Many believe that translation is a quick and easy process. If you lived in Germany for a year or two, or if you studied Spanish in high school, you can translate into those languages, right? Not exactly. This may be the case if you are translating personal documents, but not for the translation of business documents or any printed material that will represent your company.
To achieve a quality translation, the process needs to be approached in a serious manner.
A translator never translates word-for-word. In fact, what a translator does is attempt to understand the context of the source text and express it in the target language.
A word-for-word translation is not possible due to the different syntactic features languages use. Another important detail is that words, provided in different contexts, can have different meanings. This is why a translator needs to understand the context of the word he is translating in order to identify the appropriate equivalent in the target language. This explanation is also true for computer translations. A software program will not take into consideration the context and will translate each individual word.
Usually this is not the case. There may be a select few, but for the most part translators can only give high quality results when translating into their native language. A translator must be able to produce a document that reads like an original, for this reason only native speakers of the target language can achieve this. According to the American Translators Association, translating into a foreign or acquired language is the height of unprofessional behavior.
Close, but not completely. Although translation and interpretation both have the same goal of converting information from one language into another, they are two separate practices. Translation is written. It refers to taking some written text and converting it into a new target language. Interpretation is oral. It involves listening to something spoken and interpreting it orally into a new target language. The quality of translation work lies in the translator’s reading and writing skills, while interpreters use their superior oral communication skills of listening and speaking. Overall, translators should have a deeper understand of the language being converted, education in the grammatical nuances as well as experience in the subject matter.
Most every industry has a need for language translation. With increasing globalization around the world and the growth of non-English speakers in the United States, there are sure to be changes for all industries. Also, by initiating relationships in foreign countries with others in your industry, you can identify opportunities with new suppliers and customers that otherwise would not have taken place.
It is important to expand your competitive advantage abroad, within your industry, and understanding the translation process is the first step in breaking down language barriers. For questions or concerns regarding the language translation processes and the translation industry, the staff at Foreign Translations, Inc. would be pleased to assist you.