Materials for DipTrans exam
Thread poster: 27borsuk
27borsuk
27borsuk
Poland
Local time: 00:10
Japanese to English
Nov 2, 2017

Hi,

I am taking the Japanese to English DipTrans in January. I know that all materials must be paper-based. I will of course have to take dictionaries and other resources. I don't want to carry several kg of the things in there, however! Which materials would you regard as the absolutely essentials? (I will be choosing the social science, general, and business topics)


 
Haluk Aka, Chartered Linguist (MCIL)
Haluk Aka, Chartered Linguist (MCIL)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:10
English to Turkish
+ ...
Good luck Nov 2, 2017

27borsuk wrote:

Hi,

I am taking the Japanese to English DipTrans in January. I know that all materials must be paper-based. I will of course have to take dictionaries and other resources. I don't want to carry several kg of the things in there, however! Which materials would you regard as the absolutely essentials? (I will be choosing the social science, general, and business topics)


Hi,

I took a 3-volume set of En-Tr dictionary with me (450k words) but everyone else came with a cabin size luggage full of dictionaries... I must add, in each paper, I had to look up five to six words only (but when I sat the exam I was already 15 year a pro, so your mileage may vary) Usually, past papers are available so it would be a good idea to sit in your office and translate at least a couple papers in each of your specialties (without using internet, electronic term banks, etc. - fully duplicating typical exam conditions) to see how you are doing in that kind of setting and how much dictionary help you need.

I wish you best of luck.


 
Erik Freitag
Erik Freitag  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 00:10
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Take everything you can Nov 2, 2017

27borsuk wrote:
I don't want to carry several kg of the things in there, however!


Why not? If I were you, I'd bring as much as you can reasonably carry. Take a medium sized suitcase if you want. Certainly, that's less trouble than having to sit the exam a second time.

You most certainly won't need most of the dictionaries you bring, or maybe none at all, but mind that one mistake can easily make the difference between a pass and a fail, and an elegant translation can make the difference between a pass and a distinction.

If you absolutely want to keep it to a minimum, I'd say you should take the best source language monolingual dictionary available.


 
Josephine Cassar
Josephine Cassar  Identity Verified
Malta
Local time: 00:10
Member (2012)
English to Maltese
+ ...
Past papers available Nov 2, 2017

Dear Haluk Aka,
May I ask you from where you got past papers, please? I am interested in FR>EN and IT>EN. I've done some courses in preparation but the texts are very hard, so I aim to practice under mock test conditions please. I can't find any on the site but I think the texts I worked were similar to their standard. Thank you.
Regards,
JC.


 
Christophe Delaunay
Christophe Delaunay  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 00:10
Spanish to French
+ ...
Did you try this? Nov 2, 2017

http://www.ciol.org.uk/benefits/exam-resources

 
Josephine Cassar
Josephine Cassar  Identity Verified
Malta
Local time: 00:10
Member (2012)
English to Maltese
+ ...
From English into.. Nov 2, 2017

Thanks Christophe. Unfortunately, these are all from English into another target language; I need into English

[Edited at 2017-11-03 11:09 GMT]


 
27borsuk
27borsuk
Poland
Local time: 00:10
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
thanks Nov 3, 2017

Thanks for your comments all, especially Haluk. I am not averse to taking lots of things in there with me. I just don't want to take lots of unnecessary extras. I will certainly do as many real condition practice tests as I can, and the best material of all would be a great source language monolingual dictionary.
I am struggling to find past papers from Japanese to English. Not much seems available. Could anyone enlighten me?


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 00:10
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Take everything! Nov 3, 2017

I took two full suitcases of dictionaries and reference works, including my own termbase on hardcopy, sorted by the source language in question.

You never know what you are going to need, but it is a better-safe-than-sorry situation. If anything, you will do some exercise carrying the suitcase(s).

As a minimum, I would recommend (for any language combination, really):
- One or several good source-language monolingual dictionary/ies
- One or several target-la
... See more
I took two full suitcases of dictionaries and reference works, including my own termbase on hardcopy, sorted by the source language in question.

You never know what you are going to need, but it is a better-safe-than-sorry situation. If anything, you will do some exercise carrying the suitcase(s).

As a minimum, I would recommend (for any language combination, really):
- One or several good source-language monolingual dictionary/ies
- One or several target-language monolingual dictionary/ies, ideally one of them being about the language in use, with examples of use (in your case, maybe the Chambers would be a good idea; it helped me a lot as source-language dictionary)
- Monolingual dictionaries of idioms in both languages (bilingual dictionaries of idioms are not only rare, but also not that good)
- Monolingual and bilingual dictionaries in the subject matters you expect to take as semi-specialised papers
- A spelling/grammar reference, just to double-check in case of doubt

Also, may I suggest that, in the period from now to January, you make use of every possible moment to read a full newspaper several times a week? Reading journals around your expected semi-specialized topics would do you good as well. It is critical that you are aware of what goes on in the source-language region/culture/industry at the time of the exam, as texts are often chosen among then hot topics.

You probably know this, but practicing translation in the conditions of the exam (timed, no Internet, hardcopy materials only) will help you time your work nicely on the day of the exam. Believe me: time really flies at the exam venue!

Good luck!
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27borsuk
27borsuk
Poland
Local time: 00:10
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
great advice Nov 5, 2017

Thanks a lot Tomas, some great advice there.

 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 00:10
French to English
why not practise first? Nov 6, 2017

how about practising a few times with your everyday translations, just trying to do them in exam conditions and seeing what paper resources are most helpful to you?

I remember being recommended a technical dictionary a while back, and my agency employer actually sent me out to buy it when I found myself stuck for some terminology (I'm talking about last century, when you didn't find nearly as much stuff on Internet). Turned out that I didn't find a single useful term in there.
... See more
how about practising a few times with your everyday translations, just trying to do them in exam conditions and seeing what paper resources are most helpful to you?

I remember being recommended a technical dictionary a while back, and my agency employer actually sent me out to buy it when I found myself stuck for some terminology (I'm talking about last century, when you didn't find nearly as much stuff on Internet). Turned out that I didn't find a single useful term in there.
So I'm pretty sure I'd have taken plenty of useless stuff in. Best find what yields the most important information for you beforehand.
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Pavitra Baxi
Pavitra Baxi  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 04:40
Member (2008)
German to English
DipTrans papers Nov 7, 2017

Josephine Cassar wrote:

Dear Haluk Aka,
May I ask you from where you got past papers, please? I am interested in FR>EN and IT>EN. I've done some courses in preparation but the texts are very hard, so I aim to practice under mock test conditions please. I can't find any on the site but I think the texts I worked were similar to their standard. Thank you.
Regards,
JC.


Hi,

You should have access to past papers on the CIoL website if you've paid the membership fee.

[Edited at 2017-11-07 08:10 GMT]


 


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Materials for DipTrans exam






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