Sep 23, 2014 | Blog, SEO
Translation Services The last thing you want to happen with your documents is that the message written gets lost in translation. Enlisting the expertise of a professional Canadian Document Translation Services agency can ensure that your written documents are translated into their appropriate language, in a tone and manner that is most relevant to your specific target market. The foundation of every quality translation is the translator. But how can you tell what makes a good translator? It’s almost always recommended for you to turn to an agency, rather than an independent contractor. The reason for this is that with an agency such as LingoStar you can check their credentials, previous job history, references, testimonials, etc. You can develop an educated assessment of their quality based upon their previous work, and you can have confidence when you proceed with them during each of your translation projects. A reputable Canadian Document Translation Services agency will work only with language professionals that are native speakers of your desired language pair. This gives the translator an in-depth knowledge of a language beyond what can be learned in classrooms and books, and will prevent you from getting a translator who may be able to speak the language fluently, but isn’t qualified to provide an extremely high quality translation by any means. High quality document translators are specialists, and a Canadian document translator will ensure that your document conveys exactly what you are trying to write in your desired target language. These days, working with a Canadian document translation services agency is easier than ever. Whether you’re in Alberta, Newfoundland, or even France or Germany, you have the same... read more
Sep 19, 2014 | Blog, SEO
Language Services In the modern world globalized by the internet many things can be reached by just a click of a mouse. In the field of business the competition is fierce, and an aspect just as important as service quality is its reachability. A company offering highly demanded services or goods on a market limited by country borders prevents itself from economic growth, since such a strategy only makes sense for firms selling very specific goods which only sell well in a particular region. If your company is not among them it is highly advisable to make your services globally available. To do so, you may want to start with translating your website into the language of the country where you would like to start offering your services. Global availability cannot be reached within a short period; it is established step by step. For instance, if your company is located in Germany, you might translate your website into French to expand your business, or have your software localized for French audience. With the expansion grows your client database, new clients inform others about your services, and the chain reaction starts to bring you profit. After a while you will have enough financial means to start expanding into the next country. Another thing worth considering is the fact that cross-cultural meetings can sometimes lead to misunderstandings, disappointments or awkward situations if the participants are not somewhat familiar with their partner’s cultural rituals, beliefs, languages or psychological features rooted in them. This can become an obstacle on your way to successful business development. Therefore, before expanding into a new country, you... read more
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... read more
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... read more
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. ... read more
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... read more
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... read more
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... read more
Aug 22, 2014 | Blog
Global Brand Recognition Acquiring new customers with Facebook: You can drive prospects to your site by targeting your ads at your target market. By opting to reach out to people based on things like age, gender and demographics, or by targeting a custom audience, you can specify how and who Facebook targets with its advertisements. Ads can appear in the news feed on desktop and mobile apps, the logout screen and the right hand side with Facebook Exchange. They are very hard to miss and can be very eye catching. As a strategy involved with your marketing approach you can also use Facebook Exchange to capture in-market shoppers who have visited your website. Grow sales on desktop computers or mobile devices: It is very useful to merchandise your products in the news feed and right-hand side advertisements. You can link these directly to your product/service pages on your retail websites. Not only is this great from a sales perspective, but you can derive data from this and get detailed attribution numbers from who is clicking your advertisements on Facebook. This proves to be especially useful in creating future marketing campaigns, and figuring out a more specific demographic to target that should be focused on more intently. Build global brand loyalty: Using Facebook can foster very positive relationships with active customers and help solidify their loyalty towards your brand, thus retaining business and drawing in new business via recommendations from those customers to their friends. By publishing to your customers everyday with engaging content, word-of-mouth marketing and retention can be maintained and your brand will surely become more globally recognized. Here at... read more
