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Translation errors cause disputes over contract terms

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neilmac
neilmac
Spanyolország
Local time: 11:04
spanyol - angol
+ ...
Interesting Mar 26, 2012

The headline could also have read "Some companies try to save money by hiring students instead of translators"!
It's nice to see an article rasing this issue, which I see examples of on a regular basis in my Spanish-English pair. And I've also seen (and repaired) some real howlers of translations from Chinese on business websites.
 
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghána
Local time: 09:04
japán - angol
There's more Mar 26, 2012

neilmac wrote:

The headline could also have read "Some companies try to save money by hiring students instead of translators"!


Not necessarily. The article also makes the point that most agencies and translators just aren't qualified to translate complex material like maritime contracts. Legalese+industry-specific terms+many agencies in China = disaster.
 
Vincent Lemma
Vincent Lemma  Identity Verified
Olaszország
Local time: 11:04
olasz - angol
+ ...
Basement translations in the dark Mar 28, 2012

I think that this was a "basement translation", implying that this was done without research and competence. Personally, I always fully research such translations, especially contracts and pattents, where law on royalties, rights of intellectual property, civil law, etc. are all involved. This stuff is no joking matter and the fault is not only that of the translator (who needs to make his bread and butter) but of the agencies and of the sector as a whole.
 
Phil Hand
Phil Hand  Identity Verified
Kína
Local time: 17:04
kínai - angol
How ironic... Apr 3, 2012

A badly translated article about bad translation!
For example, I don't think the student point means what you think it means, Neil. They're actually saying, even if you were a star student at university, you're still going to find technical contract translation hard.
Nice to see poor translation recognised, but a shame they don't mention the biggest problem: lack of competent English speaking translators.
 


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Translation errors cause disputes over contract terms







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