White papers require lots and lots of research, crosschecking, editing, and proofing. Readers expect it to be well-researched with solid sources and data. They hope to learn something from your white paper. So you put a lot of effort into writing one. Once that’s done though, you’ll want to capitalize on this work and publish […]
Author: Sam
What language is the hardest for translators?
No matter what language pair you choose, translating is hard. That’s why professional translators are in demand. But what justifies the higher rates we see for some language pairs? For the same word count, translating from English to Japanese is usually more expensive than translating from English to French. The reason may seem evident: it’s […]
How big is your translation project, really? Let’s do some math!
If translating documents is not part of your daily activities, you might have a few questions. Is the amount on the quote a good deal? What deadlines should you set for your project? Should you negotiate the quotation you received? If you’re not used to the process, the list of questions can certainly make you […]
The Lord’s Prayer was originally translated from Greek, and the Pope now wants to change it.
While the original prayer was written in ancient Aramaic, it has been translated several times over the eras. The current English version is much more the result of a translation from Latin, itself the result of a translation from Greek. But it has always been subject to debate. And now the Pope is weighing in […]
What the hardest languages to translate have in common
Next week we are going to see a list of the hardest languages to translate to and from English. Before revealing our list though, let’s have a look at a few selection criteria. Here are five elements that helped decide whether a language would be hard or easy to translate. Again, we’re talking of translations […]
A few ideas to help you reduce translation costs. Not necessarily what you think!
There’s a sign at my garagist’s saying: “The service you’ll receive will either be fast, inexpensive, or good. You can only choose two.” The message is clear. If you want inexpensive service, you’ll either wait more or get a lower quality. Makes sense, right? But if you’re looking to reduce translation costs, it’s another story. […]
Italian translation challenges. Some obstacles to watch out for.
While Italian isn’t necessarily as prevalent as English or Chinese, it’s still an important European language. In video game localization, we often used the acronym FIGS. FIGS stands for French, Italian, German and Spanish. And we used it because these languages were recurring in many multilingual translation projects. So many they were considered the standard, […]
How much do cheap translations cost? Millions.
When you’re operating on a budget, it might be tempting to choose the lowest quote for your translation project. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Everybody loves a bargain. However, you should not just compare prices, but the level and quality of service as well. Cheap translations, while attractive, can end up costing you big […]
Accurate translations could save you from… going to jail
If you ask a professional translator what he thinks of machine translations, he might say: “You might get accurate translations sometimes. But it won’t replace human translation anytime soon.” It’s a fact: algorithm-based translations are based on translation memories and focus on translating words. Human translators focus on meaning. They have a context, a frame of […]
Chinese translations into English now have an official, government-provided guide in China.
Chinglish is a 2011 play written by David Henry Wang. In it, an American businessman arrives in China with the hope of scoring a contract for his firm. His business? Sign-making. And it sounds like a good business to be in. If you’ve ever travelled to China, you’ve seen them: signs in English that are […]
Remote Interpretation Platform Pre-ICO Ends Next Week. Here’s What You Need to Know.
With all the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies, more and more companies are turning to initial coin offerings (ICO) to fund their ventures. It was then only logical that someone in the translation industry turned to the world of cryptocurrencies for funding. What’s an ICO? You may already be familiar with the good old IPO, where companies sell […]
Please, excuse-me, thank you, sorry. Why native speakers can save your translation.
Japanese is a tricky language to translate. Not only do native Japanese speakers use widely different levels of speech and register, they also master non-verbal communication and subtle vocabulary choices that would be unnoticed by non-native speakers (unless they trained really hard). It just so happens that one word illustrates this concept perfectly: “Sumimasen”. The […]
More French translations of English titles into… English.
In part 1 you saw 23 examples of movies with an English title for the French market. What’s unexpected about these is not that the title stayed in English, but that it actually is a different English title than the original. And that’s pretty common too. We promised you 56 movies, here are the other 33:
6 tips when submitting text for translation
Localizing a video game is hard work. Writers, developers, translators, and linguistic testers all have to work together to create the best outcome possible for the end-user, usually on a tight schedule. And they all cost you money. If a tester finds an issue in the LQA stage, they’ll have to make edits, enter bugs, […]
Proofreading and QA: Can a Translation Be Too Perfect?
