True or false?

a) Should you’re superb this 12 months, Santa Claus will deliver you a brand new car.

b) Should you kiss a frog, he’ll flip into Brad Pitt.

c) Should you ship a translator a fifty-page doc tonight, you possibly can have the interpretation again by tomorrow.

Should you answered “true” to the third assertion, it is time for a reality verify. Beneath is an inventory of the commonest myths about translation. Have you ever fallen sufferer to any of those misconceptions?

Delusion # 1: “I needn’t pay for translations — I can get free ones online.”

Reality: Machine translations and human translations are completely different, and shouldn’t be used for a similar functions.

A human translator understands the which means of a doc and tries to speak that which means successfully in one other language. A machine translator doesn’t have a mind and can’t perceive something.

What a machine translator does is change phrases and phrases in a single language with phrases or phrases in one other. Nevertheless, there’s typically a couple of doable translation for a phrase (consider the phrase “rock,” which might refer both to a mineral or a sort of music), and there’s at all times a couple of strategy to specific an idea. A machine can’t make these decisions the way in which a human would. The machine does not know what it is speaking about!

Consequently, machine translators typically make errors, and machine translations typically sound awkward and even ridiculous.

When is it okay to get a free online translation? While you simply need to search for a single phrase, or to get a common understanding of one thing written in a overseas language. For instance, if you’re making an attempt to navigate a overseas language website, a machine translator will help you discover your means round.

Delusion # 2: “I studied Spanish at school, so I can translate our company website to Spanish.”

Reality: Talking languages is just not the identical as with the ability to translate them. And even an expert translator ought to usually solely translate into his or her native language.

Translation is extra than simply changing phrases. A translator wants to have the ability to switch which means from one language to a different in a means that sounds pure within the new language (the “goal language”). Since completely different languages specific ideas in numerous methods, this is more difficult than it might sound. It’s a particular talent which skilled translators study by means of training and expertise. For vital translations, equivalent to the interpretation of a company website, it’s subsequently safer to go to an expert Korea translation company.

A part of a translator’s job is writing. The translator is definitely creating a brand new textual content within the goal language, the ultimate language of the interpretation. In case your translation is from English to Spanish, the translator ought to be a local speaker of Spanish, not English, since that’s the language wherein she or he will probably be writing. Individuals can virtually by no means write in a overseas language precisely the way in which a local speaker would. A local speaker would know the distinction.

Delusion # 3: “It simply is sensible to decide on the interpretation agency that asks for the bottom value.”

Reality: A translation agency that expenses very low costs has to maintain its prices correspondingly low. That’s more likely to imply that they’re working with much less skilled translators and that they’re taking short-cuts on high quality control.

When high quality issues, going for an inexpensive resolution can find yourself costing you extra within the long-run.

Delusion # 4: “Fifty pages in 24 hours: no downside.”

Reality: Translation takes time. The period of time varies relying on the precise textual content, so it is very important talk about timing together with your translation companion earlier than making any assumptions.

Machine translators, which enter phrases in a single language and output translations in one other, can translate translate virtually immediately. The work of a human translator, nonetheless, is significantly extra difficult. This work requires cautious studying of the unique textual content to keep away from lacking any ranges of which means. In lots of cases, it requires terminology analysis. And the translator has to jot down an efficient, fluent textual content within the translation’s goal language.

Earlier than asking for 50 pages in a single day, take into consideration how lengthy it took you to jot down the unique and keep in mind that the translator wants sufficient time to jot down it once more in one other language.

Backside Line

Have in mind the reality behind these myths, and keep away from falling into the temptations of wishful pondering when planning your translation. Whereas it is nice to dream, you are more likely to get higher outcomes together with your translation venture when you go in with a sensible understanding of what is concerned.