Why your Translation Project Needs a Project Manager

Posted On July 12, 2017By TranspanishIn Translation Buyers/ 1 No Comments

What does a translation project look like without a project manager? Potentially a very bumpy, time consuming and frustrating experience for all involved. The job of a project manager is to make the road smoother, more efficient and stress-free. Scheduling, costs, troubleshooting, scope and creating a team are just some of the multi-faceted responsibilities of a project manager. Even if you do have the skill set, trying to fit this into a busy daily workload can prove impossible.

Here, we look at reasons why your translation project needs a project manager.

Central point of contact

Having a project manager will mean that the client has a central point of contact. Translation teams are much more than just translators. Depending on the project they can include an editor, proofreader and a typesetter. As a minimum, a translation project will ideally require two of these. Having to coordinate multiple people takes time and miscommunication can occur if it isn’t handled correctly.

Creating the best team

Project managers in translation agencies have a pool of translation professionals at their fingertips. Working with linguists worldwide, they will be able to select the exact match for a project in terms of language combinations and specializations.

Determining and managing budget

Setting a clear budget is essential, but as a translation project develops, costs may need to be adjusted. A project manager has the experience to do this in line with the scope of a project.

Scheduling

Along with budget and team management, scheduling is one of the most important tasks in successful projects as it means delays are less likely. If issues do occur, a project manager can work closely with the client and translation team to reschedule, or seek other sources.

Troubleshooting

With any project, there is potential for problems to occur, such as a member of the translation team becoming sick or the scope of the project changing. Having a specific person to manage these issues will mean a successful outcome.

Reports and reviews

For larger projects, a project manager can produce interim reports to communicate clearly to the client where the project is up to. As the project closes, a detailed review can highlight what was done well and what could be improved on in the future.

Increase in productivity

A well-oiled translation project will mean that productivity is increased. Having your materials translated into another language appeals greatly to customers that prefer to receive information in their mother-tongue. This instantly widens your reach, potential customer base and profits.

At Transpanish, all translation projects are fully managed by a project manager. At the outset, a dedicated project manager will be assigned who will oversee the full process. We firmly believe this provides the highest quality service for our valued customers and establishes positive client relationships.

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Calendar of translation conferences, workshops, courses, webinars. July and August 2017

Calendar of translation events – July and August 2017

Posted On June 30, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators/  1 Comment

July 1

Course: How to Get Machine Translation to Work for You. Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
Online and Monterey. California, USA

July 5 – July 7

8th Asian Translation Traditions Conference. Faculty of Languages and Cultures, SOAS, University of London
London, UK

SSAWW 2017, Society for the Study of American Women Writers, Université Bordeaux Montaigne
Montaigne, France

July 6 – July 7

ND Focus on Sales & Marketing, Elia (European Language Industry Association), Geneva, Switzerland

July 6 – July 9

ACLA 2017, American Comparative Literature Association, Utrecht, Netherlands

July 10 – July 14

International Terminology Summer School, TH Köln, Cologne, Germany

August 1 – August 4

Computer-Assisted Translation Course, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Monterey, California USA

August 3 – August 5

FIT XXI World Congress, International Federation of Translators, Brisbane, Australia

August 4 – August 6

1st Translation Industry Conference in Latin America, Translated in Argentina, Cordoba, Argentina

August 5 – August 6

TRADUSA 2017, Brazilian Meeting of Specialized Translators in Healthcare, São Paulo, Brazil

August 8 – August 10

University of Malaya, The 16th International Conference on Translation (ICT-16), The Value of Translation in Society, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

August 12

California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA), CHIA Training: Interpreting Skills Workshop, Madera, CA

August 16 – August 18

PACLING 2017 , Pacific Association for Computational Linguistics, Yangon, Myanmar

August 20 – August 24

Interspeech 2017 Special Session, conglomerate, Stockholm, Sweden

August 31

Community Interpreting as a Profession, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, online

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Must-have tools and apps for translators and freelancers

Essential tools and apps for translators

Posted On May 31, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators/ 4 2 Comments

When it comes to translating, having the right tools for the job can make all the difference. Whether you are a translator, a translation agency, or a freelancer these tools and apps will help you manage all your activities.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT / ORGANIZING / SCHEDULING / COLLABORATING

  1. Rulingo

English and Russian
Paid version

Cloud-based translation business management platform.

