Archive for the 'Translation Buyers' Category

The High Cost of a Bad Translation

Published on January 17, 2012 in Spanish Translation and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

Pay now or pay later. In the world of translation, this saying certainly rings true. Some translation buyers—more concerned with the bottom line than with quality—look for the cheapest translation possible without considering the potential fallout from a translation done for a rock-bottom price. A poorly translated text could tarnish a company’s hard-won corporate image or negatively affect sales, but, in the worst-case scenario, a bad translation could lead to injury or even death.

Translation buyers wooed by low-budget translations don’t always realize that they’re likely sacrificing quality for price. Cheap translations are often performed by inexperienced or unqualified translators or those who hope to garner more clients by translating into languages other than their mother tongue. Some translation buyers bypass human translators altogether, opting to plug their text directly into online machine translation tools such as Google Translate. The results of translations by rookie translators, non-native translators and machine translation tools can be disastrous in certain situations.

The following types of translations require the utmost care and should never be left in the hands of a second-rate translator or a machine translation tool, as doing so could invite catastrophe:

  • Sales and marketing texts requiring both linguistic and cultural understanding
  • Patent translations or other technical literature where accuracy carries great importance
  • Medical and pharmaceutical texts, particularly when such information may mean a matter of life or death
  • Legal texts such as contracts, court orders, and wills, where any error in the text may have profound legal implications
  • Any text that represents the public face of your business or organization, including websites, brochures, manuals, etc.

Companies work tirelessly to cultivate a particular image, but the results of that hard work can evaporate quickly with just one major gaffe. Websites marketing products and services can’t afford to take a lax approach to linguistic blunders. According to an article published by BBC News, UK-based online entrepreneur Charles Duncombe found that “an analysis of website figures shows a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half.” It makes one stop to think about the potential impact of error-free yet awkwardly-expressed language, or text that flows and works well in one country and culture, such as Spain but not in others, such as Mexico or Argentina.

Inexperienced translators and machine translation tools also lack the ability to fine tune the text based on cultural nuances. The success or failure of a print ad or online marketing campaign rides on the text’s ability to connect with the target audience, and culturally inappropriate aspects of a translation will stick out like a sore thumb to native speakers. Regardless of the technological advances made, machine translation will never learn to pick up on the cultural undertones and subtleties at play in language. Jokes, idioms and wordplay are largely lost on tools such as Google Translate, which fail to capture the “flavor” of the text.

It’s worth mentioning that bad translations can have an impact on more than just the company’s bottom line. Inaccurately translated testimony in a court case could lead to an undeserved conviction; a translation error on a prescription drug label could have life-threatening consequences for a patient; and badly translated instructions in a machine manual could spell injury or death for a factory worker.

Businesses and organizations that prioritize their investment in a high quality translation of their documents, website, etc. project an image of professionalism and integrity, and they ensure the health and safety of those who rely on the company’s products or services.

STATS: English, Spanish and Portuguese on the Internet

Published on January 9, 2012 in English Language, Languages, Portuguese Language, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 1 Comment

English, Spanish and Portuguese comprise three of the top five languages on the Web. Let’s take a look at some statistics reflecting these languages’ influence on the Internet.

English

  • Number of native English-speaking users on the Web: 565.0 million (as of May 31, 2011)
    % of English-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of English speakers: 43.4%
  • User growth from 2000 to 2011: 301.4%
  • Percentage of total Internet users: 26.8% (Overall ranking among top 10 languages: #1)
  • % of websites available in English (as of December 31, 2011): 56.6%

Spanish

  • Number of native Spanish-speaking users on the Web: 165.0 million (as of May 31, 2011)
  • % of Spanish-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of Spanish speakers: 39.0%
  • User growth from 2000 to 2011: 807.4%
  • Percentage of total Internet users: 7.8% (Overall ranking among top 10 languages: #3)
  • % of websites available in Spanish (as of December 31, 2011): 4.6%

