médicos. Por ello, es recomendable analizar las expectativas que tiene esta comunidad profesional respecto al uso de fuentes documentales. En este artículo se presentan y discuten los resultados de una encuesta elaborada por el grupo de investigación Gentt y difundida entre traductores médicos en España, a partir de los cuales se proponen futuras líneas de trabajo.

The increasing use of language technologies has prompted an interest in their impact on cognitive processes and translation products. Potential issues related to human-machine interactions include working conditions, time and resource management, and emotional factors. Drawing on a large corpus of translation processes collected from professionals and students, we discuss the nature of translation as a cognitive and organizational activity. We argue that professional translators need to take increased ownership of language technology tools at every stage: in their development, their application, and their integration into organizational processes. This has implications for industry standards, models of translation expertise, and translation didactics. 1. Language technology in the translation process Professional translation has become a multi-activity task within a complex system of client expectations, technological aids, information sources, and organizational constraints. Readin...

The increasing use of language technologies has prompted an interest in their impact on cognitive processes and translation products. Potential issues related to human-machine interactions include working conditions, time and resource management, and emotional factors. Drawing on a large corpus of translation processes collected from professionals and students, we discuss the nature of translation as a cognitive and organizational activity. We argue that professional translators need to take increased ownership of language technology tools at every stage: in their development, their application, and their integration into organizational processes. This has implications for industry standards, models of translation expertise, and translation didactics.

Though we lack empirically-based knowledge of the impact of computer-aided translation (CAT) tools on translation processes, it is generally agreed that all professional translators are now involved in some kind of translator-computer interaction (TCI), using O’Brien’s (2012) term. Taking a TCI perspective, this paper investigates the relationship between machines and humans in the field of translation, analysing a CAT process in which machine-translation (MT) technology was integrated into a translation-memory (TM) suite. After a review of empirical research into the impact of CAT tools on translation processes, we report on an observational study of TCI processes in one particular instance of MT-assisted TM translation in a major Danish translation service provider (TSP). Results indicate that the CAT tool played a central role in the translation process. In fact, the study demonstrates that the translator’s processes are both restrained and aided by the tool. As to the restrainin...

This chapter explores the interface between translation studies and ergonomics, especially those factors that can affect cognitive processing. Professional translators perform a challenging multi-activity task involving receptive and productive language proficiency, advanced information literacy skills, and a high degree of instrumental competence. They do so under tight temporal constraints in an increasingly technologized environment; many work in offices that may not be designed for intensive text work and within organizational systems that do not suit their cognitive and informational needs. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative translation process data from a large corpus comprising screen recordings, keystroke logs, eye-tracking records, retrospective verbalizations, questionnaire surveys, and interviews, the chapter illustrates how ergonomic issues at translators’ workplaces can have an impact on the efficiency of the process and the quality of the product, and how they cou...

Though we lack empirically-based knowledge of the impact of computer-aided translation (CAT) tools on translation processes, it is generally agreed that all professional translators are now involved in some kind of translator-computer interaction (TCI), using O’Brien’s (2012) term. Taking a TCI perspective, this paper investigates the relationship between machines and humans in the field of translation, analysing a CAT process in which machine-translation (MT) technology was integrated into a translation-memory (TM) suite. After a review of empirical research into the impact of CAT tools on translation processes, we report on an observational study of TCI processes in one particular instance of MT-assisted TM translation in a major Danish translation service provider (TSP). Results indicate that the CAT tool played a central role in the translation process. In fact, the study demonstrates that the translator’s processes are both restrained and aided by the tool. As to the restrainin...

Reflections on the concept of quality are a classic in Translation Studies. Less common is the existence of work on the topic as ambitious and as true to reality as Joanna Drugan's book. Ambitious, because it examines a plethora of settings: the book takes in almost all contexts in which professional translation occurs. And realistic because the work is based on direct observation of what goes on in these settings, without making assumptions or showing any sign of prescriptive intent. The author's aim is to provide a review of different approaches and to offer an overview of the range of quality assessment practices that actually occur in the workplace, so that the agents involved in the sector can recognise their own experience and compare it with other models in a broad framework, namely, that of the entire industry (p. 4).

