Introduction

There are just over 170,000 words and terminology in the English language according to the Oxford Dictionary. Some of these words are nearly identical. A single letter can change laughter to slaughter and mean to meant. There are also words that seem so similar in meaning that to include them all seems ridiculous. And, just when you think you got it all down, up pops another exception to the rules. It’s little wonder that people make mistakes.

But, as a language service professional, there’s one thing I want to clear up: translators, interpreters, and linguists aren’t the same thing. Hiring one when you need the other can really set back a project.

The Linguist: The Scientists of Language

Average Yearly Salary (US): $57,909

Number in the World (Estimated): 32,485 (2014)

A linguist is a person who studies a language, or languages, in a scientific manner. They are interested in how speech and vocabulary evolved to meet our current needs. They’re not interested in whether a word is right or wrong, merely how it came to be. While many linguists happen to be polyglots, they’re not overly interested in translating your web content. If we ever needed a professional who could decipher the underlying rules and concepts of an alien language, we’d hire a linguist. While rarely employed as interpreters or translators, these professionals are often involved in updating and developing translation management software. In doing so, they make the rest of our jobs a lot easier.

The Interpreter: The Verbal Bridge Builders

Average Yearly Salary (US): $51,260

Number In the World (Estimated): Unknown.

Interpreters are language-service professionals who provide real-time translation for people in business, medical, and legal settings. Typically called upon to bridge the gap between parties speaking two or more different languages, interpreters ease the process of communication and negotiation. Translators flourish in cases involving the written word while interpreters can be relied upon to take care of the verbal terminology. Next time you’re at a play, look around the stage. You’re likely to see a sign language interpreter hard at work. Just know they won’t be the people you hire to translate your website.

The Translator: The Alchemists of the Written Word

Average Yearly Salary (US): $51,260

Number in the World (Estimated): 640,000

Translators are people who help make your company’s written materials to speakers of other languages. These are the people you hire to help localize your website, doublecheck the language in your patents, and translate your contracts. The translation process goes well beyond the simple replacement of a word in one language into another. A translator not only needs to have a thorough understanding of the source language text and subject matter, but also the ability to convey (translate) the meaning and style. Translators must have excellent grammar and writing skills to produce translations that don’t sound like translations. As a general rule, translators translate from their working language(s) into their native language using appropriate terminology.

Conclusion

There’s so much more to language services than simple translation. In addition to the three careers highlighted above, there are also closed captioners, language learning specialists, and speech pathologists. So, next time you kickstart a language project, make sure you have the right professional on call. Otherwise, you might be left playing charades with the alien invaders.

If you’re looking to have something translated into Swedish, you can contact Tess Whitty. Please visit swedishtranslationservices.com or contact her at tess@swedishtranslationservices.com to learn more.

Check also:

• How to Reach the Swedish Market with Transcreation
• Five Things That Differentiate Translation and Transcreation
• Definitions of translation, localization, internationalization and transcreation

The Next Fork in the Road

Countless hours of hard work and decision making are now behind you. With a company-approved scope of work in hand, you’re itching to jump-start the bidding process; but, your job’s not over yet! You need to answer one more question before you start hunting for a vendor: freelancer translation or an agency? The correct answer depends on a multitude of factors: the number of languages needed, your available budget, the project scope, and the size of your company.

Let’s Meet David

A freelance translator is someone who offers language services on a contractual, or temporary, basis.  These individuals typically provide translations for between one and three closely-related languages. Prices vary wildly depending on the languages and level of technicality involved. According to Proz.com, for example, English to Hiligaynon translation costs an average of $0.16 per word; translating from English to Kannada, on the other hand, comes in at half that. It’s time to examine how freelancers stack up against their corporate counterparts.