  1. Todoist

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Manage tasks and projects anywhere with Todoist. At home. At school. At work. Online. Offline. And across 10+ platforms.

  1. Trello

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process.

  1. Asana

English
Free and paid versions

Asana is a web and mobile application designed to help teams track their work.

  1. Quahill Basic

English, French, German
Free and paid versions

QuaHill Enterprise is translation management software for LSPs and teams of translators. The software enables complete administration of all processes ranging from the receipt of purchase orders, through preparing quotations, generating the project, preparing and recording purchase orders, ensuring access to files by vendors, delivery of translations to the client and invoicing.

  1. Portable Kanban

English
Free

 Portable Kanban is a Personal Task Manager. This Portable Free Personal Electronic Kanban Software might be used to help schedule and track your daily events or tasks and to monitor assignment productivity.

  1. LSP Expert

English and French
Paid tool – 30 day free trial.

LSP.expert helps you manage your daily translation jobs. Features: track daily work, invoicing, reporting, client management.

  1. Remember the Milk

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Remember The Milk is the popular to-do list that’s everywhere you are: from your phone, to the web, to your Google apps, and more.

  1. Podio

Multilingual
Paid version

Podio supplies a web-based platform for organizing team communication, business processes, data and content in project management workspaces.

  1. Doodle

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Doodle radically simplifies the process of scheduling events, meetings, appointments, etc. Use Doodle to find the best time for any event. Suggest a number of times and invite participants to select their preferences.

  1. Insightly

English
Free and paid versions

Insightly is the easy, powerful and affordable online Customer Relationship & Project Management.

TERMINOLOGY/DICTIONARIES

  1. InterpretBank

Paid version

InterpretBank is an intuitive terminology tool for interpreters to create and manage multilingual glossaries.

  1. Glosbe

Free

Provides free dictionaries for almost every existing language and translation memory with 1 013 284 995 sentences included.

  1. IATE’s Chrome extension

Free

IATE (= “Inter-Active Terminology for Europe”) is the EU inter-institutional terminology database. IATE has been used in the EU institutions and agencies since summer 2004 for the collection, dissemination and shared management of EU-specific terminology.

  1. Termcoord

Free

Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament. Resources, Traineeships, Glossaries, Articles about Terminology.

PDF VIEWER / CONVERTER

  1. SumatraPDF

Multilingual
Free

A free PDF, eBook (ePub, Mobi), XPS, DjVu, CHM, Comic Book (CBZ and CBR) reader for Windows. Includes screen shots, documentation and a support forum.

  1. Abby FineReader

Multilingual
Paid version

FineReader is an all-in-one OCR and PDF software application for increasing business productivity when working with documents. It provides powerful, yet easy-to-use tools to access and modify information locked in paper-based documents and PDFs.

SCREEN CAPTURE

  1. FastStone Capture

English
Free. For commercial use, license is required.

FastStone Capture is a powerful, lightweight, yet full-featured screen capture tool and screen video recorder. It allows you to easily capture and annotate anything on the screen including windows, objects, menus, full screen, rectangular / freehand / fixed regions as well as scrolling windows / web pages.

  1. Snipping tool

Multilingual
Free

A screenshot utility included in Windows Vista and later. It can take screenshots of an open window, rectangular areas, a free-form area, or the entire screen. Snips can then be annotated using a mouse or a tablet, stored as an image file (PNG, GIF, or JPEG file) or an MHTML file, or e-mailed.

  1. ScreenGrab

Language depends on your browser settings
Free

Add-on – Firefox (I am not sure if it is available in other browsers). Saves webpages as images

VOICE RECOGNITION

  1. Dragon Naturally Speaking

Languages supported: U.S. English, UK English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Japanese.
Paid version

With Dragon Naturally Speaking Home, you can talk to your computer and watch your spoken words instantly appear in documents, email and instant messages.

ACCOUNTING / INVOICING

  1. Wave

Language: English

Free accounting software for small businesses.

  1. Zoho Books

Paid version

Zoho Books is an online accounting software to manage your invoices, bills, banking, inventory and do mobile accounting as well.

TRANSLATION SCAMS

  1. Payment Practices

Paid subscription

Dataset related to the payment practices of translation agencies and other consumers of translation services.

  1. Translator Scammers Directory

English
Free

Website maintained by volunteers from the TRANSLATOR SCAMMERS INTELLIGENCE GROUP to fight the plague of translators’ impersonation and identity and CV theft and fake translation companies running wild in the translation industry.

