Transcription City now provide both transcription services and translation services – we can transcribe and translate from a variety of media. With that in mind we thought we would look at how to choose the right translation company.
When it comes to translation services online, there are lots of different misconceptions out there about what to expect and where any difficulties lie. With translation software widely available, many may think at translation has become easier to carry out; but this is far from the case. Translation is an art form. It requires a high level of understanding both in terms of language and subject matter.
Here are some reasons why it’s tougher than you think.
Translation Services and Source Material
Any linguist or foreign language transcriptionist can only be as good as their source material. For this reason, it’s always best to provide audio or video of the highest quality possible for the best results in your translated document. If you do have a poor quality media file you need translated, many transcription companies can work to clean up your audio but this is likely to incur additional costs.
Translation Services and Context
Translation isn’t as straightforward as transcription. Without specialist linguist experience in areas of medical translation, legal translation or other specialist translation knowledge and skills, what starts off as technical jargon can soon become complete gobbledygook.
Transcription and Dialects
English transcriptionists should be very aware of how tough it can be transcribing audio or video with strong accents. In translation work, these struggles become more complex as regional dialects come into play. Your foreign language transcription company should be aware of which dialect is present in your source file and allocate the work accordingly to an experienced and capable translator with the correct language skills. For example, allocating a European Spanish transcription job to a Brazilian Spanish translator will not produce the best possible results.
Translation Services and Experience
Not only does your translator need many years experience and training but also a great deal real life experience of using that language is crucial. Many sayings just don’t translate directly from one language to another so linguists need not only to directly understand what is being said but also understand the semantics.
So that’s it, translation is tougher than you think. It might be useful to remember these key points when contacting your chosen translation company for translation work, and any professional translation company should be able to answer to all of these elements.
If you would like to know more about our transcription services or translation services, why not get in touch? We are available 7 days a week and are always happy to help.
