No, this is not about mistakes translators make in the texts they translate, but rather about the mistakes they make in presenting themselves to the world.
Native language
As everyone knows, professional translators translate into their native language (or native languages in the case of true bilinguals) and no other language. It doesn’t matter how proficient someone may be in a foreign language they learned or acquired, they will never have a native speaker’s touch and sensitivity in that language. So, when they translate into a language that is not their native language, it will show, rendering the translated text bumpy, to put it mildly. In short, such a translation will be utterly useless. It will be garbage.
I mention this because I came across one translator on LinkedIn recently, a native Spanish speaker, who claims she can also translate into English, because “it’s my native language”. Does she have any proof? Well, according to her LinkedIn profile, she passed a Level C2 test in English. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) does not apply to a person’s native language, but to the level of proficiency attained in a foreign language. In other words, the very fact she had to take a CEFR test in English proves that English is not her native language—people don’t take CEFR tests in their respective native language. Getting to C2 is wonderful, the highest level to be achieved in a foreign language, but having passed a C2 test in a language doesn’t make you a native speaker of that language. Thus, without putting too fine a point on it, that woman I came across on LinkedIn is a liar and a fraud. What is more, her own LinkedIn posts in English reveal that she is definitely not a native English speaker.
If that European framework were to accommodate or classify “native language competence” in some way, it would have to be C100, or an entirely new letter, D. But C2 does not equal native competence.
I would never translate into a foreign language, even if I rated a C2 level. Why?
First of all, translating into a foreign language is a big no-no under any and all recognized professional (and ethical) standards for translators and interpreters.
Second, if the target language is not my native language, I will not be able to do the text justice. I am lucky to have two native languages, which allows me to produce professional work of the highest quality in either of these languages, but I would never attempt a translation into French or Spanish, for example. I did translate my business website into French myself (and I did it for myself, and not for a paying client), and I am fully aware that it doesn’t “sound” native. But that was kind of the idea: I don’t want anyone to contact me and waste my time by asking me to take on a translation from English to French.
Now, let’s look at languages from an interpreter’s point of view: in this case we speak of A, B and C languages. I have always disagreed with the AIIC approach of allowing for interpretation, especially in the simultaneous mode, into a B language. A B language is essentially equivalent to C2 under the CEFR system, but it is not a native language. When I took my accreditation exam as a conference interpreter in Canada many years ago, I was one of the very few who were certified for two A languages; everyone else was given one A and one B language. In my view, if you are a conference interpreter and interpret simultaneously into your B language, you’re just asking for trouble. Nothing good ever comes of that. My advice: don’t do it.
Translation versus transcreation
Please, when you create a profile on LinkedIn, or your personal website, stop listing translation and transcreation as two separate services and/or skills. One goes with the other, and no translation is complete and professional unless it incorporates both processes. If you list them separately, you’ll achieve only one thing: someone like me, more knowledgeable and more experienced than most, looks at it and says, “No, that person can’t be a good translator, because he or she clearly doesn’t even know the first thing about how translation works and what it is.”
Forget all the silly theories you learned in translation school. There’s only one thing you need to keep in mind: the reader of the translated text must have the exact same experience as the reader of the original text. And that can be accomplished only when the text is both translated and transcreated. To ensure the same experience, it will be necessary to adapt certain cultural references, for example, and that includes jokes or puns and similar concepts. And this is true of legal, technical and creative texts. Every translation requires both translation (in the strictest sense of the word) and transcreation (or cultural adaptation).
By listing these two separately, you communicate to potential clients, as well as other translators, your own inability to understand what professional translation actually involves.
Social media influencers
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that becoming an influencer will get you new business or clients. The old saying about teachers also applies, in particular, to influencers: those who can, do; those who can’t, teach/influence.
I see it online all the time: translators (by their own definition) spend exorbitant amounts of time posting on social media, preparing complex PDF or PowerPoint presentations as well as videos and podcasts. Remember: all those things I just listed take a lot of time to prepare and create, and when you do such things, you clearly have no time left for doing actual translation work. It’s not only me; potential clients can see that too.
But if you do feel the need to produce a podcast, for example, make sure it doesn’t come back to bite you. I’m thinking here of one “translator”, clearly not very busy as a translator, who spends a lot of time posting and podcasting. And she’s made herself look terribly unprofessional: purple hair, a picture of herself in pyjamas on her business website (!), and in her podcasts, she speaks with the voice and articulation of a five-year-old. Honestly, if you were looking for a professional translator, would you seriously consider that?
Consider this: “heavy” Twitter use has been defined, officially, as posting three or four times a week (I must admit, that one surprised me too). So, if you go to LinkedIn (usually where you find translators and “translators” today) and post long items and articles every single day, sometimes multiple times a day, you are probably having a lot of fun, but one thing you most certainly don’t have is a professional and fulfilling career in translation. Especially if you reveal yourself to be a snowflake (yes, that means you, the more or less useless Gen Y and Gen Z crybabies), constantly going on about “self-care” and other emotional issues you’re going through. (By the way: if you want to be taken seriously as a translator, don’t include “#selfcare” in the tagline of your professional LinkedIn profile.)
Great, now that you’ve absorbed and processed all of that, mend your ways, grow up, and then go out there and knock ’em dead!