How Dutch clients assess an English translation

Here at HHCE, we like to spar with our clients on the translation of their texts. Reviewing a text is tricky, as you need to pay attention to lots of different things simultaneously, especially when you’re not a native speaker of the language the text is written in. This actually always goes smoothly, but we nonetheless sometimes get our English translations back with changes that the client has made in good faith, but that don’t really improve the readability of the text. That’s such a shame. We wanted to know what was going on, to get a better understanding of what our clients want. Time to investigate!

The study

Last year, a researcher from Radboud University Nijmegen joined the HHCE team temporarily. She wanted to know how well a Dutch reviewer can assess the quality of a translation into English. She soon found that the Dutch speak English well and that their comments were correct, but that they also make too many changes to the text, and sometimes even incorrectly. This made the translations less readable or even produced ‘clumsy’ English sentences.

Methodology

First of all, the researcher did quantitative research. She gathered feedback from our clients on translations from the past 5 years and processed this feedback on the basis of an internationally recognised translation quality assessment system. She also did qualitative research, interviewing several of the people involved. She based the interviews on a precompiled list of open questions to gather useful information that might not have been obtained from the quantitative research.

Findings

The quantitative research showed that changes to the English translation were often made because the Dutch reviewer wasn’t fully aware of the correct grammatical form. This is usually a form that doesn’t exist in Dutch, such as the progressive or continuous, also known as the ‘-ing form’. This verb form doesn’t exist in Dutch and was therefore not recognised very well. For instance, the correct English sentence ‘we are aiming to become’ was changed by Dutch speakers to ‘we aim to become’. This was incorrect because the text was talking about the ‘here and now’, which requires the progressive form in English.

The researcher also noticed that correct English translations were replaced with a synonym. ‘To face’ was regularly replaced with ‘to encounter’ for example, and ‘every year’ with ‘each year’. This had little effect on the readability and didn’t change the meaning of the sentence. So it was certainly not an incorrect change, but why would you bother replacing one good word with another if it doesn’t make any difference to the readability or meaning of the sentence?

Sometimes English words were incorrectly replaced with synonyms. This was often because the Dutch reviewer wasn’t fully up to speed on the nuances of the two terms. One example is the Dutch term ‘onze omgeving’, used in the context of a social circle in which you live or work. The translators correctly translated this as ‘our community’, but the reviewer changed it to ‘our environment’. While not incorrect in principle, this sounds contrived and could also confuse the reader, who could interpret ‘environment’ as nature as a whole or a specific physical area that has been damaged by human actions. This is not what was meant.

The researcher also found that reviewers said translations were wrong when they only knew one meaning of the English word in question, even though it has multiple meanings in English. A good example is ‘made up’, which was replaced with ‘consists of’ by the Dutch reviewers. The Dutch reviewers only knew the meaning ‘invented’ and thought that the English translation was incorrect. But ‘made up’ is of course a synonym of ‘consists of’ and was therefore a correct translation. The Guardian newspaper’s style guide gives the following example: ‘Africa is a continent made up of more than 50 countries.’ ‘Made up’ certainly does not mean ‘invented’ here.

The word order was also changed now and then in accordance with Dutch syntax rules, which always produces a poorly flowing English sentence. English has a different word order to Dutch and the main elements of an English sentence often have a fixed order: verb - direct object. Dutch uses direct object - verb. Of course, language is not an exact science and native speakers apply the rules quite casually, but Dutch word order in an English sentence sounds highly unnatural.

Qualitative research

The qualitative research, based on the interviews, mainly showed that feedback often focuses on details, such as specific words and parts of sentences. It also turned out that clients’ Dutch reviewers often think they need to rewrite a translation, while they only actually need to check it. The translator does need to get the source text across accurately and ensure the translation is tailored to the target group, but the least you can expect is for it to be linguistically sound. Even so, the researcher found that reviewers often focused on linguistic details above all, despite not being professional linguists or native speakers of English. In most cases, the translator had a good explanation of why a certain word or construction was chosen, but in extreme cases a tricky discussion ensued, resulting in the English translator opting for a less common construction or English term because the Dutch reviewer liked that better. Fortunately, this didn’t happen often, but it is a shame, because it doesn’t improve the text and at the end of the day the client is paying for a high-quality English text.

Conclusions

In her conclusion, the researcher stated that there were three main points on which the Dutch clients didn’t assess the English text properly and that they probably weren’t even aware of this.

• The most frequent changes that had a negative impact on the text concerned semantics. Differences in the meaning of words are often very subtle in English and are more subtle than in Dutch. The Dutch reviewers didn’t always pick up on this properly and ended up changing the meaning, resulting in the translation no longer being an accurate representation of the Dutch source text. Changing the meaning of the source text is something a translator is never allowed to do and clients cannot ask this of them. Translators have to translate the text as it is meant, that’s their job.
• English terms were often replaced with a synonym. This is pointless and time-consuming. Why would you replace a correctly used word?
• Thirdly, the English word order was changed and brought into line with Dutch syntax. This creates an unclear English sentence and reduces readability. The Dutch are not always aware that English syntax is different to Dutch syntax.

Tips for reviewing translations

It is best to review a translation in consultation with the translator. If you think something is incorrect, talk to the translator and decide together what the correct construction or term is. Clients know the subject matter better, because it’s their own product or service; the translator is the linguist who knows how you need to say something. Collaboration always produces good results.

OUR TIPS:

• When reviewing a translation, look first and foremost at whether the translator has got the subject matter across correctly. If they haven’t, talk to the translator.
• Don’t assume that the translator has made a mistake if you don’t know a term or think a certain construction sounds odd. Ask the translator why they chose this.
• Don’t replace words with a synonym, that’s pointless and time-consuming. And if you’re not a native speaker of English, you can’t always appreciate the connotations of a certain term. If you think part of the text doesn’t read well, talk to the translator first.
• Don’t change the style of a sentence or paragraph without looking at the bigger picture, as such a change may have consequences for the text as a whole. If the style is wrong or not appropriate for the target group, the text needs to be retranslated.
• ..we all make mistakes. Always point them out.

And last but not least, it’s very important to trust the translators. When you review a text, you should mainly be looking at whether the translator has correctly got your message across. This doesn’t automatically mean you’re reviewing a poor text. You don’t need to rewrite the text - if it really needs rewriting, it should be sent back to the translator. Your presumptions when reviewing the translation are also key. It’s certainly true that there are a lot of poor translations around, but if you use a reputable translation agency that only works with native speakers with a languages degree, you can safely assume the text is at least linguistically in order. If you have any doubts, consult the translators. Translators like to get feedback and to spar on the texts, as this creates better translations.

If you’re struggling and not sure how to handle your review, feel free to contact us. We can give you advice with no strings attached. You’ll probably find talking about it helps you to make the right choice.