Hiring a Technical Translator – The Right Words in the Right Hands
In many cases, people think of translators as someone who can simply translate any words, from one language to another. In some cases, this is true. When translating a short story or a personal letter, a generalist translator can be perfectly fine for the project. If, however, a document is highly technical, it can require a subject matter expert to ensure that every word is correctly translated and understood.
Technical and Consumer Electronics Translation
Nearly all of us have purchased an electronic device that was made in a foreign land. When we open the user’s manual, we found that the translation made no sense. Usually, the manual or guide will sound like it has been simply transliterated and many of the words don’t make sense together or the sentence structure is incorrect.
The way to avoid this is hire a translation company that uses in-country linguists who are subject matter experts and able to understand the proper phrases and lingo when translating the documents that accompany a consumer electronic device or a technical document.
Financial, legal, and corporate
There are only a few industries where a mistranslated word can cost million of dollars. In financial, legal, and corporate documents, a single phrase can cost millions. Even worse, a mistranslated phrase or concept might lead to years of very expensive legal conflicts as the parties try to figure out what happened and how to make it right.
The best way to avoid this situation is have an in-country translator who is a native speaker, as well as trained in the specific subject involved. These experts are able to understand the jargon of the financial and legal industries, as well as translate corporate documents to make sure every subtlety is explained properly.
Medical translation
Above all of these industries is the medical industry. A mistranslation in this field can lead to injury or death. Imagine that someone mistranslated and simply transposes right with left. Someone might end up losing the wrong leg or hand.
This is easily the most important place for a translation firm that offers several safety valves:
- A project manager who is a subject matter specialist
- Translators who are in-country and experienced in the subject matter, including medical
- Machine translation that acts as a reference and starting point for translations
- A multi-step verification system that assures proper translation
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at AfroLingo. Even if you don’t choose us, we are happy to advise and guide you to make sure that you get the technical translation services.
