Category: Translation Services

A Three Step Translation Service is the Best

Document translation services that don’t rush through a translation will get the best results. There are no precise criteria set for each document translation as it all depends on who is to receive the document as this will determine the type of language used. A translation service does offer a product when it provides translations of documents but it differs from products which have the same identity as each translation is unique.

Document translation services create an end product that suits precisely the client’s requirements. If the document has to be translated into layman’s language for a non specialist to read professional translation services will provide an appropriate translation. If the same document is to be read by a specialist the document translation services can provide a suitable translation with appropriate terminology for a professional. This type of service defines how adaptable professional the translation services are. The NAATI translator has the necessary experience to choose appropriate language in a document translation to suit the document’s audience

Most professional translation services do have a means of ensuring quality control and don’t necessarily depend on one NAATI translator to do a particular document translation. In fact there is a process that is followed that usually involves 3 steps. The first is a translation performed by a linguist who has been designated a professional in the field of language translation in the languages that will be required in the translation.

This translator should be able to provide a document translation that fits the audience in terms of language appropriateness, tone and style. Next, a professional editor is set loose on the document translation where he or she will, if necessary, alter and perfect so as to ensure the words fit the subject matter as well as confirming that the correct grammar, spelling and punctuation have been used.

The last step is when the final document translation is read by a professional project manager to make sure that the proper formatting of the document has been completed. Once these steps have been completed the document is ready to be dispatched to the client. This type of document translation service is the best that anyone can expect when using a professional translation service.

Why Would a Professional Translator Crave Being an Expert?

Why does anyone want to become an expert – not just those who are professional translators?

There are 3 simple reasons for the desire to become an expert
1. To be accorded status in the eyes of colleagues;
2. To be paid the best possible rate for their expertise;
3. To gain access to and choose the best clients.

The workplace is where status is very important and any move by an employer to recognize the quality of an employee’s work is a way to enhance this status. Once ones expert knowledge has been developed to its highest possible level there is no looking back as this ownership of knowledge is yours to share with whoever you wish. Once a professional translator has been labelled an expert, professional translation services may well be prepared to offer top dollars to access the expertise.

All translation companies are after expert NAATI translators as they are not only recognized by the Australian government for offering sound and genuine translations for an array of documents that the government may require from foreign nationals wishing to come to live in Australia, do business in the country or take on a course of study at an Australian educational institution.

Translation business is set to grow globally

The professional translation services industry globally is set to expand by 2018 to $39 billion. Investors are realizing the gains that can be made from investing in such specialist translation arms as document translation and visa document translations. These areas are expanding rapidly hand in hand in the expansion of the global marketing for labour, goods and services.

There is one company called “Transfluent”, whose purpose is to connect 50,000 translators with the ever increasing demand for foreign translations such as company promotional material and emails. In fact there is no better time for an expert NAATI translator to find lucrative work with professional translation services which provide the expertise to do translation work. Moreover it is no better time than to turn from being a professional translator to an expert professional translator.

Finding the NAATI Translator you Want at the Right Price

In Australia, you can generally be certain that a NAATI translator meets exacting standards of translation quality, but not all NAATI translators or translation service providers who employ NAATI accredited translators may suit your requirements. So how do you find the translator you want at the right price?

You will be most likely to choose a NAATI translator for all formal translations, e.g. for translating birth and marriage certificates, but not all translations necessarily require a human translator. If you want to make an enquiry by email, for instance, with someone overseas who doesn’t speak the same language as you, then you can use any one of a number of free translation sites on the internet. They are not very accurate, but if accuracy is not essential, and all you want is the general idea of what is being communicated, they are certainly fast and free.

Using a translator that is based in the town or city where you live is rarely important, because most providers will have an online facility where you scan a document and send it by email or upload the document on to a specific place on their site. This gives you considerable more choice of who to use and how much they are likely to cost. There are some situations in which you may want to talk to the translator, especially if the project is likely to be lengthy or ongoing. Then you may wish to use a locally based translation company.

When you have narrowed down the choice of NAATI translation service providers you can then provide an idea of what you want translated and ask for a quotation. Many translators will ask a fixed price for relatively straightforward documents like qualification certificates, employment contracts and birth or marriage certificates, but it is always best to check that they specialise in the language you want.

Not all NAATI translators handle the full range of document types just like they may only offer a limited range of languages. If you have particular translation needs, such as legal document translations you should check that the translator you are thinking of using has particular experience with that type of document. Marketing translations are another area where the choice of translator is important. Marketing translations should be culturally appropriate so the translators not only need to know the language well, but have some depth of experience in the culture of the intended market, too.

APP Translation is a Must – Here’s why!

Who around the world isn’t familiar with apps these days? Even in the most remote village in the middle of Africa there will probably be someone tapping away on their iPhone, tablet or Smartphone and a ready and willing consumer of one app or another. The growth of apps over the last few years is astonishing and there is no sign of that trend diminishing any time soon. Any app developer must be keenly aware of how the make or break in terms of profitability of an app is the size of the market it can be sold to. The only way you can grow your market is to make your app truly global. That means using a professional app translation service to convert the app instructions and user guide into the target language of the intended market. If you don’t do it, then your competitor is likely to instead and get an edge over your product.

