Think Global from the start

If you are getting material translated for use abroad, consider whether your original is culturally appropriate for its intended audience. There are countless examples of well-known companies suffering embarrassing blunders with misjudged marketing material and brand names.

Avoid culture-bound clichés. Pay attention with references to parts of the human body viewed differently by different cultures. Ditto literary/cultural metaphors. References to your national sport may well fall equally flat.

It is not the job of a translator to fix such issues, should they come across them during their work. If you think on reflection that your text may need some “cultural adjustments” before or after being translated, you may want to consider our Localisation services.

Finalise your text before starting

As tempting as it may be to get your translation project rolling as quickly as possible, having translators work from a draft-in-progress will almost always end up more time-consuming and thus expensive than waiting for your final text to be ready. On top of this, the more versions of a text you have, the more likely it is that errors will creep in.

Having said this, sometimes your deadlines are so tight that work on a translation must commence before the original text has been finalised. A simple solution to this is to time and date-stamp each version before sending it to us. What’s more, if you can clearly mark any changes from one version to the next, our translator’s job will be made easier.

Machine Translation

If it is a free and inarticulate translation you are looking for, then a machine translation may be for you. Visit www.freetranslation.com or any number of other web sites to help you out. If you just want to get the gist of something for your own use, machine translation may be helpful. It is certainly fast.

However, we wouldn’t recommend that you use raw translation for anything outbound without the express agreement of your clients. It is simply not suitable: you run the risk of looking inarticulate and stupid. The technology is not yet advanced enough to make it useful for the wide variety of translations and formats required by most companies.

Explain to us the purpose of your document

Let us know as much about the document and its potential readers as possible so that our translator can prepare a foreign-language version with maximum impact for that particular audience and sector. Are you aiming for marketing impact (in which case you might want some creativity in your translation) or absolute precision? Do you want the work to follow a house style or internal company terminology?

A speech is not a website. A sales brochure is not a catalogue entry. Style, pronunciation, word choice, phrasing and sentence length – all will vary depending on where you want your text to appear and what you want it to achieve.

Lead time is a translator’s best friend

Although Global Lingo relishes a challenge, and will make every attempt to stick to your tight deadlines, the more notice we have of your translation needs, the better it is for you and for us. It is better for you, because it may turn out to be cheaper and of a higher standard, and it is better for us because we are happy when you’re happy. And no client is likely to be happy with an expensive and sub-standard document.

Lead time gives the translator time to research your document’s subject, conduct a more thorough proofread and therefore pick up on any errors either in their work or in the original text.