{"id":12518,"date":"2020-06-25T19:52:27","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T17:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musik.a-z-translation.com\/?p=12518"},"modified":"2020-06-25T19:52:30","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T17:52:30","slug":"professional-translation-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/professional-translation-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Professional translation – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, I wrote about<\/a> how important it is to have a professional translation done of a professional website or other advertising material or really any professional content.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, I came across an albeit older article over on HomeBusiness<\/a> that nevertheless wonderfully mentions pretty much the same things, which is why I would like to share it here. I hope it is helpful in understanding the importance of a good translation – and the impact of a poorly done one.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Cost of Cheap Translation<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Stephanie Tramdack Cash<\/a> – August 24, 2016 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why You Shouldn\u2019t Skimp When Leaping the Language Barrier<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

You pay for the best product development and manufacturing. Your \nlegal and administrative people are top-notch. You choose your \nadvertising and marketing partners with utmost care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then you pick the lowest bidder for your translations. There\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ve just made a costly mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A nationwide big-box retailer went shopping for translation services \nfor signage and advertising work. It settled on a large translation \nagency offering an impressive pitch and attractive prices. The retailer \nannounced that henceforth all translation work had to be sent through \nthe chosen translation firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pleased with the decision, the retailer had no way of knowing the \nproduct would never match the promises. In the translation world, size \ndoes not translate into quality. Economies of scale are slight. Like the\n smallest agencies, the chosen large firm routinely sends projects to \nfreelance translators. The quality of the people they enlist has \neverything to do with the rates they pay and, consequently, the fees \nthey charged the retailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the retailer\u2019s staff began receiving the finished translations, \nthey could tell the quality was awful. They realized, though, that \nsending the texts back to be improved would be cumbersome, costly and \nineffective. And they were not allowed to contract work out to anyone \nelse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what did they do? They sent the work to a high-quality boutique translation agency to translate all over again<\/strong>\n \u2013 naturally at a higher price than for the shoddy version. And how did \nthey pay for it? They buried the extra translation jobs in the corporate\n budget for graphic design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the retailer paid for the translation twice. At the corporate \nlevel, things looked normal enough. Higher-ups had no idea that the \ngraphic design budget\u2014hard to audit, after all\u2014was being cannibalized to\n pay for the massive translation gaffe. Was graphic design quality \ncompromised by this move? Of course. Safety illustrations and other \ncrucial items were produced poorly\u2014or not at all. But everything was on \nbudget, and viewed from above, all appeared to be working smoothly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The folks on the front line at your company may not have as quirky a \nstory of \u201ccheap\u201d translation to recount. But in other ways, a low-ball \ntranslation provider can end up costing you money, quality, management \ntime, image and reputation. Here are a few commonplace problems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Bait-and-switch tactics<\/strong>: an agency may show you \nresumes of the professionals who will be translating your texts. The \npaths that bring people to a translation career vary greatly, and no \nsingle set of criteria guarantees an excellent translation. However, you\n can look for certain things: academic degrees, serious language study \nand in-country work experience. But beware<\/strong> \u2013 \nunscrupulous agencies solicit resumes of people with skill levels well \nabove what the agency is willing to pay for, show them off to unwary \nclients, and source the translations from others who will settle for far\n less money. In some cases, they even \u201charvest\u201d resumes from the \ninternet for this purpose.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    So how do you know? Find out whether the agency head or \nrepresentative is a translator (many are not), and quietly assess on \nyour own whether that person takes language, the profession, and your \nservice needs seriously. Ask questions and trust your gut. Ask for and \ncheck references of satisfied clients in the same language combination. \nIf you find the agency trustworthy, you may want to ask for a specific \ntranslator from the resume lineup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • The agency\u2019s offer may sound like a good deal, but there may be no proper review process<\/strong>\n in place. This low-bid \u201cenvelope changer\u201d receives the translation, \ngives it a quick once-over\u2014or not!\u2014and sends it on to the client.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Good translation providers always budget for a second person with \nsimilar skills and expertise in your field to perform a careful edit of \nthe translation, often paying a third or more of what the translator \nreceives. Some top-notch firms go beyond this \u201cfour-eyes\u201d principle to \nsix eyes \u2013 a third person may have a final look-through to make sure all\n is in order. If you are working directly with an independent \ntranslator, expect that person to price in review by a respected \ncolleague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • The agency or translator may be over-reliant on machine processes<\/strong>.\n While machine translation and specialized translation software have \nmade great strides, there is widespread agreement among top translators \nthat these are only aids and occasional shortcuts to a quality product. \nThey do not in any sense replace the need for thorough engagement with \nthe text by both translator and reviewer.<\/li>
      • Clunky writing<\/strong> may detract from your message. Good \ntranslators are always honing their writing skills on and off the job. \nThey read widely, with attention to good writing, and focus on the skill\n in professional development sessions. Even good writers who embark on a\n translation career find it takes time to learn to make a text flow. \nWhen this skill is lacking, your translation may have the inescapable \nsound of\u2014well, a translation. Subtleties crucial to your message may \ndisappear. In a marketing text or in any high-level communication, this \nmay mean missing the boat entirely. The saving of a few hundred or a few\n thousand dollars on translation may translate into a sacrifice of \nmillions in potential revenue.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        You need a team of intelligent, highly trained professionals for your translation work. They have experience in your industry in addition to their foreign-language expertise. They are fine, polished writers, translating only into their native languages despite their near-native fluency in other languages*<\/em>. Keep all this in mind when you go shopping for language services. The result will be worth the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        * Note: I personally do not agree with this assessment, as a correct understanding of the source language is equally – and sometimes even more – important. I have in fact seen no few translations done into the native language that were less than good, as the source text had obviously been misunderstood. I would also assume that only those who really are able to write well also in their non-native language would also offer translation services in that direction. And then there is of course always the option of using the second pair of eyes principle to assure you that the translation really is done well<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Last week, I wrote about how important it is to have a professional translation done of a professional website or other advertising material or really any professional content. Today, I came across an albeit older article over on HomeBusiness that nevertheless wonderfully mentions pretty much the same things, which is why I would like to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2453,956,966],"tags":[404,90,97],"class_list":["post-12518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cheap-translation","category-english","category-professional-translation","tag-cheap-translation","tag-english","tag-professional-translation","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12518"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12527,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12518\/revisions\/12527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}