“Globalization is translation: Translation is globalization”:
Marie-Eve Racette, Ottawa, Canada on Translation Studies
About Marie-Eve Racette
Marie-Eve
Racette is an interpreter, Conference and Parliamentary Interpretation Translation
Bureau,Government of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. Simultaneously she does
interpretation of conferences, Supreme Court, Parliamentary committees and
Upper and Lower Chambers into English and French, from English, French and
Spanish, including for recording and broadcasting purposes. Being a trainer she
Mentors new interpreters and takes Refresher training of colleagues. She does
translation and revision of documents for private-sector companies too. She
is erstwhile translator, entrepreneur, free-lance writer, an independent
traveller and a gentle human being. She is a combination of sharp intellect and
a beautiful mind. Let me unravel this dynamic multifaceted interpreter and
translator through an interview.
About the Interviewer
Dr. Sangita Ghodake
is an associate professor in English, PDEA’s Baburaoji Gholap College, Sangvi,
Pune, affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India. She is a
true academician and a sincere researcher.
Hello Marie-Eve Racette, It is
indeed a great pleasure to know you as a translator through some questions
related to translation studies. I have observed your mastery in many languages
and crisp delivery too. Since Translation Studies is the need of the hour, our
teachers, researchers, professionals, and students would like to seek your expertise
in this field.
Sangita: Tell us about your formal education in translation
studies?
Marie: I
initially went into Translation Studies thinking it would be an easy degree -
after all, I spoke fluent French and English - what more does one need? Lots
more, as it turns out. Small wonder then that it is a three-year
university program!
To
make a short story long, I did a Bachelor’s in Translation, Honors program,
with internships alternating with classroom semesters. I cannot recommend the
internship option enough. Yes, it prolongs your degree by six months or a year,
but you gain experience that you can put on your CV once you graduate, giving
you a leg up on the competition - assuming your internship employer doesn't hire
you right out of school. When looking for a degree program, do try to find a
university that offers an internship program, and go for that one if at all
possible.
Sangita: What made you to enter into translation
studies?
Marie: First
of all, I realized (and all translation students realize this after their very
first day of school) that I did not speak English or French as fluently as I
thought - my English was heavily influenced by French, and my French was even
more influenced by English. In short, I spoke more of a Frenglish than French
or English.
Second,
I realized that speaking a language is not at all the same as writing it. It's
a different level, and a much higher level when it comes to writing a text. I
often compare the craft of a translator to that of a copy editor: the language
must hold no secrets for you, you must wield it like a virtuoso, but you have
to do this in two different languages, not just one.
Third,
and finally, once you have begun to truly master your two languages of work,
you then have to learn the trade of transposing the ideas from one language to
another. There is more to this than just plugging in words from the other
language. There are techniques, tricks, rules and traps that one has to know
about. And then, to top it all off, you have to learn the basics of the
different fields of translation: legal, medical, administrative, general,
literary, etc.
Finally,
to kill two birds with one stone, i.e. learning translation at the same time as
perfecting your “other” language, choose a program in the country of this
language. For example, if your second language is English, go study in an
English-speaking country. And I did say “English-speaking country”, not “a
country where English is spoken”. These are two vastly different situations,
and the latter will lead you astray.
Sangita: Translation is a booming industry today. What kind
of job opportunities do we have in this field?
Marie: Of
course, you can become a translator, either generalist or specialized (as per
above examples, but there are others). Should you decide, however, that
translation isn't for you after all, there are other related fields in which
your studies will come in handy.
For
example, anything having to do with writing. As part of your degree, you will
learn how to write a grammatical, logical, well-organized, idiomatic text. This
knowledge applies to copy-editing, revising, proof-reading, speech writing,
precis writing, etc. In fact, I have been asked to do all of the above in the
course of my career.
