Nojeok Hill: My View from the Top

This Translation Isn't Perfect!

The objective for any translation project should be "perfection". But squeezing that last 2% out of a delivery can be a big chore, to say the least. I asked my brother-in-law in the newspaper business what they do to ensure perfection there and here's what he replied:

Hey Steven,

Here’s how it happens on the newspaper end.  First off the story goes from the writer to their immediate editor who is looking for factual errors.  Once it clears that desk it goes to the copydesk where a copy editor edits it for grammar, spelling, inconsistencies and anything else that the city desk editor missed.  This is the most thorough edit the story will receive.  Once it is printed on the page the story and its supporting parts (headlines, cutlines, photos, pull quotes, etc…) are page proofed to make sure everything works together as a package and makes sense.  Then before it goes out the door there is something called a press check which is usually done by a copy editor who physically stands at the end of the press machine and takes a random sampling of newspapers coming off the press to check for any glaring errors.  Probably more information than you were looking for.  Hope it helps.

Take care,

Joe

In translation, we're going one step back, starting from a different language. But when was the last time a client was ready with a budget to cover even half of what a newspaper does? I always apologize for mistakes, but in the back of my mind, I also keep this little comparison between the translation and newspaper businesses in mind.

Tips on Learning Korean Vocabulary

I made the following video in response to a KBC member's question about learning Korean vocabulary. Click here to visit the discussion on this topic. It's also a contribution to the KBC Community Soapbox.

 

About Koreans and Their Attitudes Toward Translators

An associate asked me about studying to be a Korean translator recently. He did so in the context of trying to get a job in Korea. Unfortunately, while translation is a noble profession and one that pays well and for which there's a demand for good talent, it is not a job to take if you want to improve your reputation in Korea or get a high-paying job here. This is how I replied to my associate's question:

"Korean professionals don't respect translators; it's as simple as that. I've sensed it for years from many people, but got a rude wake-up call from my Korean accountant recently. He's a fellow student at Hanyang and we'd had classes together. I went for tax advice to him about a year and a half ago and a couple months ago I went back to him to register my business in Korea.

When I mentioned how much I make, he just about fell out of his seat and responded, "Oh, I thought translation was just what unemployed people do!"... and it turns out that the advice he gave me a year and a half ago was wrong... because he had taken me so lightly knowing I was a translator, he hadn't bothered to properly consider my situation. Just figured that if I said I was a translator, I surely wasn't making enough to worry about Korean taxes and blew me off...

So, that pretty much sums up what a translation degree will do for you in the Korean business world. In the mind of Koreans, it two steps up from English teacher... This, incidentally, is why I went back to school in Korea... so I could stop telling Koreans I'm a translator and start talking to them about serious subjects. :-)

Sorry to sound so negative... it's just that I've been through it myself already... And by the way, Americans DO respect translators...

Steven"

Closing Greetings for Korean Emails

I've got a colleague here in Korea, Dong-Hyuk Kim (pictured at right), who always closes his emails with the most creative and charming expressions. I'm collecting some of them here for safekeeping:

달콤한 휴식을 즐기는행복한 저녁 보내세요.

가을의 정취와 더불어즐거운 하루 보내세요.

맑고 향기로운 하루 보내세요.

상쾌한 하루 보내세요.

좋은 하루 보내세요.

즐거운 주말 보내세요.

편안한 시간 보내세요.

빗소리를 벗삼아 즐거운 하루 보내세요.

유쾌한 주말 보내세요.

행복한 주말 보내세요.

유쾌한 오후 보내세요.

참, 좋은 하루 보내세요.

편안한 저녁 보내세요.

활기찬 오후 보내세요.

빗소리를 들으면서 아련한 옛 추억과 함께 낭만을 즐기는 참, 좋은 하루 보내세요.

시원한 하루 보내세요.

편안한 밤 보내세요.

힘찬 새해 시작하세요.

즐거운 저녁 보내세요.

즐거운 휴일 보내세요.

기쁨이 넘치는 활기찬 하루 보내세요.

기분 좋은 주말 보내세요.

웃음이 빵빵 터지는 유쾌한 주말 보내세요.

점심, 맛있게 드시구요 힘찬 오후 보내세요.

환절기에 감기 조심하시구요, 즐거운 한 주일 보내세요.

봄의 기운과 더불어 즐거운 하루 보내세요.

날마다 활기찬 하루 보내세요.

Korean Translation Project Kick-Off Questionnaire

When working with direct clients, I make it a point to get a few matters clarified in advance, since I've found that the answers to certain questions are important in deciding on a project workflow that delivers the best work in the most efficient manner and meets client expectations. 

The following is the questionnaire I share with prospective clients and I offer it here for others to use also. If you work in languages other than Korean, just change the language and you'll be ready to go!

