Languages and Cultural Background
Professional Translation Services – Languages and Cultural Background
By: L. Amado – 2/07/2010
The raw materials, so-to-speak, of the professional translator serving professional document translation services companies are languages. Languages are social creations and thus inseparable from their cultural context. In order to produce high quality, accurate document translations, professional translators need to have an in-depth understanding of source and target cultures.
The study of languages is fascinating and teaches us a great deal about the people who speak them. Languages are many things but, at the end of the day, their primary role is to provide us with a tool for communication. One of their main functions consists in facilitating the mutual understanding of people living in same region.
In some societies, this “utilitarian” role of language is particularly pronounced due to historic circumstances. This is the case of languages such as English in the United States or Spanish and Portuguese in Latin American countries. The fact that English has become the de facto official language of the United States can be considered a historical and geographical accident. The same is true of Latin American countries in relation to Spanish or Portuguese. Interestingly, the United States never actually declared English (or any other language, for that matter!) as its official language.
English did not evolve as a native language in what is now the United States as it did in England. It was “imported” by English settlers, as were many other European languages along with different communities of settlers such as the French, Spanish and Dutch. Of course it has since then developed in its own ways, which is why British and American English differ in vocabulary and even—to a certain extent—in grammar. The difference in European and Latin American Spanish and Portuguese is even greater, and translation projects in these languages need thus to be handled in accordance with their specific (European or Latin American) source or target markets.
It is interesting to note that the flood of Italian immigrants to Argentina that took place in the beginning and toward the end of the 19th century may have turned the country into an Italian-speaking nation. To this day, most Argentineans speak Spanish with a very distinct Italian rhythm.
In other countries, besides its obvious use as a tool for communication, the native language has traditionally a more complex role. In countries such as France and certain regions of Spain, for example, languages have always served as a defining element of the national culture. For the French and the Catalonian and Galician in Spain, the language shapes the culture just as much as the culture expresses itself in the language, and they take measures to protect this national treasure—the latest language protection law in France only dates back a little more than a decade. Professional translators working in these languages need to be particularly sensitive to subtleties of tone and expression. Finding the right vocabulary and phrasing are crucial.
Whichever their language pair(s) may be, professional translators serving professional document translation services companies such as Legal Translation Solutions, and its parent company, ASTA-USA Translation Services understand that it is impossible to assure high quality, accurate professional translations without taking into account and understanding the cultural background of both the source and target language(s).
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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.
Professional Document Translation Service Company
What You Can Expect From the Most Reliable
Professional Document Translation Service Company
By: L. Amado – 2/15/2010
In today’s global economy, it is vital for businesses to have mission-critical documents translated into and from other languages in order to operate on an international level. Small and large companies and organizations experience every day how difficult language barriers can be. The only reliable, long-term solution is to hire the services of a professional document translation services provider.
If you need, for instance, marketing brochures, company handbooks or scientific research reports translated into one or more foreign languages, or require an English translation of multinational agreements, a professional document translation company will be able to provide you with accurate, high quality translations, regardless of volume and desired turnaround for your project. A professional document translation service is equipped to handle any size or kind of project and return the translated document(s) to you within a short period of time.
Legal Translation Solutions and its parent company, ASTA-USA Translation Services, Inc., have been voted America’s most reliable professional document translation services company. You can expect us to dependably deliver top of the line document translations, since we work with a global network of professional, certified translators who possess the experience and knowledge to meet your specialized document translation requirements in any field and for every industry. We are a Corporate Member of the American Translators Association (ATA) and our professional document translators are accredited by the ATA and other organizations such as The Institute of Linguists, La Société Française des Traducteurs, Institute of Translation and Interpreting, US National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, and the United Nations.
As the most reliable professional document translation service provider, we are a well-established company capable of offering highly competitive pricing. Customer retention is our top priority and we offer superior quality at unbeatable value, never comprising the accuracy of our document translations. You can obtain an instant quote online or speak with one of our expert customer representatives.
In order to serve our clients around the globe and around the clock, we provide online transaction services, which means that documents can be posted and downloaded from our secure web servers 24/7. Furthermore, our document translation process, which consists of translation, editing, proofing and certification, is assigned to virtual translator “tag teams”, strategically located across different time zones, whenever time is of essence. Fast turnaround times thus never have to come at the cost of lower quality standards.
Last but not least, our reputation as the most reliable professional document translation service provider also derives from our strict confidentiality policies and processes which serve to protect the privacy of our clients. The contents of any and all documents sent for translation as well as all details pertaining thereto are kept in utmost confidentiality, as reflected by our impeccable reputation and years of dedicated work to earn the trust of our customers.
If you are looking for a professional document translation services company, call America’s most reliable translation services provider today. We look forward to assisting you with your document translation needs.
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Criteria For Choosing Document Translation Services
By: L. Amado – 02/16/2010
Until very recently, it could be argued that translating documents was a choice. But now, with a global economy that effectively functions as a worldwide marketplace, translation of business documents is simply a must. With hundreds of translation services companies available, how do you find the right one that will deliver accurate, high quality document translations? Poor translations can seriously impact your capacity to do business at a global scale. It makes perfect sense to deal only with the very best. Here are a few questions to take into account when choosing a professional document translation service provider.
