by Sylvain Galibert http://www.translationdirectory.com/article591.htm

The purpose of translation is to pass on an understanding to people in their own language and create the same impact as the original text. A translator needs to gain a full understanding of the original text (known as source text) as a first step of the translation process. Great translations are not made by translators boasting "omniscient knowledge" of a subject. They are made by hard-working knowledgeable translators suffering from acute dictionaries. 

Machine translation: Up until the problem of artificial intelligence is solved, a machine does not understand the text you submit. It just follows a bunch of rules.

The CATs (Computer Aided Translation): While MT is aimed at doing a translation, CATs help the translator do the translation. They incorporate a translation memory that contains past translations, so that when the source text is in some way similar to an earlier translation, the CAT proposes the previous translation, helping the translator to remain consistent throughout the text. CATs can greatly increase both speed and quality of translations.

Translator's mother tongue: Professional translations always require the translator to translate toward his own mother tongue. The reason for it is that translations require "the full picture" on the target country (or countries). In other words, one needs to be able to think like someone from the target country. "Grammatically correct" is a lot different from "ethnically correct".

Different translation types:

·   Literal translations (word-by-word translation): This is the type of translation that can be done by MT. You can get it for free all over the net.

·   "For information" translations: This type of translations is a completely accurate translation, but relatively sloppy in several regards. To be considered when speed is a prevalent concern. Never use "for information" translation in ad translation.

·   "For publication" translations: High quality translation to be expected. Accurate and written in the requested language level. Excellent spelling and grammar. Text is proofread and typeset.

·   Technical translations: As a rule, always figure out who is going to read the text and adapt the vocabulary accordingly. The purpose is to help the end user to use the product. A technical translation should always start with an evaluation of the end user and his average understanding on the subject. Exactness of the translation is key, because the people reading it need to be able to use the materials.

·   Software Localization: This is one of the most specialized technical translations. Beyond technical accuracy, one must take ownership and responsibility for the success of the software in the target language.

·   Literary translations: One is translating not only the concept, but also excitement, vision, thrill, style, and emotion. In this type of translations, style and fluidity are more important then accuracy. In literary translations, the translator needs to be somewhat of an author himself.

·   Marketing translation / ad translations. Getting across the impact of the original text is a key quality. Another key point is that the translator needs access to the positioning and marketing strategy of the company. Beware that marketing translations are a very specialized type of translations, and a mistake can result in huge losses.

翻譯隨筆

翻譯的目的是為了幫助讀者能以自己熟悉的語言瞭解原文意義，並且產生和原文同等效果的影響力。譯者進行翻譯的第一步即是對原文全盤的瞭解。偉大的翻譯作品並不來自譯者的自命全知，而是經由博學且認真的譯者不斷求證與求知而完成。

        翻譯機：在人工智慧的難題被解決之前，翻譯機不可能瞭解使用者所輸入的原文意義，它只是遵循著一套規則運作罷了。

        電腦輔助的翻譯軟體：如果說翻譯機針對的是執行翻譯，電腦輔助的翻譯軟體就是專門幫助譯者從事翻譯工作。電腦輔助翻譯軟體包含記憶過去的翻譯的功能，如果原文的內容在某些程度上與之前的翻譯相似時，它便可以提供原先已有的翻譯，使譯者在進行翻譯時維持其一貫性。電腦輔助翻譯軟體能有效地提升翻譯工作的速度以及品質。

        翻譯工作者的母語：專業翻譯總是需要譯者將外國語言翻譯為其本身的母語。之所以會有這樣的情況，是因為翻譯工作需要譯者對翻譯目標國家有全面瞭解；換句話説，譯者必須有能力以目標國家的思維思考。畢竟，文法精準度與族群母語的精準度之間仍有相當大的差距。

不同類型的翻譯：（不同性質和目的的翻譯也要有不同考量）

逐字翻譯─這種類型的翻譯是可以靠翻譯機來完成的，網路上有很多這類的免費的翻譯資源。

為訊息目的而翻譯─這類型的翻譯徹底精準，因此在某些方面反而會相對的鬆散。如果速度是主要考量時，這類翻譯就很好用，但是廣告文案翻譯時絕對不要用它。

為出版目的而翻譯─此類翻譯期待品質很高，不但要力求精準而且書寫文字務必達到相當的語言水準。此外，正確的拼字以及文法更是不可或缺。翻譯文字要經過校對和排版。

科技翻譯─原則上，譯者必須瞭解目標讀者是誰，然後配合調整辭彙。這類翻譯的目的是爲了幫助讀者使用產品，所以科技翻譯總是要先評估讀者與其對主題的一般認識。在這裡，「精確」二字是關鍵所在，因為閱讀使用手冊的人們需要學會使用產品。

軟體在地化翻譯─這是最專精的科技翻譯之一。除了技術上的準確性之外，譯者要對軟體是否成功轉換成目標語言肩負起最大責任。

文學作品翻譯─譯者不只要將文學作品的中心思想翻譯出來，更要將其中的高潮迭起、視覺影像、文字風格與豐富情感都表現得淋漓盡致。在此類型的翻譯中，文風與流暢性的掌握比文字精確要來得重要得多。翻譯文學作品時，譯者需要將自己化身為一個作者。

行銷文案翻譯─傳達原始文字的影響力是關鍵所在。另一個重點在於譯者必須知道此公司的市場定位及銷售策略。行銷文案是非常特殊的翻譯形式，任何失誤都有可能造成巨大的損失。

Ellen Y. Chang (92102041)

Linda Hsu (92102011)