Category Archives: Language Translation Advice

Increasing demand for niche translation services

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on December 9, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice, Translation News

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The demand for language translation services is increasing with every passing day is old knowledge; recent developments in the field of language translation shows that translation buyers are increasingly looking for professional translators who can provide translation services for highly specialized areas. Niche translation, as it is commonly known is the way to go for professional translators who are feeling the heat of increasing competition.

The president of American Translators Association, Nicholas Hartmann reinforced this during the 50th convention of the association, when he said that language skills were not the sole requirement from translators today; they needed to have expertise in subject matter as well. The convention itself saw an attendance of 2,300, which was a thousand more compared to last year.

According to Hartmann, the demand for translation and interpretation services providers was expected to grow by 15% next year, spurred by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the global green movement and of course, globalization. All of these developments are taking place in various parts of the world and hence a lot of original information is getting generated in languages that are spoken by relatively smaller groups of people. Moreover, language translations in these areas frequently demand a great deal of specialized knowledge and awareness of the background. It does not only require understanding the context of words and phrases, but also the applicable legal and technical issues. Any error can not only cause great embarrassment but also create serious trouble for the people involved.

Literary Translation – The Dilemmas

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on December 4, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice, Translation Musings, Translation Reference, Translation Services

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Literary translations have always been a thorny topic and will probably remain so because language translation is a combination of art and science and it does not come with any tools that can exactly evaluate a translation. Literary works are generally heavily grounded in the culture and language they represent and they project a lot of thoughts and ideas implicitly which makes them very difficult to translate satisfactorily.

An enduring issue in language translation concerns the author’s role. How does a translator figure out what the author was really trying to convey through a sentence/paragraph or the entire book. As mentioned earlier, literary works – in parts, as well as whole, can be subject to multiple interpretations. What’s the author’s place in this scheme of things? The translator cannot assume the author’s intentions, even if he or she does so, there’s no guarantee that the assumption would be correct. So is it then all right to judge the text on its own merits? The situation might be resolved to a certain extent if the author and translator work closely on the project. But this is not always possible, many authors either don’t have the time to allocate to a translation project, else they are not inclined to do so.

There might never be a perfect solution to literary translation dilemmas, the safest way to go is probably to live with the book for a sufficient period of time, read and re-read it and then if possible discuss it with the author, before getting into the actual translation process.

Comparing Freelance translators and translation agencies

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on October 22, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice, Translation Services

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Whenever I am asked by someone requiring language translation services about whether they should go for a freelance translator or translation company, I usually prescribe the latter. I have utmost respect for freelance translators and have been one myself for a major part of my working life. However, I usually recommend translation agencies simply because they make the whole process of getting a language translation much smoother and easier. Before I move on to the details, I would like to say that if you require translation services and know any suitable freelance translation professional for your project then by all means go ahead with him/her. However, if you are clueless about the process and/or require large volume/multiple languages translation, then read on why a translation agency would be a better choice.

Firstly, translation companies are usually more affordable. This is because there a large number of such companies who are competing for clients. This leads them to cut down their charges, as well as ensure high quality work. Most language translation companies also offer instant quotes, which include the charges for the language translation, turnaround time and any applicable discounts. Instant quotes are a very convenient and effective method of comparing several translation agencies in the time span as short as a few minutes. Since modern translation companies usually have websites all you have to do is go to their website and get the instant translation quote for your project.

Translation companies usually work with a large number of professional translators who specialize in many different language pairs. Thus one can easily get multiple language translation projects completed at the same place without any hassle. Moreover, translation companies also work with native translators who ensure authentic translation especially in the case of original documents whose language is steeped in local language and culture.

Translation companies are also usually faster at the work than freelance translation professionals. This is especially applicable to big projects. Translation companies have this advantage because they usually work with teams of language translators. The translation process is broken down into distinct with each step being managed by different experts this results in fast turnaround times while maintaining quality. Moreover translation companies also have project managers assigned to different projects. Project managers provide regular updates and feedbacks, as well as resolve issues in the process. Some translation companies offer 24/7 chat lines and customer services from where one can obtain project updates at any time.

Many language translation companies also operate online; they accept translation projects in the form of Word or PDF documents thus enabling translation buyers to get their completed translation without moving out of home or office.

Web site translation – Developing content management system

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on October 21, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice, Web site Translation

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Web sites that can be read in multiple languages are now becoming significant for the success of the product/service or objective for which they have been created. However the fact remains that web site translation is complicated and overwhelming especially for someone who is doing it for the first time. If one is not well prepared then it can very easily fail to achieve its purpose.

