Total fail of machine translation in case of Polish

Machine translation keeps getting better. You might think that its development poses a threat to professional translators. I believe that translators of the Polish language have nothing to worry about: automatic translation mechanisms still cannot handle the Polish language. Want to see some examples that support my claim? Here you go: Children are so pig-headed […]

Preparing PowerPoint slides for translation

Sometimes, we are commissioned to translate Microsoft Powerpoint presentations. Usually, customers don’t realise that translating texts used in such a presentation may not be enough. Differences between particular languages come to light causing some more or less serious issues. Let me explain that based on an example. Let’s have a look at this slide: This […]

Translation – creative or not?

Is the process of translation creative or not? There is no obvious answer to this question. On the one hand, you could argue that translation is not creative since a translator does not literally create new content from scratch. Their work is always based on the work of others. Some might even claim that translators […]

Translator or Dictionary?

Recently, I have been asked to translate the English word “potluck” into Polish. My response was that I do not know such word, which is basically true. The asker was authentically amazed. “How come? You’re a translator, aren’t you?”. Well, I am a translator, but that does not mean that I am a walking dictionary. […]

On Proofreading

Every professional translator is also a proofreader, as he or she must verify any text before sending it back to the customer. Such proofreading is quite demanding at the beginning, especially when you proofread your own texts. It’s not easy to re-read the finished text and spot all flaws, as you simply don’t see them. […]

The biggest pitfall of translators

“You think you know but you have no idea…” I have been wondering this for a long time: what’s the biggest pitfall of translators? The first and most obvious answer that immediately comes to mind is “ignorance.” But is that really the case? I don’t think so. If you know that you don’t know something you […]