Portuguese

  • Number of native Portuguese-speaking users on the Web: 82.6 million (as of May 31, 2011)
  • % of Portuguese-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of Portuguese speakers: 32.5%
  • User growth from 2000 to 2011: 990.1%
  • Percentage of total Internet users: 3.9% (Overall ranking among top 10 languages: #5)
  • % of websites available in Portuguese (as of December 31, 2011): 2.0%

A quick analysis of the numbers points to the following facts that translation buyers should be aware of:

» Figures show that there’s still a great deal of room for growth among all three languages, in terms of the number of users and the amount of content available. Although English leads the charge as the “language of the Web,” not even half of all English speakers are on the ‘net, and Spanish and Portuguese lag even farther behind. As the economic outlook continues to improve in Latin America and Brazil, user growth among speakers of Spanish and Portuguese should be particularly strong.

» Despite an explosion in the number of Internet users among the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking populations over the last decade, access to content in those languages remains severely limited. Those businesses looking for a competitive edge will invest in translations of their web content into Spanish and/or Portuguese.

Statistical data courtesy of Internet World Stats and Wikipedia

More information on the English Language
More information on the Spanish Language
More information on the Portuguese Language

 

Facebook’s Newest Machine Translation Tool Falls Flat

Published on November 15, 2011 in English Language, News, Spanish Translation and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Just in case you need more proof that most machine translation tools don’t quite cut the mustard, the latest attempt by social media giant Facebook to incorporate machine translation (MT) into its platform fails miserably with most languages.

In an effort to help pages connect better with their fan base—often found scattered across the globe—Facebook recently introduced machine translation, powered by Bing. With just one click, users can get an automatic translation of status updates and comments. Facebook plans to roll out this feature to all profiles (not just pages) in the near future.

There’s just one problem: most of the translations are unintelligible. Posts on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are rife with slang, and Bing’s machine translation tool simply isn’t up to task. An analysis of Bing’s performance by the site Lexiophiles shows that Bing only gets it right about 50% of the time, leaving users confused and, at worst, possibly misled by faulty translations. Interestingly, out of the ten languages tested, posts translated from Spanish to English fared worst of all, with less than 10% of the rendered text considered intelligible.

For greater accuracy, Facebook will also be implementing a feature that allows bilingual users to offer an alternative translation. If other users endorse the accuracy of the crowdsourced translation, it will take the place of Bing’s original translation the next time the “Translate” option is clicked. Page administrators will be able to manage crowdsourced translations through a “manage translations” link below the posts on pages they control.

One of the great arguments in favor of MT has always been that it can at least offer users a gist of the conversation when no other means of translation is available. It seems that, at least for now, Bing’s tool doesn’t even offer that to Facebook’s users.

Spanish in the United States: Second Language or Foreign Language?

Published on November 7, 2011 in Languages, Spanish Language and Translation Buyers. 2 Comments

Given the pervasive use of the Spanish language in the United States, some would argue that Spanish should no longer be considered a foreign language. With roughly 40 million people in the United States speaking Spanish, the language has permeated American society and deserves greater respect. As a highly visible and daily aspect of many Americans’ lives, Spanish has evolved into the United States’ second language rather than a foreign language.

Although English predominates within the nation’s corporate boardrooms, the halls of government and the court system, both corporate America and the government increasingly recognize the role of Spanish in the U.S. Companies now woo potential customers with Spanish language advertising and social media campaigns, the court system offers Spanish language interpreters for proceedings, and an office of the U.S. government’s General Services Administration (GSA) works to ensure the proper use of Spanish by federal agencies.

Spanish speakers in North America even have their own organization known as the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española — ANLE (North American Academy of the Spanish Language) to define Spanish language standards. Recognized as the authority regarding Spanish language use in the United States, ANLE works in conjunction with Gobierno USA, the U.S. government’s Spanish language portal, to ensure the correct usage of Spanish in all official communications by government entities. According to a member of ANLE, the federal government translates more documents into Spanish than any other minority language, highlighting its importance.