Technically this question is a nonstarter. A translation being “too perfect” means something is wrong with it. That makes it imperfect. And a good proofreading will fix that. But that’s not what we’re really asking here. When proofreading a document, many times the proofreader will see something that is in all points perfect, but that’s, in some […]
French translations: 56 English titles that were translated into… English.
If you hear a French person talking about “Happiness Therapy” and the plot seems familiar, there’s a good reason for it. See, in France, instead of translating movie titles in French, it’s not uncommon for translators to give movies an English title different from the original one. Needless to say sometimes people have no idea the […]
Localization: more than fancy lingo for “translation”?
If you’ve ever looked into the translation services industry, then you’ve heard about “localization”. The two words are so linked they are often used interchangeably, so you’d be forgiven for thinking they meant the same thing. Intuitively though, you might be wondering if that’s really the case. After all, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines translating as […]
The Worst Way to Reduce Translation Costs. And What You Should Do Instead.
Translations usually come at the end of a long process involving text creation, corrections, revisions, and finally localization. Every one of these steps has a cost. With all that time and effort put into your source text, translations often feel like they take most of the remaining budget. And let’s be real, translations are rarely […]
Japanese Translator “Illegal” According to Red Sox Analyst.
Red Sox TV host and analyst Jerry Remy is not a big fan of having a translator on the pitch. According to him, it should not be allowed and players should learn “baseball language”. The player concerned is Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. Tanaka joined the New York Yankees three years ago from his former Japanese […]
Why it costs more to translate marketing content than regular content
When you look at translation agencies’ price tables, you may notice premiums on some text categories. If you’ve never tried to translate marketing content, you might wonder why it’s usually in the same category as legal translations, medical translations, academic translations, and the other usual suspects. Let’s shed some light on the difficulties linked to […]
How to shorten a text when proofreading.
Working in a team of translators, you learn a thing or two about other languages. One of them: how to shorten your texts. German translations from English, just like French translations, Spanish translations, Italian translations, etc. are usually much longer than the English text. That’s just the way it is. Here are four ways translators […]
Website in English only? Hundreds of Companies in Hot Waters for Not Having French Website Translations.
Last November, Montreal citizens registered over 423 complaints for English-only websites to the OQLF. Complaints targeted companies in the Saint Laurent and Ahuntsic districts. The OQLF, or Office Québécois de la Langue Française, is in charge of supervising language policies in the Quebec province. They basically ensure French is the common language throughout the province. […]
Japanese translation. Translating a word that has no translation.
The further apart two languages are, like Japanese and English, the more likely you are to come face to face with it. A word that’s completely natural in a language, that’s common vocabulary and tends to be used in a specific context. Everybody who speaks that language knows what it means. Only problem: that word has […]
The French translation of the new Star Wars movie might actually be a small spoiler
Star Wars fans have had a question since January 23, and the answer might actually come from the latest French translation of the movie. In a press release, the franchise had released the English title of its eighth episode: “The Last Jedi”. Ever since, fans have been wondering who was that last Jedi. Is it […]
Translation history is fascinating and this French museum has a full exhibition dedicated to it
Translation history is fascinating and full of interesting anectodes. From translation gaffes in the Bible to the challenges of translating ad campaigns creatively, there is no shortage of tales of success and failures in translation. And the MuCem (Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations) in France is dedicating a whole exhibition to it. Until March 20, the […]
Translation budget: how much should you really pay for your translations?
It’s easy to budget for a conference. You add up the booth and tickets costs, the hotel if necessary, the marketing materials, the transportation costs, and daily allowances for your employees. All this information is readily available and you can make comparisons almost instantly. But if your company doesn’t get content translated on a regular […]
Three steps to making your documents translation-ready.
Instinctively, you know that some documents are harder to translate than others. Sometimes there’s not much you can do about it. Medical and legal translations require specific knowledge and research. But in most cases, there are steps you can take to make your documents translation-ready. Even for complex projects. If you follow this simple guide, […]
Grammatically Correct but Semantically Wrong. Why Learning Language Rules Is Not Enough.
Today let’s have a look at a translation that’s technically correct and grammatically flawless, yet that surely raised a few eyebrows when it was displayed: “We take your bags and send them in all directions.” It dates back quite a bit and only anecdotal evidence remains. It could have either come from Yokohama express in […]