Remember how many times when reading a translated document, you involuntarily wondered, “Who translated all this?”
But often, the point is not at all that an amateur worked on the text, just that the translator was chosen without considering the specific task. The problem is that even if the translation is carried out by a very experienced linguist who is not a native speaker of the target language, the resulting text often suffers from a lack of naturalness. Remember, you yourself often “by eye” recognize the text written by a foreigner. But the opposite is also true, for a deep understanding of the source text, for example Japanese, it is sometimes better to invite a Japanese translator.
Today, let’s talk about what exactly you need to pay attention to when choosing the best translator for each specific case.
CHOOSING AN INTERPRETER ACCORDING TO THE TASK
The first thing you should be interested in is how well the best certified translators knows the source and target languages. In addition, many translators also specialize in certain areas of expertise. For example, pharmaceutical translations, scientific and technical translations, translations of contract documents, legal translations, etc. If you apply to a professional translation agency, then a special manager will solve many problems for you. After talking with you, he will determine who exactly should fulfil your order.
The second important factor is the specific variations of certain languages. For example, translations into British English and American English are likely to be done by different people. There are many cases when a translation into British English, made by a native of the United States, looked at least unnatural. There is a similar story with Spanish, which is spoken somewhat differently in Spain and in Latin America. There are other examples, many of you probably know them yourself.
The third factor is the style of presentation, which also varies from person to person. Some translators are better at informal translations that are easy to read, while others strive to translate as closely as possible to the text and style of the original. Accordingly, you need to decide for yourself what kind of translation you need, and for what purpose the translated text will be used. This will allow you to choose exactly the specialist who is best suited for your task.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRANSLATORS AND NATIVE SPEAKERS
Almost all international organizations tend to ensure that translations (ideally, of course) are performed by translators who are native speakers of the target language. In other words, a native of the Land of the Rising Sun, who understands the Russian language and can create a natural-sounding and correct in style document in Japanese, should translate from Russian into Japanese. However, there are situations where a native speaker of the target language may not be the best choice. This happens, for example, when it comes to translating documents with highly specialized content or materials with a deeply traditional or cultural content. Only a person who knows the subject of the article well or has extensive knowledge of the culture of his country can understand the intricacies of such a text. In such cases, sometimes it is necessary to involve two professionals at once.
ALL GOOD TRANSLATORS ARE A LITTLE BIT ALIKE
Yes, yes, this is exactly so, and I will tell you what good translators have in common so that you can immediately recognize them. What exactly makes a person with a degree in linguistics a good translator? If we take it for granted that a graduate of a language school is capable of doing a high-quality job as a translator, it makes sense to consider a few more factors that give you the feeling that you can rely on this translator.
1. EASE OF COMMUNICATION
A real professional translator quickly responds to your request for the opportunity to complete the work, easily assesses his ability to complete the task and names the estimated time frame. In the course of work, he quickly responds to comments and easily takes into account all your changes, etc.
2. PUNCTUALITY
A qualified specialist is not inclined to overestimate his capabilities in terms of speed and volume of transfers. Thus, you will not have to cancel the transaction due to the unavailability of the transfer by the right time.
3. CLARITY IN MATTERS OF SPECIALIZATION AND AREA OF EXPERTISE
Professionals always pinpoint their strengths, and if they specialize, for example, in medical translation from Croatian to English, they are unlikely to take on English-Spanish translation of financial documents or research in new technologies. For professional passport translation follow the link to contact One step translation agency.
CONCLUSIONS
The first step to ensure that your translations are always of the highest quality is to select the best translator for each specific case. And this means that in order to choose the best specialist, you need to know exactly what your document is about, who will be its reader, what is the preferred style of presentation already at the stage of sending a request. Knowing this, you will easily find the most suitable translator for your translation task.
