By Jocelyn Eikenburg由jocelyn eikenburg

“I hired a student from a local university to do my translation…and it ended up hurting my reputation.” “我聘请了一位学生从本地一所大学做我的翻译… …和它结束了伤害我的名誉” 。

This was the story I heard from a business contact I met with a couple of weeks ago.这是我听到的故事，从一个业务联系我会见了几个星期前。 He works for a large chemical manufacturer with a presence in China, and they needed their website translated into Chinese.他的作品为一大型化工制造商与驻留在中国，他们需要在自己的网站翻译成中文。 His choice was to hire a local student from China for the job.他的选择是聘请本地专上学生从中国来的工作。 Once he presented the translation to his Chinese business partners, they weren’t impressed — the errors actually made him and his company look less professional in their eyes.一旦他介绍了他翻译的中国商业伙伴，他们不是留下深刻的印象-的错误，其实他和他的公司看看较少的专业，在他们眼中。

My point here isn’t to criticize Chinese students.我的意思是不是在这里批评的中国学生。 There are no doubt Chinese students studying here in the US who can produce fine translations.有毫无疑问，中国留学生在这里，在美国谁可以产生良好的翻译。 But without knowing their abilities, you’re always taking a chance and, ultimately, putting your company’s reputation on the line.但不知道他们的能力，您总是以一个机会，并最终把贵公司的声誉就行。 Keep in mind also that, since they are students and usually new to US business culture, they will miss the nuances or terms that are so second nature to us we don’t even realize they’re idiomatic or culture-specific.请记住，还指出，因为他们是学生，通常新的美国商业文化，他们会怀念的细微差别或条件，那么第二次的性质，给我们的我们甚至不知道他们正在成语或特定文化。

I always remind people that, between me (US native fluent in Mandarin Chinese) and my husband (Chinese national fluent in English), we understand the business cultures of the US and China.我总是提醒人们，之间的我（美国本土流利的国语，中文）及我的丈夫（中国全国流利的英语） ，据我们了解，商业文化，美国和中国。 We also cover the entire linguistic field and, when we collaborate on a translation, the result is the message you intended in the first place.我们还涵盖整个语言学领域，当我们合作，对翻译，结果是你的信息，打算摆在首位。

Seems simple enough — that translation was meant to translate exactly what you wrote in the beginning.似乎很简单-翻译是指翻译究竟你写在开始的。 But sometimes your intention isn’t enough to get it right.但有时你的意图是不足够的获得，它的权利。

Jocelyn Eikenburg, jocelyn eikenburg ， http://www.thewuway.net http://www.thewuway.net