This is us, Translatorion. Martyna and Paweł, Paweł and Martyna. We are translators, philologists, and linguists. Through this blog, we’d like to show you what it actually means. We live together and we work together. And we believe it pretty lucky to have a job that involves what we love most, i.e. language in its various meanings. Our daily work consists in tinkering with thousands […]
Today’s post is somewhat technical, just like the previous one about tools for translators. This one is about translators’ equipment. It’s dedicated to those of you who are at the beginning of your translation career path. I’m going to tell you more about the computer equipment which is good for translators at present (i.e. 2024). I’ll focus on PCs and laptops with Windows, as they […]
You certainly have some ideas about how the translator’s work and the process of translation itself looks and what are the typical translators’ tools. The most common preconceptions usually involve the translator sitting in front of a computer, ‘transcribing’ the source text – in a digital or printed form, looking up words in a big, old, traditional bilingual dictionary (or a pile of dictionaries), and […]
In my previous text, I told you a little bit about the idea of plain language. And I did my best to use plain language for that purpose 😉 In this text, I’m focusing on the subject of plain language in translation. Can you use plain language as a translator? Can you simplify the language of the texts you translate? How to apply the rules […]
Prosty język. Lenguaje claro. Linguagem simples. Leichte Sprache. INTRODUCTION TO PLAIN LANGUAGE The first time I heard about Simple English was a long time ago, in my university days. Then, several years ago, the notion of prosta polszczyzna, or plain/simple Polish, came within my orbit. So, the concept of plain language has been around me for some time now. As a translator and editor, I […]
Remember the MythBusters show? Today, I’m going to become a myth-buster myself, to bust a couple of common myths about translation and translators. What is a myth? Do I mean “a story from ancient times, especially one that was told to explain natural events or to describe the early history of a people”? Of course not. The myths I’m about to deconstruct here are, as […]
Technical writers! To the outside world, it may seem you’re experts-above-all, who know a technical area inside-out, every nook and cranny, and write this knowledge down in understandable English. Those who actually do the job know very well that this is partly true; technical writers have broad technical knowledge, but their expert knowledge often comes from a subject matter expert (SME). However, usually SMEs and […]
In my previous article, I gave you a long list of the key dictionaries (mostly online ones) that we use at Translatorion when translating and proofreading. I hope you’ve found them useful in your language-related activities. If you have any questions concerning more specialised dictionaries – feel free to ask. DICTIONARY AS A TOOL A dictionary is more than a tool – and the art […]
Translators and dictionaries – are they synonymous? For most people, I guess, a dictionary is the most typical artefact associated with translation. Well, for some people, translators are actually like walking dictionaries. But the truth is translators are NOT dictionaries incarnate – they do not know all the possible meanings of all the possible wor(l)ds. One thing is for sure, though: skilful and effective use […]
I think everyone has been through something like this at one point in their lives. You’re listening to a lecture, a webinar, or you’re just asking someone about something. For example, you’d like to know how a nuclear plant works. You get a very simple answer indeed: “In a coolant-filled vessel, fuel rods undergo a controlled nuclear reaction with the use of a moderator that […]
This happens all too often to freelance translators who start their journey. You buy your first Computer Aided Translation software (CAT), learn the basics, set up a project, and finish a job or two. There comes another job; and another; and another one. You feed your CAT with anything and everything that comes by, piling in projects. However, you don’t use the CAT to its […]