Aug 19, 2014 | Blog
Although this is an appealing alternative to paying for a service to have access to stock photography websites, it is a bad idea that could lead to complications and have negative implications. Firstly, there are copyright laws for images on other websites. Not only is it stealing, but your company could receive a fine for using somebody else’s images. In addition, copying images from a website usually leads to poor quality images with low resolution. If you want your company to exude professionalism, then you must use images that are visually stimulating and nice to look at. Pixelated images can be very detrimental to your company’s overall image in the public eye. Finally, having a unique image can set your company apart from others. The last thing you want is a customer to do a google search by plugging in the URL of your image and finding out you stole it from another company. Have images that are relevant to your product/service: Although this is a given, there are many ways one can improve the focus or perspective of a picture to highlight what they want to advertise. First of all, zoom in on your product. If it is not somewhere where the eye is naturally drawn to (most attention grabbing portion of the picture) then you should be re-evaluating how you can re-take the photo so that it will centralize the attention of your audience on what you are trying to market. Also, light your product well. If you have an image on your website that is really dark with low contrast it is likely that your product... read more
Aug 14, 2014 | Promotions, SEO
Language dilution. Language dilution can be defined by using a word with a strong meaning to express a much less strong idea. For example, one can use the word ‘literally’ even when something is not literally true, just to emphasize it. It happens because people use the words ‘awesome’, ‘wonderful’ and ‘amazing’ even when they do not really mean them. They do so because they want to make their statements as effective as possible without using too much effort. Doing so, people waste the meaning of words, which are one of our most precious resources. If you use ‘literally’ when you don’t mean ‘literally’, you are not only adding a useless word to your sentence, you are also devaluing the word, so that when it is to be used in its proper meaning, it no longer means anything. We only have one word for ‘literally’, and if ‘literally’ no longer means ‘literally’ then we’ve lost a word. On the other hand, words take on connotations with passing time and according to the social group using them. It has become acceptable to use the word ‘awesome’ to describe a cake, because everyone does it. In this case, ‘awesome’ does not mean ‘inspiring awe’ anymore. Language Dilution also makes people more creative when they do intend to say that something is awe inspiring, because we all know that nowadays, ‘awesome’ means ‘quite good’. If you need translation services without language dilution, 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 of... read more
Aug 12, 2014 | Blog
Sometimes, one single word in German has the meaning of several words in English. For example, “bitte” means at once “pardon”, “please”, “go ahead”, “here you go”, “you’re welcome” and “not at all”. That is why, when translating, you have to be careful and figure out what is the appropriate meaning for each word in every sentence. This phenomenon can be explained by the German language only having 185,000 words whereas the English language has over 1,000,000,000 words. This represents 2,000 times as many words as the Chinese language has and 10,000 times as many words as the French language has. The German language uses so few words because words are made of several words put together. For example, “Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz” means “the law for the delegation of monitoring beef labeling”. Also, in German there are 6 types of definite articles you can use (“der”, “den”, “dem”, “des”, “die” and “das”) depending on the gender and number of the noun, whereas in English, there is only one: “the”. In addition, all of the nouns have a gender which must be learned separately by heart. This is a good overview of why Mark twain used to say: “A gifted person ought to learn English in 30 hours, French in 30 days, and German in 30 years”. Here at LingoStar, we can offer high quality translation from and into German. Call us today or email us for a free... read more
Aug 8, 2014 | Blog
How big is the American Translation market? Despite the current economic situation, the translation industry has done well over the past few years (annual growth rate has been greater than 2.5%). This can be explained by different factors. First, more and more immigrants come to the United States without necessarily being capable of speaking fluent English. Then, more and more American companies do business with overseas companies and consequently have to communicate regularly in several languages with customers, partners or employees located in other countries. Finally, a great deal of business is generated from the government and in particular, the military. Nowadays, the American translation market is the largest single market for translation services (Europe is the second) What is the value of the American Translation market? Today, more than 52,500 companies employing more than 74,600 people generate $5 billion a year. According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, the translation industry is expected to grow by 42% between 2010 and 2020 and reach $37 billion in 2018. If you need translation services from or to English, 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 of document.... read more