The Upsides of Going Solo

When compared to a translation agency, freelance translators offer the following benefits:

• They’re Better for Your Wallet. Because they lack administrative staff and tend to avoid superfluous fees, a freelancer usually costs less than a full-scale agency.
• No Middleman. As you can contact the translator directly, you spend a lot less time playing telephone tag with a project coordinator. Using a freelancer makes it easier to deal with questions and concerns.  
• Mastery of Their Given Language. While a translation agency offers many languages, its translators sometimes lack in-depth localization knowledge. As freelancers focus on just a few languages, they typically have key insights into a given language’s associated customs, beliefs, and modern trends.
• Greater Consistency: With only one person working on each project, you can rest assured that your translations will be consistent and seamless. Unlike agencies, freelancers aren’t prone to swapping out staff in the middle of a job. Better yet, if you work together over a long period of time, a freelancer gets the opportunity to know your company’s products, staff, and culture.

The Downsides of a Freelance Translation

While freelancers offer plenty of advantages over translation agencies, they may not be the right choice for you or your company. Here’s a list of obstacles you might face when using an independent translator:

• They’re limited. If your company needs a lot of languages translated, or a lot of auxiliary work done, then you might need a translation agency. While they may be experts at one or two languages, it’d be difficult for a single translate your content into twenty-three of them. As they lack the support staff of a full-service agency, they’ll also tend to have greater difficulties dealing with technical issues.
• They’re not as fast:  Unlike an agency, freelancers can’t just bring on more staff when time gets tight.  They also can’t clone themselves. So, on average, it takes a freelancer longer to complete a high-volume job. However, you can trust that only one, known, person is handling the whole project. This leads to more uniform results.
• The Lack of an Official QA Process:  Translation agencies have staff whose sole purpose is to edit, proofread, and double check translations. Freelancers, however, double check their own work. And, if he or she is tired, even the best translator can make mistakes.

When Should I Go with a Freelancer?

• If you’re a small to medium company who needs translation on a sporadic basis.
• When you just need one to three languages translated.
• In instances where time is not a big concern.
• When the budget is your company’s biggest concern.

It’s Time to Introduce Goliath

A translation agency is an independent entity that provides and coordinates a wide range of translation-related services. Their catalog typically includes straight translation, product localization, language management, and typesetting. These organizations tend to hire large numbers of translators and support staff. But, all this overhead doesn’t come cheap! A study at Slator concluded that the average agency charged $0.21 per word in 2016. Read on to find out how these multiarmed businesses stack up against their tiny counterparts.

The Power of Numbers

When you place freelancers against translation agencies, the latter emerges with the following advantages

• They Offer Plenty of Fringe Benefits:  As outlined above, agencies provide more than translation services. By letting them take care of finishing or technical steps, you can save money on further processing.
• They’re Faster:  As they typically have multiple translators working on any given language, it’s much easier for agencies to speed up the translation process. By throwing a few more bodies at a project, they’re able to churn out content at a rate far higher than a one freelancer. However, this haste can lead to inconsistencies and errors.
• Rigorous Quality Checks. With added staff comes greater oversight. Any reputable agency runs content through multiple editors before sending it over to a client. While this doesn’t create perfect content, it lessens the likelihood of a disastrous typo.

The Downsides of Going Big

As you can tell, there are plenty of reasons to hire a well-reputed translation agency. However, like all things, these businesses have a dark side. Companies who hire agencies typically struggle with:

• Inconsistent Translations. Because they use multiple translators for the same language, styles can differ wildly across finished content. To native speakers, this can come across as choppy and confused.
• Skyrocketing Costs:  Someone has to pay for the overhead costs (i.e. you). On a per word basis, agencies charge much more than the average freelancer. Worse yet for the budget conscious, extra fees and services charges are commonplace.
• Middlemen Abound: Good luck speaking to a translator! With so many layers between you and them, getting changes made can be a bureaucratic nightmare.

Situations that Call for a Translation Agency:

• If you’re a large company expecting regular, high-volume translation work.
• When you need content translated into a lot of different languages.
• In instances when you need work done quickly.
• In cases where budget is no obstacle and your project calls for a lot of added services

Conclusion

If you’re a mega-corporation that needs regular translations in 23 different languages, or a mom and pop grocer who needs a few things translated into Swedish, your decision is obvious. For the rest of us, however, the choice between an agency and freelancer translation can be a difficult one. Here’s what it boils down to:

• Freelance translators are your best choice when you need just one language or when your main concerns are to budget or quality-related. As they’re experts in their given language, and often deeply knowledgeable about its associated culture, they tend to produce more localized content. Furthermore, as they work alone, the work they produce will be more consistent.
• Translation agencies are the better choice for larger companies needing multi-language support, centralized translation, or speed. Due to a high amount of overhead and fees, however, these companies are rarely the most economical solution. With multiple staff working on one translation, the resulting work is often full of inconsistent styles and lacks a true understanding of a company’s product or culture.

