Quoting a EN standard
Αποστολέας σε συζήτηση: Augusta Habas
Augusta Habas
Augusta Habas
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Feb 4, 2014

Hello,

I am translating a document (for an agency) in which about 2000 words are direct quotes of a EN standard document. The French version of this documents is sold on AFNOR for 170 euros, this means I wouldn't make any money on the translation if I bought it myself. But I don't think I should translate it, because 1) I think it is stupid to translate something that has already been translated, 2) I think the valid translation is the official version of the standard and not the on
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Hello,

I am translating a document (for an agency) in which about 2000 words are direct quotes of a EN standard document. The French version of this documents is sold on AFNOR for 170 euros, this means I wouldn't make any money on the translation if I bought it myself. But I don't think I should translate it, because 1) I think it is stupid to translate something that has already been translated, 2) I think the valid translation is the official version of the standard and not the one that could come out of my little brain, further more the translation will be authentified.
I have already told the PM about this but she hasn't reacted yet.
Is there any way to get the parts of the text that interest me, or how should I proceed?

Thanks for your advices!
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Victoria Britten
Victoria Britten  Identity Verified
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This came up just a few days ago Feb 4, 2014

The answers to that question might help you:

http://www.proz.com/topic/263579


 
Augusta Habas
Augusta Habas
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Thank you but still it doesn't really answer my precise question Feb 4, 2014

Thank you Victoria, I couldn't find threads related to mine actually.
But here, I don't think the quality of the text of standard is questionable. I think it MUST be quoted literally. Or am I wrong?


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
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It's your client's choice Feb 4, 2014

Advise them (it seems you already have done so) that these translated quotes are published, and offer them the option to insert those quotes from the official translation if they provide it to you at no cost. Otherwise, you'll translate them your way, and their client will get a spurious translation of that publication's quotes.

While anyone could copy & paste, say, paragraph 2.2.3.12 without knowing either language, it takes
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Advise them (it seems you already have done so) that these translated quotes are published, and offer them the option to insert those quotes from the official translation if they provide it to you at no cost. Otherwise, you'll translate them your way, and their client will get a spurious translation of that publication's quotes.

While anyone could copy & paste, say, paragraph 2.2.3.12 without knowing either language, it takes a translator to make sure it's the right text. All this involves work. The original pub and its official translation are not usually provided as a TM, so aligning them with a CAT tool would have its cost too. So there is no point in giving for free whatever text whose translation is found on reference material you'll have to search through.

I'll give you an analogy in DTP. Now and then I'm given an editable PDF to translate and adjust layout after translation. Quite often they use either company-proprietary fonts or very expensive ones, I offer the client a choice: either they a) provide me with those fonts at no cost; or b) let me use any lookalikes I find in my 11K fonts collection
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Augusta Habas
Augusta Habas
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we found the text on the internet Feb 5, 2014

Most of the necessary parts were quoted in a document on the internet, my PM found it for me!

Thank you anyway for your replies!


 


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Quoting a EN standard







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