Aug 1, 2014 | Blog
Some Figures about the Canadian Translation Market. How big is the Canadian Translation Market? According to Statistics Canada, the number of individuals who declare revenue from translation in the whole country is greater than 12,000, and few professions have as much growth potential as this one. Quebec is the leading region, with 5,325 translators, followed by Ontario with 4,155. The two provinces combined account for 80% of all translators and interpreters in Canada. However, British Columbia is also a leading province for translation, with over 600 translators just in Vancouver. What is the value of the Canadian Translation Market? The value of the Canadian Translation Market is estimated at about $450 million, excluding the value of translations provided by the in-house translation services of Canadian businesses and organizations. This market is served by over 800 firms and some 4,500 independent workers. 48% of firms are in Quebec (which represents 382 translation agencies), 37% are in Ontario (296 translation agencies) and 6% are in British Columbia (52 translation agencies). Prospective growth of the Canadian Translation Market looks excellent as the expected rate of annual growth ranges between 5% and 10%. If you need translation services in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, 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 of... read more
Jul 24, 2014 | Promotions
During the 5th century, three Germanic tribes (the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes) invaded Britain. The Celtic speakers that lived there were pushed west and north and the language spoken became known as “Englisc”, also called Old English. In 1066, Frenchman William the Conqueror invaded England and brought with him a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court and the ruling classes, whereas the lower classes spoke English. In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. During the Renaissance, many new words and phrases entered the language. Also, with the invention of printing, books became cheaper and people learned how to read. The dialect of London, where most of the publishing houses were, became the standard. From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct variety of English. American English (and subsequently British English) was influenced by Spanish, French (through Louisiana) and West African languages (through the slave trade). Nowadays, most documents are written in English. Here at LingoStar, we can offer high quality translations from and to English. Call us today or send us an email for a free... read more
Jul 15, 2014 | Blog
Translation industry 1 – Cloud translation Cloud translation is the process of translating a document across the internet by using a portal that allows you to upload and manage files from just one location. You no longer need to use emails in order to send files, receive a quote, approve it and finally receive the translation. Thanks to this tool, you can now log on from any device to order a new translation job, approve a quote, check the progress of a project and download your translation. It will be really helpful for the translation industry 2 – Social media translation Social media is a good way for the translation industry to target a multi-national audience; however you have to take into account the differences between cultures in order for your campaign to be effective. Translating your content is just the first step. It is also useful to create a page / an account per country to communicate with customers on a local scale according to their interests, their cultures, the events they are going to, etc. 3 –Mobile apps translation Another way to target a multi-national audience for the translation, is to localize your mobile apps for different languages and different platforms. This way, you will be able to keep in touch with people from all over the world using different kinds of devices. Here at LingoStar, we specialize in localizing content to meet the specific cultural standards of your target market. If you want to make the best impression on your market, call us today at 604-629-8420, or email us at info@lingo-star.com for a free... read more
Jul 10, 2014 | Blog
Language Translation Service We are living in a more and more globalized world, people tend to move to different countries much more than they used to do and this leads to having highly linguistically diverse cities all around the world. For example, in the United-States, more than 20% of people do not speak English at home. To reach these people, you may need to use a language translation service. So what are the main language melting pots on the planet? *New-York, US In New-York, over 800 different languages are spoken. Therefore, this is the most linguistically diverse city in the world. It shows in the subway, where the information signs are written in English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, Italian, German and even Hebrew, It’s the perfect example of a situation where you may need to use a language translation service. *Manchester, UK In Manchester, you can hear more than 200 languages. This city is the most linguistically diverse city in Western Europe. You may need to use a language translation service to translate your files into these languages . Around 4 out of 10 people speak at least one language other than English. The most common languages there are English, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese, Bengali, Polish, Panjabi and Somali. *Toronto, Canada In Toronto, there are over 150 different languages spoken. This is the most linguistically diverse city in Canada. 45% of the residents speak a mother tongue other than French or English, which is likely to be Cantonese, Italian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Mandarin or Portuguese. To reach these targets, you will need to use a language translation service.... read more
