We all know that effective translation, like effective writing, typically hinges on a good understanding of the target readership and a clear idea of what the text and its translation are intended to achieve. But that's once you have the job. What about the phase where you're still pitching your services to the client, especially if the person you are pitching two comes from higher up the management chain than the person or team who will eventually manage the work?
I recently stumbled upon this excellent piece by Rob Henderson entitled Experts and Elites Play Fundamentally Different Games.
Henderson's piece explains all sorts of situations that I observed over the years and many in which I was personally involved.
I now see more clearly why I had so much trouble and for so long attempting to convince clients that it wasn't "straight translations" they needed but client- or target reader-centred adaptations. And when I started achieving a measure of success, it was probably partly because by then I was talking to "expert" technical journalists rather than high-flying engineers who saw themselves as members or aspiring members of the elite.
Goodness; and to think that we had to wait for 2025 to find someone who could explain these things to us in relatively simple terms.
