A leap of faith

For translation buyers, having the fruits of their labour translated into a language that they do not understand is extremely daunting. At least with your own text, you can judge the quality of the writing and weed out any typos or other errors yourself. But when you commission a translation, you are effectively placing your ‘baby’ in the hands of another person. A friend of mine recently told me that she was “really nervous” about handing over her work to be turned into a language she can’t read. Here’s a few tips for making the process less nerve-wracking, based on the advice I gave her:

• Find a native speaker.  There are some people who are the exception to this rule, having been raised in a bilingual family, for example. But generally speaking, always work with a translator who is a native speaker of the language that you want your document to be translated into.

• Check the translator’s specialist subject area. If you need a technical text translated, look for a technical translator. If you need legal documents translated, look for a translator specialising in law. If you need marketing texts translated, look for a translator with experience in that field. This is one way to increase the chances of you getting top quality results.

• Look for membership of professional associations. While not essential, membership of a professional association such as the ITI or ATA demonstrates that a translator has undertaken to abide by a specific professional code of conduct. As most associations now actively promote the importance of taking part in continuous professional development, translators belonging to such organisations are also likely to be continually working to improve their skills and to maintain a competitive edge.

• Brief the translator. Make sure that your translator knows exactly what your text is to be used for, e.g. for internal information only, for a glossy printed brochure, on a website… That way, you can be sure that they will use the right register for wherever your text is going to be used.

• Be there to help. Tell your translator that you are more than happy to help them with any questions relating to your texts and be sure to give them several ways of contacting you, e.g. by giving them your e-mail address or your direct line telephone number.

I often refer people to ITI’s Getting it Right: A Guide to Buying Translations for further advice. It provides really useful information for translation buyers in a concise, compact format. View a copy here.

Any more tips? Feel free to add them by leaving a comment!

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Tagged as: Buying translations, commissioning translations, finding a translator, translation advice, translation buyers, translation quality