Notes

Participants involved in the writing process of technical and scientific texts and ultimately technical and scientific translation:
we have 4 categories of people that are involved in producing the manual.

1- Producers (authors, manufacturers) ==> the manufacturing companies; for example, moulinex is an industrial manufacturing company that produces electrical devices.
* If the manufacturers are well-informed about the topic and good enough, they might be the technical writers of the manual. If they are not, they assign technical writers.
* However, if the company is fully fledged and has a lot of resources and they can afford technical writers, they usually hire technical writers (like us) ==> authors
في ناس بتدرس تخصص كامل تيكنيكال رايتينغ
so, we have manufacturers and authors who are experts hired by the company.
* Technical writers' main job is to communicate technical information.
2- Communication agents (commissioners)
بعد ما يخترعوا الاشي وبدهم مثلا يصدروا لفلسطين
After they invented the machine, they want to explore it to Palestine for example. They need a person from Palestine who is well-informed about the market, people there, their level of education, and their financial situation. THOSE are called COMMISSIONERS/ communication agents.
Without them, it will be very difficult to sell any products.
Now, if the company is fully fledged and can afford to hire a commissioner, they will do. If not, the mediators take the place of commissioners.
يعني مثلا اذا انا بدي اشتغل مع شركة امريكية مصدرة، انا ممكن اكون وكيل وميدياتر بنفس الوقت
Because I know Arabic and am an Arab and I know the target market well. I can make suggestions and assumptions.
مثلا مولينيكس بتتعامل مع سبيتاني
So, communication agents could be full time communication professionals who produce and communicate technical information.
هذا الوسيط لازم يكون خاصة اذا كان ما في
technical writers
يعني مباشرة بحكوا مع المصنعين
Communication agents might not have a lot of knowledge about the topic, but they have good communication skills.
ف زي كان بكون حلقة وصل بين ال
manufacturers (mother company) and users later on.
3- Mediators (translators, editors) الوسطاء
* Many countries forbare products from entering the country unless they are accompanied with translations to the native language of the people living there. So, we definitely need a translator.
* Sometimes companies resort to machine translations; just to meet the requirements of having translation (poor translation).
* Some powerful companies assign editors for translation and technical writing to make sure mistakes not happen (like the gas one)
Sometimes translators are themselves editors (حسب الشركه اديش بتعين ناس)
* Technical translators are paid very well; that's why most companies prefer to translate them by itself without assigning a translator.
طبعا اذا في ميدياتور او لا.. كله ها باثر ع جودة المنتج بالاخير.
4- Recipients: users احنا حاليا كطلاب بنكون ضمن هاي الفئة
There are different types of recipients. If you are talking to a housewife, it's different from talking to an expert.

Recipients (technical translation is technical communication)

1- Expert users: like designers, engineers, IT experts
- they are very informed about the thing.
- they might make quick review for the manual; usually they are in harry (skimming).
when I want to translate to an expert user of the field (مش ضروري
المترجم يكون يعرف لغة النص الاصلي لانه ممكن تكون بالصيني او غيرها..
The translation here is very direct and short; we delete many things from the original text and keep the main things, without giving a lot of explanations.
2- Technicians
If your washing machine broke, you call the technicians. They are informed about the field, but they didn't study that. They have experience. Where they need technical translation?
they often read technical translation in the areas they need.
مثلا شاف انه في تسريب مي, بروح ع الجزء الخاص بتسريب المي
they go to parts like what to do in water leakage.
The language should be clear and easy, in large font.
So, technicians are those who worked in the field for so long that they can perform. But that does not mean they are professionals.
Their need for manuals is more than expert users.

3- Rote users: like us, we have general/ basic knowledge about the product, how to turn it on and off and so on.
so, when I translate to a housewife, the language is different. I might use step by step instructions, short, diagrams and pictures.

4- Novice users: اقل درجة they need a lot of knowledge about it, like people living away from technology and then buy a phone; they didn't know how to deal with it.
Grandfathers and grandmothers are novice users.

In this case, the document is usually full of pictures and explanations.
وزي مقال الايفون بامريكان 3 صفحات وممكن بافريقيا يكون 6 صفحات
- Novice users tend to learn from kids. (kids' explanation tends to be full of similes and very basic vocabulary).
It is not easy to translate to novice users.

As a translator you need to make sure that the ST audience is compatible with the TL audience
Culture
Level of education
Background knowledge

Commissioners give you as a translator some guidelines to follow in your translation.

Mediators (kind of translators whether for technical or any other fields):

1- Freelance translators: it is the best kind of translation to start with. You work at your convenance, usually from home. Many platforms... the standard number of words for each page is 250.
2- Staff translators
3- In-house translators
they are both hired; they are not paid based on the work they received. they have fixed amount of money that they receive at the end of the month. They are full timers for a certain company. They don't have much of choice to the topic they like to translate.
what's the difference between them?
==> staff translators are usually hired by the manufacturing company.
مثلا زي اللي ترجم مثال الغاز,,,
they gain highly specialized knowledge, job security.
==> In-house translators are not employed by a manufacturing company but by a translation agency.
يكون عنا شركات ترجمة وبيجو ناس بعطوها شغل وببحكولها دوريلنا ع مترجمين والك نسبة,, زي شركة التنوير
you have the chance to choose the topic you like to translate; nothing specific
there are commissions for the agency