Friday, 22 November 2013

Understand the circumstances: - Error may occur after translation



First Mistake. Do not use someone who is not a translator.

If you think that anyone who speaks a second language can translate well and accurately. In fact, translation requires a domain specialized skill set that is not so easy to find. A translator must have very good knowledge of both source and target languages. They should have skill to write something in the target language, having excellent attention to detail. They must also have broad general knowledge across a range of fields and excellent command over reference materials (bilingual & specialist dictionaries, thesaurus, etc.).
While choosing a translator we need to look for specific translation qualifications having particular domain knowledge and solid experience.

2nd Mistake. Using someone translating into their second language.

Quality translation requires excellent writing skills; command over particular domain and these are first developed in the education system and then honed with experience. It is not possible for someone to become a talented and error-free writer if his/her education wasn’t conducted in that 2nd language.
There are lots of word which is complex to understand if you are not native in that language. That’s what can happen when people translate into their 2nd language.

3rd Mistake. Using a translator who is out of their depth

General Translators cannot translate Technical, engineering, legal, accounting and medical terms efficiently. So, a translator should have expertise to a particular field and other areas where their knowledge is limited in particular fields all need to be distributed with by translators experienced in those fields. To have an accurate quality and natural sounding translation the translator must command the specialist terminology and writing style of that particular domain.

4th Mistake. Inadequate checking and editing.

Translating doesn’t appear to be an exceptionally common thing for the human brain to do. Translation is not an easy task to translate a sentence in one language and easily express that content well in another language. That’s why expert translators see their first endeavor as just a draft translation, to be thoroughly checked and then polished to make a precise and characteristic sounding translation.

Thorough checking procedures are therefore important. Inexperienced translators sometimes hand over their first attempt as a final translation. Doing so may also contain omissions and/or errors. Now a days professional translation company have their own procedures to produce a quality translation to their clients according to their need, generally a native speaker of the source language, to provide a safety check of the initial translator’s ‘final’ text.

5th Mistake. Imposing a dead line that is too tight.

We often estimate less time for translating a document. As a guideline, we need to allow 1½ to 2 hours translation time per 300 word or page, if there is more technical and difficult terms then we need to allow more time for translation.. Qualified and experienced translators can put their final translation aside for at least a couple of hours after completion and then re-read it checking solely for quality of expression.

The short time pressure the less time there is for checking, which may cause to increases the chances of omission and/or error and is much more likely to produce a somewhat affected final text.

6th  Mistakes. Ignoring the language of target audience.

People typically overlook the variant language are utilized with dialects. For example, for Chinese, do you require Cantonese or Mandarin? Both are written differently. The same as the spoken language, the written is also a little different and natives of each will notice the difference. So, you need to ensure the translator doesn't produce a text that sounds 'foreign' to the target market.

7th Mistake. Not using a professional translation service

Professional translation companies like us offer two key benefits. We have a thorough and proven translation quality management procedure to provide a quality translation of your documents. In fact, if you are not using a professional service means you may be effectively playing with quality.

Saturday, 2 November 2013

FAQ's and Thoughts of Translators

I am project manager at Somya Translators Pvt. Ltd in India.

I mostly get questions from the translators and clients what kind of project can you translate and how can I get entry into a particular domain for translation in the linguistic industry for language translation, so I would like to write   FAQ‘s with answering for you all. If there is something you have to know about this topic then feel free to leave questions in comments.

Q. What exactly do you do in Translation Company?

Ans- It is not easy to say in short. As I have mentioned above I am project manager at Somya Translators Pvt. Ltd. A project manager is responsible for successful delivery of a project ‘on schedule, within the budget, and according to previously agreed quality standards with the Clients. In the translation profession, a large project requires many translators. This increase the risk as well as cost on a project. Thus a project manager will be required to plan the budget and track the workflow to make sure its outcome will meet the client’s requirements.

Q. Can a translator translate any kind of translation project?

Ans- Kind of...but not every project.  Let say’ if there is a video game project to translate. Every translator can’t do translation of video game due to the technical terms used in video game project. There is wide variety of technical words and material. Game translation is a complex and still trial work. If you got a work for game translation than you must aware of  it  that, words in games work on three different levels: the software/hardware level (files/memory units/controllers), the game metaphor level ("items", "rooms", "levels") and the narrative layer ("Sorry Mario, the Princess is in another castle").

A general translator can translate general documents like, Conversation, certificate translation, proposals, business correspondence, instruction manuals, iPhone apps, and more.

Q. How many words do your translators translate every day?

Ans- It’s totally depending on the projects, type formatting and experience of the translator. Generally our translator translates in between 2500 to 3500 words in a day.

Q. What should a good freelance Translator do?
Ans- Reply mails promptly, especially when project managers are looking for availability.  Check in with project managers alternatively.

