Le Blog de la Mirabelle

Archive pour la catégorie ‘Traduction et Sous-Titrage’

Et voici un article sur ma modeste personne publié sur un site US: http://kiltedchaos.com

La gloire ! L’auteur de cette interview est Andrew McCluskey, un talentueux créateur de sites internet qui comprend parfaitement la complexité du travail de traducteur qui s’apparente à celle du créateur de sites ou de tout autre magicien des mots et du style. Je vous le recommande donc vivement et j’espère développer un partenariat avec lui.

Voici l’interview:

 

 

Website Translation

As a follow up to last week’s piece on website translation, we’re delighted to publish a recent interview with Nathalie Schon, a professional translator from Metz, France. Nath runs her own translation business Office Magenta and works primarily with French, German and English Translations.

Having recently delivered a website translation for a client it was fascinating to see quite how much emphasis is put on getting the cultural nuance correct for each language. If you’re serious about doing business in different languages, this is one area you can’t afford to skimp on

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How long have you been working as a professional translator?:

I’ve been translating for about 15 years for national and international administrations, and as an in-house subtitler in Paris.

What languages do you work with?

French, German and English. I have a colleague who handles Spanish translations.

Can anyone become a translator if they are bilingual?

No, it’s certainly a requirement but not enough. Translation is a very specific job. You have to write well too (advertisement, literary or artistic texts, subtitles…) and for subtitling, you need to know how to condense your translation into a set number of characters.

What schooling did you complete to become a translator?

I studied translation for my PhD in Comparative Literature.

Where is a good place to study to become a translator?

A translator school or a university offering language degrees involving the languages you are translating from and into.

What tools do you use to translate?

I use a CAT tool for technical texts. Otherwise the Office software, pdf editor, html editor, and the client’s software for online translation. I can use any software the client wants me to. In that case I charge my hourly rate for the training period.

How long should a translation typically take?

Most translators can work on 1500 words per day, sometimes more, sometimes less. It really depends on the content and the file format.

What are typical pricing for translations?

Ballpark between someone just starting out and learning on the job, to someone who is professional and delivers excellent copy first time. A normal rate would be between 0.10$ and 0.20$ a word, anything below is problematic because you can’t get a good job for that rate, just like you can’t get a good pair of shoes for 5$.

A good translator, whose work doesn’t require proofreading, can easily ask for 0.14$ (or more, depending on the level of difficulty). If you take a bad translator for 0.07$, a proofreader for 0.03$ and after the proofreader tells you the translation is really bad, an editor or new translator to fix the mess, you realize it would have been cheaper and more stress-free to chose the good translator right from the start.

What is your process like when working with a new client?

A client sends me an email, preferably with an excerpt of the text to translate, a word count, and a deadline. I answer within 24 hours on days I work outside of the office (I’m also an interpreter), but usually within one-two hours, with a rate and the confirmation of the deadline or propose another deadline. The client sends me a purchase order and I deliver the translation per email on the agreed deadline. My payment terms are within 30 days after delivery of the translation.

Deadlines are crucial. I hear many stories of translators working for dumping rates, who suddenly vanish when they realize they can’t actually do the job; the first time the client knows about it is when the first deadline is missed. A real translator will keep the client updated, particularly when it comes to large jobs, and will always deliver ON TIME. I only accept jobs I know I can do and I publish my fields of specialization on my website

What is the thing you wish clients understood better about translating?

Some clients think that translation is easy and not an act of creation. I have heard very condescending things from people who don’t understand the work and skills involved.

When you see how little some companies budget for translation, you see that they don’t understand the devastating impact of a bad translation on their company’s reputation and how an excellent translation can often increase their popularity and speak to another culture. A good translator is also a writer and knows how to appeal to a new audience/readership, for instance, you don’t speak to a German client like you would to a French one.

What is the strangest thing you have had to translate?

It was a video on schizophrenic patients and a film with very bad song rhymes!

What is the best thing about being an online translator?

The freedom to work from anywhere and the variety of the texts to translate.

What is the best way for people to get in touch with you?

Through my website: http://www.officemagenta.net or just drop me an email: natjaschon@gmail.com

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More on website translation: Website Translation and Licensing

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Here’s a comic by Yanouch I’ve translated from French into English. It’s called: « Entre-monde T.1 Le livre d’Ekko » (« Intermundi. Part one. Ekkos book »). You can see the original page here. And if you want to check out the whole comic, see: http://entre-monde.webcomics.fr

Voici une bande dessinée de Yanouch que j’ai traduite du français en anglais. Elle s’intitule : « Entre-monde T.1 Le livre d’Ekko ». Vous pouvez consulter l’original ici. Si voulez lire la BD dans son intégralité, voir le site de l’auteur : http://entre-monde.webcomics.fr.

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Yanouch interviewe la Mirabelle

 

Dessin by Yanouch

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English interview: see below!

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Yanouch : eh bien chère sous-traitante peux-tu te présenter, ton parcours… ?

La Mirabelle : Avec plaisir ! Je suis traductrice (http://www.officemagenta.net), et graphiste à mes heures. Ce que je préfère traduire, ce sont les textes créatifs (en particulier artistiques comme la BD ou des scripts, dialogues de séries et films..). J’ai fait des études de littérature comparée et j’ai travaillé comme maître de conférence en me spécialisant dans les îles.

Yanouch : As-tu déjà bossé sur de la bd avant ce projet ?

La Mirabelle : Oui, je traduis régulièrement des BD pour l’éditeur allemand Beatcomix.

