Summer reading

Here are my summer books this year, so it won't be much of a holiday...

At the moment I'm fascinated by the whole intersect between translation and good writing. As experienced practitioners know, there are two extremes to be avoided: one is sticking too closely to a source text and producing a plodding, turgid target piece that fails to pass on the intended message of the original; the other extreme is a free translation that says more (and often less) than the original text. In the middle of this, the translator must "find his or her voice" (to use Ros Schwartz's expression from the Financial Translation Summer School this year).

My gut feeling is that specialisation (again!) is the name of the game. As a seasoned financial writer, I know my way around my subject - and have drafted financial articles directly in English. I know what may be omitted, and what must be left in.

Anyone who has worked in the translation business for more than 10 minutes knows what it's like to be "out of one's depth" in a text. This is the feeling we have while learning the trade. Enter the more experienced team member to revise the junior translator's text.

Once we have earned our stripes, I believe that we should not stray too far outside our area(s) of expertise. And in the financial and business arena, there are plenty of sub-specialisations to be developed, from financial statements (using the right IFRS terminology, of course) and macroeconomics to fund reports and currency roundups.

Horses for courses...