Well, the question is not whether to educate or not, but rather what does it mean to educate a customer and how do you do it?
If you’re a freelance translator, you may have had a few complaints where the client was wrong. This tends to happen especially if the target language is English, because “everybody speaks English”.
Translation is not mathematics. There may not be one single correct answer, but rather many ways to translate the same paragraph/sentence. And yet, sometimes, you get an email from an angry client complaining about one of your choices and, sometimes, the client is clearly wrong. So, if this happens, what should you do?
Let’s start by discussing the verb “to educate”. It means that someone who is more literate than another person at something passes on knowledge about that subject. However, people don’t always like to be educated, because it makes them feel stupid. So, let’s not call it “educating”, but rather “explaining your point”. The idea is that you shouldn’t explain to your client why they’re wrong, but rather why you’re right.
However, bear in mind that there are some cases where you may not even want to explain why you’re right. This can happen if, for example, the client’s option is not entirely wrong, if it’s wrong but widely used or if it is so insignificant that it doesn’t really change the meaning of the text. In these very specific cases, the risk you’re taking by correcting your client may not be worth the correction, considering you may end up with a very angry client.
Nevertheless, in most cases, you are going to want to justify and defend your options and prove that there may be a better way to translate that word/sentence/paragraph. Especially considering it is your reputation that’s at stake in a market that – as we all know – can depend highly on word of mouth. The need to correct your client arises because maintaining the mistake may damage your reputation, spoil your relationship with your client or seriously influence the target text.
In any case, should you want to explain yourself – which I think you should – there are several ways to do so. Sometimes, you may want to assert your authority. However, this can be dangerous: clients tend not to like to be taught. When you present them with arguments they don’t understand, they’ll feel stupid, and you may lose your client. So, hold your nuclear arsenal of grammatical and linguistic weapons.
My advice is to go for the polite option: tell your client why you chose such option. Focus on why your option is right, and not on why theirs is wrong. Explain that there may be more than one option for one translation and advise your client to keep yours. You can also tell them that if they want, you can change the translation according to their liking, but that you think that there may be a better option. This is only valid, of course, if the client’s mistake is insignificant and doesn’t affect the understanding of the target text.
What about the nuclear arsenal? Should you really delve into the depths of linguistics to prove your clients wrong? Well… yes, but keep in mind that these are muddy waters and that your client may end up very angry with you. The way I see this is that the ruder your client is when explaining why you’re wrong when you’re not, the deeper into linguistics your explanation can go. If the client offends you, then it may be a client that you don’t want to keep anyway, right? So, feel free to clearly, respectfully and precisely explain why they are wrong, unleashing all your knowledge about linguistics, grammar, phonetics and other skills you may have up your sleeve.