Interview w/ Paul Dixon

Paul Dixon started working on Translation in 1992, on a part-time basis, but never stopped, therefore in 2010 decided to take the leap and go full time on the job. Born in UK specialized in PT-EN-PT translations of technical texts such as financial reports and contracts, articles, etc.

Let's take a closer look on his path!

1 – Is your academic background in translation or in another field?

I graduated in Mathematics and School Administration from the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

2 – How long have you been working as a translator?

My first translations were at two companies where I taught English, back in 1992. After returning from two years in the UK, in 1995, I started working as a translator, first on a part-time basis and full time since 2010.

3 – What pairs of languages do you work with?

I translate from English to Brazilian Portuguese and also from Portuguese to English.

4 – Are you a technical or a literary translator?

I am a technical translator, and also translate more general subjects such as journalistic articles, contracts and documents, and reports on real estate valuations.

5 – What does translation mean to you?

I find translation an extremely interesting profession, as I have the opportunity to learn about different areas while I work. I have translated nearly everything, from police reports to a text about diarrhoea in horses.

6 – How do you deal with the difference between your literary preferences and translating different types of documents?

I have never thought about this issue.

7 – Has your work as a translator in any way influenced your point of view as a reader?

No, I don’t think so. As a reader, I have my favourite authors, such as Shakespeare, but this was not influenced by my translation activities. I do not read much, but my interest in Shakespeare was kindled by an excellent teacher I had when I was 13, who brought Shakespeare to life.

8 – What do you consider most pleasing when you translate? What do you consider most difficult and problematic?

I have had some very interesting assignments, the most pleasant being a series of newsflashes about the World Cup. These were short texts which had to be translated at the crack of dawn (6 a.m. here, due to the time zone difference between Brazil and Europe) to be divulged in Europe. I like football and the issues were very different (infra-structure, stadiums, matches, and even cases of overpricing of stadium construction and supplies), so this was pleasant. In general, I like making the text interesting to the reader and adapting it where necessary. I would find it difficult and problematic if I had to translate something against my principles. For example, I would never translate homophobic texts, or subjects such as bomb manufacture.

9 – At a time when amateur translators always appear on the Internet, seeking microjobs, what importance do you assign to the work of an official translator?

Taking the term ‘official translator’ as being a professional translator who does the job as a whole, I believe the work of one professional translator gives greater credibility to the text and, hence, to the company. In addition, the division of work between several people always has a risk of different terms being used, as well as different linguistic styles – meaning that the proof-reader would have extra work.

10 – Finally, as a translator, do you feel threatened by machine translation programmes such as Google Translate?

Not right now, but I am concerned with the steady improvement in the quality shown by machine translation programmes and other automatic translation systems. In ten years or so this could be a major problem for professional human translators, taking work away and also bringing prices down. Unfortunately we live in a world where price is often the first criterion when choosing a supplier (of any service, not just translation), and when machine translation gets to be of quality comparable to a human translator, this could have a devastating effect on our profession.