Translation Report on an Insurance Contract

【Abstract】： Translation project management is the process and activity of planning， organizing， motivating， and controlling resources， procedures and protocols to transfer source text（ST） to target text（TT）. I shall use a specific project to analyze the procedure and main issues in it， like usage of CAT（Computer Aided Translation， particularly refers to Xueren in this paper）， analysis of text， translation procedure， and so on.

【Key words】： Xueren， translation， project management

1.Introduction

A project is a temporary endeavor designed to produce a unique product， service or result "with a defined beginning and end （usually time-constrained）， undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives， typically to bring about beneficial change or added value[1]. Translation management is a temporary endeavor leaded by the project manager designed to translate ST to TT， undertaken to produce a standard TT. As a project manager， I received a translation project about C-E Insurance Policy. In the process， I and my unit come upon with several problems and I decided to discuss here. This paper is organized in project schedule order.

2.Project Introduction

2.1 Project Analysis

This project contained a C-E Insurance Policy， with two forms， a main body， a cover page and a sign page. The text has about 4729 words， and a complex typeset. There are also terminology and professional way of expressions， which involve medical science， insurance， and law.

2.2 Translation Strategy

Our CAT Pro Xueren is the free version， which cannot deal with the text in “.doc” form.The normal strategy is as follows：

①Word （.doc） to Text （.txt）; ②Divide the text in four parts; ③Translation， Revision， Proofreading， Review; ④Typeset， Review again[2].

However， the text contained two forms. when it transfer from Word （.doc） to Text （.txt）， its formatting will be lost to become plain text， which is difficult for the translator to understand， and is not good for typeset. In that case， I divided the first step into two steps：

①Taking out the forms; ②Word （.doc） to Text （.txt）; ③Translation， Revision， Proofreading， Review; ④Typeset， Review again[3].

2.3 The Software

Xueren Pro： it is a software created by Fo Shan Xueren Computer limited Company， which used for helping the translator to translate the text more easily. The formal version of this software can take in and out Word （.doc）， Text （.txt） and other types of documents directly， and it has a large word bank. The free version only can open documents in TEXT （.txt） form. This Pro is more user friendly and cheaper than Trados and some other Pro.

3. Translation Procedure

According to the analysis of project and software， it is clear that this project is difficult to deal with. So the procedure design is important. The translation part is just one step in this plan. In order to make this project smooth， the project manager not only need the background knowledge of the text， but also professional skills.

3.1 Project File and Sub File Management

Before I divided the text， I take the two forms out of the body， and put them in translators sub file folder by their location in the text. In this way， the forms can be translated in their original format， which is easy to do the typeset.

3.2 Division of the Text

My group has four translators， including me. I divided the text into four parts according to how difficult the contents are. The part 2 filled with medical terminology is the most difficult part of all. And I set a deadline for the first version[2].

Translator’s name Translation Part Deadline of First version

Translator 1 Part 1， about 1255 words 12/28

Translator 2 Part 2 ， about 1113 words 12/28

Translator 3 Part 3， about 1184 words 12/28

Translator 4 Part 4， about 1177 words 12/28

3.3 Pre-process

Before translation， I used Xueren to do the word frequency analysis for a word list， which helped me to have the terms of high frequency， like Party A （甲方）， Party B （乙方）， the Insured （被保險人）， the Insurer （保險人） and so on. Each translator received several terms and words. They checked the Internet and dictionaries as well as textbooks about Insurance， and finally， got some parallel texts in Chinese and English versions： Standard terms of Insurance Industry and Life Insurance Policy （English version）. They should not only know the meaning but also know what the differences between their definition， which means the background information of these words. They had done a great job on researching. We discussed terms listed by the word frequency analysis， and choose proper terms through research. And also we discussed the language type should be serious and decided to use formal words rather than oral expressions. Meanwhile， simple present tense should be used more frequently than other tenses.

In addition， I also help them review the operating steps of the Xueren Pro， and some other operating skills， like CTRL+F=search （in Word.doc， for parallel comparison and expressions searching）; how to store a “.stp” file， “.dic” word bank and so on. And I required them to hand their sub file in “.stp”， because this form can have TT， word bank and memorial vault in the same file at the same time， which will save them some time， and allow them to pay more attention to the translation itself.

