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Criteria of a professional translator
Thread poster: Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:46
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Regarding peanuts Jan 25, 2015

Phil Hand wrote:

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:

I would argue though if you give your knowledge away for peanuts, it will diminish your
"professionalism" in a decisive way, no matter how many of the other criteria you fulfill.

I know what you mean, but I think you've kinda got the logic backwards. In fact, there are almost no high quality translators who charge peanuts, but that's not because the charging peanuts diminishes them, it's because they were actually never really good in the first place.


Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said "peanuts". But I venture to say that quite a lot of people are underselling themselves or undercutting other pros by a lot. So, yes, they have all kinds of good criteria on their side, but not the one that would make all the difference when it comes to charging adequately.

[Edited at 2015-01-25 06:32 GMT]
 
Ty Kendall
Ty Kendall  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:46
Hebrew to English
Here's one criterion... Jan 25, 2015

Self-awareness.

An acknowledgement of one's own limitations, abilities (or lack thereof)....

The worst 'translators' I come across are the ones who overestimate themselves (or are so delusional as to overinflate themselves to epic proportions).
They translate from/into languages they aren't competent in (much less proficient), they play fast and loose with specializations - they translate from and into fields they are clueless about or only have a layman's... See more
Self-awareness.

An acknowledgement of one's own limitations, abilities (or lack thereof)....

The worst 'translators' I come across are the ones who overestimate themselves (or are so delusional as to overinflate themselves to epic proportions).
They translate from/into languages they aren't competent in (much less proficient), they play fast and loose with specializations - they translate from and into fields they are clueless about or only have a layman's understanding of...

There are plenty of other criteria though. ▲ Collapse
 
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Criteria of a professional translator







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