Page not found – Teck Language Solutions Opening new market horizons with professional translations Sun, 06 Jan 2019 10:33:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Page not found – Teck Language Solutions 32 32 164864432 5 Essential Scots Phrases Wed, 18 Apr 2018 13:25:34 +0000 Scotland is a nation known for its astonishing natural beauty, good quality of life, and firm cultural identity. Pay a visit to its bonny shores and you can sample traditional cuisine (haggis, neeps & tatties being a must), immerse yourself in centuries of history, and – if you pay attention – even pick up a little of the local lingo. Here are just a few phrases to get you started.


Example: “It’s a dreich day.”

Go the messages

Example: “I’m going out to get the messages.”

Mad wae it


The boak


Foos yer doos




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Catalonia and the Catalan language Fri, 06 Oct 2017 10:26:46 +0000 A brief history of Catalan language and culture

The province of northern or Nearer Spain, where Catalonia is situated, was first established by the Romans, who took it from the Carthaginians in the 2nd century BCE, together with southern or Farther Spain. These two provinces were governed by them until the 5th century CE, when the Roman Empire fell to the Goths. Catalonia was therefore for some six centuries part of Spain – but Spain was Roman. After successive invasions of the Iberian Peninsula, including its annexation by Charlemagne, Catalonia in 1137 was politically united with neighboring Aragon, and for the next 300 years enjoyed a period of great prosperity through maritime trade.

The marriage in 1469 of the Aragonese king Ferdinand to the Castilian queen Isabella ushered in a politically unified Spain, of which Catalonia again became part, though it still retained its regional autonomy and its own parliament, the Generalitat.

Though it rebelled against unified Spanish rule a number of times during the 17th century, Catalonian separatism only revived substantially in the 19th century. The language was deliberately reintroduced in theaters and the press, in a movement called the Renaixença (the Renaissance, or Rebirth, as experienced by Italy in the late Middle Ages).

Struggles for Catalan independence continued for many decades, but it finally declared itself as the Catalan Republic in 1931. Negotiations with Spain resulted in Catalunya being officially recognized as autonomous in the following year, but its independent nationhood lasted only until 1939, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, and the ensuing Spanish dictatorship.

Language represents identity for Catalunya

If you have ever been to Barcelona, or skiing in the Pyrenees in the independent province of Andorra, then you have probably encountered Catalan. In Andorra it is the official language. It is spoken in three of Spain’s autonomous regions: Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands, as well as in some parts of France and Italy. In the rest of Spain the language is Castilian, or what might be termed ‘pure’ Spanish. It’s the most clearly pronounced and enunciated linguistic version of Spanish to be spoken, which might be equated to the standardized ‘BBC’ English.

In their language, Catalans live in Catalunya, a dialect variant of the Spanish Cataluña, which in English spelling is slightly different again. As the situation unfolds in today’s Catalunya, its people are struggling to maintain their own unique identity, separate from Spain. For many of them this identity is represented precisely by this distinction of language. As opposed to Spain’s other separatist nation, the Basques, their nationalism is not about ethnicity, but purely a language movement. ”We are Catalans because we speak Catalan” says expert Enric Ucelay-Da Cal.

Linguistic history

Catalan, like Spanish, French and Italian, is derived directly from Latin, and therefore includes many similarities of vocabulary and grammar belonging to the ‘Romance’ linguistic family, including regional dialects like the old French dialect of Occitan. In Barcelona, 98% of the population speaks Castilian Spanish as well as Catalan, and all public information (including things like road signs) is given in both languages.

It was language that helped the region to reclaim its autonomy after the Franco dictatorship ended in 1975. When democracy was re-established in Spain, Catalunya was allowed to control its own regional government, and, crucially, set up its own system of education, where they insisted on full linguistic immersion, i.e. teaching everything in Catalan.

Can Catalunya be politically independent?

Many people would (and did) say Yes, and an unofficial vote in 2014 showed an 80% majority in favor. However, the Spanish government is categorically against it, believing that Catalonia should remain an integral part of Spain.

The recent unrest over demands by Catalunya to be recognized as an independent nation are the tip of a thousand-year iceberg. Since being re-absorbed into unified Spain in the 15th century, the Catalan people have struggled with the conflicting nationalist policies of the Spanish government, and recent economic distress has only exacerbated the problem.