A
related field is terminology, that is, the coining of new words or (more often)
the compiling of new words and the finding of translations for them, often in
the medical and scientific fields where discoveries and innovation require
constant updating of the language. For example, IT brought us words such as
“phishing”, “smishing”, “vishing”; do you know how to translate this into your
other language? Do you even know if there is a translation out there already?
If not, you may have to do some research, or ask a terminologist. But it’s not
just scientific fields that innovate; pop culture gave us vaping, twerking,
sexting. The list is endless.
Another
option is Interpreting. This profession requires further studies - interpreting
is very different from translating - but they share the same prerequisite:
mastery of two languages. I worked for several years as a translator, further
enhancing my mastery of English and French, before embarking on my
interpretation course, which was a Master's degree.
Sangita: Translation is known as a second-hand experience
and is closed to adaptation. What is your opinion?
Marie: True, a
translation cannot be 100% original. Not for nothing do the Italians have the
saying, "Traduttore, traditore", or “Translator, traitor”. In other
words, the very act of translating a text is betraying the author’s thought and
work. This is inevitable – a language is a reflection of a culture, and you
cannot take a culture and drop it into another culture intact. In fact there
are endless debates on how to translate – should you remain as faithful as
possible to the original, at the risk of alienating or at least perplexing the
audience in the target language? Or should you adapt the text so that your
target audience will understand and appreciate it as if it had been written in
that language in the first place, but at the risk of changing the original
message? These are two different schools of thought, both of which have their
points. I have no opinion on the subject – I just try to always read books in
their original language, and I sit on the fence when it comes to translating.
Sangita: What opportunities are there to English language
and literature teachers, researchers and students in this area?
Marie: Students
and teachers of English language and literature are well-positioned to become
literary translators. They are presumably avid readers, and so are the first to
know about new releases, the latest up-and-coming author, new publishing
houses, etc. They are in pole position to be asked to translate new books from
English into their other language, or vice-versa. Especially if they are
writers themselves, and even more so if they have the good fortune of being
published authors themselves.
Sangita: What would be maximum remunerations one can
draw through translation?
Marie: First of all, whatever I say
hereafter will vary from country to country. The pay associated with
translation will depend on a number of factors: cost of living in your
particular country, the value the society places on literature, education and
the arts in general, the amount of competition in your language combination,
the amount of government subsidies and grants available for literary
endeavours, etc. The same work can be paid at wildly different prices depending
on your country of work.
As
a general rule, literary translators are free-lancers and make a pittance.
While authors work for free in the hopes of being published and eventually
making it big on reprints and follow-up novels, their translators are usually
paid a fixed amount regardless of how many or few copies of the book end up
being printed. And a novel is usually a research-intensive, painstaking
undertaking that will drag on for far longer than financially worthwhile.
Literary translation is a labour of love – you’d better have a nice spouse
ready to support you, or you’ll have to do it in your spare time, after your
income-earning activity.
Free-lance
generalist translators can expect to make a decent living if they are good,
fast, and have a network of colleagues able and willing to swap work (more on
this below). As translation is usually paid by the word, the faster you can
work, the better. Speed can be increased with special translation software,
though sometimes at the price of personal satisfaction and quality of the
finished product. Until about ten years ago, generalist free-lance translators
could expect to charge some 20 cents a word in Canada, more if they have an
unusual language combination. U.S. translators earn far less, due to increased
competition – 10 cents a word is more likely. And of course, with globalization
and offshoring, clients can use translators from the other side of the world
without missing a beat. This increased, world-wide competition is driving
prices down.
Free-lance
specialized translators can expect to charge more, especially if their field of
specialization is unusual or hard to come by. However, these translators
usually come to their field from a different profession: medical translators
tend to be former doctors, nurses or pharmacists; legal translators are usually
lawyers; scientific translators have a degree in sciences; etc.
I
mentioned earlier that “Free-lance … translators can expect to make a decent
living if they … have a network of colleagues able and willing to swap work”.