Just as Spanish speakers in other countries have their own particular idioms, the mix of cultures and “flavors” of Spanish combined with a strong influence by English has produced idioms unique to U.S. Spanish. ANLE is currently working to compile a list of these idioms for inclusion in a dictionary that captures the words and phrases unique to the Spanish spoken within the United States.

ANLE looks to standardize the usage of U.S. Spanish, which will pay off later with translations that are more faithful to the nuances found in American Spanish. It’s also important to highlight that Spanglish, an informal mix of Spanish and English, does not represent or define proper use of the Spanish language in the United States, although U.S. Spanish speakers have had a difficult time shedding this image.

A professor at the University of California at Berkeley sums up the debate about Spanish as a  foreign language versus a second language, like so: “Despite the quotidian presence of Spanish in the state of California, the voice of Spanish speaking Californians is strikingly absent from the Spanish I curriculum at UC Berkeley. …perhaps the reconceptualization of Spanish as a second language must start with students such as mine who expressed that their goals for Spanish were neither touristic nor global-economical, but immediately practical– they want to be able to communicate with individuals with whom they share a home state but not a means of communication.”[1]

Related Posts

Should Americans learn Spanish

Transpanish Announces New Discounts for Translation Buyers

Published on November 2, 2011 in Spanish Translation and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

Transpanish is pleased to announce a savings opportunity for translation buyers. Now through December 1, 2011, new customers ordering English to Spanish translations will receive a 15% discount on services. Plus, don’t forget that new customers purchasing Spanish to English translations qualify for a 10% discount. We’d also like to remind existing customers that Transpanish offers discounts on large volume translations and 10% off the cost of translations for non-profit organizations.

Get a free translation quote today from Transpanish and take advantage of this offer.

Researching Neutral Spanish Terms and Dialect-Specific Terms

Published on October 24, 2011 in Languages, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

When creating advertising campaigns, website content, or other materials geared toward a diverse Hispanic audience, companies are wise to consider the use of neutral Spanish (sometimes known as international Spanish). Translators and writers employing neutral Spanish seek to produce a text that is universally understood by Spanish speakers by avoiding regionalisms and colloquial language that hint at a particular dialect.

Multinational corporations with employees spread across the globe benefit from the use of neutral Spanish when translating manuals and corporate communications, as translation costs can be contained by producing one broadly understood text rather than translating into various dialects of Spanish. The same holds true forU.S.companies employing a significant number of Hispanic workers, who most likely hail from different parts of the Spanish-speaking world.

Conversely, it’s often desirable to target the text to a specific group of Spanish speakers. For example, if a company launches a product in Latin America, consumers will identify more closely with the product and the campaign if an effort is made to tailor the copy to reflect idioms and vocabulary employed in theAmericasrather than inSpain.

Challenges Inherent to Selecting Neutral Terms

While producing a text in neutral Spanish may sound simple, the fact is that identifying neutral terms is quite challenging. The Spanish language is rich with variants, and a true neutral Spanish does not exist in the real world (think Received Pronunciation in the U.K.or Standard American English in the U.S.). As such, translators may encounter difficulties when trying to determine the appropriate term to use when the target audience is a group as diverse as U.S. Hispanics or Spanish speakers worldwide. For instance, the word “car” can be translated as carro, auto, automóvil, or coche. Which term is the most neutral (i.e. widely understood)?

It’s important to learn as much as possible about the text’s target audience before beginning the translation. If possible, try to determine which region or country most of the Hispanics in your target audience come from (e.g.Spain, the Caribbean,South America). For example, if you’re translating a text to be used in the court system of the State ofCalifornia, that state’s Latino population consists largely of Mexicans or those of Mexican descent, so you may want to favor Mexican vocabulary if you’re undecided about the best term to use.

Search Tips for Neutral Spanish Terms

The key to translating a text to neutral Spanish is selecting the vocabulary that will be most widely understood by Spanish speakers, regardless of their background.

1. Consult several dictionaries to determine all possible translations of a term. Resources such as the DRAE and Jergas de Habla Hispana are particularly useful for identifying the countries or regions where a particular term is utilized.