VARIOUS

  1. Lock Hunter

English
Free

It is a free tool to delete files blocked by something you do not know. LockHunter is useful for fighting against malware, and other programs that are blocking files without a reason. Unlike other similar tools it deletes files into the recycle bin so you may restore them if deleted by mistake.

  1. Search and Replace

English and Deutsch
Paid version

Search and replace utility used by programmers, webmasters, translators, and novice computer users. Search and Replace searches through one or more files files for a string and can also replace that ‘search hit’ with another string.

  1. Repetition Detector

    Free trial

Repetition Detector 2 helps you detect repetitions in texts (while preserving your formatting), and much more: overused auxiliairies, adverbs, adjectives and complete phrases are also detectable. The software is available in English and French but works equally well with texts in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic.

  1. Remove line breaks

English
Free

Have you received a document full of broken sentences? Remove line breaks with this tool!

IMPROVING CONCENTRATION

  1. Focus@Will

English
Paid version

focus@will combines neuroscience + music to boost productivity and tune out distractions.

WORDCOUNT

  1. Count Anything

English – It counts Asian characters
Free

Count Anything is a free word-count utility for Windows. It supports: Word (.doc, .rtf), Excel (.xls, .csv), PowerPoint (.ppt), Writer (.odt), Impress (.odp), Calc (.ods), HTML , XML, Text, PDF.

BACKUP

  1. Backblaze

English
Paid version

Robust, scalable low cost cloud backup and storage services. Personal online backup to enterprise scale data storage solutions.

PRINT TO PDF

  1. Bullzip PDF Printer

The Bullzip PDF Printer works as a Microsoft Windows printer and allows you to write PDF documents from virtually any Microsoft Windows application.

  1. Microsoft Print to PDF

Multilingual
Free

Microsoft Print to PDF feature is available in every application in Windows 10 that has printing capability.

TAKING BREAKS AND TIME MANAGEMENT

  1. Workrave

English
Free

A program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The program frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit. The program runs on GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows.

  1. Eyeleo

English
Free

EyeLeo is a handy PC application that regularly reminds you to take short breaks for your eyes.

CUSTOMER RELASHIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)

  1. Highrise

English
Paid version

Highrise makes running your business easy. Share tasks, notes, deals, email history, and more with our CRM Software for small business.

  1. Streak

English
Free and paid version

Manage customers directly inside Gmail. Useful for: sales , CRM, hiring, and support

  1. Yesware

English
Paid version

Yesware puts powerful sales tools inside your inbox, with email tracking, phone dialer, and sales automation.

DESIGNING

  1. Canva

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Canva makes design simple for everyone. Create designs for Web or print: blog graphics, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations

TIME MANAGEMENT – PRODUCTIVITY

  1. TomatoTimer

English
Free

TomatoTimer is a flexible and easy to use online Pomodoro Technique Timer

  1. Moosti

English
Free

Moosti is a simple time tracker with similar functions described on Pomodoro Technique.

  1. Fitbit App

Free
Multilingual

Use the Fitbit app and dashboard to track activity, record workouts, log food, connect with friends and family & more.

  1. RESCUE TIME

English
Free and paid versions

A personal analytics service that shows you how you spend your time and provides tools to help you be more productive.

UNIT CONVERSION

  1. ConvertAll

English
Free

ConvertAll is yet another unit converter. But it can combine the units any way you want.

EDITING/PROOFREADING

  1. Verifka

Multilingual
Paid

Verifika is a software tool that helps to locate and resolve formal errors in bilingual translation files and translation memories. It detects formatting, consistency, terminology, grammar and spelling errors in the target language.

  1. PerfectIt.

English
Paid

PerfectIt helps professional editors and translators to deliver error-free documents. It helps improve consistency, ensure quality and enforce your style guide.

  1. NaturalReader

English
Free and paid versions

NaturalReader is a text-to-speech app that reads webpages, documents, and eBooks aloud to you with quality, natural-sounding voices.

  1. Xbench

Free and paid versions

ApSIC Xbench provides simple and powerful Quality Assurance and Terminology Management in a single package. Just load files in any of the dozens of CAT formats supported and get your translation quality to the next level.