Let me explain. As a free-lance translator, you will find that work comes in
waves. It seems that all your clients (assuming you have “established” yourself
as a translator and have several faithful clients) will collude to send you no
work at all for days or weeks, then all send you work on the same day. Which,
means that for nine days you get no work at all, and on the tenth, you get ten
new jobs, only one of which you can undertake within the deadline. What do to
with the other nine? You can’t turn the work away – first of all, you can’t
afford to, second of all, you can’t let down your client, and third of all, you
don’t want them to turn to another translator, only to find that they like this
one better. This is when you phone or email your network of trusted fellow
free-lance translators and ask them if they can take on your excess work. You
“farm out” those nine jobs to your colleagues for a few cents a word less than
you charge your client, the difference being what you pay yourself for revising
your colleagues and coordinating the work. Sure, you’ve only made 2 or 4 cents
a word on those jobs, but that’s still more than if you had turned down the
work in the first place. And your colleagues are doing the same for you –
remember those nine days when you got no work of your own? Hopefully you were
still working, but on your colleagues’ overload. It goes both ways. And of
course, it is very poor form to “poach” a colleague’s client; in fact, it’s
professional suicide.
Staff
translators, i.e. in-house translators at translation companies or large
international companies with their own translation department, can expect to
make anywhere from 20,000$ to 100,000$ in Canada, depending on their level of
experience, their language combination, their field of specialization, the
financial capacity of their employer, etc.
Sangita: Would you like to share some of the links and
websites that can guide students to go for it?
Marie: I am
ill-informed on the existence or availability of websites for aspiring
translators, as I have been out of the field for too long already. But as a
general rule, aspiring translators should look up their national or provincial
(or territorial, or state, etc.) translators’ association, which will be rife
with useful tips, tools, guidelines, etc. For example, the United States has
the American Translators’ Association; Quebec has the Ordre des traducteurs,
terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec; Ontario has the Association of
Translators and Interpreters of Ontario; I know Australia has a national
association. Another lead would be to look up the web sites of the university
translation programs. They may have links to professional organizations.
Sangita: Who is your role model in this
field?
Marie: Actually,
I don’t know who my idol actually is. All I know is that he or she translates
Air Canada’s “En Route” magazine, i.e. the magazine you find in the seat pocket
in front of you on the plane. His or her French translation is supremely
elegant, delightfully idiomatic and deliciously witty. I always read the two
versions side-by-side (original English, French translation) just to savour the
clever translation. I aspire to be like him or her one day.
Sangita: State in brief about the importance of translation
in the era of globalization.
Marie: Globalization
is translation. Translation is globalization. They are one and the same.
Sangita: What are the barriers in translating texts
from regional languages into an international one?
Marie: I
see no particular barriers that wouldn’t apply to any translation: adapting
expressions or finding their equivalent in the other language, explaining or
adapting a local reality to make it internationally understandable, etc. All this
is part of a translator’s training and what makes translation an interesting
intellectual exercise.
Sangita: What care should be taken to do truthful or
good translation?
Marie: As I
mentioned above, pursue your studies in a country of that language. If it’s
English, study in England, Canada, the US or Australia-New-Zealand – but
be aware of regionalisms! For example, Brits use the word “nought” for
“zero”. This would be incomprehensible to a North American. If your
language is French, study in France, Belgium, Switzerland, or Quebec. Once
again, beware of regionalisms, especially in Quebec. If you can’t afford to
study abroad, read only in that language, including the news. Get your news
from google that language, and read actively, which means with a pen in hand,
writing down the expressions you either don’t know or wouldn’t have thought of
using. Then find their equivalent in your language. This will help you to
“activate” your second language. Do the same for TV shows. Watch all your
movies in your second language. Stream TED talks and other content in that
language. Happily, in this day and age, it is ever easier to find content in
foreign languages. No excuses!
To conclude, Marie is continuously working and
updating herself in this field. She is an innovative translator, writer,
interpreter, mediator and a passionate traveller. She influences others in
positive way. We are proud of you. I wish you all the very best for your future
endeavors.
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