Poll: How much of the work you receive do you think is created by non-native speakers?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Dec 31, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How much of the work you receive do you think is created by non-native speakers?".

This poll was originally submitted by Annett Hieber. View the poll results »



 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 06:09
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
None Dec 31, 2019

All projects are created by native speakers.

Happy New Year to you all!


Arabic & More
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 05:09
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Dec 31, 2019

I can’t put a percentage on it. It’s extremely variable and more often than not it depends on the client. Some clients send me what is clearly an original text written by a native, but some clients send me a translation (mostly in English, in general of good quality). I know from experience that most of the texts coming from the EU Institutions (the bulk of my work) have many contributors and are occasionally something of a patchwork rug as they go through many hands before reaching me.

LUIGI VENTURA
Muriel Vasconcellos
 
Arabic & More
Arabic & More  Identity Verified
Jordan
Arabic to English
+ ...
Non-native speakers of what? Dec 31, 2019

I didn't fully understand the question. As Thayenga noted, all projects are created by native speakers (of some language).

 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:09
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
I don't know..... Dec 31, 2019

..... never kept record, but what I do know is that a lot of those 'native speakers' apparently skipped primary school.

Minna Bäckman
Ventnai
Muriel Vasconcellos
 
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Germany
Local time: 06:09
English to German
In memoriam
Can be as high as 50% Dec 31, 2019

I'm doing a lot of translations for Asian companies where the content is first translated to English and then English is used as the source for translating into other languages. These English sources seem to be created by non-native speakers in many cases, and vary in quality. This applies particularly to video game content, but also to technical content.

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 02:09
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
At least 1/3 Dec 31, 2019

I'm sure many of the documents I receive were either created by non-native speakers or, most commonly, translated from another language, like Chinese, into English, and then distributed to several translators to translate from English to their native languages. That's because it's easy to find Chinese-English translators, but not so easy for Chinese-Other Languages.

 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
All projects are created by native speakers Dec 31, 2019

All projects are created by native speakers of different languages.

 
Ventnai
Ventnai  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 06:09
German to English
+ ...
Almost none Dec 31, 2019

I think my source documents are written by native German speakers [although I do wonder sometimes ]. In the past, I may have received German texts written by Czechs or Swedes.

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 22:09
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Maybe 20% Jan 1, 2020

Like Teresa,

Teresa Borges wrote:

I know from experience that most of the texts coming from the [MV: international organizations] (the bulk of my work) have many contributors and are occasionally something of a patchwork rug as they go through many hands before reaching me.


Many of my documents are a hodge-podge of contributions which are then reviewed by non-native officials. However, I also receive long studies written by only one person. Shorter documents tend to have a single author.

The worst challenge I ever had was a pharmaceutical document written originally in German and translated into Portuguese by a speaker of German who knew the technical terminology but nothing else about the language. It was totally incomprehensible.


 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:09
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
I think the question would be more relevant if you think of English as the source language Jan 1, 2020

Admit it or not, a lot of non-native speakers write English documents in their jobs but it is hard to believe documents of any other languages could be written by non-native speakers on a large scale.

For example, if you are talking about the Chinese - English pair, it has hardly happened, and it would hardly happen, that a document would be written by a native English speaker.

This is what the world is about.

[Edited at 2020-01-01 03:41 GMT]


 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:09
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
The translation circle is very different in China Jan 1, 2020

Kay-Viktor Stegemann wrote:

I'm doing a lot of translations for Asian companies where the content is first translated to English and then English is used as the source for translating into other languages. These English sources seem to be created by non-native speakers in many cases, and vary in quality. This applies particularly to video game content, but also to technical content.


You often see a Chinese linguist translate between his or her 2nd and 3rd languages. A lot of colleges offer degrees that requires the students to learn 2 foreign languages. It would not be surprising if you hear someone tell you his or her major in college is English/Korean or English/Greek. This makes the society believe these college grads can translate (or are supposed to translate) between English and Korean or between English and Greek.

[Edited at 2020-01-01 09:06 GMT]


 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 00:09
German to English
+ ...
I don't understand the question or where it might be going Jan 6, 2020

The work I receive are translation requests. It can be a company that wants to sell its product to an English speaking entity, or understand a request for a bid. It can be a law firm representing a client, or an agency working for a law firm representing a client. People need translations for many reasons. Sometimes the document was written by them, sometimes they received a document, sometimes they need to process a document. They will have been written (created) by all kinds of people. I... See more
The work I receive are translation requests. It can be a company that wants to sell its product to an English speaking entity, or understand a request for a bid. It can be a law firm representing a client, or an agency working for a law firm representing a client. People need translations for many reasons. Sometimes the document was written by them, sometimes they received a document, sometimes they need to process a document. They will have been written (created) by all kinds of people. Is that what "created by" means? Or is the fact of requesting a translation considered "creating" work? I admit that I'm lost.Collapse


 
Anne Gaujard-Scott
Anne Gaujard-Scott  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 06:09
Member (2016)
English to French
Quite a lot! Jan 6, 2020

In the institutional and international development fields that I deal with, a lot of source documents are probably drafted in English by teams gathering people from different nationalities. It can be very frustrating and time-consuming when you find a lot of mistakes or when you are not quite sure the author means exactly what is written... Funnily enough, I sometimes end up re-translating into French something that a French native speaker has (painfully) tried to express in English... The joys ... See more
In the institutional and international development fields that I deal with, a lot of source documents are probably drafted in English by teams gathering people from different nationalities. It can be very frustrating and time-consuming when you find a lot of mistakes or when you are not quite sure the author means exactly what is written... Funnily enough, I sometimes end up re-translating into French something that a French native speaker has (painfully) tried to express in English... The joys of working on European Parliament translations!Collapse


 


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Poll: How much of the work you receive do you think is created by non-native speakers?






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