Jul 8, 2014 | Blog
Call-Center and Mistranslation. *Lack of language skills On one hand, the employee’s accent has to be easy to understand for your customer. You can achieve that by resorting to accent neutralization training. On the other hand, the employee has to be able to understand the caller perfectly as well. This is essential and they must be able to communicate effectively to avoid any mistranslation. *Lack of training Employees need to have sufficient knowledge of the product or services involved that they are selling, all the more if they are not available in their home country. It is important that they are experts of your industry, not to rely too much on scripts, and are able to manage efficiently the requests of the clients who are calling to avoid mistranslation or misunderstood. *Cultural differences Many behaviors your clients expect from a customer service employee (extra-politeness, empathy, etc.) are not common among foreign employees. You have to train them so that these behaviors become natural for them. *Poor location In some countries, the wages are low, which can be attractive. However you also have to take into consideration the government stability and the economic situation to make sure that hiring employees from those countries will not affect your business in the long term. *Lack of security The call center should have security guards on-duty 24/7 to provide a safe workplace for employees and to protect your data. You should also have the employees sign a nondisclosure agreement. If you are planning on outsourcing your call centre overseas and need documents translated, call LingoStar today or send us an email for a... read more
Jul 7, 2014 | Blog, Language Services, Tips, Translation
How valuable is website translation? Do you know how much international traffic your website gets? Have you ever asked yourself how much more it might receive if it was translated into multiple languages? A world class translation service with linguists and professional translators at its disposal can be worth its weight in gold. The fact is, in today’s global markets, a multilingual website is increasingly valuable. Its importance is such that it requires the dedication of professionals–human and not simply machines–to craft and perfect its message to appeal to local markets and effectively market to them. On the importance of human, professional translators There are many benefits to a well-translated website. Firstly, it has an authoritative advantage over competitors who may not rely on a professional service. They may rely on crowd-sourced or automatic translation. This is risky, however, because incorrect and even improper translation can undermine a company’s authority by making them appear ignorant or inept. Few would call the Coca-Cola brand and its marketers inept, of course, but even such major companies have endured language faux-pas and accidental mistakes that actually made headlines. Not so long ago, Coca-Cola spent a considerable amount of money printing signs that sounded like their brand name in Chinese but the wording actually told consumers to ‘bite the wax tadpole.’ Why use a translation agency? Some companies may choose to hire their own translator, but there are added benefits to working with a translation service. For one, website translation typically requires ongoing maintenance. Each time you add new content to the site, it will require professional translation. A translation service has teams... read more
Jul 4, 2014 | Blog
Scammers: A real danger? What is their basic mode of operation? Scammers steal resumes from professional translators. They replace the email address on the resume with their own and even change the name for a fake one sometimes. They also replace the phone number with an IP (Internet Protocol) phone number. Once this is done, they respond to online job offers with this fake CV or spam clients in order to get translations jobs. How do scammers find those translators’ resumes? They create fake translation companies with fake names, addresses, emails, etc. in order to receive resumes from new potential employees. Once they have them, they attempt to get translators to sign authorizations to use their resumes. Translators have to be very careful. On one hand, because their names can be used without them knowing it to do all sort of things they cannot control. Their reputation of being good translators can be severely endangered on the internet. On the other hand, because fake agencies try to appear legitimate by asking translators for test translations and having fake profiles on translation forums. How do those fake translation agencies work? They either translate with Google translation or send the job to the cheapest translator they can find, who is likely to be a poor translator and not to get paid in the end. This is why they either deliver nothing or a useless translation to the client. In the end, the invoice is sent from an unidentified PayPal address and if the client refuses to pay, the fake agency starts to threaten them. This is why clients should turn to... read more