Though we lack empirically-based knowledge of the impact of computer-aided translation (CAT) tools on translation processes, it is generally agreed that all professional translators are now involved in some kind of translator-computer interaction (TCI), using O'Brien's (2012) term. Taking a TCI perspective, this paper investigates the relationship between machines and humans in the field of translation, analysing a CAT process in which machine-translation (MT) technology was integrated into a translation-memory (TM) suite. After a review of empirical research into the impact of CAT tools on translation processes, we report on an observational study of TCI processes in one particular instance of MT-assisted TM translation in a major Danish translation service provider (TSP). Results indicate that the CAT tool played a central role in the translation process. In fact, the study demonstrates that the translator's processes are both restrained and aided by the tool. As to th...

Translation usually takes place at translators' workplaces, yet much translation process research refers to data collected under controlled conditions such as the classroom or the lab. Pursuant with recent descriptions of translation as a situated activity comes the necessity of investigating that activity where and when it occurs. Many of the methods that have proved useful in the lab have also been applied in the field, and some of the challenges associated with investigating translation at the workplace are common to any kind of empirical translation research. However, certain workplace constraints present special challenges to everyone involved. Some solutions that were developed for a workplace study in Switzerland may prove useful in other investigations and might allow new questions to emerge in this developing field.

This paper is aimed at exploring the computer-mediated communication that takes place during the management of translation projects. More specifically, we will analyse the nature of communication among the actors involved in a translation project, and will outline the existing sources of conflict. Our methodology approach, qualitative and interpretative, was based on two focus group sessions, of approximately one hour each, where a total of five translation professionals participated. We have found that communication between clients-managers and translators was mainly virtualised (email and translation project portals). The translators reported that, very frequently, after accepting a translation project, they felt cheated by clients-managers, because, apparently, changing volume, deadlines, translation tools and even the texts to be translated are common practices. Some translators questioned the professionalism of managers and pointed to their lack of training, while others complained about the existence of very complicated instructions (super skopos) imposed by the client/manager. As a result, a number of tensions appeared in the management of the project, forcing a loop of continuous negotiation and renegotiation.

This article analyses Finnish in-house translators' experiences regarding physical location and organisa-tional position. We examine how translators are positioned in the organisational structure of their workplace ; where they are physically situated; and how satisfied they are in these respects. We also study whether the statutory status of Swedish as an official language is reflected in the results as compared to other languages translated in-house. The data come from a 2018 survey with 185 respondents. The analysis combines quantitative and qualitative methods. The results indicate that organisational position and physical location are intertwined. The respondents mostly work in the same location as their organisational unit and find their position optimal. Satisfaction with position was particularly high with translators placed within a communication related unit. The results show variety in whether the respondents prefer working close to other translators or to internal commissioners or other experts. The degree of telecommuting varies , with some in-house translators working entirely from home. The results for Swedish are in line with overall results for government translators. Lastly, we suggest further enquiry into topics such as office plans vs. job satisfaction, the motivations behind telecommuting, and links between translator status and agency and organisational position.

The objective of this paper is to explore how translation professionals use and perceive tools, especially generic tools such as Google and Wikipedia, during the translation process. With a qualitative approach, two focus groups sessions were held with the participation of a total of five Spanish speaking translation professionals. The subjects reported using a wide variety of tools–with Google and Wikipedia being among the most popular–to solve translation difficulties.

translation educators discuss specialized translation, they seem to have trouble agreeing on what constitutes specialized translation and, more fundamentally, what is a special language (Scarpa, 2010). For some, it refers to the translation process; in other words, specialized translation is synonymous with professional translation. For others, the translation of any text that refers to a specialized subject is ipso facto specialized. Those tend to oppose specialized translation and general translation. Still others feel that only the translation of texts aimed at specialists should be considered specialized, opposing the translation of texts by and for specialists to texts by specialists for non-specialists. While this variety of opinions fuels academic debate, it also brings into focus the fact that specialized translation instructors often lack a connexions • international professional communication journal 2013, 1(1), 59–63 ISSN 2325-6044clear mandate. This lack of clarity is so...

The increasing use of language technologies has prompted an interest in their impact on cognitive processes and translation products. Potential issues related to human-machine interactions include working conditions, time and resource management, and emotional factors. Drawing on a large corpus of translation processes collected from professionals and students, we discuss the nature of translation as a cognitive and organizational activity. We argue that professional translators need to take increased ownership of language technology tools at every stage: in their development, their application, and their integration into organizational processes. This has implications for industry standards, models of translation expertise, and translation didactics.