The Challenges of Being a Translator

on the Eve of the 21st Century

by Frederic Houbert

Note: Please note this article is based on my own experience as a freelance translator; it is therefore not intended to reflect the situation and frame of mind of all freelancers, be it in France or elsewhere. Some readers will find it somewhat pessimistic and gloomy, while others may find something in it to personally relate to (I suppose ¡§Awaiting Big Break,¡¨ who recently told about her own experience in the ¡§Bottom Line¡¨ column of the Translation Journal, would probably fit in the second category). In any case, it is a fairly accurate account of my present view of the translation profession.

Most senior translators will probably tell you that starting a career as a freelance translator 20 or 30 years ago was a relatively simple matter: all you needed then was appropriate language skills, a reliable typewriter and a fair idea of how to find clients and keep them. Even five years ago, when I started my own career as a freelancer, I thought that my university qualifications and sense of purpose would be enough for me to join this profession I had long admired. And indeed, I was right: after three of four months of feeling my feet, my prospecting efforts finally started to pay off and work began to come in in a steady, if not altogether overwhelming flow.

Now, five years later, I cannot help but cast a nostalgic and regretful eye on my debut as a freelance translator. In spite of my relative lack of experience in the trade, I often find myself thinking, ¡§those were the days...,¡¨ when I come to consider the turn the translation trade has taken over the past few years. Indeed, the days of smooth sailing are over; experience, good translating skills, competitive rates and fast turnaround are simply no longer enough to meet the many requirements translators are now faced with and to ensure a sufficient workload in the long run. The rules of the game have changed, the wheel has turned, and a good command of bluffing techniques just won't do now.

Now, you may rightly wonder, why has this come about? Whatever happened on the way to ¡§translation paradise¡¨? Let me just try and provide one or two personal explanations to this riddle.

A couple of decades ago, translators were usually highly regarded by clients or at least recognized for what they truly were, that is, high-level linguists with a satisfactory level of expertise in one or several fields of specialization.

A couple of decades ago, translators were usually highly regarded by clients or at least recognized for what they truly were, that is high-level linguists with a satisfactory level of expertise in one or several fields of specialization and a fairly decent knowledge of the industrial world. Why? Simply because they provided a service that was deemed useful in spite of the cost it entailed. Nowadays, partly due to the widespread feeling of distrust prevailing in the working world, most translators, or at least those with under 10 years' experience, are looked upon as opportunistic service providers with few or no skills of their own; clients often consider them as ¡§bogus¡¨ specialists, with no real expert knowledge, and self-proclaimed language experts, who could probably be dispensed with altogether since most people now perfectly understand English anyway (it should be pointed out at this stage that I primarily handle translations from English into French).

I thus recently spoke to a shipbroker I had contacted in order to offer my services as an English-French translator. He sounded genuinely surprised that I should seek to sell him my stuff, since, in his opinion, all experts working in the field of shipping and maritime transport should be fluent speakers and writers of English. My reply was that although the people working in his specific field are obviously expected to have at least a basic understanding of English, languages and more specifically, the transmission of shades of meaning from one language into another, hardly come within their scope of expertise. The shipbroker however stood his ground (isn't that a funny expression for an expert in sea transport?!) and we continued our conversation on more diplomatic terms, each sticking to our guns. The one thing I learned from this particular conversation is that as long as the client doesn't see where your skills as a linguist can benefit his business, chances are he will always consider you as a kind of go-between trying to take advantage of the lack of professionalism of certain individuals in his field.

The widespread feeling that most people are now fluent in English is of course a major disadvantage for translators, especially those who, like myself, essentially handle English-into-French assignments (and obviously even more so in the case of translators doing jobs into English). We have all heard stories, regardless of the language combination, of how a large number of companies now satisfy their translation needs on an in-house basis, using whatever ¡§multipurpose¡¨ employee they believe is best qualified to do the job (incidentally, the ¡§employee¡¨ in question often turns out to be a secretary or someone from the communication department with no proper translation background). The question in fact is the following: when faced with a client with few or no language skills, how can a translator possibly give proof of his competence as a linguist? The London-based Institute of Linguists asks the same question and provides a ¡§biased¡¨ answer, to say the least!: ¡§As a translator, how do you prove to potential clients that you are ¡¦professionally competent¡¦? How do you demonstrate to them that you are a cut above the rest, how do you show them that you are a true expert in your field? By showing them that you hold the Institute of Linguists¡¦ Diploma in Translation, that¡¦s how,¡¨ (taken from the ¡§Linguist¡¨ section in the IoL's web site). This suggestion is interesting enough but it hardly answers the bottom-line question: how can the translator show his client the difference between ¡§being fluent for business purposes¡¨ and being able to master each and every subtlety of language? After all, this is what it all comes down to: the problem is not so much about providing proof of your own competence as trying to make the client aware of the gap that exists between his own skills and yours.

