How to Avoid Mistakes in Translation Quality

Last Updated On: August 25, 2020 by The Migration Translators

Do you run a business and find you have to translate documents on a regular basis – for immigration purposes or arranging contracts or preparing registration with a government agency or department? Have you been finding that there have been some hiccoughs along the way? Read on below to find out how you can make your document translation process smoother.

Don’t always choose a busy NAATI translation provider. Bigger companies are not always better when it comes to providing you with a service, especially if you are not a big customer yourself. It does pay to check out a few different translation services and stick with the one that suits you and your company.

A NAATI translator is just that. You pay them to translate your documents from one language into another. They are not proofreaders or editors. You expect your documents to be translated accurately and efficiently, but if the document you have given them is poorly edited or sloppily worded, you can’t expect the translator to correct all your own mistakes and you may find that your translation quality is correspondingly poor.

Don’t assign too many translators to a single task. No single writer of an article will write in exactly the same style as another writer and the same applies to translation quality. A single translator will result in a more uniform style.

Do you have bilingual or multilingual staff working for you or with you? Avoid the temptation to use them to do the translation work for you. They won’t be trained translators and you may find that not only are your staff not doing their own work properly because their energy has been diverted, you won’t get a decent translation completed, either. Leave your translation to a certified translator.

Translation technology can save time and money, if it is used for what it is best for – repetitive, straightforward translation work which is then proofread and corrected by a human translator.

Don’t back translate a document that has already been translated. You could introduce more errors into your document than you expected. This is a common fault when using a translation programme and in the end won’t save you time or money. Leave the translation in either direction to the trained translator.