Catalonia is still one of the most prosperous regions in Spain, with its thriving tourist industry and prominent sporting profile. Its people number more than 7.5 million and comprise about 16% of Spain’s whole population, and in their 32,091 square kilometers of territory they can account for nearly 19% of the national GDP – but many Catalans feel that the Spanish government is getting an unfair share of their economic output.

Its traditional maritime and textile industries have been superseded by highly industrialized pharmaceutical and chemical production, as well as plants for food-processing, metalworking and petroleum products. These all bring in rich rewards for the national coffers, so it is understandable that Catalunya should wish to retain these benefits for its own people.

Trading with Catalunya

The present political situation in the region demonstrates the importance of cultural and linguistic identity, and this must therefore be an important factor when completing marketing and website content for Catalunya. While it shares many of its linguistic features, Catalan is still a distinct language from Castilian Spanish, with more than four million native speakers. The majority of these are bilingual with Spanish, but probably eight million either understand Catalan, or speak it as a second language.

It can be a polite cultural gesture, therefore, and even a subtle business advantage, to address your potential Catalonian clients in their own language. Teck Translations fields a team of specialized native speakers of Catalan who recognize these differences in dialect and offer translation services tailored specifically to the area.

While Spanish continues to be the official language for trade and technology, as well as national and juridical matters, there is no question that the Catalans have a fierce national identity, and recognizing that identity will give you an edge. You may reach the same people as you would if you market in Spanish, but you will be showing a greater sensitivity to their cultural climate if you also demonstrate a knowledge of their own language.

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How to Figure Out When a Translator Is Needed in Advance Fri, 11 Aug 2017 09:52:12 +0000 Do you require translation services? What are some of the signs? Most companies only realize that translation services are required when the problem becomes acute and customers are being turned away.

It may be better to get the translation services you require late rather than never. But wouldn’t it be a good idea to get them before the problem has had a chance to develop? What if you were able to pinpoint that translation services were required in advance? This would ensure that your company continued to function as a well-oiled machine without any hitches.

And if you think that it’s not possible to know such a thing in advance, then think again. You just need to keep an eye on the development of your company by asking yourself certain questions. This will enable you to know whether translation services are required before the problem becomes acute.

Where Are You Selling Your Product Now?

Most businesses start out selling their product locally, through word of mouth. In this case, you need to look at the geographic region where most of your clients come from. If your geographic region is mostly English-speaking, you shouldn’t have a problem. But there are certain regions that have an abundant minority population. And the main language spoken by that minority may not be English.

You can start by just looking up your geographic region on the internet and getting the stats. If you find that many of the people in your geographic region belong to a certain minority which speaks a different language, you might want to get your material translated into that language as a precautionary measure.

One of your English-speaking clients might recommend you to a Chinese-speaking client who might recommend you to another Chinese-speaking client and so on. Before you know it, you might have several Chinese-speaking clients approaching you to buy your product or service and you may not have the necessary materials translated into Chinese.

It’s a good idea to keep an eye on the population of your geographic region. Rather than letting the need for translation services catch up with you unexpectedly, it’s better to consider what your translation needs might be, in advance.

Keep an eye on the population of surrounding regions too. You might be selling only in a certain county or state. But it’s quite likely that you’ll have some spillover on to neighboring counties or states as well.

Are You Planning to Start a Branch in a Different Country?

Most people realize that if they want to start selling their product or providing their services in a different country, they’ll need translation services. But at what point do you get these translation services? Once the branch has already been set up or before you make any big business decisions?

1. Before Making Any Decisions

It would be best to get translation services right from the beginning of your venture. Get some brochures translated into the language of the country where you’re planning to start a branch. You can use these brochures when you’re trying to explain your product or service to your business associates in the foreign country. This might help you to make your decision about whether your foreign venture is worth getting into at all.

After getting these translation services and speaking to possible business associates, you might even end up deciding that your product is not the right fit for that country or culture. Or you may find that there’s an even greater demand for what you’re offering. Either way, you’ll have a clearer picture of what you’re getting into if you get translation services at this stage.