As a translator myself, I simply couldn't tell you how many times I have been told by a client, after having been given a translation to perform: ¡§I would have done it myself, but as you know, time is scarce, so I thought I'd give you a call....¡¨ Now, is this really what a translator likes to hear, or more accurately, is this really what a translator deserves to be told? I think this observation says a lot about the present frame of mind of a large number of clients with respect to translators.

The slow change in the client's perception of translation as a profession is, however, but one of the many predicaments modern translators have to deal with nowadays. Indeed, in addition to their sometimes difficult relationship with clients, translators are usually faced with a multitude of challenges which take up whatever time they have left once the translation work itself is out of the way.

The first challenge the translator has to take up is directly related to his profession and is something that translators often take for granted, without giving the matter a serious thought: I am talking about maintaining one's language skills. Many translators feel that just spending time translating is enough to ensure their skills are maintained at an appropriate level of quality. Well, this is obviously wrong: translators, regardless of their personal level of competence, should spend a decent amount of time, before and after translating, researching information, speaking or otherwise practicing their languages, compiling glossaries, seeking out dictionaries, following training courses in their fields of expertise, etc. This is probably the first step towards guaranteeing 100% dedication to your work. A translator who never even bothers to read the papers (in both his source and target languages), travel abroad or listen to foreign news on the TV or radio is definitely not worthy of the title he uses, because he lacks the one quality that all translators should exhibit in the first place: curiosity.

In addition to updating his linguistic skills on a continuous basis, the translator needs to make sure his computer literacy is in sync with the standards set by his clients (especially those who regularly come with fat user manuals and other large translation projects). A few years back, a translator could not reasonably offer his services without including in his equipment a high-speed modem. These days, hanging around trade fairs and having to admit you are still without your own e-mail address will make you look like a would-be Formula 1 driver cruising around in a second-hand Lada.

Updating your information technology skills is probably more of a challenge than ¡§simply¡¨ maintaining your linguistic competence; indeed, while there are many ways for a translator to maintain or improve his knowledge of languages on a stand-alone basis, organizing your own IT training courses proves a much harder task. Most translators will always find an answer to their terminology-related problems but will see most error or warning messages on their computer screen as a potential threat to their mental integrity.

It is true that the fast-changing world of computers represents a major challenge not only for translators but also for most people working on a freelance basis, and although senior translators sometimes manage to retain their long-term clients despite their obvious reluctance to use modern means of communication, their fledgling colleagues will often find that a strong background in computing and IT usually stands as a prerequisite for a career as a freelancer.

The trickiest part of keeping abreast of technological evolutions is probably the necessary ability to anticipate what will become tomorrow's standard requirements: after the modem and e-mail address, what will be required of translators next in order to be given assignments? Having their own web site? More and more freelancers are now trying to sell their skills via the Internet, which is a proof of our increasing awareness of the potential of this medium. Although web sites aren't as yet an indispensable accessory in the marketing toolbox of modern translators, they certainly prove to be an invaluable communication tool which translators can use to show their clients that they are in step with the modern world and that their horizon reaches far beyond the cliched heaps of dictionaries and gloomy library halls with which translators have always been associated.

For those of us who manage both to maintain our language skills and resist the unrelenting tide of technological progress, the next step is to keep an eye on the many requirements imposed upon us by the ¡§administration¡¨ (this word is used in France to describe the French army of civil servants) and the various departments of government, which often seem to be out on a mission to make our lives a misery. Most translators practicing in France will tell you that fighting one's way through red tape and solving the many problems posed by the ¡§Direction des Impots¡¨ (i.e., the French IRS) is a time-consuming process that often leaves little or no room for more useful pursuits such as those mentioned above (updating your skills, etc.). Well, being a ¡§traducteur liberal¡¨ myself, I unfortunately have no alternative but to subscribe to this point of view; however, the problems related to red tape are probably more acute in the early stages of a translator's career, when lack of experience at most levels often makes even the most harmless looking form look like a maze full of pitfalls (that was my case anyway). As far as I am concerned, even though I am now less easily impressed by the hefty amount of material I receive every day from ¡§les impots¡¨ and other governmental departments or organizations, I still find it difficult at times to grasp the logic of French bureaucracy or to know exactly where I stand (it should be pointed out here that I act as my own accountant, which means I have no choice but to keep myself informed of any changes affecting this field).

