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Tim Clark gave a presentation on January 18, 2003, illustrating the need to ask (1) what it is, (2) what it's for, and (3) who it's for before you agree to undertake any translation job. Not only do you need to know these things to do a better job, they will also help you move to value pricing.
Download the full PowerPoint presentation (248KB).
Excerpt
You're probably wondering why I am on this Seven Dwarfs kick. Over the past couple of years I must have watched the Walt Disney animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at least 47 times in both Japanese and English. This film, the world's first ever full-length color motion picture feature film, was made 66 years ago, yet it is better than any other Disney film I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of Disney films. It has better animation, better characterization, better dialogue and more compelling music and messages. It is truly a remarkable movie.
Aside from the sheer quality, another thing that is remarkable about this movie is that I enjoy it every bit as much as does my three-year-old daughter. Unlike newer films that have "adult-only" subtext and jokes that children don't understand, every bit of this film truly appeals to all ages.
After watching this movie so many times, I also became aware of how well it was localized. One scene in particular set me to thinking about the process of translation and forms the basis for the discussion today.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is, of course, a fantasy, and in that spirit what I'd like to do today is make believe that our group here (JAT) is a translation agency going through the process of localizing a particular scene from the movie. First we will translate the scene. Then we will compare our translation with the official Disney translation. Finally, we will work backwards from the official translation to see how the language choices came about. In the process, we will make use of a very simple tool that I hope will illustrate some points about both the art and the business of translation that may prove useful. In so doing, I think there are four lessons the Seven Dwarfs can teach us about translation.