When I learned that one of my new clients prefers using Déjà Vu X2 Professional for project management I decided to evaluate its merits as a computer aided translation (CAT) tool. I was so pleased with what I found that I shelled out the money to buy a couple of licenses once my free trial expired.
If you are looking to purchase a CAT tool, you should seriously consider Déjà Vu. If you’re looking for a translator who is proficient with Déjà Vu project files, please contact me today. I’d love one more reason to play with my new tool!
As the year draws to a close, I’ve taken a moment to assess my progress as a professional RUS>ENG translator.
Highlights
Nearly 300,000 words translated.
As of 12/29/2011, among 10,463 RUS>ENG translators registered on ProZ.com, I rank 8th in RUS>ENG KudoZ points earned the last 3 months (and 22nd for the past 12 months).
(republic, territory, region, autonomous district (region)/название республики, края, области, автономного округа (области))
(For international mail: country/название страны (для международных почтовых отправлений))
(postal code/почтовый индекс)
Proper translation always requires an understanding of the purpose or intent of the translation. If an address is to actually be used for sending mail, then most elements of the address should be transliterated, e.g. ул. (улица) becomes ul. (ulitsa).
Examples of translated addresses
Here are some examples that illustrate the process of translating addresses from Russian to English.
Russian address
Translated address
Россия, 105066, г.Москва
ул. Старая Басманная
д.16 стр. 1а(Note: In this address ‘стр.’ is short for ‘строение’ (building, structure). This implies that are multiple buildings with a single street number. This address is specifically for building 1a.)
ul. Staraya Basmannaya, d. 16, str. 1a
Moscow
Russia
105066
127994, Москва,
ул. Малая Дмитровка, 3/10.(Note: a slash ‘/’ in an address may indicate that the address is at an intersection. The first number, in this case 3, is the street number for the given street, in this case ‘Malaya Dmitrovka’. The second number, in this case 10, is for the cross street.)
ul. Malaya Dmitrovka, 3/10
Moscow
127994
Санкт Петербург
Василеостровский район, квартал 1, корп.52
kvartal 1, korp. 52
Saint Petersburg
Vasileostrovsky rayon
ул. Ленина, 23-2-239(Note: A dash can be used to separate a street number from a building number and an apartment number. In this case the street number is 23, the building number is 2, and the apartment number is 239.)
ul. Lenina, 23-2-239
Ленинградская обл.
Ленобласть
Адмиралтейский район
наб. реки Фонтанки, 90
nab. reki Fontanki, 90
Admiraltejsky rayon
Lenoblast
Leningradskaya oblast
Санкт-Петербург, В.О., Большой пр., 55-а(Note: ‘В.О.’ here stands for ‘васильевский остров’.)
Bolshoy pr., 55-a
Saint Petersburg
Vasilevsky ostrov
Санкт-Петербург, Садовая ул., д. 3/5
Sadovaya ul., d. 3/5
Saint Petersburg
Санкт-Петербург, Колпино г., Культуры ул., д. 8(Note: ‘Колпино’ is a “city within a city”, i.e. it is a municipality of Saint Petersburg.)
Kultury ul., d. 8
Kolpino
Saint Petersburg
199106, Санкт-Петербург, В. О., Большой просп., д. 83, оф. 305
Bolshoy prosp., d. 83, of. 305
Saint Petersburg
Vasilevsky ostrov
199106
В.О. 6-ая линия, дом 39 (2-ой двор)
6-aya liniya, dom 39 (2-oy dvor)
Vasilevsky ostrov
If the purpose of the translation is merely to help a foreigner understand the parts of the address, then translating the elements of the address is appropriate and changing their order is not necessary, e.g. the original example provided becomes
A few days ago I was reading a book about the solar system to my children. We learned that the distance to the moon is about 225,000 miles. It struck me that my car, which has 224,006 miles on the odometer, has almost covered that distance. That number is also significant to me, because it is (approximately) how many words I’ve been paid to translate from Russian into English in the past four months. I’ve averaged 2,000 words a day for four months—not bad!
May I bring some more Russian goodness from www.gramota.ru to your attention? I love their collection of quotes from (mostly) Russian literary heavy-hitters such a Tolstoy (Толстой), Pushkin (Пушкин), and Chekhov (Чехов).
Here are a few good ones that I’ve quickly translated from Russian into English:
I’ve come across a helpful translation tool called IntelliWebSearch that can accelerate your translation speed. It allows you to create keyboard shortcuts for repetitive web searches. For example, I’ve created a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+I) to automatically initiate an image search using whatever text is currently selected as the query string. The more time consuming alternative would be to copy the query string from your document, switch to your browser, navigate to the image search page, paste the query string, and hit enter. If you find yourself searching the web a lot during a translation job, this tool is for you! Kudos to the developer: Michael Farrell. There are dozens of preconfigured search engines and online dictionaries. You can tweak them as needed or add your own.
