Natural Evolution or Cause for Irritation?

Having been in the language business for 30 years, I realize, as I’m sure you do, that languages have a natural tendency to evolve. They change, sometimes rapidly. They are living organisms. Take the last 10 years of IT terminology that will surely make it into the next edition of Webster’s – “blog”, “spam” (I’m thinking that one should be in there already?), “phishing”, etc.

Of course, I welcome new terminology when it’s needed. Otherwise we would all be saying things like “I read ‘that thing’ you put on the Internet, you know, ‘that thing’ you wrote the other day….” or “I hate checking my email. I get so many unsolicited, unwanted emails from people I don’t know trying to sell me something or looking for a date.” (Think of how much ink the word “spam” has saved when you look at that last sentence.)

What I REALLY don’t like, however, are people who use the idea that languages evolve and change to just be lazy and completely ignorant of the basic grammar we were all taught in school. At least everyone in my generation was taught those rules. Given the alarming increase in poor spelling and grammar of recent college applicants as evidenced by college entrance essays, I’m not so sure the standards are still as strict as they used to be.

For example, I have noticed an alarming increase in the number of people who pronounce the “t” in the word “often”. Please look it up, the “t” is silent.

And here’s a short list of the most obnoxious violations as I see them. At least, I personally find these the most irritating.

1. There is NO SUCH WORD in the English language as “irregardless”. It’s “REGARDLESS”.
2. The word “nuclear” only has three syllables “NU-CLE-AR” – come on people, you can do it.
3. You don’t put “assesories” into your home. You use “accessories” to decorate. The first “c” is a hard “c” – please pronounce it “AK-SESSORIES”. I hear that one pronounced wrong all the time on HGTV. You would think a decorator would know better.
4. Please don’t’ feel “badly” about something. That means you don’t know how to feel about something in an efficient manner. The correct phrase is “I feel BAD about that”.
5. I personally get irritated by the word “utilize”. It’s a perfectly good word, but it just means “use” so please use “use” instead of “utilize” – otherwise you sound pretentious. (Sorry, I know that last sentence is awkward).
6. I hear the word “SUPPOSEDLY” pronounced many times “supposably” – that’s not a word. Please take note.

And finally, I was watching a commercial the other day for a popular language-learning software. One young woman said when her clients found out she could speak Spanish “….they looked alleviated”. I’m sure she meant to say “relieved”, but maybe they actually left the room so her problem with them was “alleviated”.

When in doubt, LOOK IT UP. Let’s keep our language healthy so it can grow and change, but still be governed by basic good grammar.

Why You Need a Translation Company

I have been working in the translation industry for 30 years. During that time, I have seen Americans transition from completely ignorant about foreign languages (unless they took language courses in high school or college) to at least partially literate about the subject. When I first started, there was not a week that went by without someone requesting the translation of a catch phrase or a slogan for a product – some of which were puns or had double meanings in English. I would try to explain to them that it would just not make sense in the target language and more than once I had someone reply “Well, can’t you just translate the words?” as if their target audience would magically understand a string of nonsense words just because it made sense in English.

My family and I took a short drive through part of Canada for a day once since we live close to the border. We stopped for carbonated beverages, and when we got home, I showed the empty bottle to my daughter, who had studied French. “Live the experience” in English had turned out to read “Get experienced” in French….not exactly what the company had in mind. Today, when I explain to a client that a certain phrase or concept will not directly translate, they understand and either come up with alternative text or tell me to let the translator have some latitude with the translation.

The act of translation is not an innate ability, although some people have a talent for it. Like any other activity, it needs a bit of practice, experience, training, etc. Just because a person is bi-lingual or tri-lingual does not automatically make them a good translator. I have had clients send me critiques after the fact of a translation we completed for them. These critiques are usually done by the client’s in-house personnel who speak the language in question. After reviewing the client’s concerns, nine times out of ten the complaints are the result of simple terminology preferences and the original translation was fine. Once in a while, the criticism stems from the fact that the reviewer may have grown up speaking that language, but he/she has never actually written formally in their native language and has poor grammar skills.

