Translation FAQs: What People Really Ask Us (And the Honest Answers)
The translation industry is a little-known and often misunderstood little world of its own. We know full well that when companies realise they need to get their copy, product description, manual, website or blog translated into another language, to them it feels like an obligation, something they have to do to keep their international audience on board rather than a desire to retain loyalty and build their brand abroad. We thought it was about time we introduced you to our little business and what translation can do for you and your business with some questions we have genuinely been asked before (some of them are surprising, we’ll give you that).
Do you use Google Translate?
No, do you ask Dave from the pub to fix your roof? Didn’t think so. We only work with human translators with the right qualifications, years of experience and a decade or two working with Active Languages. We also allocate our projects to suit our translators’ fields of expertise. For example, some of them are wizzes when it comes to slogans and marketing campaigns, whilst others excel in the worlds of engineering and HMI files… and never the twain shall meet. You may not know that you need a specific type of translator to handle any legal document for use in court. If you don’t use the right translator, any wills or certificates you submit will quite simply be thrown out of court and you’ll have to start the whole process from scratch (more than one lawyer has had their hands burnt trying to cut corners on this one).
But machine translation is cheap and free. Why would anyone work with translators?
Yes, it is cheap and free whereas translators are slower (in comparison with an instant translation) and do need to earn a living. But there’s something that a machine can’t give you, and that’s local knowledge. Only a translator would recognise a play on words in one language and be able to replicate it in their own language in a way that engages your audience. Only a translator would flag a term or figure of speech which could be offensive to your audience in the target language. Only a translator would spot a product name that may well have big companies on your back about intellectual property. That’s something money can’t buy.
Isn’t translation just swapping English words for foreign words?
No. Take the word “bitte” in German for example. “Bitte” can mean “sorry”, “please”, “here you go”, “excuse me?” and many more. If translation was just swapping one language for another, which meaning of “bitte” do you choose? If you’ve ever read a French sentence, you’ll have seen how lengthy they can get and how easy it is to get lost in the words. A translator will read the sentence and break it down if necessary to make it clear for the reader, rather than muddy the waters with long-winded phrasing.
Translation is all about context, audience, subject and localisation. We don’t translate words; we translate meaning. We make sure your audience can understand your words in THEIR language.
Will translators be out of a job soon because of AI?
We certainly hope not! We’ve seen our fair share of translation fails for years and been told that Google Translate would wipe out the industry a long time ago… but we’re still here. There’s a good reason why too. Machine and AI translation is certainly improving, but it’s not up to the standard of human translators. There’s a ghost in the machine hallucinating names, dates, using every possible meaning for the same word to cover every context, sloppy syntax, literal renderings and sentences that are completely non-sensical. Translation fails may be funny, but they can have a serious impact on your business. Mistakes in manuals can lead to injury, using the wrong term could easily offend a chunk of your audience, clunky campaigns can put off potential clients… Whilst there are still businesses that appreciate the value of their customers overseas, there are still businesses that appreciate the value that translators bring to their business.
If you have any questions, burning or otherwise, please feel free to (just compare us to Google Translate though please!)