SOCIAL MEDIA

  1. Hootsuite

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Save time by managing all of your social media marketing efforts from a single dashboard. With Hootsuite’s platform, you get the tools to manage all your social profiles and automatically find and schedule effective social content.

  1. Instapaper

Multilingual
Free

A simple tool for saving web pages to read later on your iPhone, iPad, Android, computer, or Kindle.

  1. Buffer

English
Free

Share to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn – all from one place, on your schedule.

MAILING

  1. MailChimp

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

MailChimp provides email marketing for more than 15 million people globally. Send better emails, connect your e-commerce store, and sell more stuff.

FEEDBACK – SURVEYS

  1. SurveyMonkey

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Create and publish online surveys in minutes, and view results graphically and in real time.

  1. Typeform

English
Free and paid versions

Build beautiful, engaging, and conversational online forms, surveys, quizzes, landing pages, and much more with Typeform.

INVOICING

  1. FreeAgent

Paid version

FreeAgent provides online accounting software made specifically for freelancers, small business owners and their accountants.

CLOUD STORAGE/FILE SHARING

  1. Dropbox

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Dropbox is a free cloud storage service for sharing and storing files including photos, documents and videos.

  1. Google Drive

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

  1. OneDrive

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

OneDrive is pre-installed on Windows 10, and it works well on all your devices. Access and share files and photos on PC, Mac, Android and iOS.

ANTIVIRUS

  1. Advanced SystemCare Ultimate

English
Paid version

From IObit: Advanced SystemCare Ultimate 10 is a powerful and full-scale software for PC security and performance. It offers ultimate protection to Windows system in real-time against various security threats such as spyware, ransomware, DNS attacks, browser tracking, homepage modification and helps the users to block malicious online threats such as phishing websites and pop-up ads ensuring a secure and ads-free online surfing.

  1. CCLEANER

Free and paid versions

CCleaner automatically deletes unneeded files and Windows Registry entries. It can also detect duplicate files, securely wipe a storage device, and act as an alternative to Windows’ Programs and Features tool for uninstalling software.

MICROSOFT OFFICE ALTERNATIVES

  1. WPS OFFICE

English
Free and paid versions

Totally free office suite. Download the free office suite from wps official website. Compatible with .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx.

  1. Free Office

Multilingual
Free

FreeOffice is a complete office suite with a word processor, a spreadsheet application and a presentation program – all compatible with their counterparts in Microsoft Office.

  1. Google Docs

Multilingual
Free

Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides are a word processor, a spreadsheet and a presentation program respectively, all part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service.

TRANSLATION SOFTWARE – CAT

  1. Olifant

Free
English

Olifant is a .NET application that allows you to load or import translation memories in different formats (such as TMX or tab-delimited). You can edit the translation units, their attributes and any other associated data. Olifant allows you to save or export your data in various formats.

  1. smartCAT

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

smartCAT is a cloud-based environment enabling the translation workflow of companies (including translation companies) and individual translators.

  1. MateCAT

English
Free and paid versions

MateCat is a free and open source translation tool. Companies, translation agencies, freelance translators and any other users can use it for free with no limitations on the number of projects and users.

  1. SDL Trados Studio

Multilingual
Paid version

SDL Trados Studio is a CAT tool and translation memory software that provides features to help translate faster and more easily.

  1. Wordfast

Multilingual
Paid version

Wordfast is the world’s leading provider of platform-independent translation memory software. Wordfast offers powerful desktop, server, and web-based solutions designed to meet the needs of freelance translators, translation agencies, multinational organizations, and educational institutions worldwide.

  1. MemoQ

Multilingual
Paid version

memoQ translator pro is a computer-assisted translation tool which runs on Microsoft Windows and on Mac using Parallels or VMWareFusion. It was envisioned more than 12 years ago by a group of enthusiastic linguists who aimed to develop innovative translation software which increases translator’s productivity while being easy to learn and use.

  1. Memsource

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Memsource Cloud is a complete translation platform that includes translation memory, integrated machine and human translation, terminology management, and a web-based as well as a desktop translator’s editor.

SUBTITLE EDITOR

  1. Subtitle Edit

Subtitle Edit is a free editor for video subtitles – a subtitle editor. With SE you can easily adjust a subtitle if it is out of sync with the video and much more.

