Traduction Proteus Inc / Ann Marie Boulanger, CTr

How one woman's well-intentioned localization of US English to UK English caused an international incident... "Fastidiously typing in the memo, and not knowing what the document was or its origins, I’d changed all the American spelling mistakes to British English. Recognize became recognise, and emphasize emphasise. Favorable was amended to favourable. I thought I was being helpful. Instead, it was a disaster." https://www.theguardian.com//international-incident-work-m

Part of why I love my job is the medical translation aspect of it. Some days that consists of lovely, legible, typed medical reports, and other days it's things like this. Granted, I've had many years of practice, but I can still be stumped when the doctor's handwriting is as atrocious as this. But I've learned that this type of translation is very much like doing a jigsaw puzzle: Pick out a few pieces and fit them together, search carefully for the pieces you need (i.e., ...do research based on what you've managed to decipher), and take a step back to look at the bigger picture (i.e., read any other parts of the report that are legible and/or already in English for clues). In the end, the puzzle usually comes together, although sometimes not without a few missing pieces (indicated as [illegible])!

And Now You Know... :) The word "fraud" cannot be used as a verb in English as a translation for "frauder" (...l’intention de frauder l’assureur). You can "defraud" or "commit fraud against" an insurer, but you cannot "fraud" an insurance company (or anyone else!). #translation #translator #freelance

My translation of an excerpt from "La femme de Valence" by Annie Perreault (Editions Alto) is up on Québecreads this morning. It's a riveting start to a great book! **EDIT**: New link: https://medium.com//la-femme-de-valence-an-excerpt-in-tran

I have a new translation on Quebec Reads (Québecreads) this morning! An excerpt from FEUE, by Ariane Lessard Bonne lecture!