A Primer for Translation Buyers: Part Two

Last week, Transpanish offered tips to understand the difference between interpretation and translation and a guide to pricing.  This week, we will focus on how to choose the best translator for your needs.

Here are some key questions to ask as you start the process of choosing a translation agency or freelance translator:

1.    Does the translator only translate into her native language?

As a general rule, translators should only translate from their non-native language and into their native language.  This is mainly because, no matter how proficient someone is in speaking and writing in a second language, there will always be nuances and phrasing that only native speakers can get right.  Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, as there are translators out there who have spent so much time writing and reading in their non-native language that they are just a step away from being a native speaker.

2.    Do I just need translation services or are there other add-ons that I will need?

If you need services such as desktop publishing, graphic design, or project management, you may want to go with a larger translation agency which can provide the highest quality for these value-added services.  If you prefer to stick with a freelance translator, make sure that the translator has extensive experience in these additional services.

3.    Does the agency or translator have glowing recommendations?

Ask for references from the agency or translator and check into them.  Ask what their experience was like, the quality of the work, and if they’d recommend the service to others.

4.    Do you want someone local for face-to-face meetings?

If you think it’s important to have face-to-face time with your agency or freelancer, your choices will be much more limited.  But if you’re willing to work with someone available via email, chat, and phone, you can choose the best freelancer or agency independent of their location.

5.    Are you willing to pay for quality?

There is a big difference between economical translation services and those that are downright cheap.  Be wary of bargain basement translations, as this might be a sign that the freelancer or agency doesn’t provide the highest quality translations.  On the other hand, just because a translator has low prices doesn’t mean that they will give you a shoddy translation.  It may just mean that they are starting out and don’t have the years of experience that allow them to command higher prices.

Just as with any other service, you will need to shop around, ask questions, and go with your gut.  If you choose wrong the first time and end up unhappy with the service, there are thousands of high-quality, well-priced agencies and freelancers that would be thrilled to have your business.

A Primer for Translation Buyers: Part One

As a potential translation buyer, you have probably already decided that you need some of your materials translated into one or more foreign languages.  Your company may also do business internationally so you need correspondence or business plans translated for your partners and clients abroad.  This two-part article will guide you through the nuts and bolts of working with translators so that you end up with the best finished product possible.

Interpretation vs. Translation

Most laypeople use the words interpretation and translation interchangeably when in fact they are very different and practitioners of each use different skill-sets.  Of course, both interpretation and translation deal with language, but the medium of the former is the spoken word and the latter the written word.

Translators work from a written document in the source language to render a document in the target languageInterpreters provide real-time translation of the spoken word, either over the phone, in large meetings or conferences, or in small-group settings.

Your company may need both translation and interpretation services, but don’t assume that your translator will be able to provide both for you.  This is because of the different skill-sets each service requires.  Great translators are exceptionally adept with the written word and interpreters with the spoken word.  While some translators also work as interpreters, this isn’t always the case.  Furthermore, you may be working remotely with a translator and in many instances, you’ll need an interpreter to work with you onsite.

For an excellent description of the differences between translation and interpretation, follow this link to a post on the Brave New World blog.

Understanding Pricing

Your translation agency or independent translator should always provide you with a price quote before beginning the project.

There are a few factors that will determine how much your translation will cost.  First, the length of the document and number of words is taken into account.  Translators can quote a price based on number of words/length of documents in three ways:

  • Number of words in source document
  • Number of words in final translated document (especially if the words in the source document cannot be counted, as in hard copy or scanned documents)
  • Number of pages in the source document

Other pricing considerations include:

  • The complexity or technical nature of the document (i.e. expect to pay more for a legal contract than a brochure describing services).
  • Value-added services such as Desktop Publishing.
  • Turn-around time (you will be charged a flat fee or a percentage of the base quote if you request a rush translation).

Transpanish’s next blog post will offer you tips on choosing the best translator.

Google Translation Center Announced to Online Community

The online translation community is abuzz with the news that Google has announced the start of a Google Translation Center.  The discussion revolves around two main questions: how exactly the service will work and how having an Internet giant like Google providing a platform for translation services will affect freelance translators’ business.

How Will Google’s Service Work?

Clients will be able to upload the documents they need translated and then choose from the price quotes that individual translators will provide.  Translators will use Google’s web-based tools to create and review translations and the “Translator’s Workbench” will provide translators with tools such as a revision history, a glossary, or a history of previous translations. Google, at least as currently explained, will simply serve as a middleman, coordinating services and providing the platform and tools for clients and translators alike.

Throughout the preliminary discussions, one topic on which everyone still seems unclear is that of Translation Memory (refer to previous Transpanish posts for an intro to TM here and here) and how Google will implement it.  It seems that Google wants to create a meta-TM through which individual translators will have access to all similar translations previously inputted into the system.  This raises the question of ownership (clients usually own the rights to translations input into TM, as they’ve paid for the translations) and quality of what is uploaded into the global TM (Google states that individual translators will be solely responsible for quality control of what they produce).

How Will the Service Affect Freelance Translators?

Since Google has not yet unrolled its Beta version, professional translators can only speculate on the effect that Google Translation Center will have on their business.  On the Proz Forum discussion of this topic, translators are understandably concerned about the quality of the output, especially since creating a solid, accurate TM takes time as texts are translated and fed into the system.

Google Blogoscoped offers a preliminary analysis of the service’s features and included screenshots of the tools that GTC will offer to the translator.  Access to these free tools (questions about the TM aside) could be very good news for freelancers and GTC may very well open up a world of freelance gigs to professional translators.  However, freelancers are concerned about whether potential clients will be willing to pay market rates for translations when looking for a translator on GTC.

Of course, the online translation community can only speculate on GTC’s effects on the translation industry until the service is actually rolled out.

To read more commentary on the service, read Brian McConnell’s blog post, “GTC: The World’s Largest Translation Memory.”

Bilingual Education in the U.S.

If your goal is to become fluent in another language, many times total immersion is the best practice. However, this is not the case for young recent immigrants in public schools because they also must become proficient in the subject matter of instruction. This is where bilingual education comes in.

Bilingual education and its alternatives have been up for political and moral debate. Its proponents posit that mastering English, literacy, and subject matter simultaneously is too overwhelming for most students and that a combination of instruction in one’s native language and in English is necessary for success. Its detractors state that bilingual education retards the mastery of English which in turn retards students’ acquisition of knowledge in all areas.

There are varying levels and approaches to bilingual education, roughly broken into the following strategies:

  • Transitional: the goal is to transition English language learners into English-only classrooms as quickly as possible and provides content instruction in the student’s native language while they learn English.
  • Two-Way or Dual Language: these programs are designed to teach both native English and non-native English speaking students to be bilingual and biliterate.
  • Specialized Dual Language: subjects are taught in the students’ second language with bilingual teachers who can field students’ questions when they need assistance in their native language. Literacy instruction in students’ native language is also provided separately.
  • Late-Exit or Developmental: Students are educated in their native language for an extended period of time, complemented by education in English.

The debate over bilingual education takes place within a larger political and social context, which may be to the detriment of students’ acquisition of knowledge of both English and material in content areas. Furthermore, while bilingual education might be effective practice in areas of the country where there are fewer native languages spoken, the system becomes unwieldy and impossible in areas where immigrants come from all over the world.

For more resources on bilingual education, both for and against, follow these links:

National Association for Bilingual Education

Twisted Tongues: The Failure of Bilingual Education

The Case Against Bilingual Education

California Association for Bilingual Education