Customer specific abbreviations make life hard sometimes Thread poster: Daniel Donges
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Hi,
I suppose that all of you have faced the problem of having to translate an abbreviation. Many times, by doing some research, and taking into account the context, it may be possible to first understand the meaning of the abbreviation and then translate it. But there are many cases where the abbreviation is simply not readable for anyone not being part of the customers organisation.
I can think of a couple of ways to solve this problem. The first (and nicest for the t... See more Hi,
I suppose that all of you have faced the problem of having to translate an abbreviation. Many times, by doing some research, and taking into account the context, it may be possible to first understand the meaning of the abbreviation and then translate it. But there are many cases where the abbreviation is simply not readable for anyone not being part of the customers organisation.
I can think of a couple of ways to solve this problem. The first (and nicest for the translator) would be, that the customer is aware about the abbreviations used in the source text and provides the full text to every abbreviation. The customer could or should also indicate if a translation of the abbreviation is required or if the source text should be kept.
The second solution requires contacting the provider of the source text and ask about the meaning. This takes time, possibly some customers would't be too cooperative to attend a translators doubt.
Would it be a good proposal to try and start kind of a campaign in order to make the customers aware of this problem, using proz.com as the campaign vehicle?
What is your opinion and/or experience? ▲ Collapse
| | | | neilmac
Испания
Local time: 22:45
Spanish to English
+ ...
| It's the client or author's job | Mar 26, 2014 |
Daniel Donges wrote:
...
Would it be a good proposal to try and start kind of a campaign in order to make the customers aware of this problem, using proz.com as the campaign vehicle?
What is your opinion and/or experience?
As undefined acronyms are one of my bugbears, I simply include it in my terms and conditions along with a caveat about another annoying non-text factor, i.e. encrusted or inserted images:
"4) Las inserciones gráficas (TIFF, JPG, BMP, PNG) o cuadros de texto a menudo dificultan la agilidad del servicio básico de traducción, con el consiguiente aumento de los honorarios, al requerir más tiempo la ejecución del trabajo.
5) No se puede garantizar las traducciones de abreviaciones y/o acrónimos que no hayan sido definidos en el texto original, excepto los más comunes."
Basically what I'm saying in number four is that if I have to waste time faffing about with anything except the text content per se, I will charge them extra for it. As a result, they usually make sure that they don't burden me with it. As for the acronyms and abbreviations, I believe that the person who uses them should supply the meaning, as is normal practice with professional, academic or scientific journals. And it saves me a lot of time fruitlessly searching for something that the author (or as I call them, perpetrator) already knows.
[Edited at 2014-03-26 12:50 GMT]
| | | | | Good tools on the internet | Mar 26, 2014 |
Hello Daniel,
Have you not found tools already on the internet?
A good one is Acronym finder (abbreviations are a-lso acronyms), with a substantial listing of abbreviations, and quite often in other languages too (not only in English). All you have to do is spot the one that fits your context.
Other tip: if you are able to gess at least one of the letters in the acronym you can google the acronym plus the "translation" you guessed and quite often the search engine... See more Hello Daniel,
Have you not found tools already on the internet?
A good one is Acronym finder (abbreviations are a-lso acronyms), with a substantial listing of abbreviations, and quite often in other languages too (not only in English). All you have to do is spot the one that fits your context.
Other tip: if you are able to gess at least one of the letters in the acronym you can google the acronym plus the "translation" you guessed and quite often the search engines gets the right answer.
Or you google the abbreviation plus one word of your context.
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kay Denney 
Франция
Local time: 22:45
French to English
There's no point campaigning on proz, most customers only come to place jobs
(and if there were any point, there are plenty of other more pressing issues to campaign for).
I always look quickly on Internet to see if I can find what it means
Typing in a key word often narrows the search down. For example, just a minute ago I was looking for "ONF", and the subject matter was forestry. I thought it highly likely that the F was for "forest" so I typed in "ONF forêt" ... See more There's no point campaigning on proz, most customers only come to place jobs
(and if there were any point, there are plenty of other more pressing issues to campaign for).
I always look quickly on Internet to see if I can find what it means
Typing in a key word often narrows the search down. For example, just a minute ago I was looking for "ONF", and the subject matter was forestry. I thought it highly likely that the F was for "forest" so I typed in "ONF forêt" (source text being French) and lo and behold, I found the "Office national des forêts"
If that doesn't work I ask the client. ▲ Collapse
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Henry Hinds
Америка Құрама Штаттары
Local time: 14:45
English to Spanish
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In memoriam | Undefined acronyms | Mar 26, 2014 |
Yes, undefined acronyms or abbreviations are one of our biggest problems, especially when they are specific to an organization, and even most members of that same organization may not know their meaning. However, they can be dealt with easily. First, we must realize that any outsider reading the material in the original language will not know them any more than we will, so if you cannot find out what they mean, not to worry. Just keep the original acronym or abbreviation and put a note: "meanin... See more Yes, undefined acronyms or abbreviations are one of our biggest problems, especially when they are specific to an organization, and even most members of that same organization may not know their meaning. However, they can be dealt with easily. First, we must realize that any outsider reading the material in the original language will not know them any more than we will, so if you cannot find out what they mean, not to worry. Just keep the original acronym or abbreviation and put a note: "meaning of acronym unknown". After all, acronyms and abbreviations, though used, are NOT part of the language. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Daniel Donges
Испания
Local time: 22:45
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | Thank you all for your comments | Mar 26, 2014 |
I appreciate very much your comments and advises.
Thanks a lot.
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