2. In the Business Planning Stage

The second stage, once you’ve decided to open a branch, is to come up with a business plan. Are you going to rent an office/factory space in the foreign country? How many people do you plan to hire? Who will you have heading up this branch of your company? What is your marketing campaign going to be like? You can work out the kinks with your business associates in the foreign country.

In this case, it’s a good idea to have a translator for business letters and reports so that there are no misunderstandings.

3. While Setting Up Your Business

Finally, you’ll need to put all your planning into effect. In which case you will need a translator for more business letters—to get you in touch with companies looking to lease out office space, to help you hire new people in the foreign country and other business dealings.

Although it’s possible to hire a marketing agency that will come up with a marketing campaign for you, you’ll need a translator to help you understand this campaign. After all, you wouldn’t accept an English slogan which you didn’t understand. So why should you accept one in a foreign language without fully comprehending what it means?

4. For the Day-to-Day Functioning

Once the business is set up, do you need a translator for the day-to-day functioning? At this point, you will probably have hired people who speak both, the foreign language as well as English. But it’s always a good idea to have someone on call whose primary job description is to provide translation.

Because as long as you have that branch in a foreign country running, you’re going to be writing business letters, memos and reports which need translation. And you’re going to have marketing campaigns which require translation.

So it’s a good idea to get translation services fright from the beginning of your foreign venture and to make use of them continuously while you have a presence in a foreign country.

Contact us for more great tips on understanding when you need to get translation services.

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Translating German Technical Documents Takes Special Skills Mon, 07 Aug 2017 13:12:05 +0000 The German-speaking countries have a rich history in scientific and technical work. Famous physicists such as Einstein and Schroedinger produced groundbreaking work in German. Konrad Zuse described the first high-level programming language, Plankalkül, in the Archiv der Mathematik.

Today, many native German speakers write in English, which has become a universal language for science and technology. However, there is still a thriving literature in German, and routine technical documents are often in the author’s native language. Each language comes with its own Weltanschauung (world view), and translating German to English requires careful attention to its nuances. Machine translation won’t do a good job. Neither will translation by someone who isn’t strong in both languages or doesn’t have a technical background. Translating technical German is a specialized skill.

The German word for translation is “übersetzen,” which also means “to bring over.” Translation isn’t just a matter of replacing words with ones in a different language, but of bringing over the meaning and intention. It requires understanding of the text, not just rote skills.

Bad translation of technical documents isn’t just embarrassing; it can lead to dangerous or costly errors. Anyone who has tried to assemble a cabinet from incomprehensibly translated instructions has seen this on a relatively harmless, everyday level. When the instructions are for assembling a jet engine, the stakes are much higher.

How poor translation goes wrong

The language is notorious for its long compound words. Usually it’s possible to figure them out by breaking them up into their components. In specialized fields, though, they may have meanings that are more than the sum of their parts. In mathematics you can run into the term “Eigenwert,” which a non-specialist would translate as “own value.” That doesn’t convey its mathematical meaning, though. The correct translation, the one mathematicians understand, is “eigenvalue.”

Even simple words can be slippery. The word “wenn” can mean either “if” or “when,” depending on its context. In ordinary conversion, it might not matter so much whether you say “if that happens” or “when that happens,” but if (and when) you’re creating a formal logical structure, the difference can be critical.

Amateur translators can go wrong in two directions. A translation which captures the “spirit” of the original without being accurate in every detail is admirable when the work is fictional, but it’s a serious mistake when the subject is science or technology. On the other hand, translating each sentence in the most literal way will result in text that’s clumsy and difficult to read.

German tends toward long, complicated sentences. A good translator will break them up into two or more sentences in English.

Technical authors, working in any language, often coin words to express new concepts. The translator needs to recognize them and provide English equivalents. Using the German coinage directly may work, but not if it looks very difficult to English speakers.

Whoever turned “Eigenwert” into “eigenvalue” struck a good balance, but others haven’t done so well. Sigmund Freud devised some nice, simple words for aspects of the human mind: “das Ich” (the I), “das Es” (the it), and “das Über-Ich” (the over-I). Unfortunately, some translator loved Latin too much and rendered them as “the ego,” “the id,” and “the superego.” The result is that Freud seems much more esoteric to English-speaking readers than he really is.