 

 Click here to download Korean Translation Project Kick-Off Questionnaire in Word file format.

About Dialects of Korean and Deciding Which To Use For Your Korean Translation Projects

Standard Korean used in Seoul is the only acceptable form of written Korean for 99.9% of translation projects

Of course, the North Koreans would disagree with this and the forms of South and North Korean have changed a lot over the years such that they are really two different dialects now. But considering that there is virtually no translation being commissioned for the North Korean market, it is safe to ignore the North Korean dialect in all cases.

In South Korea, there are three major regional dialects, mostly differing from the Seoul standard in terms of spoken accent, but none of these would be considered a proper form of written Korean for any kind of business, legal or technical purpose.

Clients will sometimes ask that a particular translation be matched to a specific overseas Korean community, such as Korean-Americans or Korean-Australians, but regardless of the way overseas Koreans have come to mix their spoken Korean with the local language, the only acceptable written version of Korean in these communities would also be the Seoul standard.

This keeps things simple since it means that there is only one dialect of Korean that you need to be concerned about for your Korean translation projects.

What Are the Real Benefits to Learning Korean in Korea?

A member on Korea Business Central seems to be losing enthusiasm for studying Korean and posted a discussion question this week asking what he's really going to get out of the effort if he just wants to work in Korea. Seeing as how Koreans in business generally want to learn English and often don't place value on the efforts of foreigners to learn Korean, it's not hard to understand this KBC member's doubts. I think it takes a deeper perspective to fully appreciate the situation; here's how I replied to him:

"This is a very interesting question because it seems like the answer should be obvious, but as you pointed out, it's not.

Nobody is going to hire you in Korea simply because you speak Korean well. Why would they? And having mediocre Korean in the workplace is no better than no Korean at all, in most situations. In general, I've found that Koreans trying to learn English are less than thrilled to meet Korean-speaking foreigners, unless the foreigner's Korean is significantly better than their own English. And I definitely agree that getting from intermediate to advanced is going to take a whole lot longer than it took to get from beginner to intermediate.

But I don't think this is the whole story. If you speak Korean, then you're not left getting only the information Koreans choose to share with you; you've got direct access to the "primary sources". This is extremely important in countless subtle ways. And as David Yeo shared above, you can build stronger bonds with those around you both through the language and through cultural understanding (though I don't necessarily agree that Korean is better suited to emotional expression than English; both languages seem equally robust in this regard).

I think you also earn respect from Koreans you work with if you prove your mettle through Korean skills, and this can be a huge asset in business. Don't underestimate the value here. Foreigners who've been in Korean for decades but haven't learned Korean properly are kidding themselves if they think the Koreans around them don't look down on them, at least in limited ways, and this is in spite of what Koreans will tell them. Ironically, I find that foreigners who've learned Korean tend to be more understanding of Korean shortcomings (especially lack of English skills) than those who haven't learned Korean.

If you've got language skills in a business setting, it means you're closer to functioning as an equal and not as someone who's there as an English chat buddy and/or who continuously needs to be explained to. If you see yourself staying and working in Korea over the long-term, I encourage you to redouble your language learning efforts and to never be satisfied with your current ability level."
 

Click here to read the rest of the discussion, including insightful comments by other Korea Business Central members.

On Charging for Additional Translation Reviews

The handling of client feedback is often a challenge.

Clients will sometimes do a proofreading or other review of our work and then send it back with questions and revisions. Oftentimes, these involve unnecessary changes to the translation or questions which reflect an ignorance of Korean. Of course, I don't expect clients to know about my business; that's my job. And if they want to rephrase some stuff in the translation even if it wasn't wrong when we delivered, that's their right, too. But while I try to be flexible, I don't necessary consider this additional hand-holding to be part of our standard delivery; I feel that clients requesting additional service should recognize it as an added-value, which is billable.

The problem is that clients often expect this follow-up service to be included in the original project costt. OK, I could build a buffer into the rate to cover this. But then that's not fair to the clients who don't come to claim their "lesson in the nuances of Korean" and ultimately, it reduces my competitiveness for the very clients who require the least additional support (i.e. the kind I want to attract).

Another issue that comes to play is that there are good ways to ask for follow-up support and bad ways to do it. If the cost of the follow-up isn't borne by the client, then it gives no motivation to aim for efficiency. For example, making revisions to a Word file translation using Tracked Changes means that when we go through to review, we can see exactly what's been changed and do our review quickly. But sending back a file that's been revised and asking us to do a final review without telling us what's been changed means we have to review everything and it takes more time.

There's also the issue that when a client sends back a re-edited document for us to review, what they're really telling us to do is to take responsibility for the new version. Put this way, the added-value aspect really makes even better sense.

