what were you thinking? worst translation practices
TRANSCRIPT
1 Skype/Twitter: @lotusevangelist
ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
What Were You Thinking? Worst
Translation Practices Keith Brooks
Chief Typo Officer
2 Skype/Twitter: @lotusevangelist
ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
Who am I• Made Aliyah in August 2014 from Florida to Rehovot• Managed translations for William Hill Online in Tel Aviv• Worked with 100+ different organizations over the last
25+ years• Have blogged in English, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian and
“IBMese”• Work in the field of Collaboration and Business
Transformation• Brand Ambassador/Evangelist and Product Marketer
3 Skype/Twitter: @lotusevangelist
ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
Today’s Goals• Management Cares, But…• Typos• Plagiarized Errors (US/UK English)• Machine Language Translation• I speak English, Hebrew and Klingon• Time Traveling Documents• Management Requests of You
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
Management Cares, But…• May not have English or Hebrew or
whatever language as our mother tongue• May not have very good grammar or
spelling skills• Need someone to blame• Rely on your expertise• Do the 30-second sniff, if that much• Edit, your edits…and don’t tell you…
sometimes
We
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
Typos• Mea Culpa – I do this too, it happens, we are not
machines…yet• Make sure Word or whatever program used has a
dictionary with the correct languages inside it• Turn it on…and trust it, but not entirely to do YOUR
job, which is…• Proofread, Proofread, Proofread and when in doubt….PROOFREAD again
http://cdn.pophangover.com/wp-content/uploads/funny-typo-24-300x167.jpg
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
Plagiarized Errors (US/UK English)
• In our world (High Tech, Pharma, Finance, etc..) we read other blogs and websites and writings• Odd phrasing , specific examples catch our
eye • More common when English is not your
mother tongue language• This will guarantee we never use you
again
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
Machine Language Translation • Google may be your friend, but not here• We use it to verify other languages but we
don’t pay you to rely on it• It may put you out of a job, how good are
your editing skills?• You will not make a living, with us or anyone
else, using MLT
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
8
Come One, Come All to the Poorly Translated Spanish Clitoris Festival
“..But when residents clicked onto the Castillian Spanish version of the town’s website - provided by Google Translate - to check the dates for next year’s fest they were shocked at the new turn the festival had apparently taken. "The clitoris is one of the typical products of Galician cuisine," read the description of the festival on the Castillian Spanish version of the town hall’s website, whose original version is written in Galician. ” http://www.thelocal.es/20151102/galicia-celebrates-its-annual-clitoris-festival-thanks-to-google-translate
Don’t embarrass us, nor yourselves,think about what you write!
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
I speak English, Hebrew and Klingon
• Let us know what other languages you know• We may (often) have other
projects for which we can recommend you for….IF we trust/like you to do our existing work• Be creative; sometimes, we
need ideas and input too
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fXSLcYQHqFQ/maxresdefault.jpg
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
Time Traveling Documents•We provide deadlines for a reason, not as a request• Always verify dates and formats of dates with us• Past, Present and Future may coexist in Star Trek….BUT
Not on documents you translate
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
Management Requests of You• Never send us back your work using the same
file name• Make sure you send us the right file or version of
changes• Include the item/code # and your name in the
file name• Bold or underline URLs and linked items• Going on vacation, TELL US• Make yourself contactable, don’t be a
Government office
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
Today’s Completed GoalsManagement Cares, But…TyposPlagiarized Errors (US/UK
English)Machine Language TranslationI speak English, Hebrew and
KlingonTime Traveling DocumentsManagement Requests of You
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p-9w59bzhaM/UelYRLiGReI/AAAAAAAAGhE/7lUZ5qVR4g4/s1600/thats-all-folks.jpg
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ITA 2016 International Conference
Keith Brooks
רבה Thank You תודהhttp://linkedin.com/in/keithbrooks
Enjoy the Rest of the ConferenceSlides will be posted at
http://slideshare.net/kbmsg
Come to my 16:00 session Grand Ballroom A:
My Dog Ate My Translation Assignment