In another post, we mentioned this type of contract which is commonly used in today’s market filled with the hustle and bustle of the business world. Adhesion contracts are pre-printed contracts used by the majority of companies who market mass products or services.
The legal issue behind these “contracts” is the consent of one of [...]
Archive for October, 2008
Adhesion contracts
Friday, October 31st, 2008Mark Twain’s back translation
Monday, October 27th, 2008A few weeks ago, I made a post about back translations, but this time I wanted to share a famous example of a back translation gone wrong. In 1865, Mark Twain published a short story entitled “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, which, shortly thereafter was translated into French. Appalled by the French translation [...]
How to translate the word “agreement” in Spanish in a legal context.
Friday, October 24th, 2008First, let’s find out what an agreement actually is. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the following definitions are provided: 1.a. the act or fact of agreeing; 1.b. harmony of opinion, action or character: concord; 2.a. an arrangement as to a course of action; 2.b. compact, treaty; 3.a. a contract duly executed and legally binding; 3.b. the [...]
The Financial Crisis and Translation
Monday, October 20th, 2008The news these days is full of market reports, minute-by-minute updates on the stock market and countless stories of small businesses being driven into bankruptcy. There is a general sense of tension especially for small business owners, and rightly so! So, what does this mean for the translation industry and how will it be affected?
Glancing [...]
How to determine the quality of a translation
Friday, October 17th, 2008Frequently, we are faced with the task of determining whether or not the translation we revise is good or bad. As professionals, our opinions should be well-grounded and not a result of our mood at that time or the friendship we have with the translator who delivered the product.
There are some objective factors that will [...]
Many critics, no defenders
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008“Many critics, no defenders,
translators have but two regrets:
when we hit, no one remembers,
when we miss, no one forgets.”
-Anonymous
This is a well-known verse among translators, but is it really true? Are translators really given due credit for their work or are we destined to deliver translation after translation without the thanks we deserve?
Our task is difficult [...]
The importance of information sources
Friday, October 10th, 2008In our daily task as translators, we face several different possibilities for the translation of a text, so, what is the best option when there are multiple possibilities? Some may have a more sophisticated style, some were already used by others in works published on the Internet, and finally, some are found in dictionaries or [...]
Developing Your Own Freelance Translation Business
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008As freelance translators, it is at times difficult to start your own business and increase your work flow and client contacts. Here are some helpful tips to help get your business up and running.
First, it is important to have a clear idea of the services you offer, your target market, and area of expertise. For [...]
The Rise of Spanglish
Friday, October 3rd, 2008The term Spanglish came into existence between 1965 and 1970 and refers to any expression in Spanish that borrows parts of English, especially as substitutions of Spanish words.
The most common fields that use and abuse Spanglish are areas related to technology, since most of the products introduced into the market are in English. These terms [...]
