Chris Durban is a freelance translator (Fr>Eng) based in Paris, where she specializes in publication-level texts for demanding clients—the shareholders, customers, and partners of a range of French corporations and institutions. Chris regularly gives lectures/workshops on specialization and working with direct clients, and has published many articles. Most emphasize the benefits that result for translators and clients when linguists take a proactive approach. In 2010 she published an updated and revised compilation of FA&WB columns in book form as “The Prosperous Translator”. In 2014 she contributed to “101 Things a Translator Needs to Know”, published by WLF.
Chris is a member of SFT and a fellow of ITI (UK).
Dealing with shades of grey
Most experienced translators have been called in at least once to give their opinion of an existing translation. The requester may be earnestly curious, mildly suspicious, or actively seeking expert help to turn a bad situation around. Enter “quality”, “subjectivity” and, say some, “nitpicking”. Or possibly indignation.
How, precisely, should a serious and ethical professional translator respond to the client’s request, judge the first effort, explain her assessment to the customer, and, if necessary, deliver the (revamped) goods?
Using concrete examples of translations into English, this presentation looks at the process, the questions she should be asking, and her obligations to both the client and the first translator(s). The ideal outcome will naturally be a win-win, but we will also consider a win-win-win scenario.
This session is scheduled for Friday, 20 April 2018.