3.4 Translation quality Control

The importance of translation quality control could not be emphasized more. By keeping in touch with the translator regularly and using the Xueren Translation Platform on line， the word bank can be update in time and project manager can always check the sub-project of the document， which is good for the manager to monitor the quality of translation. Therefore， in the practice of the project， the quality checking should be done regularly[3].

Within the project teams， I also pay attention to translator’s ability to translation. And according to their specialty， I divided them into two groups to do the revision and proofreading. Together， they could help each other look into their own shortage， and learn from each other’s strong points to offset their weakness. In order to make a perfect version of translation， they had to have the process several times.

In addition， they also checked the items， names， terms， numbers， letter case and so on[4].

I required them that they should mark the problems in the reference column. The project manager should also make full use of the notation function， and have the revised typical problems found in routine marked out. This not only helps to protect the quality of the translation but also the project schedule to be fulfilled on time.

3.5 Typeset

In order to make the TT looks exactly like the ST， I， as the project manager， do the typeset in a proper way， and put the forms back to the body.

4.Problems and Solutions

1）The word frequency analysis is not trustworthy. We have to have the second discussion of the term choosing after the translation， and decided final letter case. It is so hard to make a complete word bank at the very beginning， which means the updating during the process is necessary.

2）Translators are still not familiar with the Xueren Pro. I need to help them during their translation， or the WPS Pro.

3）Translators are still lack of professional knowledge of the text and the project as well as professional attitude. And they did not realize the importance to use the CAT Pro. They even translated their part in Word（.doc）， and put it into the Xueren Pro for the required items.

4）Some specific problems in the process of translation（translators’ notes）：

Translator 1： During the translation， some of grammar structures and the professional contract language also make me very confused. Such as “為….投保”（ have…insured， to cover insurance， buy the insurance）; “以…標準結算”（…shall controlled by， …is specified by…，…as a basis of… ）， “終止保險責任”（ the insurance liability is terminated）. When dealing with such expressions， I have collected a lot of original English insurance contracts on the Internet， referring to professional English contracts expressions in order to achieve the accuracy of the translation. Even have a discussion with partner or classmates aim at finding the best way to translate the contract honestly and professionally.

Translator 2： “關節機能的喪失系指關節永久完全僵硬、或麻痹、或關節不能隨意識活動” “咀嚼、吞咽機能的喪失系指由于牙齒以外的原因引起器質障礙或機能障礙，以致不能作咀嚼、吞咽運動，除流質食物外不能攝取或吞咽的狀態” it looks very professional that I cannot just translate it as usual in casual phrases. By looking through some website ， firstly I got some translation as well as their definition about these pro-terms like “機能喪失” “器質障礙”“功能障礙”then became to know what symptoms of these indisposition and then looked up to their English explanation to identify whether it is the replacement I wanted.

Translator 3： During the translation， some of grammar structures and the professional expressions confused me. Such as signature（簽章）， Date： MM/DD/YYYY. When dealing with such expressions， I have collected some English insurance contract versions for professional English contracts expressions in order to achieve the accuracy expressions. Even have a discussion with teammates for correct way of translation.

5. Conclusion

This project has its own characteristics： There are terminology and professional way of expressions， which involves medical science， insurance， and law. And the text has complex typeset. In the process， we will meet lots of problem both the translation itself and the procedure arrangements. For example， the word frequency analysis is not trustworthy. Translators are still not familiar with the Xueren Pro. Translators are still lack of professional knowledge of the text and the project as well as professional attitude. We need to focus on the translation itself and the procedure arrangements.

References：

[1]Si Guo. New Research on Translation[M]. Beijing： China translation and publication corporation. 2001.

[2]Zhu Bo. On the Varied Role of Professors in Translation Major[J]. China Translation. 2011 （5）.

[3]Xu Bin. Guo Hongmei. Project Management in Publish Industry[J]. China Translation. 2012 （1）.

[4]Liang Sanyun. Analysis on MT and CAT[J]. Language and Technology Research. 2004 （12）