| "This article was initiated while discussing translation | | | | translated by different official institutions, I found the |
| strategies with my colleague, on Monday, April 23, | | | | inconsistencies in using the words, phrases, |
| 2007, at 10:00 A.M., Cambodia time." | | | | paragraphs, legal terminology and other literary |
| To make one translation as truer as possible to the | | | | mistakes within the United Nations Cambodia Office |
| original version, translator needs to have access to all | | | | of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the |
| the relevant resources for translation; to be precise: | | | | Senate and the National Assembly of the Kingdom of |
| latest updated print dictionaries, computer-based | | | | Cambodia. Having seen such the inconsistent defects, |
| dictionaries, as well as internet dictionaries. Moreover, | | | | translator shall have the obligation to make the |
| discussions and researches into the topic that we are | | | | national legal document consistent. Not just translation |
| translating above is the most important strategy to | | | | related to laws, but just any field of translation. To |
| professionalize our translated version. | | | | me, translator shall officially report the inconsistencies |
| Let me bring my personal example of being a | | | | to the institutions concerned, via the national press or |
| freelance legal translator for the Asian Human Rights | | | | online media, until you get the response for measures |
| Commission in Hong Kong. In March 2007, a senior | | | | to rectify such the mistakes. Cambodia does not |
| researcher of the Asian Human Rights Commission, | | | | have some kind of "Translation Association" or any |
| based in Hong Kong, assigned me to translate a | | | | kind of such grouping yet. The process would go |
| book, lengthened 117 pages. This book was within | | | | faster, if all the translators in Cambodia have an |
| the field of international law and human rights. To | | | | institution, representing them. |
| legally professionalize my work, I gathered all relevant | | | | The above argument has initiated another argument: |
| international and national legal instruments in English | | | | "the benefit of being a translator." |
| versions and those that were already translated into | | | | Personally, I think being a translator is like being paid |
| Khmer (Cambodian vernacular). I even gathered the | | | | to critically read the material. Why? As stipulated in |
| documents that were translated into Khmer by the | | | | the third paragraph, translator needs to access to |
| UN Office of High Commissioner in Cambodia and | | | | different documents to critically (or comparatively) |
| those translated by the Senate. Furthermore, I even | | | | read the document that we are doing the translation |
| accessed the online documents, posted on the | | | | on. In short, reading to translate means we are |
| senate's and the national assembly's websites. | | | | discussing with and criticizing the authors, which is the |
| Since I very critically read different documents | | | | best reading skill I have learned. |