Yourtranslator.gr’s impressions from IAPTI’s 2nd International Conference
How dangerous can our continuous exposure to low quality of writing be and to what extent can machine translation really help us?
How important is organisation in the life of a freelancer?
Direct clients or translation agencies? Is the customer always right?
How are translation rates calculated?
The above-mentioned questions, along with many other questions and reflections, were addressed at IAPTI’s (International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters) 2nd International Conference, held on 21 and 22 September in Athens. Two days filled with interesting meetings with colleagues from all over the world and information regarding the developments in our sector seen from an international angle.
So let’s talk about some of the most interesting parts of the conference. Kevin Lossner, known as the CAT tool guru, referred to the extensive use of machine (pseudo) translation, as he calls it, and talked about the dangers that may lie in machine translation post-editing. Without being opposed to its use, he observed that continuous exposure of a translator to writing of low quality may influence his/her judgment to such a point that he or she might not be able to distinguish between what is linguistically correct and what is not. For more information visit Kevin Lossner’s blog: http://www.translationtribulations.com/
After that, we listened to Gary Smith’s speech about a freelancer’s relationship with his or her clients, touching upon volume and pricing issues from an interesting angle. He suggested that the first days of the New Year is the most suitable period for a freelancer to increase his/her rates (New year-new prices) and he argued that the volume of a project should not be conducive to quoting a “better” price for the customer because it requires greater engagement from the freelancer, while there is always the chance that he/she will reject other projects with better pricing due to lack of time during that particular period. Some food for thought for Greek translators…
Valeria Aliperta, known to most of us, and an expert on branding issues, talked about the importance of choosing the right logo and stressed the fact that freelancers should see themselves as businesses and allocate the essential time and resources to properly promote and advertize themselves.
Afterwards, Rose Newell talked about the growth of cross-cultural translation, a process during which the translator is asked to function more as a writer. The charge for this particular service, offered as a kind of specialized translation, is of course much higher than the charge for simple translation as it requires a lot more time and extra skills. Finally, we had the chance to listen to Nikos Sarantakos talking about the difficulty of translating loanwords or false friends.
This Conference was a great chance for us to meet colleagues from Greece and abroad and analyze our sector’s common practices and strategies on a global level. We also realized that whereas our reality in Greece is quite different from the reality of most of our colleagues in other countries (pricing, collaboration terms etc), a lot of the problems we are all facing are ultimately the same.
* IAPTI (International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters) was founded in 2009 in Argentina aiming to promote ethical practices in the field of translation and interpreting and deal with problems of the field on a global level.