Q. What types of files should I send?
Ans- Our server currently accepts files in .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rar, .txt, .wpd, or .zip formats.
What is translation project delivery TAT (Turnaround Time)?
It’s totally depending on the length of the Document and Complexities. For example our average delivery time is

•    up to 500 words - 6 hours
•    1,000 to 2,000 words - 36 hours
•    Over 2,000 words - 1,500 words per day.

Q. What about the Large projects having more than 1, 00,000 words?

Ans- Obviously yes, we have done lots of project related to game translation, Medical Translation, software translation, legal translation etc. with successful delivery in the time frame. We use up to 20 translators in the meantime, and have supervised projects that required an output of 50,000 words in a day (approximately 200 pages per day).

Thursday, 24 October 2013

Could you be a Freelance Translator?


Work as a freelance translator is mostly transmitted online, making this a portable business well-suited to people living in locations where there are few translation jobs or who wish to work in the nude. A survey by the American Translators Association found that the average freelance translator in the United States earned $50,000 a year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the market will be better-than-average next year, and many translators are busier now than ever.

Working as a freelance translator, it is best to have an alternative source of income for the first year unless the languages you know are heavily in-demand. While you need only one offer to secure a full-time job, a freelance translator requires a sizable list of regular clients. The search for clients will never end, as workflow rises and falls, agencies go out of business, and that project manager who loves you dearly might quit and be replaced by someone who already has translators they favor. You will probably be sending your resume to between three and five possible clients a week.

You should not disdain the local market, particularly if you present yourself better in person than on paper. You should approach agencies that say they do not hire beginners or have no work in your language pair.
You should join associations such as the American Translators Association. You will be astounded by the number of translation-related websites, newsletters and magazines that are available. You can also gain advice from other translators. They might fear that you will swoop down on their clients, but most enjoy their work and are all-too-happy to speak of their jobs and how they got started. An offer to pay for lunch may be all it takes.

Instead of expecting an employer to ascertain your abilities from your resume, you should highlight specific skills such as “French Translation specialist” or “Arabic with a mechanical engineering background.” You should mention if you are immediately available for work. Your skills are more proven if you are certified, for instance by the American Translators Association.

As a freelancer, you will be responsible for your own health insurance, taxes, retirement funding, and vacation and sick time, but as a translator you also face the costs of office equipment, dictionaries, professional travel and continuing education. You will spend time on marketing, networking, billing, accounting, and even cleaning your own office. Working 40 hours a week could result in billing of only 25 hours.

There is a plus side. You could earn tax deductions for business expenses and will not spend money on commuting. If you have children, childcare expenses will be drastically reduced. Even if you cannot take care of your child yourself, you could employ a teenager to play outside with your spawn while you work inside. The extra time you will be able to spend with your child is another great boon.

Clients may well believe you to be capable of work you cannot handle because it is too long or too complex, and agreeing to conduct such work is one of the surest ways to sabotage your incipient business. You should never, ever miss a deadline without notifying the client in advance.

If you wish to work as a freelance translator, the book, How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator, was written by a person who has succeeded in the field, and could be useful to you.

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

A way with Languages: Five reasons you should use a professional Translator

Maintaining consistent communication with clients is critical in today’s content-rich business environment. But is it worth to hire a professional to do the same? There are five reasons a professional translator is worth the outlay:

1. Experience


Professional translator can translate your content reach your global market. They understand the translation terminology of every word, sentence and paragraph. A native professional translator can understand your target market. A quality and local language translation will uphold and develop your business and brand reputation.

2. Strategy


Quality content is all about management and handling. Professional translation companies at first research your brand, competitors; target market and industry trends; after that they start to translate your documents through domain experts. A professional translator can translate your documents that appeal to the hidden urges and wants of readers. They also know how to influence with words and make effective calls to action.

3. Consistency


Consistency across translated documents is imperative in building brand recognition. As we all aware about the consent in translation is make the text readable as well as communicable.To maintain the consistency in whole the documents you need to create a glossary at first by doing this, we can assure consistency from term level by adding in excel or word file. Whenever the same word will occur during document translation we can refer it to glossary to keep the consistency in whole project. Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) tools, is used to store thousands of terms. Now this day’s SDL Multiitem is the most popular tools. They can also take care of styles and fonts of your documents that build familiarity and a trusted connection with readers.

4. Efficiency


General translator can’t translate your document accurate and error free efficiently, but a specific domain translator can possibly do it better and much faster than non-domain specific translators. By doing this you will save you money and time too. Distributing poorly translated document is not only a waste of time and money, but it could potentially affect sales or your brand.

5. Results


A professional Translator will achieve this, giving you a competitive advantage. A professional translator not only translates your documents, rather they save your review money too. By showing you ways above you can improve your work. If you are unsure where to begin or where to get services that suits your needs, browse through our many Translation Services.

Monday, 21 October 2013

Precautions during Medical Terms Translation


Every time whenever we need something, generally we look for some one expert for that specific field. For example let say some one surfing from gastric problem and they need of medical assistance, than definitely they will consult a doctor, but it would be better if they go to the Gastroenterologist. Indeed, when emergency situation, we accept that all we have to do is to convey the way of our mishap and an expert will solve all our woes.

