Text Box: What is professionalism? This articles follows on from recent debates on professionalism, professional status and standards, including Andrew Fenner's very practical comments in the last issue of bulletin. The topic of professionalism is not just topical, however, but cyclical, inspiring further debates every few years. Yet it keeps coming up without, as Andrew pointed out, anyone really examining what we mean by it. Curiously enough, this is one of those occasions when a dictionary definition proves quite helpful. In amongst all the rather predictable explanations that a profession is "a vocation in which professed knowledge of some department of learning is used in its application to the affairs of others" (equally applicable to a charlatan), or something one does for payment rather than for the sheer fun of it, the Oxford dictionary also tells us that it often specifically denotes "the three learned professions of divinity, law, and medicine". That, if you ask me, is the heart of the matter, since our discussions of professionalism rarely centre on the practice, concerning themselves above all with the recognition, the status afforded the "learned professions". When we talk about professionalism, what we are really talking about is being valued, both socially and financially, and implicit in our dialogues is a recognition that the professionalism required to raise the language industry's status is in many cases still sadly lacking. Improving our status There's really no denying that we interpreters and translators are not entirely happy with hour lot. Top of the list of complaints are low income compared to other "professions", a lack of public understanding about what is involved in translation and consequently, amongst other things, "impossible" deadlines resulting from end users failing to build the translation process appropriately into their planning. Translators' associations have tried various strategies to combat this over the years, generally with little success. As a rule, we have tried to establish translation as a profession on a par with that of a doctor or lawyer by establishing professional credentials, whether membership of an institute or association, or additional formal schemes such as keeping a record of continuing professional development. The IOL's charter application and commitment to helping establish the National Register of Public Service Interpreters are further examples of such initiatives. I do not by any means intend to criticise any such projects, which could certainly play a role in helping translators and interpreters achieved the status they seek, but I believe we also need to look the facts in the face and acknowledge that the results of their deployment in isolation have not been encouraging to date. Despite there being a small but increasing number of exceptions, rates as a whole have been falling in real terms over the past decade. Indeed, the rates and minimum charge arrangements for public service interpreters have fallen more than most. I'm not suggesting there is any direct connection between this and the register, but it is at the same time clear that the existence of the register has been unable to arrest this decline. The same goes for the credentials we have all worked so hard to establish for the profession so far, as much as they can indubitably help the informed (aye, there's the rub!) to sort the wheat from the chaff. I, personally, am convinced that these energies have not been wasted, but I'm equally confident that we also need to look elsewhere if we want to improve the status of the profession. Above all, we need to do more individually to set our house in order and more collectively to inform the public about what our work involves and achieves. Raising standards The major obstacle to raising the status of translators and interpreters is the generally low standard of service provided across the translation industry, a problem lamented not only across industry and parodied in films, but implicitly recognised by the growing number of practitioners within our profession who promote their services with slogans such as "translations that read like originals". Until we can reverse this situation through our daily practice, we will never achieve the change we're looking for. Professional conduct Although every professional association in this country has a code of professional conduct, it is unusual to find a member who is entirely familiar with its contents. Such codes also tend to concentrate on major misdemeanours rather than providing guidance on the simple things. So, being a rather simpleminded chap, that is what I aim to cover here. Much of the advice may seem so elementary as to be hardly worth giving, yet I can assure you that I have encountered so many horror stories from clients, conference attendees, correspondents and colleagues that I believe what follows more than merits an article. Presentation If you are going to meet a client, make sure you respect the dress code they would desire of someone representing their own company. Make sure you are presentable. That may sound absurd, as if I'm writing for a young lad who is about to attend an interview for his first job, but I'll never forget the high-profile Italian witness for whom I once interpreted telling me how he was unable to take his eyes off the dandruff, clothing stain and dirty fingernails of the interpreter I had replaced. I couldn't forget it either. Whenever you meet a new client, present them with a clean, uncluttered business card. By all means strike up an informal conversation to break the ice, but also remember to listen, so that your client can tell you about themselves as well. You will be unable to establish an effective relationship without listening! Education A short brochure or handout explaining your services and how you work also helps to create a strong positive impression and can naturally help facilitate an effective working relationship. If you do not have any literature of your own, use ITI's excellent short booklet "Translation: Getting it right". Client education continues to be vital in our profession and should start as soon as possible. If you are a translation company, you will also gain from providing similar information to your suppliers. ITI corporate member BMP Translations has just done precisely that, bringing out an excellent and very helpful little document that will unquestionably advance its already excellent translator relations and ensure things keep running smoothly. The more such virtuous circles we create, the better. Hospitality