Every job has its pain.

Every job has its pain.  This week I had my share.

Doris, one of the English professors at Jiao Tong gave me the task of editing a 100-page book, originally written in Chinese.  One of the English department translation professors made a stab at translating it into English.

I was excited initially, as I thought it could be interesting. I was asked to identify grammatical errors as well as point out sections that I did not understand.

I was dismayed to find the whole book nearly incomprehensible! 

It is about the history and development of the political, economic and social relationship between Algeria and China, but it has no identifiable thesis and its audience was unclear until I called Doris.   She told me the book is to be part of a series of books about China and Africa and how China has been supporting developing nations there.  I pointed out serious flaws in the text including 1) lack of footnotes and complete references, 2) poorly worded and often incomprehensible passages, 3) inconsistent use of punctuation, 4) using the term “Afghan” when “Algerian” was what was meant, 5) and finally, insulting comments related to Algerian banking and other services.   Here is a sample…

“When investors pay for equipment and materials or remit profits to Algeria, they need a set of strict, tedious and lengthy approval procedures such as the tax bureau, the customs and the central bank, which increases the financial burden. The banking system in Algeria is backward with low efficiency, which increases the operational risk.”

Or try reading the following out loud:

“Delegations from both sides held talks on strengthening the cooperation between the two countries, signing the Internal Procedures of the Joint Working Group on the Implementation of the Framework Agreement on Production Capacity Cooperation and Minutes of the First Meeting of the Joint Working Group on Strengthening Production Capacity Cooperation.”

I was unsure how to share this with Doris. I didn’t want her or the department to lose face.  When I approached her, she responded appreciatively and even apologized.  I told her I would be happy to meet with the translator or anyone else involved with the project to see if we could turn it into something readable.  We will see if they want to meet. 

I will keep you posted.