| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you believe that a good memory is an important attribute for a translator? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Thayenga 
Germany
Local time: 07:00
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Julian Holmes wrote: But seriously, folks, how on earth can you possibly translate if you don't have a decent gray matter memory? 
Well, Julian, maybe what I once told my math teacher ages ago could be the answer to your question: I don't have to memorize how to solve any given mathematical problem. It suffices for me to remember where I can find the solution.
[Edited at 2017-01-24 13:31 GMT]
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
| As always, it depends | Jan 24, 2017 |
Memory alone (a recollection) is but a set of some practical and theoretical pieces of various bias, alternations, conglomerations, different types, reliability, relevancy, and so on.
Actually, it's more like knowledge about knowledge.
Why, it's important, but it's even more important HOW one operates and implements it.
For instance, one learned (and still remembers) how to do something, but doesn't even try, then what's the use? It's like one doesn't know or reme... See more Memory alone (a recollection) is but a set of some practical and theoretical pieces of various bias, alternations, conglomerations, different types, reliability, relevancy, and so on.
Actually, it's more like knowledge about knowledge.
Why, it's important, but it's even more important HOW one operates and implements it.
For instance, one learned (and still remembers) how to do something, but doesn't even try, then what's the use? It's like one doesn't know or remember--no real difference, no real use.
Nowadays it seems vital to remember how or where one could find the solution) ▲ Collapse
| | | | Henry Schroeder
United States
Local time: 01:00
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
| Concentration is even more important than memory | Jan 24, 2017 |
As Jack said, there are a lot of ways to compensate for poor memory in translation (in particular CAT tools and online resources), but there is nothing to help you with concentration, and the moment it lapses, a minor mistake is made.
| | | | | A well-organised selective memory is ideal | Jan 24, 2017 |
It is an advantage to be able to forget clients' sensitive industrial secrets, the names on divorce certificates and other personal documents, and intimate medical histories... all that fascinating gossip that you come across! Then there is less risk of passing on confidential information and breaching your NDAs.
It is useful, on the other hand, to have a good memory for client-specific terminology and anything else that is still hard to find, even in these days of online dictionari... See more It is an advantage to be able to forget clients' sensitive industrial secrets, the names on divorce certificates and other personal documents, and intimate medical histories... all that fascinating gossip that you come across! Then there is less risk of passing on confidential information and breaching your NDAs.
It is useful, on the other hand, to have a good memory for client-specific terminology and anything else that is still hard to find, even in these days of online dictionaries and databases, Google, Linguee and all the rest.
Never trust your own memory entirely - it plays tricks, especially when you are tired or under pressure with a tight deadline.
Supplement it with a simple system that will remind you. When you find those difficult terms, discover the difference between a spade and a shovel, or anything else that may come up later, note it somewhere that is easy to find. How to spell that peculiar name, little things like definitely, not definately, which you always get wrong... Long strings that take time to type.
I put the strangest things into Multiterm glossaries... and it is amazing what comes up as I work! Then it only takes a few seconds to check if necessary whether it is still valid, and update Multiterm. ▲ Collapse
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Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 02:00
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Some of these polls really make me wonder if there are so few polls proposed by the users that the staff is forced to publish anything that comes to their mind (without thinking about it at all before clicking the "submit" button).
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