Effective Business Translation Services
The Earth continues to grow smaller as more businesses and non-profit organizations set up a presence on the web. What are the facts to be considered when selecting a business translation service?
Topic Specialization
The overwhelming majority of enterprises specialize in the production of a particular type of merchandise or service. For this very reason, consideration needs to be given to the area of expertise of the firm or individual translator in charge of the work. Competent business translation services give special attention to their clients’ need for specialized translation.
To illustrate the importance of knowing when a translator needs to be an expert in the field in which the company operates, imagine the needs of a medical office or law firm. Each field of study has a highly specialized vocabulary that is usually very technical and unfamiliar to people outside these industries. Often, when someone thinks of the linguistic skills of a translator, they assume a knowledge of all vocabulary sets and jargon of the foreign language in question. This is the exception rather than the rule, and such assumptions should be avoided. Think of the difficult terminology in the world of medicine, having numerous terms with prefixes and suffixes derived from Latin. Imagine the sophisticated legal terminology that is part of an attorney’s active vocabulary. Now imagine even an experienced translator without medical or legal terminology, trying to translate such important documents. Physicians and attorneys in need of business translation services should know that a translator’s knowledge of the field in question is just as necessary as their knowledge of the foreign language.
The Mother Tongue
The language in which a person spoke their first words is usually deemed the native tongue. However, languages that were learned naturally before three years of age are also considered by some to be native. The thought behind this is that in such cases of bilingualism so early in life, there’s hardly ever even a hint of a foreign accent in either of the two languages known.
There’s a definite advantage to electing native speakers of a language to provide business translation services. It’s not rare to need thorough knowledge of the culture connected with the target language in order to provide translations that retain the impact of the original word or sentence. Schools and colleges around the world understand this aspect of business translation services. Accordingly, when foreign language instruction goes forth in the classroom, lectures covering the culture are incorporated. Nevertheless, real life experience can never be replaced by book knowledge.
For an overview of our translation expertise, visit our media and marketing translation page.
Category: Translation Services
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