Having worked as a French translator for nearly two decades, one of the never-ending challenges in the industry is to stay current.
What exactly does this mean? And how is it possible to achieve this for translation – surely words are just words and never change right?
Wrong! Language is constantly evolving as we evolve as humans. Translation means following trends and keeping up to date with new words and how they are used in contexts which continuously change.
Translation is not just about using a dictionary
The old cliché of a translator sat at a desk looking up words in a paper dictionary is a little outdated if I am honest. It won’t come as a surprise to many people reading this article, that as a certified French translator, I haven’t picked up a paper dictionary in a long time.
‘Surely a good translator doesn’t need any dictionaries anyway right – since you would know every word in the book?’
I’ve heard this phrase uttered many times regarding my job as translator. And yet, we can never know every single word and its meaning in our own language, let alone in another language. We do have a limited amount of cognitive space after all.
For me, the sign of a professional translator is one who is willing to accept there are terms s/he doesn’t know, but is able to do the necessary research to find the most accurate translation for the context.
Online translation tools and Artificial Intelligence (AI) do a good enough job anyway
Another argument I am often told is that the advent of AI and improvement in online translation tools are good enough to make the job of translator redundant. Whilst these tools provide accurate gist translations and are cheap translation options, they are far from being perfect at present.
And this is what brings me back around to the topic of this post. Being a good French translator means I have to stay current. So how is it that I can stay top of my game as an expert in my field?
Translation means going to the country and fully immersing yourself in the language and culture
Having studied languages to postgraduate level, I am well aware that translation requires active real-world immersion in the language and culture.
To be able to claim that I am a certified French translator, I must back this up by being excellent at my job. For me personally, this has meant that for the last 20 years, I have watched the French news every evening, I make regular trips to Paris to immerse myself in the French language and culture, and I read French news articles each morning over coffee.
Why? Because language is, as we have seen, always evolving. As a translator, it’s essential to be aware of new language use and be able to translate each new term in your mother tongue.
Trips to Paris are not just about visiting the Eiffel Tower and enjoying a glass of wine – although these are of course some of the benefits of the trip -, but more about speaking to locals, engaging with the customs and listening to how people talk. This all allows me to constantly think in both French and English to always improve myself as a translator to bring my clients the very best level of language ability possible.