| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Does anyone get more work from their target language market than from their source language market? Thread poster: Chris Says Bye
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I was about to give some advice to a new English-to-Swedish translator here, but then it struck me that his situation is very different to mine as a Swedish-to-English translator.
100% of my work from Swedish comes from Sweden: the Swedes want to talk/sell to the world through the lingua franca of English.
Presumably there is then relatively little demand in the English-speaking world for translations from Swedish, because most stuff will already have been translated by... See more I was about to give some advice to a new English-to-Swedish translator here, but then it struck me that his situation is very different to mine as a Swedish-to-English translator.
100% of my work from Swedish comes from Sweden: the Swedes want to talk/sell to the world through the lingua franca of English.
Presumably there is then relatively little demand in the English-speaking world for translations from Swedish, because most stuff will already have been translated by the likes of me.
(There will of course also be some demand from bottom-feeding agencies in the English-speaking world that source work from Sweden at rates I would never accept.)
Is this universal, or are there language pairs where it doesn't work like that?
[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2024-07-17 04:21 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 15:39
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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Not quite sure what’s asked here. No, it’s not always like that, but probably is for the most part.
I once worked with a direct client (interpreting), she is the main area sales manager for a medium-size French beauty/cosmetic brand. She told me they don’t deal with or care about translations (I interpreted at a conference for her), as it’s the dealer in the target country who is supposed to 1) order translation and 2) pay for the translation. I found this highly unusual, bu... See more Not quite sure what’s asked here. No, it’s not always like that, but probably is for the most part.
I once worked with a direct client (interpreting), she is the main area sales manager for a medium-size French beauty/cosmetic brand. She told me they don’t deal with or care about translations (I interpreted at a conference for her), as it’s the dealer in the target country who is supposed to 1) order translation and 2) pay for the translation. I found this highly unusual, but it may also be their internal policy. The old story: they want to save money. Even at the conference, I was paid by the local organizers, not by her company. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Clarification (of sorts) | Jul 16 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
Not quite sure what’s asked here.
Me neither. I suppose I was wondering whether translators into English are a special case.
I was going to tell the guy to focus on Sweden (country of his target language) because he has a marketing advantage there and it pays better, but then I thought well Swedes won’t need much translated from English so that would be daft advice. He needs to find people who want to sell to Sweden.
Whereas maybe translators between German and French, or Spanish and Chinese, might translate mostly for clients in the source language country because the situation is different in other language pairs.
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In two of my language pairs, Dutch and Portuguese to English, most translation is apparently done, very imperfectly, by non-native speakers. I assume this is because not many English natives learn these languages.
Is this the case with Swedish too?
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Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 15:39
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
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Almost all of my work is done for clients from abroad. I have rarely clients from my home market.
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 15:39
English to German
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| more workt from TL market: not me | Jul 16 |
Christopher Schröder wrote:
maybe translators between German and French, or Spanish and Chinese, might translate mostly for clients in the source language country
Add me to the list, I work exclusively for English speaking markets (EN>DE, EN>IT) and to some extent German markets (DE>IT).
When I was still doing IT-DE, it was also for the SL market.
| | | | Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 07:39
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
+ ...
| Clients - nor, swe, dan > eng | Jul 16 |
I’ve worked with clients from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, USA, Italy and Hungary.
| | | | Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 15:39
German to Swedish
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DE/FR/EN to SV here. I'd say 3/4 of my work originates from customers in Sweden.
I get a lot of corporate translation (reports etc) where the end customers are international companies based in Sweden who use English as their internal language. So they'll write their financials in English (sometimes with a Swedish flavor...), then have them translated.
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Joakim Braun wrote:
I get a lot of corporate translation (reports etc) where the end customers are international companies based in Sweden who use English as their internal language. So they'll write their financials in English (sometimes with a Swedish flavor...), then have them translated.
And I’m increasingly the one who sorts the English out😂
I hadn’t thought of that scenario. Does that happen outside Scandinavia too I wonder?
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 17:39
Member
English to Turkish
Christopher Schröder wrote:
Presumably there is then relatively little demand in the English-speaking world for translations from Swedish, because most stuff will already have been translated by the likes of me.
Wasn't it you that said 'Swedes think they know English better than you (a native English speaker)'?
I thought the Dutch, Germans and Scandinavians were all producing their content in English rather than having it translated by the divas like you.
I don't know about the Swedes (I used to know their Death Metal scene where they 'growled' in English, which was good apparently considering their popularity in the English speaking world), but I'm regularly translating English texts from a number of Dutch companies (you know, the people that are supposedly the 'best non-native English speakers' in the world), and boy do they fuck up big time with their stupid/cringeworthy wordplays, puns, catchphrases etc.? Those texts can't be bad translations into English, they must be thought up in Dutch (and probably make perfect sense in that language) and rendered badly into English. Though I'm sure a native English speaker wouldn't struggle with them as much as I do.
I have a similar issue with another client, which is a EU body. They produce perfect texts in English, but sometimes you get the tell-tale signs of the work of a non-native English speaker. That brings me to another English language related curiosity. Since the UK f*cked off from EU, why do the good people in the EU still use British English as their official language? Don't they have any 'self-worth'? Why not reintroduce French as the language of diplomacy?
| | | | | A series of generalisations and suppositions | Jul 18 |
Baran Keki wrote:
Wasn't it you that said 'Swedes think they know English better than you (a native English speaker)'?
