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Mistakes to Avoid while doing Translation

By: Mohsin Ali Posted on Fri, 04-11-2016

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As more and more business are planning to venture in the global market, need of localization is also mounting. No business can expand its flare in the global market without adopting its business to the requirements of the local market. For this purpose, translation plays an important role, because it helps to make communication and customer engagement more likely. Considering the crucial role of language translation in boosting business in the foreign market, language translation is not as easy as it seems.

A small error in the language translation can burst out all the marketing strategies and customer engagement efforts without giving a warning. So, it is very important for the businesses to choose the right translation services agency. Don’t go for the one who ‘claims’ to deliver well services, but go for the one who actually ‘executes’ well. It is also because your selection will define likelihood of your success.

Below are given some mistakes which are mostly executed by the translators in the translation:

Word to word translation:

People usually believe that translation is actually translating each word from source language to target language. The fact is: it is not the case. Translation is not the conversion of one word into another language, because every language is different in structure with different meaning system. So, the perfect translation is translation of meanings rather than words.

Consider Cultural Patterns:

Language is embedded in the cultural patterns and it cannot be visualized without these patterns. Inexperienced translators usually forget considering this crucial point resulting into big mistakes of hitting directly the cultural clichés. Words acceptable in one language may not be cherished in the other or have different meaning, so it is very important to consider cultural patterns of the targeted language’s audience before going for the translation.

Ignorance of Subject:

Knowing a language is one thing, knowing every subject of that language is another. Every industry is having its own jargon and language pattern, so a translator who knows medical subject may not know the language of engineering field. Newbies go for translation services in all the subjects without knowing the requirement of the particular subject. So, it is better to go or the translator who is having knowledge and experience in that subject.

Knowhow of Vocabulary:

A word may take on different meanings in different situations. For example, ‘fighting’ in English means ‘to quarrel’ but it also mean to be courageous and to do effort. It all depends upon the underlying situation. So, a translator who is not having good vocabulary bank may end up translating source language to the target language with inadequately incorporated words. So, it is very essential for a translator to build its vocabulary along with learning another language.

So, it is advisable to go for the translator who promises to consider the above mentioned language translation errors, because that is what defines your future standing.