Here's a reply I sent to a client recently who asked us to build the review cost into our original rate so that they could send us additional work without paying extra. 

"It wouldn't be fair to you if we build in the cost of review not knowing what it will take. If your reviewer has a few objective questions that are clearly marked, then they save us time and I generally wouldn't charge. It's also fine if they want to revise without sending it back to us to then take ultimate responsibility for an updated version. 

But if they just go through and make lots of subjective changes (including introducing some new mistakes) and don't even mark anything and then send it to us for a blessing, then that forces a full text review and is a value-added service for sure."

Certificate of Translation Competence, Grade II

I've got to admit, it's pretty irritating that they put "Semi-professional Level" in English on the certificate. It doesn't say anything like this on the Korean side and it has no correspondence with anything mentioned on the Society website. It was merely the second of three levels offered for the test. They didn't even offer a level three test for Korean > English, nor do they allow Korean > English translators to choose the topic area. These options only exist for English > Korean linguists. Anyway, I hope to have a level one (that's the highest, apparently) certificate soon!

Sept. 19, 2011 Update - Click here for my Certificate of Translation Competence, Grade I.

Four Provisions/Aspects of Agreements with Clients to Which I Pay Special Attention

When I'm sent an NDA/vendor/project/work or other type of agreement by a client requesting my signature, I always take my responsibilities seriously and read through the text. Bless those clients who manage to keep their agreements to 1-2 pages; I've been known to lose patience with the 7-8 pagers and just not get around to reading or signing those.

Here are several things I review carefully, and often change, before signing.

Disclosure of Material

I have signed NDAs on file for my team members and getting work done within our organization requires that I share data with them, on a need-to-know basis. From time-to-time I find the following clause in an agreement I'm asked to sign:

• I shall not disclose the contents of such material to any third party, nor shall I...

I always change this to:

• I shall not disclose the contents of such material to any third party, except to associates with whom a separate non-disclosure agreement has been signed and on a need-to-know basis for the purpose of handling work, nor shall I...

This is just common sense, and I rarely get any kick-back from clients over it.

Data Destruction

Sometimes an agreement will require that I agree to delete/destroy all project data (both digital and physical documents) after the project is complete or on demand should the client request it in the future.

• ...After completion of the project or on request of the client, I agree to delete all project files, and to...

However, I am not willing to agree to this. Not only would it mean having no personal record of work done and no authoritative basis on which to defend our work should there be future complaints, or even lawsuits, regarding our work, but to delete it from my work files and archived files kept in multiple locations, as well as in the archives of my team members is simply unworkable. I'm not out sharing data, but I'm also meticulous about not losing data either and the effort that would have to go into this kind of deletion in the future (presumably without payment) would be unreasonable.

I have lost a job or two over the years by refusing to agree to this data deletion provision (in particular with attorneys, the type of client you definitely DO NOT want to leave yourself data-less for), but I insist on the following addition and it usually doesn't cause any issues:

• ...After completion of the project or on request of the client, I agree to delete all project files, except for digital copies kept for archiving purposes, and to...

Personal or Corporate Signature

Thanks to my personal relationships with clients, often an agreement will come to me to sign which is pre-filled in to be between me ("Steven Bammel") and the client and which requests my signature at the end in my personal capacity.

However, as all work of my company is officially done under the name of Korean Consulting & Translation Service, Inc., my attorney has clearly told me never to sign a work agreement where I, personally, am the one signing.

It's not hard to fix; I simply cross out my name and replace it with the name of my company in the agreement header. And then when I sign, I sign with my name, followed by "President" and then my company name, to make it clear that I am serving in my official capacity.

The only time this is an issue is when an agency client is having me certify a translation but doesn't want their end client to know the name of my company. I certainly sympathize with that interest, since I also don't fully share my client information with vendors or vendor information with clients, but if a client has this requirement, they should look elsewhere for a translator working as a freelancer, not a company like Korean Consulting & Translation Service, Inc.

Special Provision

When I'm sent an agreement which has signature lines for two people (me and my client) to sign, I always add the following to the end:

• Special Provision: This Agreement shall remain valid after [date about a month later] only if a copy of this Agreement (scanned, faxed or original) on which authorized representatives of both parties have signed and dated, including initialing each page, has been received by each party by [date about a month later].

The reason for this is that I got tired of signing agreements and sending them back, only to have the client never bother to return a counter-signed copy to me! In such case, it means my signature is out there indefinitely on agreements that I'm bound to adhere to, but which the other party is not. This special provision simply assures me that should the other party fail to follow-up with their signature in a prompt fashion, the agreement becomes void and it doesn't have the potential to come back and bite me some day later.