Translating a website might appear at first glance to be an easy task but unless you have hired a translator from a website translation service which has extensive experience in this type of translation it’s quite easy for mistakes to be made.

Common Omissions in a Website Translation

1. File Names

Many of us already know that the search engines use file names and links when calculating a ranking. Some people don’t understand that this also applies when a site is being localized when using a different language. Foreign language keywords are searched as-is. This means search engines don’t translate automatically English keywords in a file name into another language. If you are intent on maximising your keyword rankings in French for example for a “car-rental.html” file you will need to name it “location-de-voitures.html”. The renaming of a file applies also to images that have any keyword relevance. If you do this your visitors’ experience of your website will be far more favourable and it can assist your website to improve its rankings.

2. Metadata

If your website has been optimized in the past for searches in the English language and is translated directly into a further language, the metadata can get forgotten in the changeover. It’s a good thing to do with your website translation service is to get the translator to translate all of the title, keywords and any description tags. This will affect your ranking without a doubt.

3. Alt-Text

Alt-text is what is referred to as the text that suddenly appease when the mouse hovers on top of an image. This alt-text contributes to a website’s ranking. If you include translations of the alt-text your visitors will get a far better experience when accessing your website whatever their language is.

4. Image Text

Image texts are images which have text written on top of them. These need to be translated as well as the image’s file name and any link that it points to.

Summary

The above 4 points may not contribute a lot to when taken individually but when combined as part of your translation strategy can make a lot of difference to your relationship with the search engines. If you choose to get your website translation services to translate your website’s keywords you could end up on page one and not page ten that can without a doubt affect your public website presence.

Some people may believe that a translation is just a word by word translation of a text, but Venuti, alongside other theorists, believes a translation is not just a semantic transferral of meaning shared with 2 languages but translating is a literary and cultural process which comes under the influence of many factors that helps to determine its outcome. 

In the end, a vanguard English translation is an interpretation by the translator influenced by many things, either conscious or unconscious which have a profound effect on the final vanguard translation. It could be literary, cultural, linguistic, historical, psychological, cultural, or societal factors and they could influence several different translators in different ways and at different times.  

There are a lot of prizes awarded in the book world. Some exist not just to reward a single individual each year, but also to enhance what we should place value on the most and what should be emphasised more than anything else. That is all part of vanguard English.

More than 50 percent of the translated books submitted for the British Translators Association’s (TA’s) 1st translation awards are firsts for their translators as well as being English-language debuts for the books’ authors. This shows that translators are definitely in the vanguard group for a literary change. In fact, one of the shortlisted books called ‘The Sad Part’ which was written by Prabda Yoon, was the 1st book of modern era Thai fiction to be published in Britain.

Of the TA translation awards for a change on the 6 book shortlist there were 5 books translated by women, which is quite an achievement as usually for every one book translated by a woman there are 2 translated by male translators. 

Literary translation isn’t an easy profession to become a part of, because there is so much competition for work.  To make matters worse publishers prefer to entrust any book translations to translators who are known to them and who aren’t such a risk. However, there are so many advantages of broadening the pool of translators, one of which is the introducing of new writers who want their work translated into other languages.

Because Homer’s Odyssey has turned out to be such an influential work of Western literature, it has been translated at least 60 times from Greek to English. Emily Wilson has just published yet another Odyssey translation.

Why was this Translation Really Necessary?

Basically, Emily Wilson is the first female translator to translate this work into English. Who the translator is can make a great difference to the interpretation of a text. This is because often a translator’s own biases and beliefs can have at least some effect on the overall translation of something like the Odyssey. Wilson stated that the aim of the translation was to get out the truth of the content of the Odyssey.  She believes that there is a relationship between gender and translation, especially in something as ancient as the Odyssey, where there are links between when engaging poetry in translation.

Gender and its Relationship to Translation

In Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey where Odysseus demands the death penalty for all the slave girls who had slept with Penelope’s suitors, previous translations offer a different translation.  The girls are not referred to as slaves, but as “whores”, “sluts” and “creatures. Slavery was common in that era of ancient Greek history. Earlier translations of The Odyssey called them “maidservants.” In a New York Times report, Wilson says this idea is not only misleading but is not a literal translation either.

Wilson has aimed at the story being more accessible to today’s reader. It seems that her translation of certain aspects of the Odyssey may be upsetting to some; particularly in the way she has translated “polytropos,” the Greek word which is used at the start of the poem to describe Odysseus. “Polytropos” means literally “many turns” but earlier translators have chosen “sagacious” and “crafty” and a “man of twists and turns”. This shows how a poem interpretation is so dependent on whom the translator is.

Even though she may have added some freshness to some of the old fashioned language used in the original poem, she has managed to keep her version of the translation to the same number of lines that were used in the original Greek poem. She has also carefully replicated the rhythm of the original poem as well.

Some of the most difficult and contentious translations are those in the literature field because the original version of the text was created by someone who wanted to put across unique ideas.