The above makes it imperative that one prepares well for a web site translation. Recently the Search Laboratory Blog carried out a substantial post with very helpful technical pointers specially aimed at developers and web designers which would benefit first timers immensely. It covers a list of straightforward no-nonsense tips culled from many years of experience in web site translation. Some of the tips include suggestions like -

There’s no need to build a user interface for translators
The downsides of using cookie-based language selector and how to use the same optimally
Providing support for switching language translation on each page
Setting the database structure
Using SEO friendly and localizable URLs
Creating localized formats
Internationalizing the database
Removing text-based logic

Make sure you check the post here if you are going for a web site translation for the first time, you might just end up saving yourself a lot of trouble and money.

Game translation – The challenges

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on October 19, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice

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Language translation is not a simple field, it has got many sub divisions depending upon the area for which language translation is required. Apart from having in-depth knowledge of required language, the skills, knowledge and techniques required for say, financial translation would be significantly different from the requirements of marketing or literary translation. In the same lines, there is an area of language translation known as game translation. With video games becoming popular all over the world and generating huge revenues, there are only a handful of companies from as many countries that produce cutting edge and highly popular video games. Now these companies originally produce the games in their native languages say English and Japanese. But the games are also highly popular among people who don’t speak or even understand these languages. Hence the companies need to translate and localize their games in order to reach their maximum potential market.

Game translation just like any other field of language translation has its own unique challenges. Some of the most common ones are –

Quite frequently game translation providers face the difficulty of lack of context. The source content is very often made of sets of strings or short sentences without any context to make them meaningful. Though apparently short sentences are easy to translate, the fact that they do not indicate specific meaning puts the translation provider in a position where he/she has to assume what the source content might be referring to in order to translate. The best way to deal with such a situation is to begin with collecting and studying all the information related to the project. The Internet can prove to be a big help. Game translators are advised to check out various websites that might be dealing with the software in hand or any of its previous versions. If one is lucky, translation buyers may sometimes deliver demo versions of the game or TM (translation memory) if they have it, along with the project. These can prove to be of big help.

If the translation customer is available for discussion then the translator can make a list of all doubtful or ambiguous sentences and get them clarified. However this strategy might not be relied upon in the case of emergency or short-term projects as there might not be enough time in hand that would allow the translator to wait for the customer’s clarifications. In such projects, its best to ask the customer at the outset to provide documentation related to the game (for example – glossary/terminology) that would help in understanding the context.

There is yet another problem and this one can prove to be the most limiting. It comes from the fact that all languages do not take equal amounts of space to express the same meaning. It is common knowledge among translation providers that languages like French, German or Italian take up more space than English, unfortunately this detail is not always taken into account while creating the UI of games. The result is that many time translations do not fit the space available in the UI. This forces the translator to cut down on the text but still convey the original meaning as closely as possible. But such translation is not always satisfactory.

Machine translation for organizations with enormous requirements

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on October 5, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Corporate Translation, Language Translation Advice

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The exponential growth of enterprise content, driven by and coupled with increasing numbers of businesses opening up in overseas markets is creating overwhelming amounts of information that needs to be translated in various languages. Recently Common Sense Advisory organized a market research over the requirement for machine translation which included interviews with over 30 decision-makers at various business organizations and government agencies.

According to research findings, the interviewees said that they chose machine translation because of the extremely high amounts of content that was required to be translated  and also because many such documents were required in the shortest possible time. There is a prevalent belief that machine translation is free, but it is not completely true because organizations that use it require to spend both time and money in configuring and training a machine translation engine. Furthermore, human input is required in the form of form of post-editing work because machine translation systems are yet to reach the stage where they can readily deliver language translations that are of acceptable quality.

It is important for companies to base their translation decisions on the overall picture to get a balanced idea of how much time and money they are actually saving by relying on machine translation compared to human translation.

A 2-Stage process to ensure translation quality

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on September 25, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice

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We are all fond of formulas and shortcuts, simple steps or methods that would get us what we want. This is because laying out a process in a simple step-by-step process makes it clearer and easier to manage. It also saves a lot of energy and time that would have been spent trying to figure things out midway.

In the same lines, language translation quality can also be assured if one conscientiously follows these 2 steps –

The Process of Translation

Get an experienced and professional language translation provider, whether it’s an agency or an individual. Experience combined with a good track record is a sign that the translation provider is aware of the various elements that can affect a language apart from its script, vocabulary and grammar. Always get your work done from translators who specialize in the area for which your source document has been prepared.

