Archives de Tag: style

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A Quick Guide to Purchasing Translation Services

Following my post on « 5 myths about the translation industry », I thought it would be good to do a follow-up and offer some sound advice to future (or existing) buyers of translation services.

1/ Determine the purpose of your documents that need to be translated

Is it to attract potential clients (commercial, promotional material) or to send updates to your employees and investors (informational content)? This is crucial to determine the register and terminology applied.

2/ Your budget should not be the only factor weighing in when choosing a translator

The most common mistake would be to accept the cheapest quote. Such a choice could potentially cost you a lot more in damage control (see previous post mentioning translation blunders high-profile businesses had to face)! You can have two among the three options: quality/fast/cheap. Choose wisely.

Also, make sure that you are only sending the most important documents for translation. No need to have it all translated in bulk. Stick with one vendor so that overtime, you’ll have the possibility to request a discount on repetitive sections that emerge in the database created by the translator.

3/ Make sure you send all the necessary documents and reference files to your translator.

Communication is key to a successful partnership. If you have glossaries, reference files, or any other support material that could help your translator in applying the proper style and terminology, do send them along with the source file.

It would be completely counter-productive to get back to your translator after the project has been delivered in order to complain about the wrong use of terminology. Do yourself and your vendor a favour and prepare the project in a sensible manner. You would both benefit from it!

4/ The difference between a real mistake and a perceived error

I’ll be straightforward with that one: you may have learned the language in school, but you shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that it allows you to make a sound assessment of the translation. I strongly suggest that you have the files proofread by a professional linguist. A third neutral opinion is the best compromise in order to settle any disagreements. Wouldn’t you agree?

If you wish to implement some preferential changes, let the translator know. But please, bear in mind that preferential changes are, by definition, completely subjective edits that should not be used to question the overall quality of the translation. A mistranslation and a stylistic choice are two very different notions.

I hope this will be useful in your quest for translators. If you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to help you out!

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Translating Corporate Websites in 4 Steps

Are you looking to have your website translated?

Your communication online is key to your success in the global market. To ensure top quality of your content, trust the expertise of a professional translator. To better understand the whole work that goes into handling successfully a translation project, see below the infographic I created especially for you. Click on the image to enlarge.

For more details and/or a free quote, contact me through my Contact Page.

Infographic Translating Websites

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On the process of translation

If you live outside the translation sphere, you’d probably think it is a simple task consisting of changing words for others. Well, you’ll be surprised to find out that it’s so much more than that.

I found a great infographic depicting the whole process that goes into translating. From the research needed beforehand to the proofreading and editing steps, handling translation projects is a wide and massive task requiring time and reflection.

To have a look at the document, please click here. The website is curated by Clara Giampietro from Winged Translations.

If I had a piece of advice to give to clients willing to have their business literature translated, it would be to, first and foremost, establish some kind of brief with the following elements: the aim of the documents (informative, commercial, promotional,etc), the target audience (employees, customers, investors, etc), deadline and specifics about formatting and/or terminology. Also, if your company has a very specific terminology that needs to be abided by, then it’s of the utmost importance to provide your translator with the necessary references (glossaries, style guides, past translation projects for consistency purposes).

Preparing a translation project should be like preparing an ad campaign, it should be well thought-out and accurately targeted to ensure optimal results.

Clients and translators need to work hand in hand to ensure a project is successful. Communication is key!

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Petit guide de l’acheteur de traductions

Cherchez-vous à élargir la présence de votre entreprise au marché international ? Dans ce cas, il est dorénavant essentiel que vous vous internationalisiez aussi sur le plan linguistique. Si vous vous adressez à votre nouveau public dans sa propre langue, vous aurez plus de chances de le séduire et de vous implanter avec succès. Pour cela, il vous faut traduire, entre autres, vos brochures, votre site Web, votre blog, et même votre communication sur les réseaux sociaux !

Pour une communication internationale réussie, il est indispensable que vous vous posiez toutes les bonnes questions en amont. La première impression est cruciale, alors mettez toutes les chances de votre côté et sollicitez les services d’un traducteur qualifié et compétent.

La traduction de vos supports est un investissement, et non un coût.

Dans ce sens, la Société française des traducteurs (SFT) a élaboré un petit guide de l’acheteur très complet et informatif. Pour le consulter, veuillez cliquer ici.

La traduction de vos documents ne consiste pas uniquement à changer des mots d’une langue à une autre. Toute une stratégie doit être mise en place pour garantir une communication efficace, ciblée et adaptée à votre nouveau public. Que ce soit au niveau des slogans, des images ou du style de rédaction, vos documents doivent être soignés et refléter avec précision l’image de votre société. Cela exige une véritable collaboration entre le traducteur et l’entreprise qui s’ouvre à l’international.

Vous voulez vous donner une image internationale ? Bannissez l’approximation. Car dans de nombreuses cultures, les gens n’apprécient guère qu’on déforme leur langue. Charmant ? Non, ils trouvent ça méprisant.
 
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The Art of Translating for the Tourism Sector

It’s official, France is the #1 destination for tourists with more than 84 million people visiting the country in 2013. They’re mostly from Germany, the UK, the US and China. Therefore, offering multilingual content is necessary to properly welcome these numerous international guests. So, if you’re still unsure about your areas of expertise, here’s a sector you should consider. However, translating touristic texts isn’t as easy as it may sound.

In fact, it is a very demanding task involving various notions: translation, localisation, transcreation and adaptation, as explained in this academic paper on quality in the translation of tourist discourse on the Web, by Patrizia Pierini, published in the Journal of Specialised Translation.

Translation is in high demand in this industry, and it includes a wide range of content –  1362514234xwt2dinformational, promotional, commercial. Depending on the aim and scope of the material, a translator has to apply the proper strategy to ensure that it has the same effect on the target audience as the source text did on the original audience. And in order to achieve just that, there is no such thing as a standard procedure; and the exact purpose of the communication strategy has to be clearly established by the client so that the translator can take the proper decisions. He/she may need to adapt/localise the text – changing currencies, dates, the measurement system (metric, imperial) – but also ensure the proper tone is applied (depending on the target culture, the source text may be considered too straightforward and aggressive, requiring an important stylistic realignement).

The ultimate goal is to create the same effect on the reader – persuasion – in order to enhance the client’s conversion rate and turn readers into paying customers. In that regard, Pierini mentioned the AIDA approach ⎯ capture Attention, create Interest, increase Desire and motivate to Action.

Every translator working on this type of content has to constantly keep in mind the socio-psychological needs of the potential tourist. One has to strive for a translation that sounds like an original text, not a translation. And that’s why clients need to think local. Indeed, for a touristic text to be persuasive, it has to be relevant to the target audience, not foreign. And only a native has the extensive knowledge needed to convey accurately every nuance and localise appropriately.

Localisation – What does that mean? Pierini gives a compelling answer:

Localisation involves taking a product and making it linguistically and culturally appropriate to the target locale (country/region and language) where it will be used and sold. For example, the French spoken in Canada is a different locale to the French spoken in France.

According to a recent survey by TextMaster, mistakes and errors in translation account for a loss of about €120 million each year. So, a competent translator with excellent writing skills can seriously consider this sector a viable option!

Ready to make people dream?