Chinese

All presentations are in English unless otherwise noted.

C-1 (T, 1:45pm-3:15pm) - All Levels
Chinese Language Division Annual Meeting
Frank Y. Mou (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), freelance translator and administrator, ATA Chinese Language Division

C-2 (T, 3:30pm-5:00pm) - All Levels
Review/Proofreading of Translation Products: An Ordeal or Enjoyment?
Yuanxi Ma (Chicago, Illinois), director of translation, China Practice Group of Baker & McKenzie International Law Firm; and Elizabeth A. Tu (Cincinnati, Ohio), president, E. Tu Associates, Inc.

This presentation attempts to address issues a reviewer may encounter while proofreading Chinese«English translations. Such issues may include: the position reviewers should place themselves in; the attitude reviewers may, or should, take toward the product in front of them; the constraints reviewers will encounter; what reviewers must revise and what they can ignore; and how realistically reviewers should "finalize" the translation product. The discussion will be substantiated with examples taken from translation works being reviewed. Can a reviewer ever enjoy his or her work? If so, how? Participants will have a chance to answer this question.

C-3 (F, 10:15am-11:45am) - All Levels
The Cognitive Process of Translators at Work: A Protocol Study
Ran Zhao (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), student of applied linguistics, Carnegie Mellon University

This presentation discusses a study which investigated the cognitive processes of four translators (graduate students at Beijing Foreign Studies University) when they translated a text from English into Chinese. The students were asked to translate a two-paragraph text, and their concurrent think-aloud protocols were audiotaped. The analysis of the protocol data revealed that a translator functions in a variety of roles during a short translation task (as reader, transcoder, negotiator, and critic). The study offers a new way of conceptualizing the process of translation.

[CANCELED] C-4 (F, 1:45pm-3:15pm) - All Levels
Simplified Versus Traditional Chinese: What Every Translation Agency Should Know
Claire Liu (Oregon House, California), freelance English®Chinese translator; and Jessie Lu (Richmond, Virginia), freelance English®Chinese translator

Although the Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters used in Taiwan and Hong Kong are based on the same writing system, variations exist which can be traced to cultural differences and the prolonged political separation of the two regions. The most important issue for Chinese translation users dealing with an English®Chinese translation project is to first determine the target country, and then, when possible, to select translators and editors whose native languages best fit those areas.

C-5 (F, 3:30pm-5:00pm) - All Levels
How to Identify Quality Chinese Translators
Frank Y. Mou (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), freelance translator and administrator, ATA Chinese Language Division

With widespread Internet use, it has never been so easy to find translators online in all languages. The speaker will share his personal experiences with the audience and propose some procedures and criteria to identify quality Chinese«English translators. There will also be a discussion of some of the requirements Chinese translators need to satisfy, such as quality, cost, and turnaround time, in order to maintain a long-term relationship with an agency.

(Related Sessions: Agencies, Bureaus, Companies (ABC-12), Chinese Translation Project Management: A Chinese Project Manager's Perspective; Interpreting (I-12), Nuts and Bolts on Different Types of Interpreting; and Translators and Computers (TAC-6), Website Visibility Strategies for the Chinese Market)