We have been talking about the importance of “Conformity” to ensure translation quality. The second Best Practice in the Conformity is to Verify Your Verbs. This means that we must debunk the myth that we don’t need to spend much time on choosing the right verb tenses when translating. The reality is that not all verb tenses exist in all languages, so you must look for clues to know which tenses to use your translation, and pay attention to verb sequencing.
The best strategy is to become familiar with logical time markers, corresponding verb tenses, and how to compensate for tenses that exist in only one of the languages.
Incorrect verbs not only go against language standards, but they can hinder logic in a translation. Less experienced translators often have difficulty with two aspects of verbs. First, they may be unsure about how to translate verb tenses that exist in the source language but have no equivalent in the target language. With training, you can know how to compensate for this problem.
Secondly, translators sometimes have difficulty identifying which verb tense to use in a certain situation or sequence. I train translators to watch for clues such as time markers to know when certain tenses are required, and to use a timeline to keep verbs in the correct tense/sequence.
So on your next translation project, pay special attention to verb tenses and verb sequencing. Next week, we will talk about the final Conformity best practice: Take Care of the Details.
Have a great day!
Liane 🙂