Once you make your choice, it’s finally time to find your translator! Just be on the lookout for these signs of a subpar translator.

Check also:

Introduction

Shoddy translations turn can a successful product launch into a commercial flop. So, if you want to get your money’s worth, it’s imperative that you get things right the first time. Choosing the right translator, even if they come with a bigger price tag, is a big part of that. Fixing the aftermath of an incorrect translation is typically far costlier than paying higher prices from the get-go. As Kurt Vonnegut once said: “You get what you pay for.” But, sometimes, even the priciest translator can be selling cheap machine translations. In this article, we’ll teach you how to spot a swindler a mile away.

Hope You Like Horror Stories!

While some mistranslations simply earn raised eyebrows, others can lead straight to lawsuits and bankruptcy. A recent article by the BBC outlined some famous, and costly, translation mistakes:

• Schiaparelli’s Close Encounters: When Giovanni Schiaparelli thought he discovered channels on the surface of Mars, he dubbed them ‘canali.’ While this word has many meanings, his peers quickly settled on one that implied water: canals. This drove astronomers to waste decades hypothesizing about life and rivers on Mars.
• A Bank is Proud of An Unforgivable Sin: Few companies know the true costs of faulty translations like HSBC bank. In some countries, translators twisted the company’s slogan, “Assume Nothing” into the more slothful “Do Nothing.” As a result, HSBC ended up dishing out more than $10 million dollars.
• Carter Got Way Too Friendly with Poland: In a 1977 trip to Poland, President Carter’s translator managed to turn him from president to pervert. In his opening remarks, Carter proclaimed that he was happy to be in Poland. What the Polish audience heard, however, was that the President was overjoyed to ‘grasp at Poland’s private parts.’ Due to these, and many other translation faux pas, old Jimmy quickly became the country’s punchline poster boy.

Signs of a Below Average Translator

Unless you want to end up like HBSC or Jimmy Carter, it’s important to vet your translator ahead of time. While we want you to find the best translator for your money, we also want you to avoid falling into the clutches of the worst ones. When you open the bidding process, watch out for people who:

• Charge Rock Bottom Prices: Lower than average prices might indicate that a translator uses cheap machine translations, cripples your budget with fees, or offers low-quality work. So, if they charge less than $0.05 per word, you should start looking elsewhere. If you really need someone that cheap, however, make certain to do all your research up front.
• Claim Unrealistic Return Times: If a translator tells you they can turn around a month-long project in 24 hours, it’s a sign that they’re lying, unaware of your project’s full scope, or using machine translation. Avoid these efficiency ‘super-stars’ at all costs.
• Communicate Sluggishly: Test the responsiveness of your translator before signing that dotted line. Send them a few questions. Call the listed cellphone number. If they take days to respond, it’s a sign that they’re busy, disinterested, or disorganized. If they can’t handle an email, why should you hand them your global reputation?
• Don’t List Any or List Poor Customer Reviews: While no one wants to be a sheep, there’s something to be said for the wisdom of crowds. A key part of choosing a translation vendor is researching the company’s prior work. Most decent translators list customer reviews right on their website. If you can’t find any, it’s a sign that the company is either untested or hiding a string of dissatisfied customers. When you find nothing but complaints, you should run the other direction. While it’s important to take customer testimony with a grain of salt, these tidbits can give you a pretty good understanding of a company’s quality and ethics.
• Lack an Official Quality Process: If a vendor’s page does not mention proofreading, editing, or quality assurance, it’s typically a sign of trouble. Always ask your translator about what they do to double-check their translations.
• Claim to Do It All: John Gowers summarized this point perfectly in 1390, when he denoted a character as a ‘Jack of all trades, but master of none’. A translator who claims to be capable of everything often lacks specialized, technical knowledge. These statements indicate a vendor who is either desperate or overly confident in their abilities.