English has constructions which make sentences flow more smoothly to our ears, but don’t have exact equivalents in German. Conversely, German has ways to build sentences that would sound ridiculous if translated word for word into English. A German sentence can put the direct object of a sentence first for emphasis. Doing that in English sounds like Yoda. The translator needs to rearrange the sentence while trying to keep the emphasis.

The pronoun “man” gets a lot of use in abstract writing. It can be translated literally as “one” (e.g., “One performs the procedure”), but that would sound excessively formal. Translators need to use alternatives that read smoothly (e.g., “The procedure is performed” or “The experimenter performs the procedure”).

Cultural awareness

Technology is universal. A telephone follows the same principles, whatever language people are speaking on it. Still, each country has a different culture, and this has effects even when describing technical issues. What people assume in one culture may need to be explicit in another. “30 Grad” translates correctly as “30 degrees,” but it indicates a hot temperature, not a freezing one. The default assumption in German-speaking countries is Celsius, but in English the default depends on what country the reader is from. The only safe approach is to make the units explicit.

Jargon is a tricky issue. Every technical field develops its own specialized vocabulary. A lot of it is borrowed from English, but it doesn’t always have the same meaning as the English equivalent. “Handy” sounds like a sensible English word, but in German it means “cell phone.” Translators need to handle these words carefully.

The tone needs to strike the right level of formality for the language. Too literal a translation of German text will sound ponderous in English. The translator needs to understand grammar and vocabulary, but also to know what sounds right. At the same time, it’s necessary to understand the technical issues well enough to carry specialized meanings over. Not everyone who knows both languages has those skill sets.

We provide professional-quality translation services for German and many other languages. Please contact us to discuss your needs.

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5 Traits of The Most Talented Italian Translators Thu, 13 Jul 2017 21:36:52 +0000 Whether you are aspiring to become a professional Italian translator or you are looking to hire one for medical, marketing, or legal purposes, it is beneficial to be aware of the many important traits of a great translator. Italian is a beautiful language and it is used by millions of people. For people who are trying to communicate to Italian speakers but they don’t speak Italian themselves, they need to recruit the services of an Italian translator. So how can you know that you are hiring an exception Italian translator? Or how can a person who wants to become an Italian translator, be incredibly good at their job? By having the right characteristics, you can become a more successful Italian translator. In this post, we will take a look at the five top traits of the most talented Italian translators.

A Rich Understanding of Italian Culture

It’s very difficult to be an exceptionally skilled translator of a language if you are not familiar with the country in which the language is widely spoken. Being a talented Italian translator requires much more than simply being able to speak the language fluently. And if you are an Italian translator with all of the required education, experience, and credentials of a great translator, having an in-depth understanding of Italian culture will give you an edge over your competitors. The key to being fluent not only in the Italian language, but in Italian culture is to constantly study that culture. This could mean watching Italian movies, reading their books, studying the history, exploring their culinary accomplishments, and best of all, spending a significant amount of time in Italy. Having a firm grasp of the Italian language is much easier when you understand the culture of Italians.

Outstanding Written And Oral Communication Skills

This applies to all translators regardless of the languages they speak, but is particularly important for Italian translators. Italian, after all, is one of the love languages. Therefore anyone who is an Italian translator should have beautiful, poetic, and eloquent written and oral communication skills. Most of your work as an Italian translators almost certainly won’t include writing Italian prose or poetry, but what you do write should be fluid, captivating, and impressive. To have both outstanding written and oral communication skills in Italian and any other language you speak, it is necessary to continuously explore the language. Just because you are fluent in it doesn’t mean your learning is done. The best professional translators continue their education by taking language and history courses in Italian, reading books during their downtime, and studying the history of the Italian language.

A Specialization

Many translation professionals will tell beginner translators that at the very least, generic translation experience and skills should be established before moving forward with a translation specialization. Although getting your generic Italian translation skills set in stone first should be your top priority, you should also start seriously considering what you want to specialize in as soon as possible. The sooner you know what your specialization will be, the easier it will be for your to concentrate on your education, training, and experience with less stress and fewer distractions. Many Italian translators focus very specifically on a subject field, such as medical translation, marketing translation, or legal translation, while others have a generic understanding of a little bit of everything. As a rule of thumb, you should concentrate on mastering one specialization first before you consider exploring other ones.

