Translation, an Essential Choice for International Businesses

Most corporate businesses experience a need to produce translations when they set off to conquer international markets, regardless of where they may be located in the world. Very often, foreign-language documents need to be translated into English as English has evolved into the international language of commerce.

As translation is a non-regulated business, you can find countless English translation services on the Web. But you really have to be careful and choose the right one if you do not want to be disappointed. In order to do so, let me summarize and explain how the language translation business works so that you can make the proper choices.

As a matter of fact, translation services are not just about reading a source document and searching for the equivalent terminology in another language. In order to obtain professional results, translators have to apply a complex translation process using various language translation tools to help them. They cannot just translate a document word for word. This latter solution would obviously lead to really poor results.

To deliver a quality translation service, professional translators have first to read the document in question and do some thematic, contextual and terminological research on the subject. Then, after having immersed themselves in the field in question, they have to search for or create a glossary that will help them translate the document faster and easier. So the entire translation process does not just involve translating; translators truly have to immerse themselves in the subject area that they are working on in order to create a high-quality translation project.

To make translation faster, more efficient and accurate, many translators today use specialized tools for text translation. Most professional translators use some CAT (Computer Assisted Translation) software such as for example “SDL Trados”, “Wordfast”, “Déjà Vu”, among many others. Some advanced computer assisted translation solutions include controlled machine translation. This type of technology is widely known among professional translators and terminologists and is also available to any individual translators who wish to invest in this kind of technology. More expensive machine translation modules generally provide a more complex set of tools to the translator, which may include terminology management and many other linguistic tools and utilities. Carefully customized user dictionaries based on correct terminology drastically improve the accuracy of machine translation and increase the efficiency of the entire translation process.

These tools, combined with the proper translation memory, language search engines, terminology management and alignment software, can really improve the entire translation. In order to be satisfied and avoid unpleasant surprises, here is some useful advice for you:

1.Determine your essential messages in relation to the target audience.

2.Adapt your documents to an international context promoting a universal message.

3.Finalize your text before having it translated.

4.Avoid automatic word-for-word translations at all cost.

5.Differentiate a translation “for information” from a translation “for publication”.

6.Be sure to select a translation service that only works with translators in their native language.

7.Be careful with bilingualism, it is not always synonym for editorial quality.

8.Make sure your translation service uses translators that are skilled and qualified in the specialized field concerned. It is in best interest to opt for a translation service provider be it translation Regina or translation Ottawa which has a good track record of delivering accurate translations.

9.Communicate the purpose of your document to your translation service so that it can be better adapted.

10.Be attentive to the remarks of your translation provider and answer their questions.

11.Focus on quality rather than the cheapest rates; your international image will benefit.

12.Allow reasonable deadlines for the translation process.

13.Build and nurture long term relationships with your translation service.

As you have seen, translation is not necessarily what you thought before reading this article. Selecting the right translation service is crucial when you have to translate documents for an international aim. That is why always go for a translation service provider be it translation Ottawa or translation Regina which provides impeccably finest quality translations.