I recently came across a LinkedIn post saying that clients were ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด right, and that review feedback should not be questioned. I donโt agree.
๐ฅ
When you are a translator, the people who will review your deliveries are not necessarily linguists. They may sometimes not even be native speakers. "๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ," is something Iโve already read, as unbelievable as it seems.
As a result, you can end up having to face the following situations:
โช๏ธ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ป๐ผ๐ป-๐ถ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ผ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐
Sadly, this often happens when changes have already been made and the content published, so sending feedback just for information, assuming that reviewers know whatโs best at all times, is not necessarily an optimum alternative!
โช๏ธ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ ๐ณ๐๐น๐น ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ๐
Someone probably checked your delivery in a rush, making changes that now impair on the overall quality (e.g., inserting a nominal sentence in a list otherwise only made of verbal sentences, thus creating a big, inelegant stylistic inconsistency).
โช๏ธ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ป-๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น
I had to deal with a reviewer who was literally saying that an official grammar rule from the Acadรฉmie Franรงaise was wrong. They insisted I used ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฆ-๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ when ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช-๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ was the right term (๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ is feminine but this doesnโt mean ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช should be too here).
๐ธ
Iโve experienced all this numerous times since I started off in 2011. Being a translator is wonderful and fascinating, but we donโt have to accept everything.
๐ธ
Translators are language experts. They know what to do with the target language. Thatโs why, in French, I wonโt notably do the following:
๐๐ป ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป, because repetitions feel unnatural in this language. Instead, I will use synonyms. Nothing more awkward (and annoying) that reading ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ or ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต ten times within two paragraphs.
๐๐ป ๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐ด๐น๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ. French tends to be more formal, and readers donโt really like it when you are being too friendly with them.
๐ธ
Donโt get me wrong. I value feedback and I accept it when it comes from ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต. However, I canโt nod in agreement when I am asked to implement errors.
As (conscious) professionals, it is our responsibility to let our clients know when their reviewers made mistakes that will damage their image (after these reviewers have damaged our own work ๐).
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