An Education That Stands Out

One of the best ways to stand out from your competitors as an Italian translators is by having a background that stands out. If you want to impress potential clients or someone who could be your boss, having several factors that wow a person is key. This includes your education, training, volunteer experience, credentials and certifications, and other specialized skills. Being a native of Italy who has spoken the Italian language your entire life is one example of having an advantage over your competitors who didn’t grow up in Italy. However, if you haven’t live your whole life in the country, you can always consider studying abroad there or living a short period of time in different Italian regions. Volunteer experience, especially for worthy causes, is also a tremendous way to stand out and grab the attention of those you would like to hire you. Lastly, having skills that are not necessarily related to translating, but could be highly beneficial when paired with Italian translation, is another great way to give yourself a leg up. For example, if before you became an Italian translator, you worked at a marketing firm, you have an advantage over other competitors trying to land a job as an Italian translator with a specialization in marketing translation.

Desirable Traits of a Candidate With Integrity

Being highly skilled in your profession is not enough. In order to win over clients and employers, it is necessary to showcase that you are a man or woman of integrity. Prove that you have characteristics that they would want in someone they are spending money on. To be a great Italian translator, after obtaining all of the prerequisites to work professionally, it is vital that you never forget great traits of an honorable person. Prove to those who employ you that you value self-discipline, timeliness, attention-to-detail, and a passion for learning.

Looking for more information on Italian translation? Contact us today.

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5 Benefits of Hiring a German Translator Fri, 07 Jul 2017 11:35:19 +0000 Looking to hire a German translator for the first time but don’t know what to expect? Hopefully this post will give you some better insight. While there are general guidelines that professional translators should follow in order to deliver excellent service, German translators are able to offer some unique traits. In this post, we will uncover five interesting and immensely important benefits that come with hiring a German translator to translate any text you have whether it is for legal, medical, or marketing purposes.

A Rich Understanding of Cultural Complexities

It goes without saying that the country you live in possesses vastly different characteristics than the country with the language you seek to have your content translated to. There are little subtleties and nuances about the German language, everyday mannerisms, and habits of those who live there. If you were to rely on a machine for translation or perhaps an amateur translator, you are missing out on all of the opportunities to accurately convey your message in German. This is detrimental, particularly to businesses that are trying to get a marketing message across that Germans will not only understand, but appreciate and pay attention to. However, when you rely on a professional German translator, you are guaranteed that your message will be delivered in a way that catches the attention of your German target audience.

A Commitment to Accuracy

Similarly to machine translations or less-than-competent human translators who may not grasp the German language thoroughly, many missteps could be made in presenting your text accurately in German. Whether you need a website, legal or medical document, or marketing literature translated to German, having inaccuracies in the language is certainly not a risk you are willing to take. This can easily be avoided when you work exclusively with a highly reputable translator who fluently speaks the German language and has a track record of converting documents into that language for several years now.

The Right Price

Tempting though it may be to settle for the cheapest option you can find when in the market for a German translator, the cheapest price doesn’t necessarily equate the right price. Have a budget in mind before looking for a German translator. You can still set a limit on how much you want to spend while still securing a high quality translator. Keep in mind that you do indeed get what you pay for, however overused yet accurate this statement is. In general, the more you are willing to pay, the higher quality the translation experience and service will be. Often, any German translator who charges a bit more has the track record behind them to justify the price. Knowing that you are getting a highly experienced translator, even if they are a bit more expensive, should give you peace of mind and comfort knowing your text is in good hands and you will end up with an immaculate end result.

A Love of Language And a Way With Words

You wouldn’t want to hire anyone who didn’t care about their job as this will obviously leave you with a poor product. And in order to care about a job, a person must be passionate about it. When you hire a German translator, that person should be someone who not only fluently speaks the language, but loves it. There should be a certain eloquence in the way a translator writes and speaks. After all, their job is to find the most persuasive, poignant words in the language they are translating your documents to. Additionally, a great German translator will be committed to continuously reading literature and cultural pieces on both German and any other language they speak. This provides them the opportunity to grow and add to their arsenal, thus making them better translators in general. After all, would you hire a writer who doesn’t regularly read new books and current events? Or perhaps a chef who never tries new culinary delights? Make sure you find a German translator who has a fervent desire to continuously read German literature and explore new ways of speaking.

