Unreadable text: What is 'translated'? 论题张贴者: Clifton Silvers
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I have a very old birth certificate which contains text that has faded and is totally illegible. How does one translate this? Are there strict guidelines as to how this is done? Respect. | | | Stephen Rifkind 以色列 Local time: 16:30 正式会员 (自2004) French法语译成English英语 + ... Square Brackets | Jan 3, 2007 |
Translators comments are generally in square brackets. If you can somehow guess, place your translation in square brackets with a comment like "uncertain". If the quality is so bad that you cannot take an educated guess, write "[illegible]". That way, you are protecting yourself. | | |
You could ask the client whether they can send a better copy or, even better, if their copy is not illegible, whether they could OCR it and send it to you. | | | Carole Paquis 英国 Local time: 15:30 正式会员 (自2007) English英语译成French法语 Agree with other comments | Jan 3, 2007 |
Hello, I agree with the two preceeding comments. You first ask the client if they have/can have a better version that one could read. If not, you make a translator's note. I have been known to do that for official documents like birth certs and the Consulate was happy with it. | |
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Jack Doughty 英国 Local time: 14:30 Russian俄语译成English英语 + ... 纪念 If the text is not in your native language... | Jan 3, 2007 |
(as is often the case with me - I get scrawled Russian handwriting to decipher sometimes)... it is worth while co-operating with someone who is, to look at the bits you can't decipher and see if more can be got out of it. This service will have to be paid for, of course, unless you come to a mutual agreement to co-operate in the same way with the other person concerned. | | | Translator's notes in [brackets]? | Jan 3, 2007 |
Nadia Fahmi wrote: You could ask the client whether they can send a better copy or, even better, if their copy is not illegible, whether they could OCR it and send it to you. My thanks to everyone. Is it safe to assume that translator's notes of any description belong in [brackets]? Nadia, would it be possible to highlight what the term OCR means for a newbie? | | | Steffen Walter 德国 Local time: 15:30 正式会员 (自2002) English英语译成German德语 + ... OCR = Optical Character Recognition | Jan 3, 2007 |
Hi Clifton, I'm not Nadia but this is one of the definitions of OCR available on the web: http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/records/electronicrecords/erglossary.html#o "Optical Character Recognition (OCR) OCR is the recognition of printed or written text characters by a computer. This involves analysis of the scanned-in image, and t... See more Hi Clifton, I'm not Nadia but this is one of the definitions of OCR available on the web: http://www.mnhs.org/preserve/records/electronicrecords/erglossary.html#o "Optical Character Recognition (OCR) OCR is the recognition of printed or written text characters by a computer. This involves analysis of the scanned-in image, and then translation of the character image into character codes, such as ASCII. OCR is being applied by libraries, businesses, and government agencies to create text-searchable files for digital collections. OCR is also used to help process checks and credit card slips and sort the mail." Steffen ▲ Collapse | | | Stephen Rifkind 以色列 Local time: 16:30 正式会员 (自2004) French法语译成English英语 + ... Concur with Jack | Jan 3, 2007 |
I also occasionally get handwritten Russian material. It is obligatory to give a Russian native speaker who has a much better intuition what is written. I check his English, which tends to be academic. So, it works out over a period of time. | |
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What about a footnote? | Jan 14, 2007 |
Clifton Silvers wrote: Nadia Fahmi wrote: You could ask the client whether they can send a better copy or, even better, if their copy is not illegible, whether they could OCR it and send it to you. My thanks to everyone. Is it safe to assume that translator's notes of any description belong in [brackets]? Nadia, would it be possible to highlight what the term OCR means for a newbie? If the illegible word is on its own (a name or figure, for example) I'd put "illegible name" or "illegible figure" in square brackets. If more detail is needed, or a guess at what the phrase might be, I'd put a footnote entitled "Translator's note". "Microsoft Word" is brilliant at footnotes, which can be formatted just like regular text. | | | If I am expected to certify the translation...? | Feb 4, 2021 |
I have a text with a stamp that is partly illegible. I have represented this as: [stamp: “NEUILLY SUR S[illegible] TOWN HALL” “148” “Hauts de Seine”] Now it is obvious that the illegible word is "SEINE". The client has asked if it is possible to remove the note of "illegible". Would it be acceptable, given that they want me to certify the translation with a 'statement of truth', to replace "illegible" with... See more I have a text with a stamp that is partly illegible. I have represented this as: [stamp: “NEUILLY SUR S[illegible] TOWN HALL” “148” “Hauts de Seine”] Now it is obvious that the illegible word is "SEINE". The client has asked if it is possible to remove the note of "illegible". Would it be acceptable, given that they want me to certify the translation with a 'statement of truth', to replace "illegible" with "EINE" or "EINE?" but keep it within the square brackets? [stamp: “NEUILLY SUR S[EINE] TOWN HALL” “148” “Hauts de Seine”] or [stamp: “NEUILLY SUR S[EINE?] TOWN HALL” “148” “Hauts de Seine”] Or should I stick to "illegible"? ▲ Collapse | | | Samuel Murray 荷兰 Local time: 15:30 正式会员 (自2006) English英语译成Afrikaans南非语 + ...
Malcolm Rowe wrote: I have a text with a stamp that is partly illegible. Now it is obvious that the illegible word is "SEINE". The client has asked if it is possible to remove the note of "illegible". Unfortunately I've met sworn translators who have both possible opinions on this. Some hold fast to the principle "if it is illegible, don't guess, even if think it's obvious what it should be". Other hold that the principle of not guessing what is illegible applies only to unique content -- in other words, if the document contains some standard wording that is not unique to that particular file (and this may include things like known official addresses or the wording of stamps), you are allowed to guess, without indicating that you're guessing, if you're quite certain about it. This decision is easier to make if you have the physical document in front of you. If something is illegible on that document, then it is illegible. But often, these days, we get scans, faxes and photocopies to work on (and some countries' laws allow one to certify translations of such copies), and then you can't be certain whether the text is also illegible on the original document, and guessing becomes more risky. | | |
I had a feeling that there might be varying opinions on this. Happily, the client accepted the "[illegible]" note in the end. I did also suggest the possibility of just putting "[stamp]" and not mentioning any of the stamp content. | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Unreadable text: What is 'translated'? Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
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