Now, if you manage to keep your language skills up to top quality standards, get the hang of every IT novelty, successfully fight your way through red tape, and still manage to meet your client's deadline every time, I suppose you deserve a star on the Hollywood Boulevard of Translators.

The problem is, even complying with all of the above is sometimes just not enough to ensure a steady workload over a long period of time. I don't really know if this has anything to do with the above-mentioned client's perception of a translator's work, but it seems to me that clients' top requirements are now increasingly for shorter deadlines and low rates to the obvious detriment of quality. This trend has been noticeable for some time now and it certainly doesn't look like things are going to improve in the near future. I am fairly confident that if you take 10 freelancers and ask them about the quality of their relationships with their clients, at least 6 or 7 of them will tell you how disrespectful most of their clients are (with the possible exception of 2 or 3) of their work and how little consideration they give to quality. For those of you who may find this statement exaggerated, I am ready to provide you with the names of several fellow translators who would make similar observations.

A favourite topic among translators these days seems to be ¡§client education,¡¨ or how we should all make it a priority to take a minute or two and explain to our clients that ours is a very challenging job and that you can't just ¡§feed¡¨ a translator a text and press a button for immediate delivery. There is obviously a need for client education, and I wholeheartedly agree with Geoffrey Samuelsson-Brown's statement according to which ¡§We, as translators, do however have an obligation to the profession as a whole to make clients aware that translating is a very demanding occupation and that quality does take time and does cost money,¡¨ (in A practical guide for translators, Multilingual Matters, 1995). Nevertheless, I am convinced that the problem lies elsewhere: before having thoughts about educating the client, I think the profession should first try and educate itself. The general problem I am raising here is the lack of organization observed in the translation trade, which may be one explanation for the lack of recognition it is suffering from nowadays. In spite of the efforts of the Societe Francaise des Traducteurs (the French Translators' Association), whose most influential members are doing their very best to define and establish professional standards applicable to all translators, we¡XI am writing on behalf of all French translators¡Xare still a long way from the nationwide status translators deserve and need in order to be acknowledged as true dedicated professionals. The problem is, today, in France, pretty much as everywhere else I suppose, anyone can start his own translation business without being required to demonstrate his skills or otherwise provide proof of his qualifications. Even the standards set by translators' organizations sometimes fall short of what one would be entitled to expect from a professional body providing translator certification. Could it be that some of these organizations are more eager to increase their membership than they are to control the actual quality level of their members?

I sincerely believe that it shouldn't be up to each and every translator to explain to the client the usefulness of his role and relevance of his services: have you ever expected your lawyer to give proof of his qualifications or to justify his fees? Now, although the translation trade and legal profession obviously have little in common, comparing the two gives a good idea of what we translators have yet to achieve in order to gain recognition.

Unfortunately, the lack of coordination between the various translators' organizations Europe-wide and worldwide leaves most of us to set our own standards and define our own rules. As far as I am concerned, I decided, when I started out as a freelancer five years ago, to abide by a certain number of principles which I swore I would never deviate from; one of these¡XI suppose you could call it my ¡§tariff policy¡¨¡Xwas I would never accept working under a certain price limit. Another was I would always¡Xand I mean always!¡Xcomply with whatever deadline I have agreed to work to, no matter how tight. So far, I am proud to say I have never failed in my commitments. As opposed to what others might think, I don't believe we translators should burn the midnight oil at any cost: dedication is one thing, slaving away at our job is another.

*We thank Translation Journal and the Copyright belongs to Translation Journal and the Author 2000

Translating the Web: into the Future

by Jan Oldenburg

Traditionally, translating is very much a document-based process where, more often than not, both source and target texts are provided in print. Over the past decades exciting new media have emerged that will have their influence on the way translators approach their job. Multimedia presentations, e.g. on CDs, the Internet and Intranets all require an adequate and modern way of approaching their translation.

Whereas traditional documents are, so to speak, stand-alone, the new media is characterized by the links to other, often related, documents it contains.

Whereas traditional documents are, so to speak, stand-alone, the new media is characterized by the links to other, often related, documents it contains. This requires strict terminology integrity control and makes creative translation an unrealistic enterprise. Yet, users of new media differ only slightly from the traditional reader, the most striking difference being the time viewers are willing to spend on contemplating a boring text.