Timeliness And Efficiency

From the very first interaction to the final product, the best German translators will guarantee you a timely and efficient experience. Great German translators understand that their job isn’t merely translating, it encompasses many other things and necessary skills. As translators, they are also required to be excellent communicators, which means you should expect to find staying in touch with them quite easy. When you ask for a quote, not only will it be free (or at least it ought to be), it will be delivered to you within a couple of hours after first touching base with them. Secondly, once you have decided to use their translation services, you should be given a timeline of when the project is done. Of course, if you need your project completed by a specific date and time, express that in order to ensure you get it when it is needed. Typically, if there is no certain time you need your project completed, you can expect to receive smaller text projects within less than a day and larger projects within a day or two.

Wondering what else you should expect when you hire a German translator? Don’t hesitate to contact us today. Our team not only specializes in German translation, but also Italian, Russian, Swedish, Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and several other languages.

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The 4 Things Needed to Become a Spanish Translator Thu, 08 Jun 2017 19:36:15 +0000 Becoming a Spanish translator is a richly rewarding career choice that allows many professionals in that field to genuinely help those in need of translation services. But while they are doing that, they are also absorbing dense, new information about the world and the way we communicate. Although the rewards of a career as a Spanish translator are many, there are some things that must be done in order to become a professional in this field. If you are considering a career as a Spanish translator or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, you are considering the option of hiring a Spanish translator for your business or organization, get familiar with the top four things that are needed to officially become a professional translator in this language.

  1. A Bachelor’s Degree: Most private businesses that directly hire a translator or agencies that translators could work for will not hire anyone that does not have a four year college degree. While majoring in linguistics or the Spanish language is not necessarily required, it will most likely be preferred by anyone looking for a Spanish translator. Nevertheless, a Bachelor’s degree in a field somewhat relative to the career you want will be a prerequisite before considering life as a Spanish translator. If you have not yet attended college, plan on taking plenty of additional courses related to culture, language, and literature. Having a rich understanding of the culture of the language you are learning will give you a serious advantage and really make you stand out to future employers. Plus, clients will be more likely to hire someone they trust knows the language and culture thoroughly in all of its complexities. Successful translators would also advise that anyone considering a career as a Spanish translator should spend plenty of time in a Spanish-speaking region. Consider studying abroad in Spain, Mexico, or certain countries in South America (depending on the type of Spanish you want to learn). Also, begin reading as many books and watching everything you can in both your native tongue and the Spanish language.
  2. The Proper Training: Being fluently bilingual simply isn’t enough to be a successful translator. While speaking two languages (at least) is the most obvious skill needed to be a successful translator, there are still several other skills a person must posses. Those skills come through specialized training. Once you are fluent in the Spanish language, begin working on special skills. One way to do that is to identify the type of translating you want to do. Do you want to translate legal documents? Or do you want to focus strictly on medical translation? Perhaps you are more passionate about translating marketing material and business websites. Identify what type of specialized translating you want to do so that you can get the right training. For example, although a translator doesn’t need to become a doctor or moonlight in the medical field to become a medical translator, they should have an interest in medicine and takes a few courses in it to be familiar with what they are translating.
  3. Certification: Once you have your education and specialized training behind you, the next step is to get certified. While there might be some clients and agencies that exist that don’t care about certification, it is definitely strongly recommended since many others won’t even consider a translator without it. Don’t lose out on potential job opportunities simply because you skipped over the certification step. There are several different certification options out there so if you are confused about which one to obtain, ask for advise from a current Spanish translator and consider their suggestions. However, specialized translators, such as those in the legal realm, actually need to go though a unique process to get that particular certification. Therefore, based on your specialized type of training, you might have to go through a different certification process.
  4. Experience: Even though education, training, and certification are important and necessary steps, nothing replaces experience. Fewer things are more valuable than hands-on learning and that can only be done by experiencing it first-hand. When you get the right experience, you will have greater employment opportunities available to you. Whether you want to work for a volunteer organization, corporation, school, or any other entity, you need to prove that you have the experience in Spanish translation that they are looking for. To get that experience, there is a good chance that you will have to consider less glamorous, lower-paying jobs; most Spanish translators might even have to go through an internship before landing a job. If you are fresh out of school with your certification in hand, network with as many people as possible with as much confidence as possible. Volunteer your services, find a mentor to learn from…if you are willing to put in the work, that experience will pay off and before you know it you will have a broader range of Spanish translation jobs available to you.