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Proofreading a text

How to proofread your own translation

Posted On May 11, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators, Translations/ 2 No Comments

A common belief is that translators can proofread their own texts due to their language and linguistic skills. However, this is often not the case as translators become ‘blind’ to their own mistakes. No matter how many times they read a text, they may not spot every error.

Working with a translation agency will probably mean that another translator or proofreader will check your translation. However, if you work with direct clients, there may not automatically be another pair of proofreading eyes.

Proofreading your own translation

Whether it is you or someone else who is going to be doing the final proofread, you should always make your target translation text as error-free as possible. Some tips of the trade below should help you proofread your own work:

Take a break

The first rule of proofreading your own translation is to take a break before doing it. Proofreading straight after you have completed a translation will heighten the risk of you missing your errors. You need to leave the text for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes.

Different format

Reading the translation in a different format can make you see mistakes that you haven’t noticed on screen. Printing out a hard copy and marking up with a pen is one option, but changing the size, color or font of the document is also useful.

Don’t rely on spellcheckers

Spellcheckers will only pick up on spelling mistakes, but won’t highlight when you have accidentally used a wrong word. ‘Fact’ can easily become ‘fat’ and ‘from’ often becomes ‘form’ when typing quickly.

Search and replace

The search and replace function is an effective tool for finding a variety of errors. All translators make the same repeated mistakes, often in the form of a typo, writing ‘teh’ instead of ‘the’ or adding in spaces to words turning ‘to this’ into ‘tot his’. Using search and replace is a good way of finding your common mistakes, as well as highlighting double spaces, and also checking any numbers, digits, place names or business names that must be 100% accurate.

Using Playback

Using a program to play back your text to you is an excellent option. Mistakes that you have not spotted will become very clear to you when you hear them out loud.

Point at the words

If you decide to print off your work to proofread it in hard copy format, simply pointing your pen at the words will focus your eyes and brain more and will make it easier to pick out any problems.

Reverse reading

Master the skill of reverse reading – literally read each word from the last to the first. This will make you concentrate on the words rather than the content.

Find a proofreading buddy

Teaming up with a fellow translator as a proofreading buddy is a cost-effective way of having someone else look over your work. A reciprocal arrangement will mean you both benefit.

Highlight errors in the source text

Having studied a language for many years, you will be able to spot any errors in a source text. Make a note of them and highlight them to the client. It’s a nice touch and will make them more forgiving if a couple of your errors do slip through!

Not all the above techniques will work for all translators, so the best way is to try a few out and find which ones suit you. Proofreading is an essential part of translation and these tips will help towards you creating error-free texts.

 

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Best Hashtags for the Translation Industry

Posted On April 18, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers, Translations/ 1 3 Comments

Who knew that with the launch of Twitter would come such a change for one simple symbol that had already existed for decades? The hashtag. An integral part of the world of Twitter and other popular social networks. Here we look at the best ones for translators to use.

First though, let’s a have a look at exactly what they do…

The purpose of the hashtag

Placed before keywords, the main purpose of the hashtag is to connect people with others who are talking about the same topic as they are. This can be done in two ways:

  1. By including a hashtag in your message, you will increase its exposure, making it visible to others who are interested in that topic. This reach goes beyond your followers and can, in effect, increase your number of followers if they want to hear more from you.
  2. In a world where there is too much news, content and information at our fingertips, you can search for a specific hashtag to see the latest conversations around a certain topic. For example: by searching #translation, you will see all the other tweets talking about this topic.

It’s not as simple as #translation

#translation may be one of the most used hashtags in the translation industry, but they are not all quite so simple. According to Keyhole.co, these are the top hashtags used by translators:

 

HashtagImpressionsReach
#translation2,122,1671,600,656
#xl81,178,968463,199
#t9n975,865355,148
#l10n991,527537,649
#linguistics245,756234,076
#medxl813,8866,211
#CrossCulture230,991123,698
#MT7,902,0231,335,027
#translators523,129273,877
#t9njobs672,90485,579
#translatorslife4,3024,302
#Interpreter672,546339,851
#t9y708,306183,275
#LSPs19,71519,715
#xl8events28,37620,055

 

How to Translate Translation Hashtags

For newbies in the translation industry, this will all look like another language that needs translation in itself. Even for the pros, there may still be some explanation needed. In order to be able to use the most relevant translation hashtags, there are two main points to understand from the list above:

HashtagExplanationMeaningSimilar Hashtags
 

 

#xl8

 

 

x = trans

l = the sound for the letter L

8 = eight/ate

 

 

 

translate

#medxl8 =

medical translation

 

#techxl8 =

technical translation

 

 

#t9n

 

 

 

 

t + 9 letters + n

 

 

translation

#l10n =

localization

 

#t9njobs =

translation jobs

 

These ‘coded’ type of hashtags is more popular, as only people within the translation industry know about them, so it keeps content and information more relevant to the actual field.