2. Perform a search for the term you think is the most neutral in the Spanish language version of Google (click on the option at left that says “Buscar sólo páginas en español” to ensure that any stray English language results are removed).

3. Compare search results for different terms and see which one has more hits.

Selecting Terms to Target a Specific Group of Spanish Speakers

If most of your target population come from a particular country, then search for terms in the version of Google specific to that country. For example, in the case of Argentina, search at google.com.ar. Click here for a list of all the countries with specific Google sites.

Excluding Countries from Your Search

When translating for a particular country or region, you may want to remove certain results from your search. For example, if you’re targeting Latin America, you will want to search in the Spanish language version of Google without seeing results from Spain. To remove results from a specific country, type your search term and then site:-.xx, where xx represents the country’s domain extension (.es forSpain, .ar for Argentina, etc.).

Related Articles
Reaching Your Spanish-Speaking Audience with Global Translations
Targeting different Spanish-Speaking Audiences Through Translation
The Use of Neutral Spanish for the U.S. Hispanic Market

Hispanics Reluctant to Participate in Clinical Research Trials

Published on October 12, 2011 in Latinos, Spanish Translation and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

According to the latest demographic information culled from the 2010 U.S. Census, the Hispanic population now constitutes roughly 16% of the nation’s inhabitants, yet Hispanics’ participation in clinical research studies ranks disproportionately low in comparison to their overall percentage of the population. Every year, some 260,000 Americans volunteer to take part in medical research studies; however, Latinos represent less than five percent of those who participate. Given that demographers expect the U.S. Latino population to triple by the year 2050, researchers must take steps to get Hispanics actively involved in clinical studies by pinpointing barriers that prevent Latinos from participating in research and developing strategies to increase this population’s access to and representation in medical research.

A diverse sample of participants is of great importance to investigators because some ethnic groups react differently to certain medications and therapeutic interventions. A lack of participation by minority groups in clinical trials leaves populations open to potential unexpected side effects. Regardless of whether ethnicity influences the effectiveness of a specific medication or treatment, clinical researchers must be sure they have thoroughly evaluated the possibility before moving on to the next phase of their research.

Why Don’t Hispanics Participate in Medical Research?

A number of reasons for Latinos’ low participation rates in clinical studies have been cited by researchers:

  • Hispanic patients and their caregivers generally have little understanding of what is involved in a clinical trial. In addition, limited information tailored specifically to the Hispanic community about clinical research studies exists.
  • Latinos are often fearful of new drugs or treatments, and they are wary of being used as guinea pigs.
  • Many Hispanic patients stated they would not take part in medical research due to psychological reasons such as depression or denial (i.e. if they don’t participate in the clinical trial, they don’t have to face their illness).
  • Many Latinos also expressed concern about the costs entailed by the treatment(s) they would receive as part of the study.

How to Increase Participation by Hispanics in Clinical Trials

Community outreach and education about clinical research trials are vital to increasing participation rates among Latinos. Ideally, physicians—who’ve already successfully established a relationship of trust with their patients—should be the ones to initially present the idea of taking part in a clinical research study. The doctor can act as a resource for Hispanic patients who tend to have limited information about this treatment option.

It’s important to translate brochures, clinical documentation and consent forms into Spanish in a culturally appropriate manner to help improve understanding among potential study participants. People will feel more comfortable if they’re offered literature in the language that feels most familiar to them. Studies show that participants also demonstrate greater willingness to participate in clinical trials if the researchers—regardless of their ethnicity—speak Spanish.

Lastly, Latinos usually demonstrate greater willingness to participate in research studies if they receive a direct health benefit (for example, free blood pressure or diabetes screenings), if they see a measurable benefit to the Hispanic community, and if they can participate in the study on weekends rather than during the workweek.

How to Type Foreign Language Characters and Accents

Published on October 1, 2011 in Portuguese Language, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

For translators, those studying a foreign language, or anyone living in a bilingual environment, the need to type foreign language characters or accents frequently arises. This situation poses a problem for those utilizing English language keyboards, since accent keys and other characters unique to Spanish or Portuguese, for example, are non-existent. However, it’s simple to set up additional keyboard layouts in Microsoft Windows, which allows you to switch between an English keyboard and a foreign language keyboard with just one click as you’re typing, whether in a word processing program or in your browser. This method will work with most, but not all, Windows applications.