Back before everyone could desktop publish simple documents and everything had to be typeset on photographic paper with specialty equipment, I got a request from a printer to typeset a handbook for a local juvenile detention center. The booklet was in Spanish translated from English, and the printer indicated that one of the employees of the detention center had translated it. I’m not a native speaker of Spanish, but I do have a college degree in the language and I have been proofreading translations for 30 years. I identified at least 20 errors in spelling and grammar on the first page alone. I told the printer that his client could either pay us to retranslate the job, or I would have to turn it down. He was a bit frustrated with me, but I was not going to put our company name on a product – even though we didn’t translate it – that was written by someone obviously partially illiterate.

Many bi-lingual people advertise their services as translators because they figure it’s a good and easy way to make a living without any idea about the basics of translation. Their translation are usually literal, awkward and obviously not written originally in the target language. I once threw out a bargain book I bought at a bookstore because as I was reading it I thought “this thing has been translated”. It was a professional publication, but the text was terrible. There are people who have a working knowledge of several languages and they believe they can actually produce polished, professional translations in all of those languages in practically any subject matter. These are the people you need to avoid at all cost and these are the people a translation company weeds out.

For the sake of your company’s image, you should never let your neighbor, your nephew, your co-worker or your friend translate your corporate literature for you and assume you will get a good, usable product that reflects well on your organization. You wouldn’t go to a dentist for a broken leg even though he has some medical training, so please leave your translation needs in the hands of the professionals, and give us a call.

Arabic Translation and Localization Tips

The Middle East is a unique situation for those who seek to do business in the region.  The geographic area is even difficult to define.  It has been known as the Near East (pre WWII), Southwest Asia, Western Asia (what people in India refer to the region).  The term Middle East is a very Eurocentric and American term. 

The multiple languages and cultures are just as varied and can be confusing.  In the largest definition, the Middle East includes a majority of Arab populations, non-Arab Muslims; Persians, Turks, Kurds, and also Jews and Christians.

Arabic is by far the main language of the region.  Yet many Middle Eastern markets include translation into Turkish, Hebrew, Pashto or Urdu.  All of these languages with the exception of Turkish are right to left languages and present all the challenges and attention to detail of bi-directionality languages.  This bi-directionality can cause issues with translation software and in the desktop publishing (DTP) software.  In addition, many technical terms do not have a modern Arabic equivalent.  Only an experienced subject matter expert whose native language is Arabic should work on these types of projects so that your products and services are truly understood in the Middle East markets.

Simply understanding the nuances of the Arabic language and the translation challenges can help you and your organization be better prepared for the localization and internationalization process.  Experienced Arabic translators understand these pitfalls and will have created software work arounds to meet the challenges of your translation and localization projects into the right to left and bidirectional languages. 

The Middle East certainly presents many benefits for businesses going global - looking east is the easy part, translating your documents can be easy too if you have the right Arabic translation partnership.

Tips For Your In Country Review Process for your translated documents

Reduce your translation costs and reduce headaches in your international communication process.  In-country (or client review as many translation agencies call it) review is one of the most crucial, yet challenging, steps in the translation process.

In-country review is the process of sending translated material to an individual in the target language country to review linguistic concerns associated with a given translation project. For example, industry or company specific terminology. The reviewer is generally a co-worker from your organization who resides in the country  and most often a sales manager, country manager or distributor. To ensure a successful review process, follow these guidelines:

1. Create Goals of In-Country Review for your organization and your documents.  The overall goal should be to gain local acceptance for the product/service or product/service materials in the target market.

2. Decide who would perform the reviews? Ideally reviews should be performed by individuals with a linguistic background, solid product knowledge and previous review experience. However, review is more often performed by local sales staff or distributors who have a vested interest in the translation quality, but no formal review experience. Therefore it is critical that a clear set of guidelines or instructions be provided to ensure consistent and timely feedback from reviewers. Guidelines become even more important if you plan to have more than one person per language conduct the review. Your translation supplier should be able to assist you in developing your product/service specific guidelines.  Be sure to do this as far in advance of a project as possible.  In addition, establish delivery dates for when reviewers will receive materials for review and when the reviewer’s comments are due.  Please try to prevent reviewers who tend to make many minor and often just personal preference changes vs. major linguistic and terminology changes.