As trends change, hashtags will change, so it is important to keep up-to-date to be able to use social networks to its full potential to gain and share information within the translation world.

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Which industries are most in need of translation services?

Posted On April 5, 2017By TranspanishIn Translation Buyers, Translations/  No Comments

Translation is becoming key in so many industries, it may be easier to answer the question of which industries are NOT in need of translation. With the global market expanding before our eyes, translation services are becoming more sought after by an ever-growing variety of industries.

Here, we will look at which industries are seen to most need translations services.

E-Commerce Industry

The e-commerce industry in the US grew by 15.6% in 2016, reaching a total of $394.86 billion. Any online business that wants to sell their products or services internationally should consider translation services. Anyone clicking onto a website who doesn’t speak the mother tongue of the country that business is based on will soon click away if they do not see those magic flags in the top right hand corner of the home page, signaling a translated website.

Finance and Legal Industries

As international trade booms, large financial transactions take place every day. Contracts, reports, correspondence all have to adhere to legal standards and trade and market laws, and the only way to accomplish this is to ensure accurate translation of these documents.

In addition, any company wanting to do business outside of the US needs to show willing to strengthen client relationships by employing specialized translators to facilitate communications and legal matters.

Medical Industry

Internationally and within countries such as the US where Spanish is the first language of a large proportion of the population, translation in the medical industry is paramount to safe practice, for patients and doctors alike. For more information see our articles:

A Guide to Translating Health Care Materials into Spanish – First Part

A Guide to Translating Health Care Materials into Spanish – Second Part

Travel and Tourism Industry

The travel and tourism industry is all about communication between people from different countries, who speak different languages. Be it booking websites, brochures, destination guides or even online reviews, the more material that is translated, the more successful the industry will be and the larger the gain for the country’s economy.

Human Resources Industry

No matter what the industry, any company that has a significant proportion of employees who speak another language should consider translation services essential. This is of particular importance in the US, where many companies have a growing presence of Spanish-speaking workers.

Translation of human resources documents protects both the company and the employees. In the event of an altercation being brought to court, a company who has translated employee manuals, safety documents, policies and procedures into Spanish will stand up much better in front of a judge.

And of course, the translation industry is also in need of translation! A translation services website that is translated into the language of its target audience will attract much more traffic and business.

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Translating Health Care Documents to Spanish

A Guide to Translating Health Care Materials into Spanish – Second Part

Posted On February 10, 2017By TranspanishIn Latinos, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

In our last article, we discussed the benefits of translating health care materials into Spanish, and looked at some of the steps involved in the process. Once the decision has been made to translate the materials, the next step is to find a qualified translator. Here, we offer you a guide to recruiting qualified medical translators and to ensuring that the finished product is useable and fit for purpose.

Recruiting a qualified medical translator

Recruiting a qualified medical translator entails much more than finding someone who is bilingual. Although this is one of the necessary qualifications, a translator employed to translate health care materials must also possess considerable expertise and experience in the subject matter to be able to understand the source text.

A key decision is whether to employ a freelance medical translator or a translation agency. Although freelancers can be seen as a less expensive option, translation agencies offer a more comprehensive service, providing a whole team that will see a translation project through from start to finish. A project manager heads a team of translators and proofreaders, meaning that you save valuable time, which in effect saves you money.

Negotiating terms

After finding a qualified medical translator, terms need to be negotiated in regards to fees, completion dates and payment terms.

Spanish translators can charge in different ways, generally per word or per page. However, if the project is for a specific format, such as a pamphlet created in InDesign, translators may also quote a DTP fee. Where specialized knowledge and experienced is called for, higher costs should be expected.

Negotiations should be clear from the outset and should include that the translator will commit to staying with the project until completion. This should include proofreading and final revisions.

A further advantage of using a translation agency is that they usually offer discounts for large projects or for nonprofit organizations.

