Over the years I have used many tools and methods to understand and measure the demand of language translation services. In my experience few can beat the effectiveness of the Google keyword tool. It is extremely reliable because it does not depend upon market speculation. When you use the Google keyword tool you are tapping into a resource which gives you accurate figures of what goes on in the minds of people googling their way through the internet and they include your targeted customers/buyers. This makes the Google keyword tool an excellent application for measuring the demand of language translation services, as well as for almost anything under the sun. However, one should know how to use the results for effective analysis.
Take for instance, the key phrase “translation services”, if you check with the Google keyword tool, you would find that there were around 201,000 searches in February 2009, compared to an average monthly search of 301,000, in the 12-month period preceding it. Now, if you compare the demands of specific language translation services in the same period, you would notice an even greater difference. Try it out for yourself by using key phrases like “Chinese translation services”, “French translation services” etc and you will see what I mean.
Translation Quote of the day -
“Common European thought is the fruit of the immense toil of translators. Without translators, Europe would not exist; translators are more important than members of the European Parliament.”
Milan Kundera
Every profession is victim to a fair share of stereotyped beliefs held by people who are either rank outsiders or have negligible insider knowledge. Such beliefs irk the dedicated and/or experienced practitioners of a profession no end! Translation is not immune to such issues; a widespread and annoyingly persistent belief related to language translation that refuse to die is -
Translation is all about converting one language into another
A lot of people who obviously do not have any idea about the process of translation think that it only requires knowing two languages well, and all one needs to do is to replace words in the original language with their equivalents in the target language. But as fellow translators would be aware, nothing could be farther from the truth. There are countless people out there in the world who are apparently fluent in multiple languages, but cannot provide quality or even accurate translations in the same. And that is quite obvious, since languages are like people, they don’t just look different, they are different in many other ways! The grammar, the native idioms, the structuring of sentences, even cultural differences affect the written and spoken language of a place. And only when all these factors are taken into account, a high quality translation is guaranteed.
One of our Czech translation experts had all of us scratching our heads for this…and guess what? No one got it right. The answers are robot, pilsner and polka, just three, thats’s it.
Hello dear reader, this post might appear to be something right out of your childhood moral science classes, but trust me for I have been in the translation industry for many years- the principles mentioned below work! Moreover, how do you think the world has come so far? Certainly not by dishonest means, dishonest efforts may prove to be a shortcut to good business, but you better be good enough in the first place to keep getting good business. Working with a few solid principles would ensure that you win the trust of your clients and they keep coming back to you, as well as refer new clients. My personal checklist follows-
- Be a master of your advertised language pair(s). The learning process never stops, so even if you think you are a master, keep working on your languages in a disciplined fashion to ensure that you remain an expert.
- Take translation projects in fields you are knowledgeable about. If you get an English to French translation project involving a medical journal, and you are a Professional English to French translator but don’t know anything about medicine, don’t take the project. Don’t take up anything that lies outside the area of your expertise.
- Protect your client’s interests – As a professional language translation services provider. I have frequently come across information that the client would prefer to keep secret. And that is what I do for my clients. No questions asked. Of course this does not cover protecting illegal activities! So always review every project in detail before taking it up, and make sure you avoid shady clients.
- Clarify all matter related to the translation project, right at the beginning. This includes your side as well your client’s. The elements include the language translation project requirements, format, delivery time, charges, payment modes and conditions, among others.
- Never over-promise, nor under-deliver. Whether it is doing translation work that does not lie within the area of your expertise, or taking up much more than you can deliver in the promised time or within established quality requirements.
Just a few pointers and you needn’t be a saint to fulfill them 
I have been providing language translation services over many years and it pains me to see translation buyers ending up with botched up translations, or paying way too much than required. This is not only ethically wrong but also creates a bad impression of language translation services providers. Keeping that in mind I have prepared a set of the following tips that would help language translation buyers to get the best translation services at desirable rates. Just like other industries, there are bad apples in the language translation field as well, but I hope that the following tips would save language translation buyers from any unsavory experiences-
- Never fall for the cheapest rates- This is a major mistake that a lot of language translation buyers make and end up paying much more than they should have, if they had gone for standard translation rates in the beginning. So if you require language translation services, get to know the standard rates, you can be more specific and research the prevalent rates for your required language pair and the field, or subject of your translation job. Getting a job done for lower than standard rates is like ensuring a bad job.
