General > General Technical Chat
Where does all the weird Chinese component terminology come from?
pdenisowski:
--- Quote from: gamalot on January 06, 2023, 05:59:39 am ---The most common is translation errors, and it is difficult to find electronic engineers with good English to do document translation.
--- End quote ---
When I was working on my engineering degree I supported myself in part by working as a translator, and the cardinal rule of translation was always: translate into (not from) your native language. The vast majority (like, 95%) of translation issues are caused by people who are translating into their non-native language. A Chinese -> English translation would always (ideally) be done by a native English speaker.
That said, I am very aware that there are very few English native speakers who can read Chinese (or most other languages, for that matter) and those that can will quickly find themselves being vastly undercut in price (by up to a order of magnitude) by non-natives who live in lower-cost countries. Having a native speaker edit / proofread a translation by a non-native is also very much hit or miss: there's only so such "editing / proofing" you can do before it turns into a re-translation job.
"Important" translation jobs, like books, are (I hope) still usually handled by a native speaker, but "good enough" translations into English now seem to be almost universally done by non-natives or (shudder) Google translate.
I haven't translated professionally in a long time, but I imagine that these days someone living in the States could make a lot more money per hour simply doing rideshare or food delivery compared to translating.
(The last book I translated: https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sil_1089190)
harerod:
--- Quote from: pdenisowski on January 06, 2023, 11:45:39 am --- ...the cardinal rule of translation was always: translate into (not from) your native language. The vast majority (like, 95%) of translation issues are caused by people who are translating into their non-native language. A Chinese -> English translation would always (ideally) be done by a native English speaker....
--- End quote ---
I'd say that this should be a general rule. In my services I make the very careful distinction of offering translations of technical documents into Englisch. In contrast, I offer translations from several languages into into my native German. These translations usually happen during projects and are billed by my hourly rate, since I still apply my expertise as an engineer.
What are considered "normal rates" for professional translators are a shame. However, the results of "you get what you pay for" are quite often rather amusing. A couple of months ago a client of mine hired a professional translation service (located in Germany) for the translation of a manual from German to Spanish. The Spanish version had plenty of references to "el buceador" - "the (male) diver". This had its origin in the current local fad of "Gendern" (ger.) "männlich/weiblich/divers" -> (eng.) "male/female/diverse" and that service quite clearly using some electronic translation tool.
To put things into perspective: A recent quote for translation of patents (legal stuff, for the courts) from Japanese to German: 1..2€/55chars.
Edit: Typo c
tautech:
--- Quote from: gamalot on January 06, 2023, 11:08:46 am ---
--- Quote from: tautech on January 06, 2023, 06:09:23 am ---Here's one I remember from a few years back:
Humorous Frequency :-//
Anyone jump straight on that one ?
--- End quote ---
harmonic frequency 谐波频率
谐 means humorous or harmonious
---
Now you know the answer, could you pls tell me what the meaning of 'jump straight on' in return? :-DD
--- End quote ---
:-DD
No, try again……a different translation. You jumped but not straight to the correct answer. :)
gamalot:
--- Quote from: tautech on January 06, 2023, 01:19:46 pm ---
--- Quote from: gamalot on January 06, 2023, 11:08:46 am ---
--- Quote from: tautech on January 06, 2023, 06:09:23 am ---Here's one I remember from a few years back:
Humorous Frequency :-//
Anyone jump straight on that one ?
--- End quote ---
harmonic frequency 谐波频率
谐 means humorous or harmonious
---
Now you know the answer, could you pls tell me what the meaning of 'jump straight on' in return? :-DD
--- End quote ---
:-DD
No, try again……a different translation. You jumped but not straight to the correct answer. :)
--- End quote ---
OK! Here is another answer for free |O
resonant frequency 谐振频率
tautech:
--- Quote from: gamalot on January 06, 2023, 01:30:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: tautech on January 06, 2023, 01:19:46 pm ---
--- Quote from: gamalot on January 06, 2023, 11:08:46 am ---
--- Quote from: tautech on January 06, 2023, 06:09:23 am ---Here's one I remember from a few years back:
Humorous Frequency :-//
Anyone jump straight on that one ?
--- End quote ---
harmonic frequency 谐波频率
谐 means humorous or harmonious
---
Now you know the answer, could you pls tell me what the meaning of 'jump straight on' in return? :-DD
--- End quote ---
:-DD
No, try again……a different translation. You jumped but not straight to the correct answer. :)
--- End quote ---
OK! Here is another answer for free |O
resonant frequency 谐振频率
--- End quote ---
:)
Sorry not that either.
Getting closer.
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