Poll: "My cultural background influences my translation decisions." Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question ""My cultural background influences my translation decisions."".
View the poll results »
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My cultural background is so entrenched in my identity that if it influences my translation decisions I’m not aware of it. Anyway, I always try to keep my personal beliefs away from my business...
[Edited at 2025-12-13 12:52 GMT]
[Edited at 2025-12-14 10:29 GMT]
| | | | Thomas Pfann 
Verenigde Koninkryk
Local time: 02:40
uit Engels in Duits
+ ...
As translators, we are able to consciously adopt the cultural perspective required by the text, rather than translating from a single fixed perspective.
| | | | AllegroTrans (X)
Verenigde Koninkryk
Local time: 02:40
uit Frans in Engels
+ ...
| Counter-question to ProZ staff | Dec 13, 2025 |
Why is time being wasted by site staff posting up these poll questions, when two dozen or more of us are asking for the site to make a complete overhaul and correct serious (and even dangerous) deficiencies, e.g.
- allowing job advertisements that have NOTHING to with translation or interpreting, such as supplying confidential personal data for alleged AI training or market research
- allowing fake member profiles on the site
- with the "new" site, which should NOT be ro... See more Why is time being wasted by site staff posting up these poll questions, when two dozen or more of us are asking for the site to make a complete overhaul and correct serious (and even dangerous) deficiencies, e.g.
- allowing job advertisements that have NOTHING to with translation or interpreting, such as supplying confidential personal data for alleged AI training or market research
- allowing fake member profiles on the site
- with the "new" site, which should NOT be rolled out until it is 100% safe and reliable
[Edited at 2025-12-13 17:54 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Oscar Núñez Alfaro
Costa Rica
Local time: 19:40
Member (Oct 2026)
uit Engels in Spaans
+ ...
I am always influenced by my culture, language, country and religion. So, my translation decisions are based on that.
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AllegroTrans wrote:
Why is time being wasted by site staff posting up these poll questions...
Maybe it's because they want to keep us chatting, even if it's just about complaints. To keep the site alive. No publicity is bad publicity.
The site gets more traffic that way, and that has always seemed to be a/the primary goal.
| | | | Philip Lees
Griekeland
Local time: 04:40
uit Grieks in Engels
| Yes, of course | Dec 14, 2025 |
Of course my cultural background influences my translation decisions. As a native speaker of English, I bring that cultural sensitivity to bear on my choices in the target language, including structure, syntax and idiomatic expressions, so as to achieve a faithful translation.
In addition, my cultural background from living for almost 50 years in Greece influences my perception of a source text, enabling a greater depth of understanding.
This is why a human being, who h... See more Of course my cultural background influences my translation decisions. As a native speaker of English, I bring that cultural sensitivity to bear on my choices in the target language, including structure, syntax and idiomatic expressions, so as to achieve a faithful translation.
In addition, my cultural background from living for almost 50 years in Greece influences my perception of a source text, enabling a greater depth of understanding.
This is why a human being, who has such a cultural background, will always produce a better translation than an AI, which does not.
I would not assign a translation job to anybody who answered "Disagree" to this poll question. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Daryo
Local time: 02:40
uit Serwies in Engels
+ ...
| A good question to get 'non-anwers' | Dec 16, 2025 |
Philip Lees wrote:
Of course my cultural background influences my translation decisions. As a native speaker of English, I bring that cultural sensitivity to bear on my choices in the target language, including structure, syntax and idiomatic expressions, so as to achieve a faithful translation.
In addition, my cultural background from living for almost 50 years in Greece influences my perception of a source text, enabling a greater depth of understanding.
This is why a human being, who has such a cultural background, will always produce a better translation than an AI, which does not.
I would not assign a translation job to anybody who answered "Disagree" to this poll question.
It would seem to me self-evident that NO ONE lives in some kind rarefied abstract vacuum - there are ALWAYS some kind of 'cultural background influences'.
As formulated the question could be interpreted as meaning:
version 1 implied: it's a bad thing - do you make deliberate efforts to avoid them?
or
version 2 implied: it's a good thing - what do you do to make the best use of them?
As there is no way of knowing how each respondent understood the question, you could well have two people 'agreeing' (or disagreeing) while having in fact a diametrically opposed understanding of the question!!
An unambiguous question that would make sense:
In which way your cultural background influences the way you translate
IOW the real / pertinent question is: is it a liability or an asset for you?
Not to mention that all good interpreters / translators I ever met have an awareness of at least two 'cultural backgrounds' - so using the singular wouldn’t be quite right, it should probably be 'backgrounds'.
BTW did anyone notice this bit:
Translating involves much more than simple word-for-word conversion from one language to another. Translators must thoroughly understand the subject matter of any text they translate, as well as the cultures associated with the source and target language.
That’s the first thing non-logged-in visitors see when starting a search for a translator on Proz.com – in case you ask.
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