Conclusion

Spotting an incompetent translator can be harder than playing iSpy blindfolded; this is especially true for companies and individuals new to the translation market. If you keep the above points in mind, however, you should have a much better shot. And, if your company cannot get a qualified translator to bite, it might be time to reevaluate your budget or cast a wider net.

Check also:

• 4 Types of Quality Assurance for Translators
• The Role of Translators in the Software Localization Process
• How to Spot a Great Transcreator
• The Benefits of Choosing Swedish Translation Services

Planning is Key to Localization

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” And he was absolutely right; anyone who’s ended up on the wrong side of a poorly-planned project knows that. Since you’re reading this blog, you know that there’s a lot more to localization than tossing some words into Google Translate. Translation is actually a complex, multifaceted process. While many clients find this out the hard way, and end up frustrated, you don’t need to be one of them. If you take time to prepare your translation project upfront, you’ll find going global to be a much smoother experience.

The Translation Checklist

Failing to properly prepare your translation project might land you a starring role in your translator’s nightmares. A lack of key information can result in missed deadlines, delays, and insomnia for everyone involved. So, to help ensure your translator gets a full night’s sleep, double-check that you:

• Finalized Your Texts: Before sending anything out for translation, figure out exactly what you need done: finish your edits, update your logos, gather the documents, and cut out anything that might be unnecessary. While it’s tempting to translate everything word for word, that’s rarely a wise decision. Even the least chatty companies have websites cluttered with out-of-date press releases and irrelevant information. Don’t waste your translator’s time on those things you won’t need!
• Cut the Jargon: While you might be tempted to translate terms like ‘tenure,’ ‘putative’, or ‘injunction’, technical language should be removed from translation-ready documents. Using industry-specific words, especially when simpler alternatives exist, often leads to confusion. So, unless your translator specializes in that specific area, it’s best to remove region or occupation-specific terms. And, of course, make sure to cut out those clichés.
• Were Clear About the Languages Involved: Make sure that all parties are clear about the project’s source and target language(s). If you need documents translated into a specific dialect, for example, that’s something you need to specify up front. Not doing so might lead to repeated translations, increased costs, and hair pulling.
  Determined Your Target Audience: It’s important to know who you’re trying to reach. Different regions often need different dialects. Someone in urban Tokyo might respond to a certain phrase differently from someone in rural Osaka, for example. By figuring out your audience beforehand, you improve your chances of getting your point across.
• Cleaned Up Your Source Materials: If your paperwork is smudged, torn, or covered in chicken scratch, you need to rewrite it. If it’s not legible, how can you expect your translator to use it? Unless your handwriting is neater than typed font, it might be better to convert all your documents to a digital format before requesting translation. This will also make it easier to keep track of, and allow both you and your translator to easily keep copies of the material.
• Pinned Down Your Deadline: Be clear about when you need a translation project completed. Don’t tell your translator that a project is ‘no rush’ if you need it tomorrow. Also, be sure to avoid using subjective terms like ‘soon’ or ‘sometime in the next month or two.’ Interpretations of those statements vary wildly from person to person, let alone culture to culture.
• Sorted Your Documents: Classify your documents according to type, subject, or importance and be sure to label any legal documents. This allows your translator to properly assign tasks and seek any needed outside expertise.
• Gave Ample Support: Whether it’s due to unclear requirements, or company-specific terms, your translator is likely to need your help. To minimize interruptions, provide your vendors with a copy of your handbook, commonly used terms, and access to important materials. Make certain that you’re easy-to-contact and available for any impromptu consultations.
• Decided on a Final Deliverable: What do you need when the project’s completed? A PDF? An Excel sheet? Tell your vendor where and how you plan on using the translated text. This might help save you money on staging and finishing costs. If you can, provide the translator with an example of completed work.
• Outlined Any Extra Requirements: While most companies are glad to format and publish your materials, you should request any auxiliary services at the start. If you don’t, you might end up stuck with an unfinished project, or worse, a set of unbudgeted charges.