3. Achieve excellent in-country reviews.

• The first step in this process is creating glossaries and style guidelines before translation starts. This step will establish preferred terminology, usage of acronyms, punctuation, etc. Glossaries and style  guides enable translators to choose preferred terminology and style at the outset of a project. Involving your reviewers in this process will enable them to provide input at the outset and minimize the number of revisions later. Why is this so important? There is often more than one way to correctly express a concept or idea and without guidance on key terminology, a good translation that is faithful to the original text may not reflect the preferred expressions of your in-country staff.
• The next step is to help your reviewers understand the purpose and focus of the review process by providing them specific parameters and guidelines for their review process.  Items like adherence to the glossary and style guide, consistency of the translation, compliance with instructions (I.e. items that should not be translated are correct), country-specific measurements and other standards are met, accuracy of terminology, and style.

4. Determine how review comments should be provided? Depending on the source files or document, there are different ways to capture reviewer comments; however, the original translated text must remain in the translated document. A reviewer can make suggestions and comments using the change tracking feature. If they are using an application that does not support change tracking such as Excel, Quark, PowerPoint, etc. they may be able to designate their comments in another way such as using a different colored font. Reviewers may also use a separate document to communicate comments. In this case it must be very clear to which text the comment relates. This will minimize follow
up queries from your localization vendor and save time in the process. If you must use multiple reviewers per language, it is best if the client coordinates and consolidates the reviewers’ comments into one single document before sending to the vendor. Reviewer comments should be as clear and specific as possible.  Reviewer comments should arrive prior to any formatting (DTP) activities for printed materials and prior to testing for software, web or help materials. A delivery schedule should be agreed at the outset of the project to allow translators adequate time to implement the changes.Your localization vendor will implement the changes where valid. For some changes, particularly in the case of stylistic preferences of the reviewer, it is helpful for your vendor to have your reviewers available to answer any questions that may arise during comment implementation.

Just like most other business functions, the in-country review process can go smoothly if planned in advance, when expectations are clearly set and communicated, and when scheduled realistically.  The in-country review can be a powerful means to ensure the success of your product in international markets.

4 Common Translation Myths

Often when our clients come to us for translation, they have never had to translate their documentation.  However, translation is in fact a serious business that should be approached thoughtfully in order to avoid poor results. There are four translation myths that many people don’t bear in mind regarding the translation industry.

1.  If you know a foreign language, you can be a translator

This is perhaps the most common translation misconception and the most damaging one. Being able to read, speak and write a foreign language does not give anyone licence to undertake translation work. Firstly, a translator must have an in-depth understanding and knowledge of at least two languages: a foreign language and a mother tongue. Secondly, translating is a skill. You must be able to write well and have an excellent command of the nuances in language use. Thirdly, language is not free of cultural influences. If the culture behind the language which is being translated is not appreciated, an accurate translation is extremely difficult.

2.  Translating is simple and easy to do

Translation is far from easy. Translation is an intricate, complex and arduous work. Having to simultaneously concentrate on two different texts, often times very technical documentation is mentally taxing. This is because a translator is continuously moving between two languages and contexts. A translator must first read and register source information then manage to understand the text and all the nuances completely and then present it accurately in the target language. This means having an excellent vocabulary and appreciating the subtleties in language such as phrases, metaphors, tone and intention all in under tight time constraints.

3.  Computers can now do translations

We have yet to see a translation program that is able to take the place of a human translators. This is because computers do not understand what language is, how it is used, the subtleties within it and the ever changing use of it. Language is very organic and placing code to understand it’s context has yet to be executed more precisely than human translations.  Computers may be able to translate simple one-dimensional sentences but they will never be able to tackle the complexities within literature or technical texts.

4.  Having a professional translation is not imperative

It may be true that professional translators are not always necessary, however if the translation is to be accurate and professionally prepared and presented then an experienced translator is essential. Bad translations lead to many problems including people misunderstanding texts which ultimately reflect poorly on a company or organization. If you want your car fixed you take it to a mechanic, not a car salesman. He may know a bit about cars but not enough to address your car problems with the experience of a professional.

Your documentation has been established to help your products and services serve your customers more effectively.  Our clients spend a lot of time and resources developing their documentation.  Don’t cut corners on this step because your international reputation and customer relationships may be negatively affected.

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