The idea of writing this post appeared during one of my ordinary proofreading projects when I had to correct other translator’s mistakes.
Today translation market is overcrowded with translators and all of them claim to be professionals. At the same time every now and then we see awfully translated manuals, menus, brochures, let alone more serious specialized texts which can be really dangerous if translated erroneously. Sometimes I have to select a team of translators for a specific project and I look through many resumes and test translations. And every time I get very surprised why so many people with higher education in linguistics and translation do their job so bad!
I remember that starting from my school years I have been from the human sciences league. I loved languages, history, literature… But the Russian language was my favorite.