TEN QUALITIES OF A GOOD TRANSLATOR

Sep 16, 2014 | Blog, SEO

Good translator. Many people tend to think that a person who knows foreign languages is a good translator. However, that’s not necessarily true, as levels of knowledge of a language can vary. What are the qualities that characterize a good translator? Passion. A translator should be passionate about their translation job. They should use all their means and efforts to deliver every project in excellent shape, as if it was their baby. Translation Skills. A good translator must have a specific linguistic education. They should master not only the foreign language they work with, but also the skills of translation. Curiosity. A translator must be curious and motivated to keep on learning new words and expression. The learning process of a translator should be never-ending. Rich Vocabulary. A good translator must have a wide lexicon, not only in the foreign language but also in their mother tongue. This will make the translation process easier and the quality of the translation higher. It is also convenient for translators to acquire technical terms in specific fields, such as business, law, sciences, engineering, etc… Clarity. A good translator’s goal is to express the idea of the source text as clearly as possible, without ambiguity. They should avoid difficult structures when they can use simple ones. Translation Quality. A good translator should be obsessed with quality. Resources.  In order to achieve the aforementioned quality, a good translator should use all available resources at their disposal. Accuracy. A good translator should provide an exact transfer of information. Despite it being tempting sometimes, the translator should not correct the source text, trying to maintain its...

IT’S NOT AS EASY AS GOOGLING ‘TRANSLATION SERVICES’

Sep 12, 2014 | Blog, Translation

Translation Services Differ Company’s reputation and credibility: It is easy to google “translation services” or “document translation in Canada” but how can you really be sure you are working with an experienced and successful language services company? The first thing you can do is make sure to check the reviews of any company before you choose them. The last thing you want to do is book an interpreter for a huge presentation and then realize that the company has only received 3 reviews and they are all negative. Also, most reputable companies have a list of successful companies they have worked for before with testimonials. This is usually on the company website already, but can easily be provided by asking for references and testimonials. Any upstanding company will gladly oblige (like Lingo-Star). Does the company use native speakers: Upon a first glance, the pricing between different language service companies can vary greatly. However, what you need to be aware of before proceeding with a translation is that native speakers are the ones you want translating your documents. Just because somebody can speak Spanish, it doesn’t mean that they will be qualified to precisely translate your document unless they are native speakers. There are countless incidences where clients will opt for the cheaper more attractive route, only to be given a poor quality document that would be embarrassing to present in a meeting or on their website. We don’t want you to experience this so we highly suggest you switch to Lingo-Star and take advantage of the fact that every single one of our translators is an actual native speaker...

THE DANGERS OF GOOGLE TRANSLATE.

Sep 9, 2014 | Blog, SEO

Google translate. Why should I hire a translator when I can get Google Translate to do it for free? Sadly, this is not an uncommon question.  A few self-explanatory images available on the web would suffice to answer, but here is a more technical explanation of the dangers of using Google Translate. Google Translate is not 100% accurate. Google Translate will look for appropriate translations by searching for linguistic patterns within millions of documents already translated by human translators. However, if it has insufficient data, it can only guess based on what it does have, which can often be misleading or simply wrong. Google Translate produces unnatural translations. Even when it manages to produce grammatical sentences, they often are too literal and, as a consequence, sound awkward or funny to a native speaker of the target language. Google Translate doesn’t offer a quality check on its translations. As a result, users have no means to know whether the translation in the target language is good or not and they end up presenting weird translations to the public like the ones in the pictures above. These may manage to get a smile out of us, but the consequences of mistranslation can sometimes be quite serious. Let’s take the translation of food packaging as an example. If the translation of the ingredients on a package is not 100% accurate, it can cause severe problems for people with allergies or restrictive diets. In conclusion, language is just too complex for machines to understand all the grammar, context and nuances; Google Translate could never replace the work of a professional human translator.  ...

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MACHINE TRANSLATION

Sep 5, 2014 | Blog, SEO

Machine translation. Machine translation (MT) is automatic translation through a software program without human assistance. It has recently been at the center of controversies regarding reliability and quality, but few people know that there are actually different types of machine translation: statistical, rule-based, and hybrid. Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) SMT uses statistical models derived from the analysis of bilingual text corpora, usually finding a correspondence between one word and another. This is, for example, what Google Translate does. SMT tools might help you to understand the basic meaning of a text, but they will not produce good quality translation. Rule-based Machine Translation (RBMT) RBMT, as indicated by its name, is based on grammar rules. The system generates sentences in a target language after analyzing grammatically both the source and the target languages involved. This is, for example, what Systran does. These software programs usually require tedious proofreading, and as they need a lot of lexicons, they only become efficient after long term use. Hybrid Machine Translation Hybrid MT is a mix of SMT and RBMT that also includes a translation memory and thus produces translations of a better quality. This tool can be used by translators to avoid translating the exact same sentence twice. However, linguists still doubt that this tool can help achieve higher quality translations or gain time because of the long editing part. This is why translation needs are still addressed by translators. If you need a translation, call LingoStar today or send us an email for a free quote! Here we have qualified translators from all over the world able to work on any kind...

THE KEYWORD CRAZE: TRANSLATION AND SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Aug 29, 2014 | Blog, Translation

Translation and Search Engine Optimization Nowadays the key to success for most companies is undoubtedly their visibility on the Internet market. When customers need a service or a product, they just type some words in a search engine and this will provide them with a list of pages relevant to their search. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) directly affects the visibility of a website by choosing the most effective keywords, so that it would appear at the top of the result list for its sector. Some tips to conduct a successful optimization include: – The choice of strings of two-three words instead of single words, as they are more specific and less competitive. Ideally you should try to think from the customer’s point of view and guess what strings they would use to search for your website; –  A good keyword density. The higher the keyword density is, the more relevant to the search a page is; –  The place of keywords. Keywords situated in URLs, file names, page titles and headings are easier to find than normal text, therefore they could significantly boost the page’s ranking if put in the right place. Last but not least: keyword localization. Localized strings help international users find your website; therefore their translation must be accurate. Simply using Google Translate is discouraged, what you need is a translation based on a specific context that can be adapted to a specific audience. Consequently, it is essential to give translators the means to understand the purpose of the keyword and the freedom to rephrase when necessary. This will make your business international and successful. Here...

ARE YOUR SAFETY POLICIES MULTILINGUAL?

Aug 26, 2014 | Blog

Are the Safety Policies Multilingual on Your Website? If they aren’t then they should be. The obligation to provide safety training in a worker’s native language is implied rather than expressly stated, at least in most jurisdictions. There shouldn’t even be the slightest doubt that employers do have an obligation to provide safety training in the language their workers speak and understand. There are a few steps that should be taken to ensure that your safety policies are understandable and absorbed by all employees. Step #1: Determine The Languages Used In The Workplace: You must determine the languages your workers understand. You must be diplomatic and address all of the languages, not just the dominant ones spoken by the majority of employees. Even if only one worker speaks a rare language, you must ensure that the worker gets specific safety training and materials in that language or else they likely won’t properly absorb the instructions and material. Step #2: Use Pictograms When Possible: Language barriers may be broken down with the utilization of pictures. For example, by using hazard symbols or pictures of hard hats in areas where they’re required you can instill in the employees what to do and what not to do in specific areas of the work place. Pictures with lines through them can also indicate things that are not allowed or should not be done (i.e. cross through a cigarette used as a signal for no-smoking). Step #3: Have Translators Provide Information: For information that can’t be provided with normal means like signs and symbols, such as the workers’ right to refuse dangerous work, you...