If you ever have to receive a customer in your home or office, make sure you prepare a tidy and comfortable area before they arrive and put the mad barking dog and moulting cat in the back garden, as well as doing whatever else it takes, such as tidying the desk, to ensure you create a positive, professional atmosphere reflecting the standard of the service you provide. If nowhere is suitable for one reason or another, simply greet them in the hall and transact your business as quickly as possible, explaining that you are unfortunately in the middle of a very hectic day. That's much better than playing the perfect host in a kitchen still littered with the remnants of last night's takeaway. There's no need to take things to extremes, though. Now that the trend towards homeworking is well established, freelances can be much more relaxed than they were in the past, but it is still essential to create a lasting impression of a well-organised, smoothly-running business. Talking tall It is essential to cultivate an automatic "professional" telephone manner that is always clear and pleasant irrespective of whether you have a headache, have argued with the children, are overburdened with work or whatever. Remember that your customers come to you for solutions. They are not necessarily interested in how you arrive at them and definitely don't want to know about your problems. They almost certainly already have enough of their own and the last thing they want is the additional burden of hearing about yours. It can be a good business strategy to quickly explain how busy you are when negotiating a difficult deadline, but you should never dwell on any negative aspects. Don't take ages refusing a job either, and always be clear about why. Offer an alternative solution if possible, but keep things short. Even if the client in question always makes ridiculous demands, never let your irritation show. If you establish a pattern of being a "moaner" or "bad tempered", you should not be surprised to find it difficult to attract and retain customers. A flustered demeanour can have the same negative consequences. You need to sound confident if your customer is to have confidence in you. Get into the habit of automatically switching to "business mode" as soon as you answer the phone, whatever is happening around you. Commonsense though this may be, you'd be surprised how many times I have heard complaints about "rude" translators and interpreters - something which does not, naturally, advance our professional standing. This is something that also applies to the level of debate within the profession. All too often disagreements descend into ad hominem attacks, including in our own publications, all of which are equally detrimental. Workload organisation It is essential for us to plan our availability carefully, building appropriate safety margins into our diary, to ensure we are able to guarantee prompt delivery of all work and provide reliable estimates as soon as we are contacted. A potential new customer is hardly likely to be impressed if we are unable to provide immediate accurate information on our availability. It should go without saying that all work is delivered when agreed or in advance of the deadline. I know that we have all experienced and told each other endless stories of urgent deadlines which proved to be entirely unnecessary, with the hapless translator discovering that the end client didn't actually need their translation until many days after delivery, but that is entirely irrelevant. Apart from the fact that there will inevitably be many jobs that are required precisely when agreed, it is an integral part of professionalism to deliver exactly what is agreed when agreed. If we are amateurs doing a favour, it might be acceptable to be a little late because "other things came up", but such excuses - indeed any excuses - have no place in good business practice. And yet, one of the commonest complaints from translation companies and end customers alike regards failure to deliver on time, often "explained" with quite laughable excuses ranging from "I had to do the shopping" to "but I had booked to go to that concert months before". It is never acceptable to sacrifice a business commitment to your personal life. If you have personal commitments that could cause difficulties with delivery, simply refuse the job. Planning for disaster Even the best-laid plans will occasionally be derailed by events that are entirely beyond our control, such as accidents and illness. There are two ways of responding to these problems, the most "professional" being to plan in advance so that you have a backup system. There are many advantages to working with a colleague who can, for example, proofread your work and vice versa, but also take on work you are unable to start or complete due to problems of this nature. If, for one reason or another, you do not have an agreement like this, it is vital to inform your customer as soon as possible and help them make other arrangements, including by finding and if necessary testing an alternative supplier. A common mistake amongst dedicated translators is to soldier on when ill in the unrealistic hope of making a deadline and to do so without informing your customer, leaving them unable to make alternative arrangements when at the 11th hour it becomes quite clear that the impossible was, after all, impossible. There is no place for uncertainty in business. We must always make cast-iron arrangements to ensure we deliver on our promises. Work procedures Many translators make the mistake of not subjecting every job they are considering to a thorough examination before accepting it. They will, therefore, occasionally find themselves in deep water that constrains them to make a difficult decision: do they admit that the job is beyond their certain capabilities or muddle on in the hope that it will come out all right in the end? For the sake of our profession, always do the former. A pretty safe general rule is that if you are uncertain whether your translation is entirely correct, the chances are that at least some of it will not be. It is quite simply not worth taking the risk either for our individual reputations or that of our institute and the profession as a whole. Extraordinarily, the two greatest defects in translation (and interpreting for that matter) concern the basics of appropriate terminology and adequate research. Spreading ourselves too thinly Strangely enough in an age of increasing specialisation, most translation companies do not specialise and the same goes for most