The first mandate for the translator then, is somewhat ambiguous: strict control of terminology integrity, yet avoiding boring repetitive documents. It is not impossible to perform this miracle, but a thorough comprehension of both the contents and the way new media are constructed, is imperative.

In many cases the best way to approach the translation of modern media is to pretend constructing a copy of it in the target language. To do this in a proper way, any translation and terminology integrity control would start from and make use of a site-map. As this has been the origin of any site document, basic terminology and content will be found here, as well as an indication of the order in which the site documents will have to be translated. As documents will be linked to one another, working top-down through the side map will provide as little loss in terminology integrity as possible.

Even this top-down method, however, is no guaranty for a readable and effective site in the target language. Commercial sites will often offer a variety of extra's, like the possibility of ordering by email, which are largely based on databases. Whereas the site is available to the public, the database is not, even though it may be used on the site. The content of these databases will often provide information such as product names etc, set in a monolingual environment. That is to say, the language used in the database depends totally on the corporate language and the data will be linked to other applications used within the company. Translation of the data, by consequence, is not a viable option, as any change in data generated from within the company will flaw the translated site. An alternative would be to leave all data coming from the database as it is, that is: in the source language. But this would greatly affect readability and lead to a significant loss in effectiveness. The only traditional way to go around the problem is to "double up" and provide data in both source and target language. Whereas, theoretically and technically speaking, it would be efficient to double up only on those items that provide links to other documents, in practice the translator will still encounter problems.

Translated sites will generally generate response in the target language, even when forms are being used to process responses. Failing to consider this aspect while translating a commercial Web site may easily lead to a loss of effectiveness of the site. Orders might be lost due to faulty processing of data, business opportunities lost due to simple misinterpretation of responses. Moreover, it will demand human effort to enter received information into the corporate databases, as they will still be monolingual in spite of the site being translated. Again, the "double up" method may bring some relieve to the problem but does provide the viewer with an undesirable spaghetti translation, possibly resulting in boredom and loss of interest.

In search of a solution, translators may find themselves constructing terminology bases to connect to the database generating the information used on the site, as this is the most effective way to a secure terminology integrity control. The ideal translation of a maintainable Web site would start with the incorporation of a terminology base within the corporate environment. Realization of this solution demands untraditional skills from the translator. Dictionaries no longer serve solely as reference, building them has become part of the job. Besides this lexicographer's skill, the translator of new media will also have at least intermediate programmer's skills and be able to handle databases.

In conclusion, translators no longer sell a service like they did in the past. In the era of electronic commerce, translations will be full-fledged products, causing the translation business to evolve into a knowledge industry offering complete linguistic solutions.

*We thank Translation Journal and the Copyright belongs to Translation Journal and the Author 1999.

In Pursuit of the Cheapest Translation Cost

Is translation still a service or has it become a commodity?

by Johannes Tan

In the annals of management science, it is well understood that making the best choice at each stage of a process may not yield the best global solution. This principle is aptly illustrated by Scott Adams in The Dilbert Future (New York: HarperBusiness, 1997), where Dilbert reports to his pointy-haired boss: "You saved one million dollars by having programmers in Elbonia write software for us. But we wasted four million dollars trying to debug the software." Replace "programming" with "translating," "debugging" with "editing," and we get the big picture. There is nothing wrong with rational cost-saving measures, but saving translation costs mindlessly often means paying extra for hidden editing costs eventually. One of the underlying causes may be the following:

Dear translator, we were recently contacted by a client to do a patent translation from English into Indonesian. We need a technical translator that is confortable [sic] translating information systems information [sic]. Our budget is limited for this work and so we would like to find out how much you charge for this type of work. The job is around [xx,xxx] words. Please let us know if this is something you would be interested in, and your prices. Please send your resume as well.

Today, literally anyone with a PC and Internet access can instantly setup a translation company, access the many online translator databases, get a list of translators for all language combinations, and then act as an e-broker for potential translation projects.

This typical e-mail was sent to a long list of translators; the message is transparent, the Freudian slip apparent. Anyone ready to quote the lowest, bargain basement, dirt cheap price, will most likely get the job. The e-mail implies that critical factors to ensure translation quality are not that important. The sender does not care much about the prospective translators' comfort level in handling the job, professional experiences and qualifications. Simply note the request for prices precedes that for resumes or qualifications. Such e-mails, unfortunately, seem to be the norm these days. Within the last year, I have received up to five such e-mails per week.