Conclusion

Translation is all about communication. Communication between you and your client and communication between you and your translation vendor. To minimize problems, you need to take time beforehand and carefully plan your project. Always make sure you know what languages, materials, and services you need from any given translator. If you jump right into the deep end and send out a half-baked scope of work, you might end up with a project that’s unfinished and poor quality.

Check also:

HERE’S WHY CREATING A SWEDISH VERSION OF YOUR WEBSITE IS A NO BRAINER

A Sensible Starting Point

Sweden is a Scandinavian country boasting a population of just under 10 million and a landmass of 172,756 miles. It’s also the world’s fifth happiest country, according to findings from the Happiness Report. For companies looking to break into international markets, Sweden is a great place to start. The Guardian’s Jon Card once said, “Scandinavia is, for many entrepreneurs, a sensible first destination when they are looking to expand their businesses through exporting.” While Morningside Translations recommends starting with Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, German, Arabic, French, Russian, or Korean, we recommend adding Swedish to that list.

The Demographics of Sweden

In recent years, the demographics of Sweden have undergone a radical transformation. A recent article in Business Insider summed it up pretty well in an article titled “Sweden Will Have To Become A Lot Less Blond.” As Swedes are typically more open-minded about immigration than other EU members, they’ve become a figurative temple for those fleeing persecution and warfare. In 2016, for example, the country granted asylum to more than 60,000 people. Combining that with a slowly declining birth rate and rising emigration, Sweden is quickly gaining a much more diverse population.

Benefits of Doing Business in Sweden

While Sweden is nowhere near the top of the population charts, its citizens are open-minded and forward-thinking. They also tend to be prosperous. The average Swedish man, for example, makes about $4,000 per month; the typical woman, on the other hand, takes home about $3000. In terms of GDP per capita, the company ranks in the top ten. If you’re looking for examples of business success, look no further than Skype, Ikea, and AstraZeneca; all three companies found their start in Sweden. In addition to its prosperity, Sweden is able to offer globalized companies:

• World Class Research and Development Opportunities: By sinking about three percent of its GDP into innovation, Sweden offers great opportunities for start-ups and future-oriented companies. Items invented in Sweden include automatic identification systems, adjustable wrenches, pacemakers, ultrasounds, and zippers.
• An Enterprise Friendly Environment: According to the 2016 World Bank Report, Sweden is the ninth easiest country in which to do business. This is particularly true for modern or technical businesses. The country also boasts three things important to modern business success: great infrastructure, prolific internet service, and robust public transportation.
• Open Minds and Wallets: As a people, the Swedes are open-minded about new processes and technologies. They tend to be early adopters of new gadgets and stand at the forefront of social movements. The Geert-Hofstede scale ranks Sweden at a 29 on Uncertainty Avoidance. This shows that the country is flexible and unthreatened by innovation. Meanwhile, on the indulgence spectrum, Sweden scores a jaw-dropping 78. This means that, on average, the Swedish are far more concerned with enjoying life than restraining themselves. This also leads them to value their leisure time and worry less about things like money and savings.
• Strong Technology Infrastructure: People don’t call Sweden the Silicon Valhalla without reason. As of 2016, 93.1 percent of Swedes regularly connected to the internet. This makes them the 10th most connected country in the world. For any company offering digital sales, Sweden represents a safe haven.
• An Excellent Location: Due to its centralized location on the Scandinavian Peninsula, Sweden is a geographic hub in the Nordic region. Its proximity to the Baltic Sea, Atlantic Sea, and Central Europe, makes it a perfect spot for businesses with a personal stake in logistics and transportation. Better yet, as a member of the EU, Sweden makes it easy to transfer products across nearby borders.

