Translation errors cause disputes over contracts
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E-mail China Daily, March 23, 2012
Some expressions are sanctioned by usage instead of literal interpretation, which are well-known by industry insiders but are strange to common translators, according to Jin Xiaofeng, a judge in the court.
"There are loads of translation agencies in Shanghai and in the nation, but the quality is varied, and professional translators that have expertise in a particular aspect are scarce," he said.
Some managers of translation agencies said some of their fellow translators accept any business and assign the work to college students doing part-time jobs instead of lawyers to save costs.
"It's difficult to translate contracts even if the student translator outperforms his or her classmates in a foreign language university," said Zhang Suping, who has been in the trade for nearly a decade.
Full-time translators at the agencies are not that skillful in working on contract translation work, he added, otherwise they would work for legal departments of foreign enterprises and law firms, which would bring in better pay.
Li Yan, a college teacher in Shanghai who has worked part time for a translation agency for two years, said she first seeks help from professional and translation websites when she bumps into topics she is unfamiliar with or even ignorant about.
"I'll also refer to professional online periodicals, which are reliable for being proofread before publication," she said, adding she gets translation work in various subjects from the agency.
Chao Ying-jan, a freelance translator based in Shanghai and Taiwan, said the ability to find valid research is crucial for professional translators in the Internet age.
"Online research has become much less time-consuming but not necessarily trustworthy. Cross-checking and verification have become more important," she said.
Translation companies need to put emphasis on training translators in specialized fields and on the study of translation methods for contracts that are internationally accepted, said Xie Chen, vice-president of the Shanghai Maritime Court.
He suggested training an expert panel with government funds to deal with translation and other document work in technical fields to help realize Shanghai's mission of becoming an international shipping center by 2020.
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