Editing & Proofreading

If you have carried out the first step perfectly then you might not require to bother with this step, but depending upon the value of your original document and its complexity, you might just want to get it edited and proofread by a translator other than the one who originally worked on your document. This process would include revising the translation and comparing it with the original document to make sure that it has been translated accurately, it does not have any errors, and the style and use of terminology (especially in the case of a technical document) is consistent.

Keep your native language alive

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on September 24, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice, Translation Musings

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It has been observed that people from countries like Finland, Sweden and Denmark have almost native fluency in the English language. Though apparently it’s a good sign, if you look a little critically into this matter and accompanying figures you can’t help but conclude that such a proficiency may also lead to the slow extinction of the native languages of these countries.

According to Leonard Orban, the Commissioner for Multilingualism for the European Union, although proficiency in multiple languages is quite advantageous for individuals as well as organizations, it does not come without a few shortcomings. He pointed towards the fact that commissioners from Italy, France, Romania and Spain generally make speeches in their mother tongue. In contrast, commissioners coming from the Nordic countries mostly use English. Now the clincher is that though one may have an excellent command over a foreign language, it has been seen that such people are not able to negotiate as effectively while using a foreign language as they could with their native language. This is probably because when people speak in their native language they can convey what they have in their mind but while using a foreign language they are limited by what they can put into words.

The other issue is that as people become proficient in more popular foreign languages, they use their own language less frequently. This limits the development and propagation of such native languages For example, new terminology is developed for new inventions, discoveries and concepts, if a specific language is not used by its mother tongue speakers for official purposes then the language is less likely to be updated with new terminology; this would make it outdated and lead to its decline and maybe extinction. So make it a point to use your native language as much as possible.

A translation course that focuses on teaching culture

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on September 21, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice, Translation News

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At Tomedes we have always maintained that a good translation involves accurately conveying ideas portrayed in the source language, into the target language. This process goes beyond the simple replacement of words in the original language with their equivalents in the target language or even rendering the target document grammatically correct. Good to great language translation is about conveying the essence of the words contained in the original document to its translated version.

This is probably what the folks at UBS Continuing Studies had in mind when they planned a new translation and interpretation course for English-Mandarin language pair. The course which begins on the 24th of September, 2009 will train students on both way Mandarin-English translation and interpretation with business environment as its focus. Cultural understanding will be an integral part of this course which will be taught by Jennifer Hsu who is a highly experienced translator and has worked on many high profile projects.

According to Hsu, both translation and interpretation require a mastery of cultural references, for example jokes are very tough to translate and the translation is more often than not lost upon the targeted audience. This happens because jokes are usually rooted in popular culture and one cannot appreciate a joke without having any idea of its context. Moreover, if a translator/interpreter does not have a deep understanding of culture he or she is likely to make errors. This is more so in the case of the Chinese language which is steeped in history and culture.

Web site translation – Avoid these pitfalls

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Posted by Faisal Kalim on September 15, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Blog Translation, Language Translation Advice, Web site Translation

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A large number of multi-lingual web sites are created with the attitude, that just by their existence they will attract customers. Consequently much thinking does not go into the web site translation. This is among the primary reasons for the less-than-desirable performance of such web sites.

Speaking to potential customers in their own language is not enough, one needs to understand their culture, traditions, their expectations, likes and dislikes in order to get through. At present a lot of web sites are made with short-cut strategies like, which just ensure that a web site is very simple and predictable so that the user can easily find his/her way through it. But then this a major reason that they don’t stand out in the users’ memories.

Some tips that would help –

Revise the tone of the language of your web site, especially if it’s informal. North Americans go about their business in a pretty informal manner. But the Japanese are quite the opposite. So web sites in the US can refer to their users by their first names but not those that are targeted to the Japanese.

Make sure that your web site complies with the local laws of the country of your target users.

Revise elements like date and time format, systems of measurements and the like to confirm with the local standard.

Provide the required foreign language support to ensure that foreign language mails are not garbled after entering the company’s servers and various foreign symbols don’t go missing/get altered due to incorrect character encoding.

Make it easy for your targeted users to find your web site in their language. It’s quite surprising that many companies spend a considerable amount of money on building multilingual websites in which access to foreign language versions is hidden in some corner or through flags which might not stand for the language known by specific users.

Color and design sensibilities vary across different cultures, similarly various icons and symbols used by web sites may mean different things to different people. So use them after a proper study of how they are perceived by the target population.

High resolution graphics are great to look at but not all parts of the world have access to high speed Internet connections, and a slow site is never a good experience. Design your international web site with care.