I thought the Dutch, Germans and Scandinavians were all producing their content in English rather than having it translated by the divas like you.
I don't know about the Swedes (I used to know their Death Metal scene where they 'growled' in English, which was good apparently considering their popularity in the English speaking world), but I'm regularly translating English texts from a number of Dutch companies (you know, the people that are supposedly the 'best non-native English speakers' in the world), and boy do they fuck up big time with their stupid/cringeworthy wordplays, puns, catchphrases etc.? Those texts can't be bad translations into English, they must be thought up in Dutch (and probably make perfect sense in that language) and rendered badly into English. Though I'm sure a native English speaker wouldn't struggle with them as much as I do.
I have a similar issue with another client, which is a EU body. They produce perfect texts in English, but sometimes you get the tell-tale signs of the work of a non-native English speaker. That brings me to another English language related curiosity. Since the UK f*cked off from EU, why do the good people in the EU still use British English as their official language? Don't they have any 'self-worth'? Why not reintroduce French as the language of diplomacy?
The Swedes can be very much like the Dutch you describe there. Very good at English but not quite as good as they think they are, and frankly a pain in the arse a lot of the time, which is why I don't work much for them any more. Ingrates. Plus they're tight-fisted and half of them are Nazis these days.
I mainly work on the English of Danes and Norwegians, who are a bit different. A surprising number of Norwegians in top positions have very poor English. Some Danes too, but most Danes have better English than the Swedes do, I would say, so rather than thinking they know better than me they generally listen and learn instead.
(Although oddly the Danes are generally happier having a native Dane translate into English than an Englishman.)
It's dangerous to generalise though, and the best thing about the Norwegians and the Danes is simply that they pay a lot more.
As for the EU, well obviously they're dead to me now that Britain is Great again, but I believe English is still an official language in a few of their member states (e.g. Ireland) and their rules need to be understood well beyond the EU itself.
I imagine your struggles with non-native English will only increase now that any man and his dog can get ChatGPT to make whatever they write sound vaguely plausible.
| | | | | Dunglish is the 'native English' used by native Dutch speakers | Jul 18 |
Baran Keki wrote:
Wasn't it you that said 'Swedes think they know English better than you (a native English speaker)'?
I thought the Dutch, Germans and Scandinavians were all producing their content in English rather than having it translated by the divas like you.
I don't know about the Swedes (I used to know their Death Metal scene where they 'growled' in English, which was good apparently considering their popularity in the English speaking world), but I'm regularly translating English texts from a number of Dutch companies (you know, the people that are supposedly the 'best non-native English speakers' in the world), and boy do they fuck up big time with their stupid/cringeworthy wordplays, puns, catchphrases etc.? Those texts can't be bad translations into English, they must be thought up in Dutch (and probably make perfect sense in that language) and rendered badly into English. Though I'm sure a native English speaker wouldn't struggle with them as much as I do.
I have a similar issue with another client, which is a EU body. They produce perfect texts in English, but sometimes you get the tell-tale signs of the work of a non-native English speaker. That brings me to another English language related curiosity. Since the UK f*cked off from EU, why do the good people in the EU still use British English as their official language? Don't they have any 'self-worth'? Why not reintroduce French as the language of diplomacy?
Yes, Dunglish can be horrendous (incorrect verb tenses, prepositions, vocabulary choices, etc.) but over the years it has provided some hilarious moments.
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B&B FinTrans
Germany
Local time: 15:39
Member
English to German
| Totally off topic, sorry! | Jul 18 |
Baran Keki wrote:
Christopher Schröder wrote:
Presumably there is then relatively little demand in the English-speaking world for translations from Swedish, because most stuff will already have been translated by the likes of me.
I used to know their Death Metal scene where they 'growled' in English
Yes, the death metal world owes a lot to Sweden. 35 years ago, ENTOMBED were one of the most addictive gateway drugs.
As a guitarist, I was blown away by their guitar sound and I remember the day I finally got my first (ridiculously expensive) Boss HM-2 pedal.
Later, without the help of the internet, I puzzled (for too long) over the riffs and leads of AT THE GATES.
What a time to be alive to see these and other death metal bands live in their prime!
[Edited at 2024-07-18 13:43 GMT]
[Edited at 2024-07-18 13:43 GMT]
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philgoddard wrote:
In two of my language pairs, Dutch and Portuguese to English, most translation is apparently done, very imperfectly, by non-native speakers. I assume this is because not many English natives learn these languages.
Is this the case with Swedish too?
I think the Scandies are more likely to write in English to start with.
Danes and Norwegian government favour non-native translators, probably due in part to supply/demand issues. Swedes less so, I think. But it's hard to know for sure!
| | | | | Translation for understanding rather than translation for selling | Jul 18 |
Michele Fauble wrote:
I’ve worked with clients from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, USA, Italy and Hungary.
I had odd jobs from quite a few random countries in years gone by, including the US (Enron, no less), Singapore, Luxembourg, Australia, Malaysia, France...
But I wonder if the need for translation to understand what someone else has written is all but gone, thanks to Google Translate etc. In other words, companies get their own stuff translated, not other companies' stuff. Especially in the case of translation into English.
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