Development Phase

Throughout the development stage of a health care translation, close contact should be maintained between all parties, so that the translator can ask for clarification when needed. If the translation is a long-term project, possible reviews and updates should be specified in the quote.

Revisions

The revision stage can either be carried out by the translation agency, which will use other qualified medical translators within its team to review the document, or it can be carried out by the client. However, if you were to undertake the review process yourself, it is paramount that the reviewer is a Spanish native speaker and ideally has extensive experience in both translation and the medical topic in hand. Grammatical construction and usage, spelling and use of expressions should all be taken in consideration.

Final proofreading

If the translator or translation agency is not in charge of the Desktop Publishing task, the translator should be available to do a final proofreading of the text once it has been integrated into its final design format.

Although producing and translating health care materials into Spanish can be an investment in terms of both time and money, it is becoming an essential process in a country like the US which has a large Hispanic population. The benefits of the investment far outweigh the risks to patient health and the careers of health care providers.

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Calendar of Translation Events – February 2017

Posted On January 30, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators/  No Comments

4
WordstoDeeds. Words to Deeds 2017. Legal Translation to the Next Level. London, UK.

7

American Translators Association (ATA). Free ATA Continuing Education Webinar.
Spreading Your Wings: Transitioning from Classroom to Career

9

Wordsmith Communication. Wordcon 2017. Calcutta, India.

13-15

Israel Translators Association (ITA). ITA 2017 Conference. Tel Aviv, Israel.

16-17

Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCLS). National Council for Languages & International Studies (NCLIS). 2017 Language Advocacy Day & Delegate Assembly. Washington, DC, USA.

23-24
Together 2017. Berlin, Germany.

24-25
University of Bremen. 6th Bremen Symposium. Bremen, Germany.

25

El Paso Translators & Interpreters Association (EPITA). Jorge Dieppa Continuing Education Seminar. El Paso, TX, USA.

27-March 3

UBM Tech Game Network. Game Developers Conference. San Francisco, California, USA.

28-March 3

Localization World, Ltd. LocWorld Shenzhen. Shenzhen, China.

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A Guide to Translating Health Care Materials into Spanish – First Part

Posted On January 26, 2017By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers, Translations/  1 Comment

Consider for a moment what it would be like if you broke your arm on holiday in Mexico. One minute you’re enjoying soaking up the sun in your resort, the next you slip on your way to the pool, and you’re on your way to hospital not understanding a word anyone says around you. From start to finish you don’t understand questions that are asked of you, never mind being able to answer them, and you realize that this communication barrier puts you at risk.

The situation is no better for the health care professionals at the hospital. As a doctor or nurse, treating patients you cannot communicate with is far from ideal. On the one hand, they are injured or sick and require treatment, but on the other hand medical treatment requires understanding and consent; proceeding without this is a risk to the patient and to the doctor´s reputation and career.

This exact situation is why producing and translating materials into different languages is an essential part of health care.

Why provide health care documents in Spanish?

Spanish is the second language of the US and 900,000 Hispanics live in North Carolina alone, which is nearly 10% of the state’s population. There is a considerable part of this population that has limited or even no English. Providing health care and medical documents in Spanish aids communication, but these translations need to be accurate and appropriate in order to achieve the following goals:

  • to ensure understanding of diagnosis, treatment and medication schedules, as well as any other educational or informative materials.
  • to eliminate the risk of patients unnecessarily attending services such as the emergency room. For example, a patient with sunstroke may just need rehydrating, but if the source of the problem cannot be communicated, the patient will end up taking up emergency resources.
  • patients will retain medical printed materials if the translation is of a high standard. Badly translated materials or materials in unknown languages are quickly discarded.
  • to protect medical professionals from legal proceedings as a result of miscommunication due to lack of professionally translated information.
  • to eliminate time being wasted trying to communicate in unknown languages.

Remember: Poorly translated medical and health care materials are as much of a risk as having no translated materials at all.  Only accurate, professional Spanish translations will help communication with Hispanic populations.

Recommended steps for health care translations

There are certain recommended steps that should be taken when planning health care translations.

Preliminary planning

Spend some time investigating whether the information you want to translate into Spanish already exists in your organization. If translated materials are already available, consider how you will evaluate them. The level of accuracy will need to be checked thoroughly as mistranslated information makes the purpose of a translation null and void. The reading level will need to be assessed to ensure it is of the correct level for the target audience, in certain situations a simplified text will be more appropriate.

