These are some of the linguistic and ethical issues explored by Constance Emerson Crooker in The Art of Legal Interpretation: A Guide for Court Interpreters published by Portland State University (1996). Crooker is 'crook' only by name, not by nature: in fact, she is a bilingual criminal defence lawyer (English/Spanish) with over 19 years of [...]
One of the most challenging terms for professional educators is 'test.' Even seasoned instructors may not always feel at ease with putting a grade or a mark on a student's final paper. If an entire class does well, the instructor feels proud that work has been accomplished; however, if a large number of students do [...]
The Translation Job The first thing you have to do when you get a job, be it by fax, overnight mail, or email, is confirm that it was you expected it to be. I’ve actually received jobs which were supposed to be in Japanese but in fact were in Russian, and I’ve been sent the [...]
What is an Agency? Translators have all had to deal with agencies at one point or another. Although some of us work exclusively with agencies, others of us have our own clients, and a still others work in-house for a company or organization. Nonetheless, no translator can afford, literally or figuratively, to ignore agencies, and [...]
What is a Translator? A translator converts written material, such as newspaper and magazine articles, books, manuals, or documents from one language into another. This is not to be confused with an interpreter, who converts spoken material, such as speeches, presentations, depositions, and the like, from one language to another. Although there is some vague [...]
Academic Training in Principle The basic approach to academic training for translators seems to remain unchanged from the time of the School of Scribes in ancient Egypt. Student translators are given short texts to translate, then their translations are evaluated by teachers, and finally the translations are discussed in great depth and detail among all [...]
The Translator’s Balance Sheet: The Black Side Translators earn most of their income from translation work. Some translators also edit or proofread translations, write abstracts or language analyses, or provide other language-oriented services. Still others teach the languages they know or even translation itself. And doubtlessly some do work wholly unrelated to translation. The easiest [...]
A Home By Any Other Name We all think we know what a home office is. So I’ll start by saying what it isn’t. It is not you working at a laptop sitting on your kitchen table with a few dictionaries piled on the chair next to you. It is not you out on the [...]