Palestra - Keep it tight, keep it light - Mark Thompson

Keep it tight, keep it light ("Menos heavy, mais leve")

Think of the target reader. Avoid putting in excesses. Projects involve time pressure and sometimes we forget the target reader. Think of the target reader before and after the translation. Think of the target reader above everything.

Mark Thompson (Director, Swift Translations; PT>EN translator / interpreter). Main specialization area he works for: mining (area of expertise).

traduzirbem@gmail.com

Possible target readers:
=> market;
=> high level (CEO, senior management, ...);
=> academic (know the subject and need to research);
=> doers (instruction manual, etc.);
=> "numbers" people (finance)
=> leisure readers
=> specialist consultants
=> senior managers, directors and consultants making suggestions and recommendations based on the information before them => they need facts and figures (what they need influences decision making).

Samarco: Mark translated information to high-level management coming from Australia (Portuguese to English).

Portuguese is very ellaborated (aspects of the latin language).

Sometimes what you translate could be life x death, or maybe it it worth a billion dollars, or has social impacts.

Avoid wordy horrible texts.

Try to read as much as you can. Read between meetings, during flights, on the road.

Don't tire your reader. Adjectives you never want your text to be classified by: wordy, pleonastic, tiresome, overblown, flowery, tedious, clunky, prolix, lenghty, overlong, repetitive.

How you would translate into English: "Uma atualização resumida das atividades da empresa desde a última reunião da diretoria" 
=> "A summary of the update of the company's activities since the last board meeting"
=> "A summarized update of the company's activitie since the last board meeting"

"Beware of the risk of the target reader of the text getting tired of the overuse of the words 'of' and 'the'''. (It's tiring for the native reader).

More translations proposed by Mark during this lecture:
=> "Realizar a atividade de perfuração para fins de localização do substrato desejado"
=> "Carry out the activity of drilling for the purposes of localization of the desired substract"

=> "Perform drilling in order to locate the desired substract" => "Drill to locate the desired substract"

"Estudos para elaborar um plano de monitoramento de instrumentação"
=> "Studies to develop an instrumentation monitoring program"
Elaborar => prepare, perform, put together, draft, formulate, produce, generate, compose, draw up, sketch out. (thesaurus.com: reliable source for synonyms).

Unnecessary repetition of the same solution is a sure fine way to let your client know your language limitations.

"Studies to elaborate a plan for monitoring of instrumentation". (elaborate => not wrong, but should be avoided in this case). => "Studies to formulate a instrumentation monitoring plan".

"Sr. Pedro Paulo Pinto Pereira destacou a necessidade de estudar a aderência do serviço e/ou produto desses bancos". => "Mr. Pereira stressed out the necessity to study the bank's services/products adherence".

Possíveis traduções para "detsacou" => emphasized, stressed out, highlighted, underlined, draw attention to, accentuate, speak of, allude to, point out, mention. (Eg.: "stressed the requirement"). Remember you always have options! The word "destacou" appears 30 times over the 8 pages of the original, so you should better.

"O desembolso projetado para o ano de 2018" => 'The disbursements projected for 2018"

Tighten it up. Don't repeat the construction in portuguese. Step back. Avoid unnecessary repetition.

Adapt the register to different types of target reader.

Practice makes perfect.

Know your target reader.
Find what they like and dislike.

Spell check and review or have it reviewed. Proofreading helps you avoid basid mistakes (Eg.: "In my onion, the Board shoud approve the budget").