Evaluating existing Spanish materials

When there is a sudden need for health care materials in Spanish, medical settings may use existing translations without evaluating them first. However, the evaluation step is crucial to ascertain if the material is accurate, appropriate and therefore usable.

This evaluation can be carried out by a Spanish speaker within your organization, or you will need to employ the services of a Spanish-speaking proofreader or editor who will be able to compare the content to the English version and check the quality and accuracy of the translation.

Other points that should be thoroughly checked include whether the text is culturally appropriate, whether it targets its audience in the appropriate way and finally whether it reflects your health care setting’s recommendations and provides up-to-date information.

Remember: Ordering pre-existing bilingual materials from a catalog or agency is no guarantee of quality and very few medical organizations have their own evaluation procedure.

How to present Spanish translated materials

Another important step when considering translating medical materials into Spanish is how they will be presented. There are various options to choose from:

  • having two separate versions: one in English, one in Spanish.
  • having one document with both languages. For one-page documents the English could be on one side and the Spanish on the other. For longer documents the translations could be separated into different sections, or the Spanish could be set in a block next to the English text.
  • including the Spanish under each line of English. However, this method tends to be used more for forms, as it looks untidy and can be hard to follow in extended pieces of texts.

In our next post, we will discuss how to recruit qualified translators, negotiate terms, the development phase and how to review and proofread translated materials.

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How to translate a brochure to Spanish

Translating Brochures into Spanish: Best Practices

Posted On December 21, 2016By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

In the age of websites, questions are raised over whether translating brochures into Spanish, and indeed other languages, is still necessary.

Here, we explain why it is still an essential part of marketing and look at the best practices of this type of translation.

The need for brochure translation

However well-designed, effective and multilingual a company website is, the need for brochure translation as a marketing and sales tool remains.

Well-designed and well-written brochures give an impression of the wealth and success of a company, building client confidence. Without one, there is a time delay between referring a client to your website and the client actually looking. This allows for the risk factor of the client not taking the time to actually do so, or being attracted by the competition. Handing over a marketing material in paper form or emailing it directly into an inbox means potential clients have something concrete to refer to without trawling a website.

Paper form is particular beneficial for those who process better on paper, who need to feel something, be able to handle it, flick back and forth. Staring at a screen simply doesn’t allow information to be processed in the same way. This type of person will likely write on a paper brochure, underline, highlight and basically ‘think on paper’.

Spanish brochure translation

Spanish brochure translation is particularly beneficial, given the status of the language both in the US and worldwide. One of the six official languages of the US, 17.6% of the population declares Spanish as their first language. With over 472 million native speakers throughout 21 countries worldwide, Spanish is currently the second most spoken language in the world. Producing unilingual sales tools will limit reach dramatically.

What to consider when translating a brochure into Spanish

Factors to consider with Spanish brochure translation include:

  • Are you targeting a specific Spanish speaking audience or should neutral Spanish be used?
  • In order to obtain an accurate quote, most translation agencies request to review the document. Unless the brochure was created with MS Word, a PDF version rather than the source file is usually preferred.  If sending the entire file is not possible, a sizeable sample and the total word count will help the translation provider prepare the quote. Other information such as deadlines will also be necessary.
  • Decide who will be doing the desktop publishing. A brochure is usually created with a DTP program such as Adobe InDesign and if you want it with same format as the source document, you will need to pay for the agency to carry out the DTP task and the source file will be needed for the translator. Even if it is done with MS Word, the format can still be complex, so ensure to confirm with the translation agency if the format is included in the final price. The other alternative is to send the file in Word format and assign the DTP task to a qualified member within your team.
  • The translation should always be proofread. This can either be done by someone in your company, or the translation agency can assign a second translator do this. Also, consider asking the agency to review the final version once it is print-ready, if you are doing the DTP yourself.
  • Consideration needs to be given to the design. A translation from English into Spanish will have 15-30 percent more text, potentially creating the need for a different layout.  Features such as syllable separation, inverted exclamation and question marks, accents and the use of different characters such as ñ and ü all need to be considered.

Deciding to translate a brochure into Spanish means that you will be increasing the number of people reached, and in turn this will increase business for your company. Choosing the right translation agency and taking into consideration the above points will help you produce a professional Spanish brochure.

Do you need to translate a brochure? Contact Transpanish for a free quote!

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