There is always some way of measuring translation quality. Some translators agree that it’s possible to do this by counting the number of mistakes. There is one problem with this method and that is some errors are more important than others.  A better way of doing it would be to measure the errors on the amount of impact they have on the meaning of the text. If the number of mistakes were rated as high that would mean the translation would have a possible serious effect on its intended meaning. 

If the number of mistakes was rated as medium this could have an effect on the reputation of the person or business whose has requested the translation because the meaning of the translation is unclear to the likely reader. If the number of mistakes is low the translation would not have a serious effect on anyone whether it’s the reader or the reputation of the person who ordered the translation

Using Numbers to Measure Translation Quality

Once a high, medium or low is given to the translation a number 10 could be allocated to high, the number 5 for medium and a number 1 for low.. You can then times the low error number by 1, the medium errors by 5 and the high errors by 10 and finally add them up together. Some sort of weighting would have to be allocated otherwise the scores wouldn’t be fair for long passages. The easiest way to achieve this  could probably be a by working out a direct percentage of the number of  words in the passage. By doing this you could get a score that will allow you to compare for example the accuracy of 2 five thousand worded passages.

However, there are other measures apart from using a number translator such as if a perfect piece of translation was delivered without one error but the translation wasn’t completed by the deadline  that action has meant the translation quality hasn’t been met. There is more to translation quality than the number of mistakes.

Using numbers is also limited by the interpretation of a translator’s style as it’s hard to gage the quality of a translation when it comes to the style of the translator. 

One of the most important features of any country is ensuring that each of its citizens understand each other. Many countries like Australia have experienced in recent years a marked change in the linguistic diversity of the country.  This sort of situation makes it increasingly more difficult for successful communication to take place in all areas of life and as a stop gap in places like courts and hospitals it’s important to seek out interpreters who can act as the go between when it comes to communication. 

The Australian government is taking this matter seriously and is offering some solution to the problem of misunderstanding in key situations. In September 2017 a 100 page document was released by the Justice of Western Australia and Chair of the Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity (JCCD). This presents in detail the way interpreters should be selected and that’s based on their skill levels and experience. It also provides appropriate guidance on the professional conduct that can take place when dealing with  people who have limited or no English proficiency. This is particularly important in criminal cases where complete understanding between the police, the defendant and the court system and is essential. 

At the same time the government is making this National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) in Australia is undertaking changes in the certification process of interpreters who wish to take on professional work. One of the proposed amendments NAATI is starting to introduce throughout the nation which isn’t being treated too favourably by the interpreting community is a path towards certification for specialists in the legal and health sectors where cross linguistic and cross-cultural understanding is the greatest.

Proposed standards offered by the JCCD involve using 4 language tiers for contracting interpreting services by state courts.

● The 1st tier is for15 languages which include Aslan, the sign language used by the Australian deaf community.

● The 2nd tier is 43 languages.

● The 3rd tier is 15 languages and 28 indigenous languages. 

● The last tier is 8 indigenous languages

The JCCD states that if there are gaps in the availability and qualifications of interpreters in each of the tiers and in specific languages it will allow a trial to be deferred until an interpreter can travel from another place to do the interpreting. 

All proceedings in courts in Australia take place in English. This means those that have limited knowledge of the language are disadvantaged. The JCCD initiative is a way of ensuring basic human rights for people who need representation in court but can’t speak up fluently for themselves. 

These days, despite the fact there is a greater movement of people around the world than has ever been seen before, it doesn’t mean that documents such as passports, birth certificates, and marriage certificates are in the language of the country you intend to visit or reside.  If you are seeking permission to work or even apply for permanent residency you will be asked to provide the relevant documentation in English, otherwise, your application may be delayed even denied.

In most cases, you will need to hire a translator who has experience in translating the types of documents translated into English or any other language. It’s not sensible to choose the cheapest translator, as if there are any faults found in the translation, it might be rejected. If you are going to Australia to work, Border Force, the agency responsible for immigration, will only accept documents translated into English that have been completed by a translator or translation services that have been approved to conduct translations. In Australia, you need a certified translator, who can translate your all documents into English or any other language. 

Your local Australian embassy or consulate keeps a list of approved translators, one of which you must use. The mission will certify the translation so it can be used with future passport applications, wherever they are lodged.

If you are getting your documents translated in Australia because you are already in the country at the time of your application, you are required to get your translations into English completed by a NAATI accredited translator. NAATI is the official body in Australia that oversees the quality of translation services by conducting courses and examinations for translators. An accredited NAATI translator can usually do a good job translating a document. The Department of Home Affairs also offers translating services into English for a fee. In New South Wales, the Community Relations Commission (CRC) for a Multicultural NSW has a team of NAATI accredited translators on its payroll. Translations that are placed on CRC letterhead which have been certified as exact translations of the document(s), and include the translator’s ID number, are acceptable.

Translating documents into English in the U.S. isn’t quite so difficult as in Australia as you can choose any translator to complete the task. If the receiver is a government body the translator must write out his or her own certification and sign it to say the translation is accurate.