There is continually growing number of UK natives who speak a dialect other than English in their homes and who have restricted capability in English. In the U.S. the last reported figures for comparative detail were that out of the aggregate population, around 45 million individuals' first dialect was not English and out of these, 18 million had constrained proficiency in English. There are no figures accessible for the UK.

The issue laid out above, which is one of translation and interpretation, this additionally grows into an alternate dimension, that of Document Translation and Interpretation. Constantly expanding volumes of patient case notes, research notes and other curative documentation are touching base from global medical establishments, or need to be sent to establishments abroad and this throws up a unique set of issues.

The Medical documents should be translated precisely and accurately, its fact that during translation of medical terms as there is no direct equivalency in terms. So you need to put it in simpler way. The solution to medical translations and Interpretations lays in the utilization of professional medical translation experts. These companies usually hire qualified translators to slice through the confusing terminology of medical terms to achieve a coherent and exact translation of the source content.

So, finding Translation agency that has qualified medical translation experts is not an easy task who can undertake such medical translation and interpretation. Medical Translators should not only be proficient in the source and target languages but also should be from medical field and having depth knowledge of the medical subject.

Friday, 18 October 2013

Pitfalls to evade when translating English to Spanish

If you are going to translate your documents into Spanish language then you must be aware of these pitfalls.

A business man who is going to launch their product in global market, it is most important to understand the culture of the countries to which the products and their relative documents are tended to. Hence, the main task for clients and translators is to deal with cultural differences between countries which is sometime more difficult to understand. To overcome with this problem we need to consult someone who has a good knowledge about their native culture of the countries.

For example, company work slogans and corporate goal statements can be easily misunderstood in different locales.

From a linguistic point of view the word “you,” it is important to know the target audience, as Spanish uses three different forms to target the readers or audience: the commonly used infinitive, the plural “usted” used to be more direct, or the singular “le,” which is used an informal tone to the writing.

What are aspects of this language that are exceptional or not the same as English or different dialects?


As I have mentioned above, in Spanish there are different ways of targeting the readers of a document; therefore it is more important to know your audience will read the translated documents.

Here are some grammatical differences between Spanish to English:-
  • In the third person, Spanish differentiates between direct and indirect object pronouns.
  • In Spanish, object pronouns can be attached to some verbs.
  • The distinction between direct and indirect objects is different in the two languages.
  • It is common in Spanish to use an object pronoun even when the noun represented by the pronoun is explicitly stated.
Spanish sometimes uses an indirect object pronoun where English would use a phrase.

Another main difference between English and Spanish is in the representation of information lies in the realization decisions selected by both dialects. In this manner while Spanish have a tendency to utilize non-prosodic mechanism for focus realization, English regularly prefers to use prosody for the expression. The phonetics system of Spanish is significantly different from the English, especially in the parts of vowel sounds and sentence stress.  Spanish has 5 vowels and 5 diphthongs while English has 12 pure vowels and 8 diphthongs.

 

How do these attributes make it vital to utilize by qualified, expert Translators?


A professional translator has a sharp knowledge of source and the target languages and cultures.  Only native professional translator can point out to a client if any cultural issues that may require some modifications in the translated text. This is most important, when it comes to deciphering ideas, for example striving for excellence and leadership, from English into Spanish.

A qualified, professional translator is aware of possible new skills of the languages, with the new software tools especially developed for our profession. Generally after translation or localization you observe some mistakes have occurred with the target language, it might be text expansion, character encoding, typos, formats etc. Due to this we have to go with review task.

Since the Spanish translation of English text expands by about 25%, during the Quality Analysis phase of localized strings, often we face problems with cutoff strings, which were simply replaced by dots…in addition; it can be caused of lack of agreement between nouns and adjectives, this maybe happen, the text was either translated in a hurry, or obviously not rechecked, or done by machine.

It would be better if you provide one sample of a specific phrase or notion so that, a translator can communicate accordingly.

Saturday, 5 October 2013

Role of Translation in Clinical Trial Research

A huge and regularly climbing extent of clinical Research is carried out in multi-nation trials, and most drugs that are advertised in the US are created or manufactured abroad.

Translation is needed at numerous stages over the span of putting up a medicine for sale in the market, incorporating clinical research, regulatory submissions, assembling, promoting and packaging. While the immediate cost of translation is exceptionally minor, translation can have a shockingly expansive impact for better and for more regrettable on some significant truth. These components incorporate the total cost of the trials, the time to market, the possibility of claims or dismissal by controllers and even the safety and adequacy of the advertised item.


For example, regulators once in a while reject requisitions or delay their approval if the needed translations are insufficient. Accordingly, cost can expand dramatically, and market entry might be deferred by months if not years, with misfortune of competitiveness.

Additionally, insufficient translation can cover crucial connections between the information from research sites which work in diverse dialects. Therefore, insufficient translation can have enormously high indirect expenses. The loss of data quality can't be remunerated by enhancing an alternate part of the development process.