Potential Obstacles of Swedish Localization

While Sweden offers ample opportunity for your business, it’s certainly not risk-free. While doing business there is similar to doing business in the US or the UK, it’s certainly not identical. Like all independent nations, it has its own set of tax rules, labor laws, and buying behaviors. Outsiders to Sweden often struggle with its:

• Complex Labor Laws: Sweden is a big believer in equality. It also stands firmly on the sides of unions and worker’s rights. For people from a less worker-oriented society, its ample vacation time, maternity leave, and workers’ rights might prove difficult to navigate.
• Flatter Organizational Structures: For people used to rigid management structures, operating in Sweden can be a bit of a wake-up call. Employees are not afraid to make complaints, approach the CEO, or offer suggestions. If your company prefers a more rigid style of operations, it might be hard to adapt.
• All-Consuming Humbleness: Bragging and showing off do you little good in Sweden. If your marketing team uses superlatives to advertise, you might need to change your script. This same aversion to bragging and grandstanding is also common in the interview, recruiting, and management process.

Conclusion

If you are an American or UK company looking to go global, you should think about starting in Sweden. It’s a country of wealth, open minds, innovative technology, and high levels of English skills. It also has a set of laws and beliefs that are conducive to rapid business growth. Though many of its citizens speak English, a Eurobarometer report concluded that 44 percent of Swedes refused to visit websites without a Swedish translation. So, if you’re eager to capitalize on all this country offers, it’s time to find a qualified translator.

Just make sure that your [project’s ready] first!

Check also:

• 4 Keys Steps For Translating Your Website From English to Swedish
• 6 Fundamental Tips for Website Localization to Reach Global Markets
• Swedish Localization and Website Translation: 4 Ways Your Business Can Benefit
• Things to Avoid When Translating a Website
• Things to Think of When Developing Localization Ready Websites

Translation is a minefield at the best of times but whereas telling your Spanish penpal you enjoy ‘long walks along the massacre’ can be a tad embarassing, it is nothing compared to the lasting damage to finances and reputation that a business mistranslation can incur. From awkward social faux-pas to accidentally sinking huge deals, even the smallest translation errors have cost businesses money, clients and respect on a massive scale. Below are some of the biggest and most common ‘oopsies’ in the translation industry:

Cultural Nuances

Cultural views are key. In many languages, even something as basic as sentence structure and types of words changes depending on who you’re talking to. This isn’t just politeness – it’s almost a whole new language.

This has caused havoc with many novice Japanese speakers who, upon hearing many names ending in ‘-san’, then add it to their own name – which is very taboo in Japanese culture. Referring to yourself as ‘Mike-san’ or ‘Lucy-san’ is effectively saying ‘I am incredibly important’ and we all know what we think of THAT guy in the office.

There are also literally dozens of honourifics other than -san which convey varying levels of respect. Even not using one is a bold statement, essentially saying that you and your conversational partner are such close friends that you’re beyond that. Within business, it is not uncommon for each individual level of management to have its own honorific (such as ‘bucho’, meaning ‘boss/head of a section’ ).

Using the wrong one is a very embarrassing and insulting mistake.

Understanding politeness and cultural norms is important with any culture, but especially so in East Asia. Always make sure your translator understands the people behind the language or you’ll end up looking like the ‘bucho’ of all idiots.

Direct Questions

Asking questions in a foreign language is always a tricky business, especially in advertising. The California Milk Processor Board should have had this in mind when they launched their ‘Got Milk?’ campaign in Spanish towards the Hispanic market – instead of asking them if they ‘Got Milk?’ it instead accused them of lactating, effectively alienating a $1.3 trillion market.

Let’s see them milk some profits out of that one.

Homophones and Homographs

Sometimes a single letter can make all the difference. Imagine the horror of discovering your hot date with Briar turned out to be a hot date with Brian. Likewise, there is a world of difference between ‘braking the car’ and ‘breaking the car’.

This was a tough lesson for Schwepps when they attempted a marketing campaign in Italy, with a mistranslation of ‘Schwepps Tonic Water’ appearing as ‘Schwepps Toilet Water’ on advertisements.

Delicious!

Literal Translation

This is pretty much the single biggest culprit for translation errors of all sizes. It is the number one golden rule for translators across the globe and the one most amateurs fall prey to – do not translate literally.

