Professional Document Translation Services: A Necessity
In today’s world of fast-paced International Business, many organizations are faced with the question of whether or not they should retain a professional translation service to translate documentation from one or more languages into others. It is indeed critical for any successful entity to be able to rely on a professional document translation service provider, especially when it comes to legal instruments, since this is the only way to ensure accuracy and quality. Misinterpretation and translation errors can wreak havoc on businesses and are costly on more than just the monetary level.
A group of well-known pharmacies, for instance, only recently reached a settlement in a civil law suit brought against them for providing inadequate translations on their labels, and media outlets reporting on the case foresee that translation is becoming the new civil rights issue of the future. Jody Byrne, in her article about document translation errors in JoST (The Journal of Specialized Translation) reminds of a case back in the 1990s, when the Commodity News Service reported of rumors that a Japanese Bank was planning to take over Continental Illinois. This report happened to be mistranslated into Japanese, stating the take-over as a fact, and the effects were disastrous. The bank’s depositors and creditors all sought to withdraw their money, and with looming bankruptcy as a result, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation together with the Federal Reserve Board and the Comptroller of the Currency ended up pouring some $2 billion in additional funding to guarantee deposits and reassure investors. According to Byrne, even the (French into English) translation of an institutional document like the Warsaw Convention is an ongoing source of legal argument and “has featured prominently” in numerous cases in the English-speaking world. While most legal documents tend to apply in their original version only, it is crucial to multinational contract negotiations that every detail is spelled out clearly and accurately for all parties—and thus in all languages—before anything is signed.
The list of examples endless, of course, but what they show us is that translating documents of any kind requires professional translators and professional document translation services. Nothing can be left to chance, be it in legal, technical, financial or medical translation, and today’s organizations thus need a professional translation services provider they can trust. At Legal Translation Solutions and our parent company, ASTA-USA Translation Services, we know that professional document translations are vital to your business, and we have the resources necessary to deliver accurate, high quality translations of your mission-critical documents, cost-effective and fast.
The Hallmarks of Truly Professional Translators
By: L. Amado 02/01/2010
Professional Translation Services – The Hallmarks of Truly Professional Translators
The professional translation service industry is highly competitive and challenging. In order to succeed, a professional translator needs more than just familiarity in a language pair. Here are some of the characteristics of successful linguistic experts.
The first and most obvious requirement is language skills. It goes without saying that professional translators must be fluent in at least one language besides their native tongue. A passing or informal knowledge is not enough. Language Translation as a professional service requires the systematic study of a foreign and/or second language. A university or equivalent degree on professional translation or related field may have been desirable a few years ago but in the current market is an absolute must.
A professional in the translation field needs to be curious by nature and possess excellent research skills. Contrary to public perception, professional translators are not walking dictionaries. Even generalists cannot be expected to be experts on every field and to be up to date on the latest terminology. Truly professional translators need to be very straightforward about the things they do know and the things they do not know and be able fill the gaps by researching for the appropriate terminology and information. Research can take many forms, from good old-fashioned paper and ink dictionaries and text books to the vast amounts of information on the Internet.
Professional translators need to be proficient with the latest translation tools, such as translation memory management and glossary creation and maintenance tools. At the very least, they should be advanced users of word processor programs, such as MS Word, and other tools such as the Adobe Acrobat suite.
In addition to possessing professional training on languages, a professional translator has to be highly proficient in written communication. Translating is essentially the transmission of meaning from one language to another. The professional translator has to be able to accurately and thoroughly deliver in the target language the same message expressed in the source language. Remember that good writing skills in one language are usually tied to very solid reading habits in the same language.
With globalization and the opening up of markets in different areas of the planet, professional translations are in very high demand from companies dealing with the most varied commercial activities. The more subjects, fields and industries professional translators can cover the more work they can potentially take. This does not mean professional translators have to improvise or pretend they can deal with professional translations covering any area of expertise. It means that professional translators have to stay current with the changes in the professional translation services industry and the needs of potential customers. Additionally, professional translators must be true experts in the fields they claim they can handle. Improvisation is a recipe for catastrophic failure and a sure sign of lack of professionalism.
Last but not least, it is important to always keep in mind that a translator may have graduated with honors from a very prestigious university but those credentials would mean very little without a proper professional attitude. What does it mean to be professional? It means approaching work with discipline and commitment. Professional translators work in the service industry. Professional translation requires the commitment to deliver the highest quality professional translations according to a previously agreed schedule. Professional translators should have very efficient time management skills and take only the amount of work they can professionally handle. Remember that while it is very nice to get paid for doing what we love, if it is a hobby is not professional translation.
Professional translators working for professional translation services companies such as ASTA-USA Translation Services (www.asta-usa.com) and its legal division Legal Translation Solutions (www.legaltranslationsolutions.com) understand that being a truly professional translator requires much more than bilingualism.
