Quality of translations deteriorating_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Quality of translations deteriorating

Generally, regularly published books are better in quality but they are inferior to those published before the 1980s. Since the early 1990s, Chinese publishers began to publish Chinese versions of foreign books in large numbers. In order to beat rivals, they quickened the process of translation by either forcing the translator to finish the work quickly or appointing several translators to do one book. A book of regular length was often published in just a few months after the original foreign version was launched. One can easily envision what the translation was like.

Things are even worse with the other two categories. The root cause lies in the unusual nature of translation as a service product. Unlike a computer or a home appliance, the quality of a translated text is not ostensibly for the consumer. For instance, a manufacturing plant wants to have the introductory pamphlet of one of its products translated into English. It goes to a translation company, naturally one that offers the lowest price. The company hires a group of college students to do the job, on very low wages. But the company usually does not check (and it has no ability to check) the translation, which is ridden with grammatical mistakes.

Translation has not been recognized by society as a painstaking work and people generally do not know the difference between a faithfully and meticulously translated work and a shoddy piece. There seems to be no hope the situation is going to change soon. But the competent authorities can do something to regulate the market.