Mr. Farrell has created some explanatory videos for IntelliWebSearch:
Looking for a translator? A little education upfront can save a big headache down the road. I recommend Translation: Getting it Right, a publication by the America Translators Association. Before you throw money at your translation problem, read this.
I recently translated more than 50 pages of Russian—nearly 16,000 words–for a video course about Microsoft Word 2010. Half of the job was supposed to be proofreading a previous, partial translation. Unfortunately, I had to retranslate from scratch, because the original translation was utterly unacceptable.
Utterly unacceptable? Well, how much confidence would you place in a mechanic who wants to sell you a “grease change” instead of “oil change”? Or a doctor who recommends a “physical quiz” rather than a “physical exam”? If I don’t have confidence in your ability to teach me about Microsoft Word 2010, then I won’t be watching your video course. And if the content of your Microsoft Word video course casts doubts in my mind, I won’t likely trust any of your other content. Nearly everything worth translating has specialized terminology that must be used correctly.
Video courses for text editors are no exception. During my proofreading, I found terminology used incorrectly. Consider the following Russian text about applying text effects in Microsoft Word 2010:
Также вы можете добавлять эффекты по одному, для этого раскройте один из списков: структура, тень, отражение или свечение и выберете один из предложенных вариантов.
Here is the original—and utterly unacceptable—translation:
You can also add effects one by one. To do this, open one of the lists: structure, shadow, reflection or luminescence and select one of the offered options.
The Russian text refers to a specific part of the user interface. A proper translation must make the connection between the user interface and the terminology used. Here’s my translation:
You can also add effects one at a time. To do this, open one of the submenus: Outline, Shadow, Reflection, or Glow–and select one of the options.
Note the correlation between the list of submenus and the relevant part of the user interface. The original translation uses “structure” rather than “Outline” and “luminescence” rather than “Glow”. Do you trust a Microsoft Word expert that’s telling you how to change the “text structure” or apply a “luminescence effect”?
Have you ever needed marketing materials for an investment fund translated from Russian to English? I can help. As always, I welcome any feedback on this sample translation.
Russian source text
English target text
К началу мая наш Фонд подошел с перевесом экспозиции в шорт на 50% капитала. С такой экспозицией мы чувствуем себя вполне комфортно в сложившейся рыночной ситуации и рассчитываем реализовать ее с прибылью на ожидаемом нами в ближайшее время снижении рыночных индексов.
Существенное влияние на капитал фонда оказали ряд сделок: дважды за месяц мы загружались в покупку и затем реализовывали с прибылью акциями компании ITT Educational Services, Inc. (NYSE: ESI), одной из крупнейших американских образовательных компаний.
…
Toward the beginning of May our Fund approached short exposure in excess of 50% of our capital. With such exposure, we feel at ease in existing market conditions and anticipate taking a profit by executing short sales during the soon-expected drop in market indices
A series of transactions has substantially influenced the fund’s capital. Twice in one month, we purchased and subsequently realized a profit on shares of ITT Educational Services, Inc. (NYSE: ESI), one of the major American educational companies.
— Ваша первая фирма, которую вы продали Google в 2005 году, называлась Dodgeball («вышибалы»), а теперь у вас Foursquare («игра в квадрат»). Продолжение темы?
— Обе игры — для развлечения. Жесткой конкуренции нет. Тема Foursquare — веселье и игра, и площадкой становится весь город. Я очень вдохновляюсь видеоиграми. Как сделать так, чтобы поиски хорошего ресторана суши были похожи на поиски бумеранга в «Легенде о Зельде»?
— Теперь вам приходится серьезно конкурировать с Facebook и их новой геолокационной функцией Places.
— Всегда приятно видеть, как люди подтверждают наши идеи. В ближайшем будущем мы останемся лидерами в данной сфере. Суть — в наборе вещей, которые можно делать на Foursquare: зарабатывать очки и значки за посещение разных мест, становиться мэром, соревноваться с незнакомцами — все это делает сервис привлекательным, это не просто скидки в магазинах и ресторанах.
…
—Your first company, which you sold to Google in 2005, was called Dodgeball. And now you have Foursquare. Does this continue a theme?
—Both are games for entertainment, not tough competition. Foursquare is fun and games where the playground is the entire city. I’m very much inspired by videogames. How can I make something as dry as finding a good restaurant like finding the boomerang in the Legend of Zelda?
—Now you’ll have to seriously compete with Facebook and their new geolocational feature, Places.
—It’s always nice to see how people confirm our ideas. In the near future we will become the leaders in this area. The heart of everything you can do on Foursquare–earn points and badges for visiting different places, become the mayor, compete with strangers–it all makes the service attractive. It’s not just the discounts to stores and restaurants.
