You want buy a air-beam grate cooler? I give you friend price, ok?

July 13, 2008 8:44 PM

I've been sought out by a manufacturer of cement processing equipment to translate their catalog from Mandarin to English. They found me through another client in an unrelated industry. It's a big sexy gig, the paycheck is a dream, the work is at least a 6-month job, and they don't care that I'm not a specialist - they want someone who'll do the homework and get it right. And that's what I specialize in and my favorite type of translation work, the stuff with lots of details. But where, exactly, do you learn about cement processing and testing equipment?

I've done the wikipedia slog and read a bunch of stuff looking for clues, but unfortunately this seems to be among the less romantic or accessible of industrial processes. I'm running into a wall in my research; I'm not finding much in that sweet spot between flowchart-style overviews of the production process, chemical analysis of different types of Portland flyash clinker, and tangential mentions of new manufacturing processes in environmental journals. Specifically I need info on the machines, the names of different types of technology, and short explanations of what they do; I don't need a degree in the stuff, I just need to know generally what different machines are used for and the various notations and standards involved. It's the vocabulary, more than anything, that I need to pin down. Stuff like "sun-and-planet gear system reducing machines". I get what that is, but what's it for? What's it officially called in English?

I've done some mechanical translation before, mostly with automobiles and woodworking, both areas where I have enough expertise to sound like I know what I'm talking about. Once I have a frame of reference for a thing in English, reading a Mandarin description of it is a walk in the park.

I'm looking for some introductory texts, trade journals, stuff like that. Specific but comprehensible texts that might help me make the leap between wikipedia and the catalogs of other companies I've found online.

I should mention that a) I'M their guy, they know me on reputation and have tried hiring specialists overseas as well as local teams of experts and English-speaking editors, and neither worked out well for them; they're willing to work with one guy and work out the kinks, and they do have quality fact-checkers, and b) the people hiring me are an agency, not the actual manufacturing company, so I don't have access to local specialists, nor can they provide me any, nor do I have any in my network. Sure wish I did right now. I'd normally turn something like this down, but they're so sure they want me, and the money's so right, and a new specialization never hurt a translator, so...

posted by saysthis to technology (16 comments total)

That'd be a "planetary gear" you're describing there, which is just a certain type of gearing. Wikipedia can probably explain it better than I can. Sadly, I don't know much about the specifics of the cement industry, but that may get you a bit closer.
posted by Alterscape at 8:50 PM on July 13, 2008

Seems to me the people in the best position to explain what cement processing and testing equipment is and does, is your client. Can you have the agency send back "the translator wants to speak to (and meet) your experts to improve the quality of the translation" or something to that effect?

I don't know much about the translating business, but it seems reasonable to me that the translator ought to be able to have some access to the author(s) of the documents he/she is translating, surely?
posted by aeschenkarnos at 9:04 PM on July 13, 2008

But where, exactly, do you learn about cement processing and testing equipment?

It sounds like you need to find an engineering library.
posted by Mrs. Buck Turgidson at 9:21 PM on July 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

One of the oldest consulting tricks in the book is to find a competitor, and pose as a potential client.
posted by b1tr0t at 9:23 PM on July 13, 2008

aeschenkarmos, yeah, ideally we'd have access to the authors, but this is a translation agency hiring for a collector and retailer of catalogs. They'd never give ME direct access for fear I'd undercut them, and the client is outsourcing this in the first place. I got referred to the agency by someone in the cement company who is a friend of a friend and who does non-technical stuff. Plus this is all collected sales material from literally hundreds of different marketing departments around China. It's one of the most frustrating things about this industry, all the convoluted layers of access they put between you and the authors of documents. I've asked several times, of everyone I know in the web of people here, and so far noone has been forthcoming.

Alterscape, yeah, wikipedia's been great for simple checks of what all this stuff is in English. The problem now is to find out how it relates to "reducing machines" in cement manufacture. I think that's the step that comes after cooling? Specifically what would really, really help is a short list of all the technological options available for each step in the manufacturing process.

