Re: [tlug] Raspberry Pi translation team looking for Japanese translator

[dcp <poulin@example.com>]

> On Feb 17, 2019, at 11:58 PM, Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Yes, and the fact that they’re asking people who aren’t native Japanese speakers to translate into Japanese suggests either that they’re not concerned about quality or that they don’t know there are good reasons why real translators generally translate only into their native language.
> 
> 
> Hmmmm, perhaps the translation by volunteers is just a 
> "first pass", to reduce the work of paid staff later?  This 
> happens and not just for translation…

Could be.  But if any of the Japanese produced by the non-natives is just plain baffling, the paid staff would have to read the original English to understand the intended meaning anyway.  And in that case, they’d justifiably want to be paid the rate they’d be paid for straight translation, so Ohta-san’s group wouldn’t save much.  Better to have it done properly from the start, IMHO.

I’ve occasionally made the mistake of agreeing to translate Japanese-language technical articles that I suspect were written by visiting scholars. It’s truly a nightmare — worse than machine translation output.   

Drewp