Translation for museums can be a daunting task, especially if like many American museums, you’re “going bilingual”! Translation is often considered part of a museum’s efforts to reach a wider audience. But it is not always approached methodically, with a strategic mindset. Instead, it is usually perceived as an added bonus, or an extra task […]
This is a question that can prove tricky to answer. If you’re a translator yourself, you might wonder what is that single aspect that you should work on or market to your clients. If you’re thinking of hiring a translator for a job, you might wonder how to distinguish a good from a bad translator. […]
Accessibility is always a hot topic, especially in the cultural sector, where museums and other institutions have been required to provide for different types of audiences over the years. Today, I’m interviewing a museum professional to learn more about this fascinating field. Naomi Elizabeth is an American archaeologist currently pursuing a master’s degree. One day, she […]
Choosing the right translator for your needs can be quite a daunting task, especially when you don’t work in the field. Acronyms, degrees, specialisations. What’s all that? And how does it affect you? It is not the same to work with a trained translator than with just any ‘bilingual’. You know that, right? So let’s […]
A couple of months ago, for the New Year, The Metropolitan Museum in NYC shared their 2018 numbers on Instagram stories. I thought it was a super cool thing to do, and it provided incredibly valuable information for the field of museum translation. What can we learn from The Met’s numbers According to the data […]
Last Wednesday, I attended the Let’s Get Real Conference, organised by Culture24. Talks focused on connecting digital practice with social purpose. In short, it was an amazing experience, so allow me to tell you what I liked the most! Pre-conference mood In the beginning, I was a bit nervous to attend this conference because I thought I’d […]
We all know translation is an all-encompassing activity. Why? Well, because everything can be translated. And you can translate just about any topic. So specialisation is key! True. In university, we take courses on language and linguistics. We learn some techniques and practice quite a bit. We do some general translation and specialised translation as […]
In our last post we discussed what materials museums should translate and what’s normally done according to their objectives. There are many reasons why a museum would translate their content. And, depending on the type of materials, they will have to pick several or just 1-2 languages to work with. Translating only maps and audio guides […]
In our last post we discussed whether or not museums should consider translating their content, not only as a way to really engage their current audiences, but also as a strategy to attract new ones. However, depending on the museum’s objectives, there might be different approaches to museum translation: A minimal approach to museum translation: maps The […]