Does the document translation company use machine translation?
There is still no machine or software program able to replace a human translator to create high quality and accurate professional translations. Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools can be helpful when dealing with high-volume jobs of largely repetitive content, such as technical manuals. But they need to be used by professional translators to ensure consistency and carefully match the context throughout each document, and are not suited for most other types of document translation. Professional document translation companies never use online translation engines or stand-alone computer programs, since translations generated this way are not only substandard, but largely incomprehensible.
Does the document translation service hire and retain qualified professional translators?
A reliable professional document translation company hires and retains only qualified, experienced professional translators who are native speakers of their target language(s). Professional translators working for the most reliable document translation company are certified and accredited by the world’s leading organizations, which include the Institute of Linguists, American Translators Association (ATA), La Société Française des Traducteurs, Institute of Translation and Interpreting, US National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, and the United Nations.
What types of document translation services are available?
A well-established and experienced professional document translation company offers several types of document translation services that are industry-specific. Industry-specific document translations include business and financial translations, marketing brochure translations, intellectual property law and patent contract translations, scientific manual or textbook translations, and pharmacology or medical report translations. Professional translators assigned to such projects are experts on the subject and familiar with the terminology and concepts of the particular field. Specialized material, such as medical, technical, and legal documents, needs the careful translation of experienced translators who are professionals in the field in question.
What is the estimated turnaround for document translation?
It is crucial for every document translation that there is enough time to translate, edit, and proofread. Fast service should never come at the cost of accuracy and quality. However, a reliable, professional document translation agency can offer quick turnaround times should you need urgent translations, but only if they work with a global network of certified translators that allows them to take advantage of different time zones. Some document translations are more time-consuming than others, and the project or account manager taking your translation request will advise and discuss details with you.
How are document deliveries handled?
When you set up an account with a reliable professional document translation service, which can be done online, you will be assigned a project or account manager. Account managers are often assigned to corporate programs that provide special rates, such as volume and yearly discounts. Should you need an on-site document translation anywhere in the world, the account manager will be able to arrange it. Most document traffic, however, will be done online and you will be asked to email or upload your documents to be translated, unless you prefer sending them via fax or mail. Once the document translation is complete, email deliveries and uploads to company ftp or similar sites are performed via secure web servers. Professional document translation providers will always assure confidentiality in all document delivery processes. If you need certified hard copies, they will be sent by authorized shipping services like USPS, UPS, or FEDEX.
Whatever your document translation needs are, let professional document translation companies such as Legal Translation Solutions and its parent company, ASTA-USA Translation Services, assist you in carrying your message to all corners of the globe!
Text Expansion and Contraction in Document Translation
Professional Translation Services – Text Expansion and Contraction in Document Translations
By: L. Amado 02/03/2010
One interesting and seldom discussed aspect of professional translations is the fact that the length of a text in one source language will typically expand or contract when translated to certain target languages. When translating documents from one language to another the content will typically change in length as measured by the number of words. This variation is known as text expansion and text contraction.
When translating documents text expansion and contraction is not a constant ratio… It varies according to the languages involved in the translation of written content. For instance, an English document professionally translated into Spanish can be as much as 25 – 30% longer (a case of text expansion). Conversely, a Spanish document professionally translated into English will, on average, be around 10 – 15% shorter (a case of text contraction). Texts in other European languages may similarly be affected. On the other hand, documents translated in Asian languages tend to be shorter than the English source content.
Text expands and contracts for different reasons. The structure and rules of a language – aspects such as grammar, syntax, terminology, and sentence structure – all play a part in this outcome. The English language is generally more concise and to the point than Romance languages. Subject matter is also a factor in text expansion and contraction in professional document translations. Formal text covering technical, legal and academic subjects tends to be more affected than informal text, such as letters or personal papers.
In the professional translation services industry there are several reasons why it is very useful to know how much texts will expand or contract. Some professional translation services providers calculate costs based on the target language word count, that is to say, the number of words in the finished translation. Some others calculate costs based on the source language word count, that is to say, the number of words in the document to be translated.
Text expansion and contraction is also a major issue when dealing with software localization, web page design, desktop publishing (DTP) and artwork design. In the case of software localization, before the actual professional translation takes place, software developers typically perform what is known as “mock translation”, replacing text lines in the source language with strings of letters, taking into account the average text expansion and contraction ratios. The aim is to make sure that the extra length of the professionally translated text does not affect functionality or the way the text is displayed.
Likewise, in the case of web page design, DTP and artwork, designers need to know if the translated text will fit into an existing webpage or artwork file. Text expansion and contraction will be a major factor to determine the required font size, how much room is needed, the number of pages, amount of block space and so on.
Professional translation services companies such as ASTA-USA Translation Services (www.asta-usa.com) and its legal division Legal Translation Solutions (www.legaltranslationsolutions.com) can help its clientele deal with text expansion and contraction and other issues affecting professional translations.