Imagine this – you’re about to go on stage for the performance of your life. Your father is with you backstage and he grabs you by the shoulder, leans in and says ‘Break a leg, kid!’. In English it’s an (admittedly odd) positive saying of support. Now, imagine you translated this literally into another language. Instead, your father leans in close and says ‘I hope you get injured, you tiny child!’.

Harsh!

Most commonly, these translation errors occur in direct translation for signage. It is not uncommon to see the sign ‘Do not touch yourself’ in small stores and stalls across China. This is not due to a sharp rise in perverts but is, in fact, a direct translation from the Chinese meaning ‘Please do not touch the items yourself’.

Online automatic translators are the single biggest culprits of this. Avoid at all costs! Pepsi famously learned this the hard way when they launched a massive ad campaign in China, with their literally translated tagline ‘Come alive with Pepsi’ coming out the other side as ‘Pepsi will bring your ancestors back to life’.

All of these translation errors are easy to make, but difficult to fix. The most important thing you can do is leave it to the professionals. As HSBC will tell you of their $10 million fix-up of a botched translation in an ad campaign – cheap translators are very, very expensive. Translate in haste, repent in leisure.

Get yourself a real translation agency. It’ll save you selling toilet water and hurling lactation-related accusations at your customer base. In the world of translation – quality is key.

Author Bio

Mike Parsons enjoys travelling and working with many different cultures. He currently works for Kwintessential.co.uk, a company that cover a wide range of translation services in the UK.

Check also:

This is a guest post by Alexander Zeller

Online translation tools commenced with the easily accessible Google Translate, which has now been out on the internet for 10 years, but it seems it hasn’t had that much of an impact on the demand for human translators. Most people believed that once translation tools were developed that would be an end to human translators. This doesn’t mean that machine translation is losing its momentum; it’s more the case that the two methods of translating now co-exist together.

However, the general trend in global business is for more and more businesses opening up their products to many more countries. Experience has indicated that it is of little use marketing a product to, for example, the Russian market unless at least some of the product information is written in Russian.

Terminology Banks

Some of the translation tools which are computer based help translators complete their translation tasks. A few of these are what are called ‘terminology management systems’ where useful terms are stored online in multiple languages so that the translator is only a click away when searching for the desired list of terms. These terminology banks allow translation divisions of an international organisation when allocating translation jobs to human translators that they can be assured that there is a standardisation of terms being used by a group of translators.

March of the Translation Apps

It is expected that throughout this year more apps will be released which will aid faster translations. There is a device that is currently being trialled and that is a translating earpiece. It allows people who don’t speak the same language to understand one another. This could theoretical reduce language barriers considerably.

A device developed and marketed by New York City company Waverly Labs is called ‘Pilot’ and is fitted into the ear. It has an in-built AP which is able to switch between languages. This language translation product is going to be introduced first of all in the main European languages: French, English, Spanish and Italian. The idea later is to load the device with other languages that are widespread, such as Arabic, Hindi, Slavic, Semitic and many African languages.

Pilot May Take Place of Google Translate

Apple fans love iPhone accessories so the Pilot is expected to be a winner as it has many smart language features. It works by using speech recognition so the person using one can hear and understand what another person is saying because the conversation gets translated into the user’s native language. Being what is called a wearable device it brings together this much loved feature with machine translation. It is quite possible that Apple fans will soon be deleting their Google Translate apps in favour of the Pilot iPhone app instead.

Apple is promoting the Pilot app well before the launch by giving away a free app every week. The actual launch date has yet to be decided. So far there has been unprecedented support for the product and crowd-funding is being sought to help in producing it and releasing it out on to the market.

Author Bio:

Alexander Zeller is a project manager and translator working with The Migration Translators in Australia, providing legal, medical, business, marketing, technical and website translation services in over 130 Languages.

This is a guest post by Albert Brown

Why translation services needed?

In general perception, global economy doesn’t come to our mind when we consider interpretation services. We normally think of it as somebody having a thorough knowledge of the root and destination languages, who helps others to understand some different languages and let the communication process flow between two or more people. Translation service has a huge contribution in helping people to overcome the language barrier. But did you know it also plays a significant part in boosting the global economy?

