Express reply on my thoughts on this current GT-debate: if we consider that Google Translate is not good enough to just use it for drama translations, I don’t see how we could consider that it’s good enough to ensure that someone is a good translator?
(/ In my view, one of the best ways to ensure that someone is a good translator in a language we don’t speak is to check what drama(s) they’ve been working on recently and contact the moderator for that language. On the other hand, I’ve never been a channel manager, meaning I never had to check this myself.)
This being said, it is true that in French (my mother tongue), we have great online translation tools for English-French (or vice-versa): dictionnaries, glossaries, for the technical vocabulary there’s often a Wiki page in English with a direct link to a French version, etc. I do use Google translate sometimes when I’m not sure about an English version, but that’s from the original language when it’s available: sometimes the English versions feel “too corrected”, as in it feels like a part of the meaning is missing or was added (from the actor’s tone, or because something said very quickly is translated in many-many words, or the contrary, etc.). Thus, if I couldn’t fully understand the original (I speak Japanese and a little Korean), I will check the original version in Google Translation, try to understand how the whole sentence was built, find the link with the English version, understand where the English translators were coming from with this wording, and try to convey a summary of all that in the French version. To sum up, it’s definitely an advanced use of Google Translate, and then, yes, it’s useful. But only as a “help/tool” among others, not for a full on translation or to decide on someone’s level in their language. At least not in my view, of course.
Going back to the initial post and question: If you do want to become a professional translator @masakocevar36_3, I would highly advise you to correct others. Because we learn a lot when we do: sometimes they will have a very good idea we wouldn’t have, it makes us notice habits that aren’t so good but didn’t pay much attention to before etc. You truly do learn a lot as a translator when you correct others.
This being said, you can be a moderator and ask someone else in your language to be an editor, this way you won’t suffer this part if you truly don’t want to do it?
I understand the issue when good dramas can’t be translated because there aren’t enough moderators, making hiring of translators impossible, but here it sounds more like you want to be able to work on (even) more projects yet you can’t as the projects don’t have mods. While, especially if the community is small, you -could- be moderator-editor-translator, so… no more issue?
You would be facing the number of projects limit of course, but this limit was set up so that volunteers wouldn’t be overwhelmed with the work on Viki, and it’s the same in every country: what truly matters is to complete projects, not to start a ton in parallel. Which is, once again, true for every country and one of the basis on Viki: I truly think there should be no reason to make an exception just because the community is small.
What -could- be done is that Viki would set up a list of “less active languages”, where the lack of moderators truly blocks projects, and accept that for these languages the channel manager would “lead” the translators. Of course not on the translation part, but the channel manager would “open to translation” the episodes little by little, close them when they’re done and checked (by the translator(s)), discuss potential translation issues with the translators (not the ones purely related to the target language, but when the translators aren’t 100% sure of what the English means here, and how about this different wording a bit later, does it have a consequence on the meaning, etc.) (yeah, I’m mad about translation details…), maybe set up “format rules” and check that they’re applied by the translators (make sure that the br are not used inappropriately and such details), etc. To sum up, everything a moderator would do… save for the language-part.
It would mean a lot more work for the CM, for sure, but precisely it would be the CM’s responsibility to accept the new translator, and everything that comes with it. And when the new translator is more experienced on how Viki works, they can become a moderator for the language, and hopefully little by little there will be less languages in that list, etc.
Edit: or maybe experienced moderators on the same project could do it. “Experienced” as in Gold QCs only (saying that as a “simple QC” myself, who probably won’t be “gold” before a few more months, and while I completely trust on my abilities as a translator and a team-manager). And if “IT issues” impose to appoint a “higher position in the language” before translators can be recruited, it could be “supervisor” or whatever, just something not as global as “moderator” yet showing that the role is about setting and checking some main guidelines.
Anyway, just an idea, maybe it’s a very bad one / it was already tried and abandonned!