Today, literally anyone with a PC and Internet access (and who is not wired these days?) can instantly setup a translation company (TC), access the many online translator databases (Aquarius, ATA, NCTA, etc.), get a list of translators for all language combinations, and then act as an e-broker for potential translation projects. Translation expertise, linguistic knowledge and commitment to quality are optional. Naturally, many of these e-brokers do not understand, much less care about, the difference between professional and amateurish translators. The word amateur, in its classical sense, does not imply inferiority; it is the antonym of professional and refers to those who pursue an endeavor for passion rather than for monetary rewards. However there is a difference between an amateur (non-professional) and amateurish (unprofessional), the latter referring rather to the person's ineptitude, incompetence, and substandard work quality.

The basic economics behind the pursuit of the cheapest translation cost is a no-brainer. In a typical car showroom, cars that yield the largest commission for the smooth-talking salesman, rather than cars with the best value, will most likely be pitched to ill-prepared and uninformed prospective customers. Likewise, the lowest price quoted by the cheapest translator financially translates into the highest commission for the broker. Clearly this car salesman mentality undercuts professional translators¡Xwho continuously invest more resources to ensure total quality control in self-editing time, up-to-date encyclopedias, dictionaries and self-improvement efforts¡Xand undermines reputable translation companies who conscientiously adhere to the highest industry standards and operate on fixed overhead costs.

The lowest price or the best value?

The proliferation of e-brokers and have-website-will-translate bilinguals may have significantly increased the number of editing assignments on previously-translated documents. It is a vicious cycle: the explosion of the translation business over the internet may have caused a shortage of bona fide translation companies, competent project managers and qualified translators. The Peter principle applies: quite a few players have been promoted to their levels of incompetence. These incompetent players can afford to focus only on low prices (thus higher commission) and fast turnaround times (thus higher volume)¡Xinstead of on translation quality and culture-sensitive considerations¡Xthanks to the anonymity and instancy of the Internet culture. Some do not even hesitate to make a killing, disappear in the darkness of cyberspace, and then reincarnate with a new name.

The degradation of average translation quality¡Xdue to mix-ups between the cheapest price and best value¡Xgenerates an even higher demand for experienced translators and professional editors to debug poor translations. In order to accommodate these debugging assignments, professional translators are sometimes compelled to decline their fair share of regular translation work which is then assigned by hapless and unsuspecting project managers to mediocre or incompetent translators. Eventually these poor translations will haunt those professionals in the form of even more debugging assignments with pressing deadlines demanded by indignant clients who feel they were shortchanged by unscrupulous service providers.

The lowest price at all costs is exactly that

There are at least three main reasons for the proliferation of poor translations. First, there is the myopic penny-wise-dollar-foolish drive to get the lowest price in the fastest turnaround time at all costs. Second, there is the increasing role of amateurish-translators-cum-bilinguals who fancy themselves as qualified professional translators. Last but not least, there is the trivialization of internationalization.

In 1999, a TC inundated me with a flurry of calls and e-mails to translate a well-known organization's flagship book of about 220,000 words in 3 weeks. Actually, the client had directly contacted me before, so I knew about the project but was reluctant to get involved. When I was eventually compelled to respond, I told them that the turnaround time was just impossible. But they confidently argued that the book could be simultaneously translated by five different translators (for which I was expected to recruit three fellow translators within that time frame!) because in previous years the client had translated the same book in the same time frame and under the same circumstances into other languages. Still giving the TC the benefit of doubt, I quixotically expressed concerns about quality and consistency issues: If the book was to be translated by five translators¡Xeven well-qualified professionals¡Xthe tight deadline would still not allow even minimal editing for the sake of terminological consistency. "The book needs not be consistent," was the casual reply, "it just needs to be translated as soon as possible." These words, after all, from people who called themselves a translation company.

"Make Sexual Harassment Your Business"

This subhead, for example, is a back-translation of a brochure's headline, the incompetent translator having confused the semantic meaning of "business" with "concern" in Indonesian. The result is a strict literal translation of a seriously flawed misinterpretation, hence: "Make Sexual Harassment Your Business." Other examples which have crossed my desk: mix-ups of "security" with "securities", "mean" with "median", "court" with "trial", "authority" with "authorization" and so on. Recently, the simple phrase of "20-story plunge" in a safety poster for a famous worldwide elevator manufacturer was recklessly rendered with embellishments as "elevator counterweight of a 20-floor building." Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story. When I alerted the TC that we had another case of traduttori traditori, and offered to correct the error, the casual response was: "That's not necessary; it had been translated and edited anyway¡Xjust proofread it!"

