Anyone with a bit of sense can differentiate a poor translation from a good one. The traits of an effective translation are as follows;
- The flow of the translated content is smooth
- The language used is appropriate for the target audience.
- The reader feels that the text was intended for him.
On the contrary, a bad translation has the following traits;
- The text is grammatically incorrect
- The intended meaning gets lost in translation.
- The reader is unable to interpret the meaning and understand the message
This contrast also shows us the importance of translation services. And how important it is to take assistance from them when you are targeting a new audience. For instance, if you want to translate content from English to Arabic, you have two options. One is to use Google Translate and hope that you are able to get the message across. On the other hand, the better option is to take assistance from Arabic translation services.
The agency possesses professional translators with linguistic expertise in the Arabic language, plus sound work experience. Hence, it will ensure that your message is effectively translated. And is able to convey the intended message to the audience.
So one might ask how translation services, such as Farsi Translation services, are able to give high quality translated content;
Team of Highly Qualified Professional Translators
The quality of output provided by translation agencies is highly dependent upon the skill and competence of the translators. But how do these agencies hire the best translators?
It all simmers down to two main categories;
- The translation
- Writing
The translators first need to understand the contextual meaning of the text. Good quality translation can never be produced if the translator is not clear about the context. Because the translation is not just about simple word substitution. Rather it is an in-depth comprehension of the passage that is able to connect with the audience like the original content was meant to do.
Secondly, if the writer does not have the skill to write the text in a way that is precise and effective, he can never produce a quality-based translation. Translation writing has to keep the source material intact. Meanwhile, create a product that is also adaptable to the target audience.
2. Studying The Target Audience
Translation services have to conduct thorough research of the target audience. If they are unable to identify with the needs of the consumer, chances are that their translations will not sit well with the audience.
For instance, if an agency is translating software from English to Japanese. They have to study their Japanese target audience. A lot of software translation services have failed to translate content that could be accepted by the audience, just because they were not able to relate with the consumer.
Moreover, your target audience will decide the path of your translations. If you are translating a book, it will consist of a completely different strategy as compared to translating a social media advertisement. Hence, the change in strategy and the nature of the job will decide whether the translation is a good one or a poor one.
3. Invisible Translation
An excellent translation gives the reader the impression that it was written specifically for his taste and perception. This is basically the concept of invisible translation. So the idea is very simple, that the translated content should not be visible to the reader.
In order to achieve this level of expertise, the writer needs to create the content like a user. Hence, everything that the customer perceives and thinks about while reading a passage should first go through the translator’s mind.
4. Humanism
Since the advent of machine translation, a lot of agencies have become dependent upon them. Hence, it has discarded the humanistic aspect and touch in the translated content.
Consequently, the majority of the translations are unable to communicate effectively with the reader. It feels as though the text carries a monotonous tone, lacking any humanistic approach which makes the user feel uninterested. And when that happens, the entire purpose of opting for a translation service is defeated.
Therefore, it is imperative for people to opt for a reliable agency that is reliable, quality-oriented, and translates its content with a combination of machine translation software to maintain efficiency and fast around time, and professional human translators that maintain the human touch for the reader.
Quality standards of Professional Translation
If you want to analyze the quality level of a translated work, then there are some standards that can make the job easy for you.
However, the quality standards vary from country to country, and region to region. But the most common ones are the following;
IS0 17100:2015
This ISO pertains to the effective utilization of resources that deliver a quality product.
ASTM F2575-06
This ISO is the American translation quality standard that gives out key essentials that make a quality translation.
CAN/CGSB- 131.10-2017
Canada also has its quality standards that it wants the professional translation agencies to abide by.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed some of the traits that make a good translation service.
And we took the example of Arabic translation services, and how they are able to provide efficient service.
All it actually needs is to acquire a team of professional translators, who maintain a human touch within their translations. Moreover, they conduct thorough research of the target market so that invisible translation is maintained to capture the attention of the audience.
Also Read: How Localization Can Help in Business Growth.