Directions for adding keyboards in Windows 7:

  • Click Start>Control Panel>Clock, Language and Region>Change keyboards or other input methods
  • In the new window, click on the Change keyboards button. This action opens a new window called Text Services and Input Languages.
  • Click on the Add button. Scroll down to the desired keyboard and double click on the name of the language. Double click on Keyboard and place a check next to the specific language option you want. Click OK within that window. Click Apply then OK in the Text Services and Input Languages window.

You’ll find that keyboard layouts are available for a number of languages; however, it’s important to note that these layouts do not always correspond to the classic QWERTY layout used on U.S. English keyboards. Some characters—punctuation marks in particular—will not match those printed on your keys.

Once you’ve installed the additional language keyboards, holding down Alt + shift will allow you to toggle between the various languages. You can also click on the language bar icon in the system tray to switch to a different language.

If you use a limited set of special characters or accents across a number of applications, it may be worthwhile to learn some Alt key codes while maintaining the default U.S. English keyboard settings. This method involves pressing the Alt key plus a numeric code (using the number pad with Num Lock on) corresponding to an accented letter or special character. The Alt key codes work in virtually all programs. Below are some examples of codes:

ALT + 0225 = á
ALT + 0233 = é
ALT + 0237 = í
ALT + 0243 = ó
ALT + 0250 = ú
ALT + 0241 = ñ

Latin American Spanish Keyboard Layout

European Spanish Keyboard Layout

Brazilian Portuguese Keyboard

How Translation Rates Are Set

Published on September 16, 2011 in Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

While some translators or translation agencies may charge per line, per standard page of text, or even per hour, the most common method for determining translation rates is to calculate them on a per-word basis.

Translators work from the original or source text to create the translation, also known as the target text. Translators use the word count function of their word-processing software or translation tool to determine the number of words contained within the source text. Translators then generally charge x number of cents per source word, taking into account the subject matter and technical complexity of the text. When it’s not possible to determine the word count using software (for example, in the case of some PDF files or hard-copy documents such as faxes), translators or agencies will typically use the target word count instead.

Charging per source word instead of per target word offers an advantage in that the translator can provide a firm price estimate to the client in advance of the translation. Furthermore, in the case of translations from English to Spanish, rates based on the source word count will result in a lower cost for the client since, as a result of text expansion, the target text in Spanish will contain more words than the English source text.

If the client requests special formatting and/or desktop publishing services, these fees are generally charged separately from the translation itself.

Some clients inquire as to whether translators charge for seemingly insignificant words such as “the” and “a.” Yes, these words count too. It’s important to recognize that translators translate meaning, not individual words. Even small words like these necessitate a great deal of thought because they must be considered within the overall context of the phrase.

In the case of technical documents or other texts suited to translation with translation memory (TM) tools, an agency or translator that utilizes this software may be able to offer a discount for repeated segments of text within a document.

Related posts:
Lowering Translation Costs: What a Translation Memory can do for you
Tips for Getting a Quote for your English to Spanish Translation

 

Transpanish Announces New Manual Translation Page

Published on September 4, 2011 in English Language, Languages, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

Transpanish is pleased to announce a new page describing the company’s manual translation services. As the business world continues to diversify, so do the customer bases and workforces of many companies, necessitating the translation of employee handbooks, technical manuals, and guides into other languages. We offer companies Spanish-English and English-Spanish translations of manuals, handbooks, and other types of technical materials.

Manuals and other technical documentation can be quite complex, and they require skill to be successfully translated. We promise the same high quality, accuracy and reliability with our manual translations that you’ve come to expect from all of the translations provided by Transpanish. Take a look at our page about manual translations for more details about this service.

If you’re in need of a handbook or manual translation, visit our Manual Translation webpage. Would you like a project quote? Simply click on the “Free Translation Quote” tab above.

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