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International Translation Day is on 30th September. This was chosen as the date because it is the same day as the Feast of St. Jerome. St. Jerome went down in history as a key translator in early Christian days when he translated the Old Testament directly from Hebrew into Latin.

Today these are English, German, French, Italian and Russian.

Between 2000 and 2010 the most commonly translated languages for ... View More

The National Accreditation Authority of Translations and Interpreters (NAATI) is the organization in Australia that provides accreditation through sitting an examination.  When a translator passes the NAATI professional translator examination the translator can submit an application to be a member of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT) or New Zealand’s Society of Translators and Interpreters (NZSTI).

If the NAATI paraprofessional exam has been passed, it’s possible to obtain affiliate status of AUSIT and ... View More

Most translators want to be the best so that they will be sought after by clients and have some flexibility on what they can charge. This can’t happen unless they have good translation skills and like anything, practice makes perfect so they should strive to improve the translation.
There are several ways a translator can improve translation skills as indicated in the points below.

1. Maintaining a blog is a good way to integrate yourself into the wider ... View More

When a business is under economic stress, it can lead to considerable uncertainty. Cutting back on what’s seen as less important for the existence of business then typically takes place. Translation of key documents often gets forgotten or is deliberately left off the budget because it’s not considered to be business then typically takes place. Translation of key documents often gets forgotten or is deliberately left off the budget because it’s not considered to be an essential expenditure.

If the business has an international presence and a firm customer base, suddenly omitting translation could be a bad mistake. Similarly, giving a translation project to the lowest bidder is not a good idea either. You should keep to your translation budget, but just be a lot more careful who you choose to do your translation work. The cheapest is rarely the best, so you should choose someone who is capable but offers a good price that fits in with your budget. Check some examples of your chosen translator before you give the go ahead.

Skills of a professional translator

A key skill of a professional translator is not just the mastery of two languages but precise industry knowledge is required as well. Every different industry has specialist terminology that only an experienced translator in that industry will know well. In order to promote their skills, a translator will have taken up relevant training in the area that interests them the most. This means they are capable of undertaking a professional, accurate translation in that specialized area.

A good translator also must make sure that the correct meaning is conveyed without making any mistakes. A good translation usually means the translation isn’t a literal translation but is one that conveys with accuracy the true meaning of the original or source text. There are times when a very technical document may require a literal translation because that’s seen as the best type of translation for that type of document. No business should ever choose a translator who can’t prove what his or her ability in the type of translation required.

Project managers are an important part of a translation

When you get your documents ready to send to your translation company make sure you get the name of the project manager. A project manager is a key to an effective, high-quality, cost-effective translation which is delivered on time. Also, an experienced project manager quickly anticipates any potential problems that could affect the quality of a translation. The best project managers keep their clients informed and will ask for feedback once the translation has been delivered.

The translation company should be up to date

It’s important to get the best translator for any type of business document translation, but the translation company needs to have invested in the best and most current technology as well. There are many good computer programs that offer support to translators so they are kept informed about the latest terminology in the industry they specialize in offering translations.

Quality translations mean quality control

Once you have chosen your ideal translator you will need to check to make sure the translation is going to be checked by another translator with equivalent qualifications. This is all part of the quality control process. A new set of eyes reviewing a translation is the best step forward to ensure you are getting the translation you are paying for.

You may need to consider an interpreter for your business

If you have a video or podcast on your website you may need an interpreter to translate the words in the video or podcast so a potential customer can view it in their language. Another event when you might need an interpreter at your side is when you are giving a speech at a business meeting and those attending don’t speak your language. To get your message across an interpreter will translate word for word exactly the words you have spoken.

The best interpreter will know your industry well and the language used by it so that the translation flows well and in the tone you want and which will be the most effective. If your presentation could have legal implications then it’s important you get a certified translator. This will cover you if the interpretation isn’t completely accurate and those listening act in a way to reflect this. There are different grades of certification for interpreters and if you require an interpreter for an appearance in court, for example, he or she will need to be a Level 3 interpreter.

If you take on an interpreter at an international business meeting where the players don’t all speak your language, it will improve your relationship with clients and attract new ones if you have an interpreter ready to convey your business message. At times there may be speakers of several different languages present at the business meeting so you may need more than one interpreter to help you through the meeting. Choosing a certified translator, even though not always required, will guarantee that the interpretation will be of a high quality which you won’t need to doubt.

In summary, no business should ever dismiss the importance of translation if they intend to keep a global presence. Customers, whoever they are, gravitate towards written or oral information that is presented in their own languages so that they know what buying decision they should make which doesn’t throw any doubt on the product.

Any business which fails to recognize the importance of translation and interpretation is likely to lose out on sales to their competitors who have been more mindful when marketing their products. Business is all about maintaining a competitive edge over others who work in the shared industry, so if this means the translation is important, then it will, in the end, be a cost-effective way to keep up with both translations and interpretations as they are both parts of the marketing process. Not providing these services would not be a cost-effective thing to do and could spell disaster for a business.

If you want to know how to learn a language on your own, research has revealed that learning through stories is the best way to learn a language. Reading a story can be a fun form of entertainment but when it’s used as one of the language learning resources it’s combining fun with learning through storytelling.

No one really likes the dullness of a textbook or even listening to a teacher droning on so there’s no better ... View More

One of the facts in sign language use, as stated by the World Federation of the Deaf, is the estimate that about 70 million people use sign language in some form or another to help with communication around the world. In Britain, British Sign Language (BSL) is used by 87,000 people whose English ability is ranked as either a second or third language. Overall, one of the other facts about BSL is that approximately 151,000 ... View More

This should not be too much of a surprise for those businesses that have already reoriented their market to a more multilingual and international one. To be able to have reached that point, the business must already have been using website translation services to translate their key web content so that it appeals to potential and current customers.

Customer reviews and surveys these days are almost always online anyway, but they are not necessarily translated into ... View More

Professional translators are always in demand, especially when all of a sudden someone who does not speak the language of a seller or buyer turns up wanting to engage in business. A professional document translation may be needed in just about any field from the education industry to ... View More

Translation services employees in the U.S. probably had a double take when they learned that a U.S. city had introduced emoji translation last week. For those readers who haven’t a clue what emojis are and think that maybe emoji is a spoken language, they are actually the emoticons that are often used to accentuate an idea or comment in an email or text message.

In fact, rather than emoji being a minor language of a small ... View More

You might be surprised to know exactly how widespread the Internet is these days with almost 2.5 billion having access to the World Wide Web. People often think that the only language used on the internet is English but this is not ... View More