 

Yanouch : Les spécificités de la trad bd connue (ou découverte de ce fait)… les difficultés… une comparaison par rapport au sous-titrage cinéma par exemple ?

La Mirabelle : Tout d’abord, les points communs à toute traduction créative : il faut parfois réinventer des passages, notamment des gags, allusions culturelles. Tout comme pour le sous-titrage, les dialogues sont limités dans leur longueur, car dans un cas ils doivent rentrer dans des bulles pré-existantes, dans l’autre ils doivent respecter la longueur maximale du sous-titre.

Toutefois en jouant sur la taille de la police, on a tout de même plus de liberté en bande-dessinée.

 

Yanouch : Traductrice bd un boulot super dans un monde parfait donc ?

La Mirabelle : Oui, presque. Le seul problème, c’est bien sûr que seules les petites maisons d’édition font appel à des traducteurs freelance et que les budgets sont limités de manière générale (je ne parle pas de certaines grosses maisons d’édition qui se font des sous sur le dos des traducteurs, un peu comme certains producteurs audio-visuels d’ailleurs)

 

Yanouch : Et l’entre-monde proprement dit ? un petit mot sur la bd….

La Mirabelle : Je suis photographe donc j’aime déjà le concept graphique. Mes passages préférés sont ceux qui abordent la politique de l’énergie et ses implications. Je note que le physique de la damoiselle fait penser à l’esthétique des jeux vidéos, à mille lieues de celle du cinéma (surtout français) et de la mode. Ce sont vraiment 2 univers parallèles.

 

Yanouch : Donc le tome 2 ? Tu rempileras ?

La Mirabelle : Volontiers !

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Yanouch interviews La Mirabelle

 

Yanouch: Well dear partner, can you introduce yourself, your career … ?

La Mirabelle : Gladly! I am a translator (http://www.officemagenta.net), and graphic designer in my spare time. I prefer translating creative texts (especially comics or scripts, TV or film dialogues ..). I’ve studied comparative literature and I worked as a lecturer specialized in the islands.

 

Yanouch : Have you translated comics before this project?

La Mirabelle : Yes, I regularly translate comics for the German publisher Beatcomix.

 

Yanouch : What is specific to comic translation … how does it compare to subtitling movies for example?

La Mirabelle : First, what’s common to all creative translation: sometimes you have to reinvent whole sentences, jokes, cultural references. As it is the case with subtitles, dialogues are limited in length, because they have to fit into pre-existing bubbles.

However, comics are more flexible since you can change the font size if your translation is longer.

 

Yanouch : Comic translator = a great job in a perfect world?

La Mirabelle : Yes, almost. The only problem is that mostly small publishers rely on freelance translators and budgets are limited in general (I’m not talking about some of the big publishers who underpay translators because they can, just as some film producers do)

 

Yanouch : And what about my comic, « Inter mundi »?

La Mirabelle : I am a photographer so I love the graphic design. My favorite parts are those dealing with energy policy and its implications. As for the physical appearance of the female character, it reminds me of video game aesthetics, more than of cinema (especially French cinema) and fashion world aesthetics. Those are definitely two parallel universes.

 

Yanouch : So, are you game for volume 2?

La Mirabelle : Gladly!

Voici mon nouveau site de traduction, conseil interculturel et de formation !

Here’s my new translation, intercultural adviser and teaching website!

http://www.officemagenta.net

Je me suis bien amusée avec le CSS mais finalement victoire. Voici un beau site tout neuf.

I had tremendous fun with the CSS but here’s my brand new website.

Contact: natjaschon@gmail.com

Voir aussi / Also:

My translator’s blog

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Article in English below!

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Ah le statut de freelancer. Ce n’est que du bonheur. Mmh ok peut-être pas. N’exagérons rien. Il y a plein de choses surprenantes: de la gendarmerie qui vous garde une journée entière pour interpréter entre le psy et la prise des empreintes, le tribunal qui vous envoie un paquet de documents à traduire pour dans vite, la maison de production qui ne sait pas ce qu’elle veut (« traduisez le texte sur la neuropsychiatrie en langage parlé mais qui sonne bien »), le client qui envoie le mail au mauvais destinataire (grillé, la honte de sa mère), la bande dessinée avec ses onomatopées au …ouf! Comment traduit-on en anglais « quiiieeek » ou « knirsch » ? Eh oui la neuropsychiatrie c’est du pipi de chat à côté ! C’est tellement subjectif la traduction créative, ça fait d’autant plus plaisir quand le style du traducteur est apprécié. Non allez ça laisse une grande liberté d’être son propre patron et de ne pas être obligé de supporter les caprices de truc et de machin. Ca n’a pas de prix, pour le reste il y a Mastercard (non ce n’est pas un lien pub)

 

 

Ah to be a freelancer. Pure bliss. Ok maybe not. Let’s stay real. There are surprising moments: from the local police who keeps you a whole day to interprete between the arrival of the psychologist and fingerprints recording, the court sending you a bunch of documents to translate pretty fast, the clueless production company (« translate this text on neuropsychiatry in everyday language but it should sound good »), the customer sending a mail to the wrong translator (he’s so toast), the comic with its onomatopoeia to…pfew! How do you translate « quiiieeek » or « knirsch » into English? Yeah, talk about neuropsychiatry, piece of cake. Creative translation is in the eye of the beholder. So it’s particularly gratifying when one’s style is being appreciated. No really, to be free, not to depend on some weirdo boss is great and priceless. For the rest, there’s Master-Card (no it’s not an ad link)

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Paris, 2009