Looking for more advice on starting your career as a Spanish translator? Or perhaps you are in the market for Spanish translation services and want to know how to find the most qualified translators to get the job done right. Whatever you are in need of, don’t hesitate to contact us today. Our company provides high quality translation services in Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Swedish, and several other languages. Whether you need translation for medical purposes, legal, or marketing, we are here for you.

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The 7 Biggest Benefits of Hiring Professional Translation Services Thu, 01 Jun 2017 18:32:02 +0000 While not every professional entity that exists will make plans to reach a new target audience that speaks a different language or need medical documents translated, many will and you just might be one such entity. If you run a business or an organization that requires certain things to be converted from one language to another or one language to many different languages, you will definitely want to invest in a high quality translator. But why is that? What benefits come with professional translation services? It turns out many. You could even end up saving time and money (and potentially making more money) when you hire a professional translation company. In this post, we will go over the seven biggest benefits of hiring professional translators from a reputable translation agency.

  1. Resources: Just as a commercial property owner would hire a professional construction company for major renovations because they have the right resources and equipment, so should a company hire a translation company because they too have the right resources in that field. When you recruit the services of a professional translation company, you are able to access a huge pool of highly experienced professional linguists. And the best translation agencies have expert translators who specialize in certain fields such as legal, marketing, website content, or medical translations among other areas. These translators have the expertise and extensive knowledge about your customer base and market that they can write about in the language you need to translate to.
  2. Efficiency: Often, text that needs to be translated into a new language must be done so by a certain time. Working with a professional translation company allows you to have peace of mind knowing that everything will be translated in an efficient manner. When the work is left in the hands of experienced professionals, you won’t have to worry about translated documents being late or not delivered by the deadline. Set a time frame with a professional and you are guaranteed to have the projects finished by or before the due date.
  3. An Extensive Understanding of The Language: While far too many companies and organizations make the mistake on relying on an amateur bilingual or a machine to do their translating work, it doesn’t have to be that way and it shouldn’t. With professional translation services, you are putting yourself at a huge risk for ending up with a poorly done project. Often times, when relying on a machine for translation, the language will not be translated correctly, hence making it difficult or impossible for your target audience to understand your message. When you hire a professional translation company, you are avoiding this detrimental mistake and able to confidently know that your documents are translated correctly.
  4. Accuracy: This is somewhat related to the aforementioned point, however it merits its own paragraph. Accuracy is something that cannot be gambled when it comes to translating medical text, legal text, marketing text, or any other kind of text. Unless you are hiring a professional, you are compromising accuracy in the language. Professional translators don’t just translate the language, they make sure that everything is written correctly in regards to punctuation, grammar, spelling, symbols, and other factors.
  5. Cultural Understanding: A truly exceptional professional translator is not just bilingual or a linguist. They have all of the necessary characteristics and skills needed to translate well in addition to a thorough understanding of the cultural differences that go along with the language. Typically, the translators are native speakers of the language they are translating your text to, therefore they have a comprehensive knowledge of all cultural differences and will bear those in mind when translating.
  6. You Save Money: While you do have to make a monetary investment in order to acquire outstanding professional translation services, it is an investment well worth making. If you go with a translation company that entices you with an extremely low cost, it could very well end up have a devastating impact on your company and the quality of work you end up with. Don’t take this risk that might lead to expenses that you have to make to fix the poor translation work. Go with a slightly more expensive, but highly experienced company to get the work done right the first time. In fact, when your projects are translated appropriately, you could actually end up making more money when reaching your new target audience that speaks a different language.
  7. You Save Time: Not every business (in fact virtually no business) has the time or energy to devote to translating documents. That’s why hiring an outside professional is extremely advantageous. You can stick to doing what you do best and committing your time, energy, and expertise to more pressing tasks while specialized translators fulfill your translation needs. This way, you don’t end up wasting precious time worrying about how you will have your documents translated and who or what will do it for you. You find one highly skilled professional and can rest assured they will provide you with accurate, flawless translation services.