For a company preparing to step into the global market, translation service is a must to function properly. Companies may be doing business on a giant scale in and around their local area but when they want to expand out, they’re almost unknown in their target market and require a lot of hard work to get themselves introduced. Interpretation services bridge the gap between these companies and locals of the target country.

Without language services, it is impossible for a company to improve its own financial standing as well as contribute towards the global economy. To make a footprint in the global market, it is the first and foremost criteria for a company to join hands with a good translation service provider. It greatly enhances the client relationship along with helping it strengthen its position in the global marketplace.

Issue on the translation of economics

In today’s world of information society and globalization, when global economy mainly depends on the distribution and production process along with communication and information, language services play a key role. Banks and other financial institutions operate in various languages to increase their customer base. Multinational companies release documents in various languages for the sake of service expansion and to reach every corner of the global market.

With the increasing growth of “LCCS” or “low-cost country sourcing” where a company imports materials from the countries with lower production and labor costs like Brazil, China, India and Eastern Europe to decrease operational costs, the need of translating franchise agreements, contracts, financial documents, company documents and associated documentations is growing rapidly. Interpretation services occupy a centralized position in the prospective cross-border “M&A” (mergers and acquisitions) which mainly depends on effective and efficient exchange of information between all the involved parties responsible for the transaction.

For addressing this, many research avenues are created that are connected to economic and technical translation services and the challenges related to it. Unlike other subject-related translations like technical translation and legal translation, economic translation has become an uncommon topic of special issues of TS (Translation Studies) journals. As an outcome, economic translation research is spread over various publications and aims at some chosen isolated issues. Such language services mostly focus on the economic terminologies.

Why is translation so important in the global economy?

Translation applications act like important resources for both the translators and normal people and the sale and design of these apps and various web-paced platforms are a flourishing segment in the language industry. A translation project creates numerous job openings distributed among various platforms.

Many language services companies that manage high volume translation projects employ not only translators but graphic/formatting artists, proofreaders, project managers and administrative staff who look after the project requirements. Hiring of such professionals is done by scouting for talent across the globe. All of this jointly contributes to a flourishing translation industry, which is forecasted to reach $37 billion by the year 2018 throughout the world.

Advice on language service

Communication languages usually undergo a change along with a change in the global business mode. Economic development has significantly impacted the popular communication languages used for international businesses.

Accordingly, it has developed the popularity of admissions in various second language courses in universities and colleges. Though it’s difficult to talk about the exact way that would help someone learn a language as his/her second language, such learning does help to enhance the overall employability for sure. Spanish, French, Mandarin, Arabic, Chinese, American Sign Language, Russian, German and Portuguese are some of the languages worth learning.

Before going out to learn a new language, some important factors need to be taken into consideration. These include your future plans after learning the language such as availing a job in a global business, working overseas, becoming an interpreter or opting for a job in the government sector.

How translation improves the economy

Economic growth of a country depends upon various factors. One of the most significant factors that contribute to the economic development is the total count of industries that manufacture quality products or provide quality services. It has been observed that a country with developed economy helps the services and industries to grow rapidly.

Thus, industrial development and economic development are dependent on each other. The translation industry, especially the business and technical translation services sectors, have developed rapidly over the last few years. This sector has excellent growth opportunity, especially in the countries where each day a new business avenue is opening up in the market and opportunities are overflowing as a result of globalization.

The local markets too are flooded with foreign products and a significant number of foreign countries are rendering their services in these local markets. It has been observed that in a developed economical condition, the cross-border exchange is not merely restricted to products and services. Rather, it extends to a significant amount of cultural exchange as well.

This exchange is directly connected to economic development. After all, more economical development means more cultural exchange. Interpretation services play a key role in bridging the gap between two cultures, thus helping in the exchange of literature, knowledge, services and products and much more.

Author Bio:

Albert Brown, passionate writer & translation consultant. He is fond of reading about different cultures & traditions being followed across the world. He loves visiting new places and learning different languages. Reading and writing about the importance of language and its variations is something that keeps him busy during free time. Guiding people about the right source is something he is known for. Find out more about Albert’s company – Translation Excellence here.

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