Mrs. Buck, I'll be googling for one after my nap. Thank you for your search string! I wish I'd had the wherewithal to think of that. My interests lean purely into the humanities, so I didn't even consider looking for something like that.

b1tr0t, I would, but that'd be a tough fake to pull in this situation. I have done it in the past though. :) In the timeframe that I've got, internet resources are really the only thing that'll work for me.
posted by saysthis at 10:02 PM on July 13, 2008

I wonder if there isn't some kind of industry-wide organization in the States that might agree to answer some emailed questions for you. Like the Cement Processors and Manufacturers Association or something. There must at least be a group that organizes conferences, right?
posted by Rock Steady at 10:46 PM on July 13, 2008

Um, why aren't you disintermediating? In my experience, all translators/interpreters are better off going on their own after they reach a certain level of experience and quality; it sounds like you may be at this point. Do you know what your agency is charging vs. what you're being paid? In a family member's case, the agency was pocketing something like 75% of the daily rate. She's now making near $2k a day (for simultaneous interpretation). This is easy to check, too-- just have a friend call the agency and ask for a quote. The difference in pay, over 6 months, may be worth the price of being blacklisted by one agency, especially if you have good contacts at other agencies as a fallback.

As for your specific question, why don't you go to Tsinghua or something and give a student a cut of your fees to be your on-demand consultant?
posted by acidic at 10:47 PM on July 13, 2008

Is there a university near you with an engineering department? As well as having resources like an engineering library and engineering professors there will be students, and you might be able to pay an engineering student to do some basic research for you.

Or maybe cement forum. I've only given it a cursory glance but may be a starting point. (I found it linked within the resources section of my University's engineering library website).
posted by shelleycat at 11:03 PM on July 13, 2008

You could contact an industry association and ask them to refer you to books or similar.

Likewise, you could contact a civil engineering academic at a university near you - with the benefits that the books might be in the university library. Most engineering departments will have websites giving the direct phone numbers of all their academics.

If you contact cement equipment suppliers in your country, their sales literature might put you on the right track - it's likely to be fairly similar to what you're trying to write. Obviously, though, you don't want to rip their stuff off, intentionally or unintentionally!

Alternately, if you MeFi mail me I can ask for book recommendations from the civil engineers I know, and see if they have any.
posted by Mike1024 at 12:13 AM on July 14, 2008

acidic's point about disintermediating (a new word for me, thanks) is a good one, but it probably wouldn't be wise to do it on this occasion with this job, as presumably you have signed some kind of NDA/non-compete agreement with the agency. For me at least it would fly in the face of any ethical considerations I have ever learnt to poach a client in that way. That's not to say that seeking out direct clients later is a bad idea (but bear in mind that agencies do the legwork of finding clients for you, which, at least for me at my level as a translator, is still a big plus).

I'd recommend going to your local university library and asking a specialist librarian, as a first step, and doing as Mike1024 suggests as well.
posted by altolinguistic at 1:10 AM on July 14, 2008

Nthing the library idea. Even if you don't want to pay anyone to do legwork for you, university libraries are usually well-stocked with entry-level texts and are free to enter and browse, though they might not let you borrow any.
posted by Xany at 5:28 AM on July 14, 2008

Read everything written by, or sponsored by, the PCA. Take particular note of their section on Cement Manufacturing (leftside navbar, midway down).
posted by aramaic at 6:55 AM on July 14, 2008

Libraries...well...I'm in Beijing. That's the main reason I haven't gone already. I might drop by Qinghua though and see if I can bribe some cement engineers into being my friend.

Hope they're there. They kicked everybody out of the dorms for the Olympics.
posted by saysthis at 7:25 AM on July 14, 2008

aramaic - brilliant!!!
posted by saysthis at 7:28 AM on July 14, 2008

Also try International Cement Review. As well as maybe strolling around the FL Smidth website, maybe even call them with questions
posted by JPD at 8:48 AM on July 14, 2008

The ASTM is a great resource for things like this. They publish standard glossaries for engineering terms that are developed by consensus---these are actually terms used in the industry, not coming out of an academic setting.

Concrete and cement is not my field, but a quick look on the site turns up some interesting leads:

STP 169D: Significance of Tests and Properties of Concrete and Concrete-Making Materials

ASTM D2946 - 01(2005) Standard Terminology for Asbestos and Asbestos-Cement Products

The committee for cement and concrete is C01. You can probably find a bunch of more leads in the list of standards documents the committee is responsible for.

The ASTM materials run 50-75 USD for the standards and up to a couple of hundred for the books. Almost all of the pubs are available for free in a good university or academic library, however, or you may be able to expense these back to your client.
posted by bonehead at 11:09 AM on July 14, 2008