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…
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,…
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…
Machine LQA
Quite often, customers treat translations of their materials with neglect, as a “necessary evil”. They realise that it is needed, but they don’t think of it as something worth their…
Proofreading vs Copyediting vs Markup – what’s the difference?
"Proofreading" is a catch-all term used by most non-translators, including the clients of translators, to describe all actions aimed at improving the quality of a text. This term is often…
GUI Translation
In translations, context is the king. It seems obvious, but oftentimes the reality is quite different. Sometimes customers think that providing a source material for translation should be enough for…