The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2021 - 24

multimedia apps often also

many are struggling. Some

include the text of the audio

smaller museums have even

guide. If this is the case, you

closed permanently. There

should check whether there

are also fewer international

are any space restrictions for

exhibitions, as travel

the published version (e.g.,

restrictions make exchanging

for headlines).

artworks between
international museums more

Interactive Media: One

difficult. This may mean less

exhibition I translated

translation work.

offered an interactive quiz to

On the bright side,

determine your personality.

continuing professional

Each room contained a screen

development has become

with a number of multiple-

easier thanks to various

choice questions that you

online options. Museums are

could answer after scanning

offering online lectures and

a bracelet you received upon

tours of their current

entry. At the end of the

exhibitions, sometimes for

exhibition, you received your

free on their YouTube channel

results in an email. The text

and sometimes for a small

in this email consisted mainly

fee. So, you should use these

of all the multiple-choice
answers you had selected on

opportunities to increase your
works, acknowledgements,

panel texts in the exhibition,

and an index. The articles

so my CAT tool helped with

can be quite academic, in-

consistency and saved me a

depth texts, which might

lot of work. Another example

be challenging if you're not

questions, I wasn't aware

was when I was asked to

familiar enough with the

that the answers were going

update an audio guide I had

subject, so always make sure

to be used this way, so when

translated years before. The

you're up for this part of the

I received the automatically

client did provide a file with

translation project.

tracked changes, but it was

the various screens, with a
few extra phrases added to
create an actual text.
When I translated the

generated email for checking,
the text hardly made sense

a lot easier to simply use my
Promotional Texts:

existing translation memory.

Sometimes you may also be

And then there are the many

asked to translate promotional

times when a client has

texts for the exhibition,

subordinate clauses can have

updated the text after I've

such as the website and

the same word order, which

already started working on it.

newsletters. For these texts,

isn't the case in many other

you may have to use a

languages (including Dutch,

using a CAT tool is that I

different, more commercial

the language I was translating

can leverage my years of

style designed to attract

into). So, I ended up having

experience. For example, I can

people to the exhibition.

import the various term bases

in translation. This was
also due to the fact that in
English, main sentences and

to rephrase all the answers
in such a way that they made
sense as independent answers,
but also in the context of the

Another advantage of

I've compiled over the years

Tools of the Trade
I know many people don't

for appropriate projects. I can
also use a concordance search
to easily search translation

automatically generated email.

see any use for computer-

Exhibition Catalogs: Catalogs

tools when translating

usually contain a number

more creative texts, but I've

of articles or essays, plus

found them very useful for

sections such as a biography/

numerous museum projects.

COVID-19 and the
Future of Museums

timeline about the artist(s),

One example was a project

Unfortunately, museums all

author biographies, image

where the museum catalog

over the world have had to

captions, a list of exhibited

was basically a copy of all the

close during lockdowns and

24

assisted translation (CAT)

The ATA Chronicle | Januar y/February 2021

memories from previous
projects on similar subjects.

knowledge. Also, please
support your favorite
museum if you can, because
art is important, especially in
difficult times like these!

Percy
Balemans
graduated from
the School of
Translation
and Interpreting in the
Netherlands in 1989. After
working with a translation
agency as an in-house
translator for a few years, she
served as a technical writer
and copywriter, information
designer, web editor, and
trainer for an information
technology company.
Translation, however,
has always been her real
passion. In 2007, she
established her own business
as a full-time freelance
translator, translating from
English and German into
Dutch, specializing in
advertising (transcreation),
fashion and beauty, art,
and travel and tourism.
contact@pb-translations.com
www.atanet.org
http://www.atanet.org
The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2021

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