Identifying and dealing with source language interference

Improve your translation quality by learning how to avoid source language interference.

Whether you’re a seasoned or novice translator, a source text doesn’t just inspire your translation but can also interfere with it because of the potential for misguided or unintentional transfers from it to the target text.

Being able to avoid such source language interference when translating, or to remove it from your own or others’ translations when revising, makes you a better translator. And it also opens up opportunities to expand into or improve your skills in a burgeoning area: editing non-native English texts.

In this workshop, we will explore source language interference and discuss different approaches for dealing with it. There will be Powerpoint® presentations, but mostly attendees will work in small groups on sample English translations from various source languages. Together, we’ll discover candidate transfers that are specific to a particular source language and others that occur in a range of languages.

To maximise attendees’ participation and benefit, the workshop has been limited to 12 participants who will:

  • Work with colleagues from different language backgrounds to spot and rectify source language interference
  • Challenge themselves by moving out of their linguistic comfort zone and collaboratively revise translations, sometimes of a source language they don’t speak
  • Discover that being a linguistic sleuth is intellectually satisfying and fun.

A short assignment that will take about 1 hour to complete and will be discussed early in the workshop will be sent out about a week before the workshop. 

ITI members: £60 + VAT

Non-members: £90 + VAT