- Set achievable deadlines- There are only 24 hours in a day and people need their rest and rejuvenation time, apart from the time required to tend to other needs of life. So a language translator can only work for limited number of hours every day. Within that also he/she would be able to complete a limited amount of quality work taking into account the complexity associated with the language pair and that of the material. Keeping all these in mind, always give your language translator a reasonable amount of time to produce the required translation.
- Specifying requirements in details – Language translation service providers are not superhuman beings, they cannot anticipate your requirements if you don’t tell them yourself. So if you have specific requirements for your project, make them clear to your translation services provider in the beginning. At the same time, get to know the translator’s/ translation agency’s terms in detail. You should also enquire whether you can avail of any discounts; many translation services providers do have various discount schemes running which can save you a good amount of money.
Ans - Bye
This interesting insight was provided by one of our Spanish translation experts who dropped in during the tea break.
Beginners are mostly a jittery lot wherever you go, whether it is the first day at school, work, business or translation job. And it’s ok to feel so, most rational people will. You are just starting out and there’s always so much to learn. I was a beginner a few years back and can now look back objectively at the things that worked and those which didn’t; steps which I should have taken or not taken at all. If you are a beginner in the field of language translation, check out the following tips, I believe they would be quite helpful –
Get yourself certified/ Take classes – You might have done this already, if not you should. Though I know a fair number of brilliant translators who have never taken translation classes nor have been certified, such classes and certifications do help. At least they would help you make a substantial impression. A translation buyer would be able to rely on you more easily.
Ensure exposure – You should make efforts which ensure that your skills get noticed. A great way of achieving this is by writing for translation industry trade publications. It will be read by people in the position to give you worthwhile translation jobs. Articles in trade publication make a great impression and make your resume look much better.
Get all your queries answered – Beginners frequently feel shy of asking too many questions for the fear of appearing a complete novice. But it’s all right to appear a novice at the beginning of a language translation job than to appear incompetent when it’s completed and badly done. So always take detailed briefs from your client(s) on what they expect from you.
Be available – I know you love your weekends as much as I do. But as a beginner, be more flexible about your working hours. Make yourself available when other language translation experts are not. Work during weekends, and holidays and after regular business hours. This is a very effective way of building a loyal client base.
There are many more tips, but for that you will have to wait for the book that I am writing 
Till then the above would serve you well.
The expression “get fired” has been inspired from the practices of our long-forgotten ancestors who used to burn down the houses of unwanted members of their clan to get rid of them without killing. Thank heavens, the houses of Tomedes language translation experts are safe
I have this friend who is an aspiring novelist and has written 3 novels till date, sadly he has not been able to get them published. Every time he gets a rejection slip, he drags me to the nearest bar to dissect the latest rejection over a few drinks and some painful hours. But you have to commend the guy’s spirits for he just does not let go. He is always ready with his J.K Rowling’s rejection anecdotes and seriously believes that his is another rags-to-riches tail in the making. But I have serious doubts about that, at least till the time he makes some serious changes in his writing style.
To explain better, he is the kind of a person who starts his stories with lines like, “It was a dark stormy night” and ends them with “and they rode into the sunset”. In between, you can find the text riddled with oft used phrases like “Free as a bird”, “Don’t rock the boat”, “All’s fair in love and war” and so. Such an overuse of clichés kill his writings for all practical purposes. I have tried to convey this to him but the nice and gentle soul that he is, with total belief in his writing skills; I just don’t have the heart.
However, clichés do serve their purpose as they can sometimes describe a situation, or convey a thought much more effectively than any straight sentence. In language translation, the use of clichés in the target language can boost the quality of the translation by making it more authentic. But in order to achieve that successfully the language translator has to be a champ in the target language and at the same time use clichés sparingly and in the right context.
So when it comes to clichés, as a language translator expert you have to ensure correct usage and optimal frequency. All the best!
