----- Original Message -----
From: "Victor Dewsbery" <dewsbery@...>

> Some of the contributions in this thread make me dizzy. Taken to their
logical
> conclusion, they seem to mean that translators are not permitted to learn
from
> their own experience, and must wipe their mind clear of most relevant
prior
> information before they start on a new text.
>
> What other profession is subjected to such restrictive regulations?

There -are- no regulations for this issue, which is in part why it is so
hotly debated. It's all up to you. You can do what you want.

> Do you take this to mean that I must not use my own previous work, my own
> terminological solutions, my own previously developed written style and
> phraseology at all, except for the client for which I first used them?
> An example: I have translated much material about the new building
developments
> in Berlin since unification. In some instances, I had to be creative about
the
> names used for them. The development strip known in German as "Band des
Bundes"
> is a case in point, and I hit on the term "ribbon of government
buildings". This
> was first used in a book I translated. Am I violating the client's rights
when I
> use the same term for another publisher?

Interesting question. One of my clients is a translation house which
specializes in marketing materials and brand identification. They do a lot
of work in selecting the right terms for specific markets when it comes to
items like brand names, product names/descriptions, and tag lines. Their
customers pay for this research, and when the terms are eventually selected,
I'm pretty sure they want to consider them their own. (of course some of
these items get trademarked.)

Another client is a leader in a specific technology, and selecting the right
descriptive term for a new device has been a difficult, expensive, and
touchy issue.

In these types of situations, I could see how -some- clients could be
sensitive about the reuse of newly developed terms that they paid for.

In the case that you cite, I don't think the situation is the same. You came
up with a descriptive phrase that doesn't apply to a client product.

It's tricky. The best thing to do (I think) is find out what your client
considers confidential or proprietary, and make your best effort to not
reuse those specific chunks of text.

> Does it make such an action more or less reprehensible if the term is
stored in
> a translation memory system rather than on a piece of paper or in my
memory?

No. The evolving technology has made reuse and sharing easier, which has
escalated interest in ethical issues. Similar to what you hear about the
ethical issues related to the internet. Similar concerns about privacy have
always existed, and unethical people have always been able to get to private
information, but the web has escalated it.