Want to learn about more of the benefits of professional translation services? Don’t hesitate to contact us today to discover all of the advantages of using them for your translation needs. Our company is made up of only the most highly trained, certified, and experienced professional translators with specialization in medical, legal, marketing, and website development fields. We provide translation in several languages from Spanish to German and everything in between.

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9 Qualities of an Exceptional Freelance Translator Thu, 11 May 2017 21:47:28 +0000 Hiring a freelance translator doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you are going to end up with the highest quality translation services that you can and should get. Plenty of freelance translators work professionally, but do not possess the traits needed to be truly exceptional at their job. So how can you be sure that you are hiring the most highly skilled and experienced freelance translator? Or if you aspire to become a professional freelance translator, what do you need to get your career started? In this post, we will uncover the nine necessary qualities every exceptional freelance translator must have.

1. Honed Research Methods

A translator must possess and continuously hone their research methods and skills. Many times, translators will be provided with some notes regarding the text subject matter that needs to be translated, but additional research is almost always required on the part of the translator. And the ability to readily and thoroughly research a topic is essential for any translator to be great at their job.

2. Passion For Language

Clearly, there are many skills, prerequisites, and requirements needed to become a professional translator. But one overlooked requirement is an authentic passion for language. Without passion, a translator will not care about their work, and without caring about their work, they won’t take pride in it. The best translators have a real zeal and love for the languages that they translate and this is reflected in the work they produce.

3. Self-Discipline

With any freelance job, whether it is being a writer, graphic designer, or translator, self-discipline is absolutely vital. Self-discipline is the differentiating factor between efficiency and timeliness and missing a deadline. The best translators understand the importance of maintaining a self-disciplined nature and delivering a high quality product on time every time.

4. Qualifications

Just because someone is fluently bilingual does not mean they are qualified to be a professional translator. Someone who is bilingual can think, communicate, and express ideas in two different languages, but a professional translator knows how to translate someone else’s ideas. To do this requires a great deal of training, credentials, and experience. While not always required, it is highly recommended to receive some sort of certification before looking for work as a translator.

5. Extensive Knowledge And Specialization in a Certain Subject Matter

The first thing a high quality translator must posses is the ability to translate different languages. But the second thing they absolutely must have is a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter that they are translating. For example, though a medical translator does not need a degree in medicine or prior experience working in the medical industry, they do need to have extensive knowledge of how the human body works, different parts of the body, types of diseases, and so on.

6. Availability And Flexibility

Anyone who has worked as a professional freelancer understands that the flexibility and fluidity the job demands is both a blessing and a curse. While working as a freelancer means having the option to work from home and potentially set your own work schedule, it also means you probably won’t be working conventional, 9-5 work hours. It’s a double-edged sword that requires a person to mentally and physically be able to handle a constantly varying work schedule. If you are good at adapting and staying organized even when your schedule isn’t consistent, you should have no problem working as a professional freelance translator.

7. The Ability to be Meticulous

Being a translator demands many skills, one of which is the ability to pay great attention to detail. The best freelance translators are meticulous and know how to work efficiently and meet deadlines while making sure their work is flawless. They can quickly pick out something that might need editing or is not correct and fix it promptly. Little details such as numbers, symbols, and punctuation are all thoroughly reviewed by a freelance translator before being sent to any client. While the best freelance translators always work swiftly and get things done on time, they never risk the quality of their work by rushing through a project.

8. Timeliness And Organizational Skills

Speaking of getting things done on time, any good translator knows how to meet every deadline. They won’t make excuses or try to extend deadlines when they know their client is expecting the very best and on time. But in order to get things done in a timely manner, the best freelance translators know how much work they can take on. They won’t try to convince themselves that they can perform a huge workload all at one time as this will compromise the quality and integrity of their work. Great translators will take on the work they know they can, maintain an impeccable organized process and schedule, and meet every deadline with no exceptions.

9. Responsiveness

Good freelance translators never leave their clients hanging. While it is impossible for one person to be available twenty-four hours of the day and seven days a week, a person can set a time when they are committed to being available to speak with clients. They won’t ignore messages or put off questions and feedback when they knows their clients are waiting. While everyone’s idea of a reasonable response time will vary, the best freelance translators know that the sooner they respond to their clients, the better.

Are you looking for a high quality translator for your translation needs? Contact us today to learn about our services for legal, medical, marketing, and other texts that need translating.

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