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What you should know about translation
Choose a translator carefully. A poor translation could be a disaster for your business.
Choose a translator carefully. A poor translation could be a disaster for your business.
Use a qualified translator. Translation is a precise skill, gained by specific study and training. Not everyone with a GCSE, A Level or even a degree in a particular language can translate.
With a very few exceptions translators always work into their native language. This ensures that you end up with a translation which reads fluently in the target language and is correctly punctuated and formatted. Professional translators work hard to keep their language and cultural knowledge up-to-date and to learn new terminology in their specialized subject fields.
A word about Machine Translation (MT)
Machine Translation (MT) can help you to get the rough gist of a document. But bear in mind that if you use machine translation for an ‘outbound’ document, you are likely to look unprofessional, inarticulate and will probably completely misrepresent what you’re aiming to convey. Read more about Machine Translation here.
Computer Assisted Translation (CAT)
Many translators use Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) tools - software programs designed for translators which often incorporate translation memory tools, concordancers, databases and similar functions. To read more about Computer-Assisted Translation, click here.
Further information
To read more about commissioning a translation, read the ITI booklet Translation: getting it right.