There are some amazing statistics that apply to the global nature of app use. There are around 7 billion mobile users worldwide, with over 50% of them in the Asia Pacific region. Any NAATI translation service in Australia that can provide an efficient app translation service has a ready and willing market right on their doorstep. 16 countries make up over 60% of the total world mobile user market, but that number is expanding. There are countries like India, which at present rates second in the mobile stakes where apps in English would be acceptable as English is widely understood in that country, but that doesn’t mean that apps translated into Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam, just to mention a few local languages won’t sell much better.

The Chinese have overtaken every other country as the world’s largest mobile market. This is one country where apps, wherever they have been developed, just have to be translated into Chinese, otherwise it is unlikely they will be purchased.

One app developer, David Janner, ran an experiment on the effect of app translation. He discovered that before being available in the translated form, 76% of the users of a particular app were English language speakers. After translation, the percentage of English language speakers dropped to only 10%. More importantly, the number of people downloading the same apps shot up by a factor of 5 to 1.

Numbers sometimes speak louder than words!

What is the Role of Translation Companies in the Global Economy?

In today’s globalized world, the industrial sector and all types of companies, whatever size they are, don’t standstill. They act to ensure they get their share of the cake when economic conditions change. This means at times marketing their products to customers in other areas of the world who don’t speak their language. This can be absolutely essential and is often the key to the growth of a company.

This is a very challenging situation as it’s not just the question of engaging interested buyers by employing NAATI translators to translate advertising material into a multitude of languages but also ensuring that document translation services are used so that all documents relevant to the product are correctly translated. If a product has to be used in a certain way so that it is of no danger to the purchaser, the instructions have to be written clearly in the language of this buyer.

Companies can’t afford to make mistakes by getting poor translations for their user manuals. Injuries caused by misuse of a product are widespread across the world and a company has a duty of care to ensure buyers clearly understand how to safely use the product. In some cases of injuries if the instructions of how to use the product were poorly translated into a country’s language but buyers misinterpreted the instructions then the company could be sued and it will not only lose its reputation and its customers it may well also have to pay compensations to those injured.

It’s not always the case of providing simple instructions but it is necessary to place a certain emphasis on certain aspects of the product, depending on the type of customer and their level of literacy in their own language. Many handbooks today, for example for cars, have sections in their handbooks that are dedicated to some of the main languages in use globally. These have to be faultless translations so that no misunderstandings take place. There are growing economies today, such as China and India, whose residents may still not be able to find handbooks for products in their own languages. This is where a business can get one step ahead by employing professional translation services to translate the handbook and any other advertising material into languages that have a large number of speakers and who could be potential buyers of the product. A NAATI translation provides a real voice for companies who wish to market their products in the global economy.

Comical Global Mistranslations

Some mistranslations don’t really hurt anyone but can raise a laugh. Of course, they are usually caused by a business that has tried to save a few dollars by using an amateur translator. The following are some typical examples where a mistranslation has taken place and it has been noticed and passed on to others.

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How much do translation services cost in Australia?

This question can be uppermost in many people’s minds when it comes to seeking out appropriate professional translation services. The answer is quite complex as it depends on a number of variables. The best approach is to learn what these variables are going to be and then sit down and ask yourself exactly what you want from translation services in Australia before asking for a quotation. In that way, it is less likely that you are going to get a nasty shock!

One of the most significant aspects of Translation Services Anywhere in Australia, whether it is translation services in Melbourne or any other major city is that costing is largely done by the number of words rather than by time. There may also be a fixed rate quoted for certain standard document translations such as marriage certificates, birth certificates, and so on.

Another aspect of translation services is that if the translation is necessary for any government agency such as for a visa, then it must be done with an authorised and accredited translator. This means that the translator must be accredited with the National Accreditation Authority of Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) and cannot be someone who is a friend or a neighbor who thinks they can do a translation for you more cheaply! This does not follow the other way around and if you need a translation done for anywhere else in the world, you may not need a NAATI translator to do it for you. Beware that this might mean a more inferior translation, though!

Other considerations which can affect the price include

  • Whether the language pair is unusual. An English / Chinese translation, for instance, is likely to be cheaper than one from Zulu or Amharic into English or vice versa, simply because there are more translators around for certain languages.
  • Technical, medical, and legal documents are generally pricier than more general documents because of the difficult language used. This may be a contradiction to what has been said about the cost per word rather than the time statement already made, but is a reflection that translation costing is not necessarily straightforward.

Value Added Translation for Marketers

Marketing your product has become far more complex than it might have been when a business first started up. Many businesses these days are looking to expand their sales base into new markets. It is not business sense to restrict a marketing campaign to those parts of the world where English alone is spoken or is the main language. That might just work if it was an Australian cricket ball manufacturer pitching their sales overseas, simply because all cricket nations are unified in their acceptance of English as either a first or second language. But even selling cricket paraphernalia to cricket mad India would probably be hugely more successful if the advertising material and marketing campaign was translated into India’s key languages like Hindu, Gujarati, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam.

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What do Australian Translation Companies Actually Do?

In this increasingly globalised world, most people understand why translation is an important aspect of communication, but might not be aware of just how critically important the work of a professional translator is.

For a start, many people confuse translators with interpreters. Some large companies may provide an interpretation service as well as a translation service, but usually they are separate concerns. Typical Professional Translation Services in Australia deal with translating a wide variety of text based material, ranging from documents for immigration purposes, legal, financial and business documents and business communication as well as medical and technical documents and manuals and website translations. The accent is always on text and not on real live verbal communication, which is the realm of the interpreter.

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