The world of the translation may be perplexing, especially if you are the one conducting the purchasing on behalf of your organization. Many buyers of translation and localization services experience the same feelings you do when you take your automobile to the mechanic. How can you be sure what’s going on behind the hood? After all, how can you assess translation quality and hold your suppliers responsible if you don’t speak the language into which you’re having anything translated?
As a result of this issue, many translation customers resort to techniques that may appear reasonable at the time, but might, in fact, work against guaranteeing the highest quality. Here are some common translation misunderstandings that might really cause more harm than good:
Myth #1: Anyone who is bilingual may become an excellent translator
Many individuals believe that bilinguals are natural translators. They are fluent in both languages, thus translating any documents is a piece of cake for them. The ability to use two languages is simply an advantage for translators when working in the translation sector, not a golden ticket that guarantees a natural outstanding linguist. Translation, in fact, entails much more than simply translating words from one language to another. The translators must have a thorough awareness of both languages and cultures. Even minor cultural blunders, such as incorrect colors or phrases, can result in a boycott of the target country’s audiences.
But that isn’t the only thing. A translator must also be an expert in a given area, which means they have insights into the field to deliver the most accurate translation and they understand the needs and desires of the target audience to transmit appealing messages. All of these factors, when combined with excellent writing abilities, contribute to the development of a successful translator.
Myth #2: Professional translation is a human-only industry
It is a frequent misconception that translation is a “human-only” business that does not use cutting-edge technology. Even if it does, sophisticated technology should be avoided to the greatest extent feasible. Because when consumers think of translation technology, they only think of machine translation services like Google Translate or Bing Translator, whose accuracy isn’t well regarded. In reality, technology is used in every translation job through the use of CAT tools – a software particularly created for translators and linguists to increase translation efficiency and quality. The CAT tools save the source phrases and their translations from past projects so that translators can reuse them in future projects. CAT tools, from the standpoint of translation firms, save a significant amount of translation time while also ensuring the correctness and consistency of a translation job. Customers benefit financially from this technological application since they only pay full price for new words or phrases.
Many people believe that machine translation is free, rapid, and accurate. Let’s see how it goes: We can all agree that the two finest qualities of machine translation are speed and cost. But is it correct? We’re not convinced. To see the results, just translate a text from a foreign language into your local language using Google Translate. Can you fully comprehend the translation? Is it smooth and natural-sounding? We’re guessing it isn’t. The rationale is straightforward. Machine translation cannot comprehend the context or communicate the tone or sentiments of the writers. You should not rely on machine translation to produce high-quality results. However, after being post-edited by a human translator, the translation should be acceptable.
Human translators, on the other hand, are aware of the context, target audiences, and competence to provide you with what you anticipate. In a nutshell, utilize machine translation only when you need to obtain a basic grasp of a subject.
Myth #4: Throughout the translation process, only one translator is required.
Because they can revise and review their own translated papers, a long-experienced and professional translator can create high-quality translations without the assistance of other linguists. So, in essence, only one translator is required for the whole translation process. That is, in fact, another widespread translation business fallacy. Translators place too much importance on their translations and are unwilling to make significant modifications to their own. To ensure that the editing and proofreading processes are carried out objectively, the project should be entrusted to various linguists. Only in this manner can a polished, clear, and correct translation be obtained.
Myth #5: Translation is not a creative endeavor.
Translation takes a huge deal of imagination. It takes not just the originality required to create anything, but also the creativity required to solve issues and discover answers.
To create a good sentence, you must be imaginative. And you’ll need to be much more inventive if you want to balance literary inventiveness with the expectation of being true to a work written in another language.
Translators must reproduce the uniqueness of a text without deviating too much from the important feature of the original text. What are relevant shifts in complex and varied ways. It’s a challenging profession, but it’s also a fantastic challenge for people who enjoy working with words and celebrating communication and creativity.
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