The most common mistake made by amateurish translators is their stubborn inclination toward word-for-word, verbatim translation without any respect for semantics, logic or context. Obviously this approach generates most of the problems, especially between two languages with different grammatical and syntactical properties. While professional translators work methodically in a conceptual framework approach¡Xthought first, execution afterward¡Xamateurish translators are trigger-happy to perform blind verbatim translations as fast as possible in a McTranslate sweatshop fashion. Caveat emptor: translation is among the few services where clients literally do not understand what they are paying for.

The problem of an accurate translation

The third reason is amateurish translators' ignorance of cross-cultural differences, the trivialization of internationalization and customization or localization. Even though professional translators rarely mention anything about internationalization and customization, these two processes are integral and inherent steps in a quality translation process; for the benchmark of a good translation is that it should not be easily recognized as a translation. Once, instead of conducting a regular editing assignment as planned, I ended up retranslating a whole brochure promoting healthy lifestyle which had been recklessly translated verbatim and started with this opening line: "All around the country, breakfast tables are taking on a new look. Gone are the eggs, bacon, sausage, cream and buttered toast you may have been accustomed to." Actually the Indonesian translation was "good", even accurate, but in fact that accuracy is exactly the problem! Aside from the issue that most Indonesians have different breakfasts, imagine the potential uproar if the verbatim translation of this opening line had been published in a country where 86.9% of the population are Moslems, who would be insulted if someone suggested that they touch bacon¡Xlet alone being accustomed to eating it!

NMR spectroscopy, anyone?

Many professional translators and respectable TCs still believe that translation is a service instead of a commodity. In my database of about 700 TCs there are at least 135 TCs who incorporate the word "service" or "services" in their business names. Nevertheless the Internet¡Xwhere almost everything is supposed to be a bargain or downloadable for free¡Xhas put this assumption to the ultimate test. Nowadays the most common first question in this business seems to be: "What is your rate?" instead of, "Are you comfortable translating a document about the application of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in molecular studies?" It is as if after our names, language combinations and telephone numbers our business cards should flash our rates in bold typeface. The lower, the better.

Jack Reznicki, a famous advertising photographer, wrote in his book Illustration Photography (New York: Amphoto, 1987), that when someone asks him out of the blue, "How much do you charge for a photograph?" he likes to answer, "How deep is the ocean?" Ask a loaded question, Reznicki says, get a loaded answer. Any respectable TC understands that a professional translator's "standard" rate¡Xif any¡Xis hardly a blanket rate which covers all situations. To summarily judge translators according to their rates is as simplistic as to judge a book by its cover. Translation rates depend on independent variables such as difficulty of subject matter, length of document, turnaround time, translator's current workload and other technical factors (formatting requirements, excessive metric conversions, source document legibility, etc.). Translating a 6,000-word brochure about an automatic external defibrilator with biphasic waveform technology over the weekend is a completely different game than translating a newspaper clipping on a regular business day.

The hidden costs

The pursuit of the cheapest translation cost at all costs highlights the mentality of Dilbert's boss and the "Elbonian" syndrome as illustrated by Scott Adams. Responsible linguistic project management comprises much more than simplistically maximizing profits and minimizing costs, as sooner or later such conduct will tarnish the industry's overall reputation. We have witnessed HMOs becoming the target of Jay Leno and David Letterman's late-night jokes as financially-obsessed and medically-untrained claim reviewers are allowed to make critical medical decisions. Likewise, if monolingual bean counters are allowed to make critical linguistic and cultural decisions, the translation industry may be the next laughing stock. For a client, the bitterness of poor quality will be remembered long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten. For most of those who read texts poorly translated into their native language, a ridiculous translation will always corrupt their first impression of a brand image, or a corporate image, regardless of subsequent corrective actions.

Selling translation services does not have to mean selling out. Whether translation is a service or a commodity depends on the practitioner's personal attitude, conduct and ethics. Translation is a commodity for those who succumb to the temptation of selling out, for the sake of volume and short-term gains. It is a service for those who consistently adhere to the most rigorous standards and follow their conscience for the sake of quality and long-term professional relationships.

*We thank Translation Journal and the Copyright belongs to Translation Journal and the Author 1999.