Seven Factors to Consider - Translation

Translators have brought this world closer than it really is. They help people with different language backgrounds to understand each other and to be able to communicate. Whether it is two individuals talking different language or a business associates across the globe, belonging to different cultures interact with each other with a help of the translator. Translation has broken the International barriers and brought the world together. If you are expanding your business overseas and entering a non-native language territory, hiring a professional translation agency is a good option.

An expert translator must convey the message properly when translating from one language to the other. The first language is referred to as the source language and the language to which the text should be translated, target language. Translation is more than just a mere word to word conversion. Understanding the context is important.Some tips to help you choose the proper translation agency.

To provide best translation solutions to the clients the translator must possess good knowledge of both the source text and the target text. Ideally, hiring a native speaker of the target text should be your priority. They are aware of the local culture and style. And they could easily associate to the context of the target language.

Don't seek out a general translator. These days a SME, Subject Matter Experts in Legal function, Business, Entertainment etc. are desired. They can best understand the needs of your niche and deliver their best.

As suggested before translation is just not about simple conversion of text forms. It involves effort and understanding on the part of translator to comprehend the message in the source language and produce the same form in target language. There are several factors that need to be considered in order to obtain accurate target language output.

Here are some of the factors that you must keep into account before hiring an agency:

1)A good translator is knowledgeable enough to match the idioms of source language to that of the target language. For example, an idiom "Bed of Roses" will have have a similar idiom or quote in French or German.
2)You should stick to the writing conventions of the target language. This includes its grammar, punctuation, Capitalization and paragraphing etc. Correct conventions should be adopted to enhance the readability of the business document.
3)The context of the source language should remain the same and it should convey exact meaning when converted to the target language. The beauty of the message should not be destroyed.
4)Make sure that the spelling of the words is perfect. For instance the British and American English are different in many aspects. English word "neighbour" becomes "neighbor" for Americans.
5)Every language has its own charm and grammatical rules. Make sure that while you translate the grammatical rules of the target language are followed.
6)In order to deliver high quality translation services to your clients you should understand the number representation and use of commas and decimals of the target Language. For Example in English the convention followed is 5,000.01, while the same is written as 5.000,01 in the Spanish language. This is something that needs to be considered for high quality service for Spanish translations.
7)Some languages like Urdu, Hebrew and Arabic require a left to right text translation rather than the conventional left to right. Hence a good grasp over the target language is a must.

In addition to the above mentioned factors, it is important for the creation of an error-free translation to carefully proofread the translation against the source text. Editing at different stages is a good method to come up with an error-free copy. And even after editing, before delivering the final copy, final proofreading is must.

Luka Malgaj is the main editor of the biggest Slovenian language portal Prevajanje - Web site dedicated to Slovene translators, linguists and interpreters.