translators. In both cases, the single most frequent reason is a fear of not obtaining enough business. Low rates, following over a decade of largely price-based competition, have also left most translators rushing their work, encouraged by ill-considered deadlines, and the combination of these two factors has led to a general fall in standards. Let me expand on that. Everything we do, assuming that we don't just specialise in one subject that we know like the back of our hands, needs to be verified and researched. The fact that a given word occurs in a dictionary does not mean that it is appropriate in every context. We need to verify that it is. We can do this by checking in various dictionaries, reference books or now on the Internet. The plural here is essential. We must be able to confirm our choice across a variety of material and web sites, paying particular attention to ensure that the latter are not themselves perhaps unreliable translations. Leafing through the Yellow Pages and calling a specialist to confirm our choices is a further possibility. Indeed, It can not only help us resolve difficult terminological and other problems, but can also prove excellent marketing, demonstrating a level of "professionalism" that gains new clients. Research is likewise essential to ensure that we understand our subject matter. It still amazes me to hear experienced and well-respected translators joking about completing work that they did not understand. If we do not understand a text we are translating we should have refused the job, since we will be absolutely unable to guarantee that we have made the appropriate choices. To get back to our little business of definitions, as a professional we are being paid to deliver a service, not give it "our best shot". Every single text we handle has been designed to "do a job" and generally requires rewriting if it is to do the same job in another culture and language. If we are unable to ensure it achieves that goal, then we are not doing ours. I'll get back to this later. In other words, it's not acceptable to deliver a text full of doubts and unresolved problems (although it is certainly acceptable and indeed desirable to alert the client to every potential ambiguity). It is simply unacceptable to highlight problems we claim were impossible to resolve, when a five-minute Internet search by the client is all it takes to turn up the answer. It is our job to resolve all these problems and provide robust solutions, presenting (and being prepared to discuss) alternatives were the meaning of the original is not as clear as it could be or where there is a certain latitude of interpretation in the target language. Rewriting At the risk of sounding like one of those bright-eyed and bushy-tailed American marketing gurus, every problem is an opportunity. Although the problems we have examined are symptomatic of an industry that is in many ways not meeting its clients' needs, each of them also represents an area in which we are able to demonstrate our professionalism and advance our profession. Two of the most widely-repeated comments that are endemic of the malaise in the translation industry generally go together and are firstly: "but the source text is so badly written!" and secondly:" and at the rate I'm being paid, I'm certainly not going to spend time improving on it in the translation". The problem with the first comment is that it is often entirely wrong. The texts in question would certainly have been very badly written had they been written that way in the target language, but were in fact following accepted practice in their source culture and language. More often than not, the first comment indicates a frightening degree of unfamiliarity with the language as it is used and, even more so, of practices and manners in the culture of the source language. Nonetheless, the criticism doesn't just identify a problem, it identifies an opportunity: an opportunity to demonstrate our insight, understanding and (dare I say it?) professionalism, perceiving the goal of the original text and ensuring that it is achieved by the translation. Because professional translation isn't a matter of providing foreign words, but ensuring a desired action or effect is achieved in the target culture. Unfortunately, it is an opportunity that is so often missed as a result of the attitude displayed in the second comment, which creates a sad vicious circle in which translations fail to produce documents that achieve their users' goals and confirm the general impression that translation does not merit a professional feed, but is an activity akin to copy typing that requires little understanding or intellect and generates generally unusable results without the subsequent intervention of a "true" professional. So although our first quote recognises an opportunity, our second quote knocks it flat, refusing to do the work that we recognise is required for the translation to achieve its purpose, despite implicitly acknowledging this work is required. Meaning and purpose Translators and interpreters increasingly distinguish their approach to translation from that of "linguists", with explanations that run something along the lines of "whereas a linguist is interested in faithfully rendering the meaning of each individual word and reflecting the original structure of each sentence, a translator needs to leave the source language structures behind them and seek to convey the original meaning as it would be expressed in the target language by a native speaker". The distinction can certainly be helpful, but is at the same time both artificial and insufficient. It also makes outdated assumptions about linguistic theory, which - following the wave of new thinking sparked by the rediscovery of Saussure - in many cases no longer sees meaning as something that can simply be squeezed out of a text the way one might squeeze water out of a sponge. What becomes more pertinent, therefore, is what a text or indeed an utterance "wants" or desires. The linguists therefore provide us with an interesting quality paradigm that can happily cover everything from literary translation through to interpreting and takes us nicely back to professionalism and purpose, because we now have a quality metric that works in the same way as when we, for example, purchase a motorcar. The question is "is it fit for purpose?" rather than "is it "faithful" to the original", since the translation may need to "betray" the source text in order be faithful to its desire. Continued here (Part two)

First published in ITI Bulletin, 2004.