Whether you are an individual who wants to have the lyrics of her favorite artist translated, a student who needs a certified translation of your birth certificate in order to get a visa, a small business owner who needs regular translations for their website, or a manager of a corporation who needs to organize the translations of your company's monthly business briefs, you will come to a point where you will ask yourself, "Who are all these language service providers and which one best suits my needs?" So, let's look at your options. To someone entering the magical world of translation, the most obvious choice would appear to be the usage of a language translation program. After all, when you simply enter "translation" into your favorite search engine, translation programs will prevail as the result.
Automated translation tools- a myriad of translation devices, engines, and software- will simply substitute words from the source language into words and phrases in the target language. As such, automated translation devices may be useful as an aid to professional translators or to get rough translation that will convey pure meaning, but nothing more. Not going into details regarding the grammatical complexities of any language, let's just say that machine-generated translation must be edited by a human being in order to be readable and to convey the appropriate meaning desired. Once you realize that a machine-generated translation did not provide the outcome you expected, you will need to find a human to review and edit it. Who ya gonna call? Transbusters!
You think that your neighbor mentioned something about her 16-year-old daughter's boyfriend being German, right? He might be the perfect person for the job, right? More than likely the answer will be "no." Unless you want the final translation to be "quite understandable for the most part," you will need help of a professional. There are two options available: freelance translators and translation agencies. In most cases, freelance translators are professionals with a proper degree or diploma in translation or respective languages. There are numerous translation directories out there with lists of thousands of freelancers.
Your only problem now is how do you find the right one? The one that is an expert in the area you need, the one that will charge a reasonable rate, and the one for whom translation is not just a favorite pastime in addition to his/her full-time teaching or other job. It is hard for professional project managers to find the right translators for their jobs, let alone the translation buyer to do so from a completely different professional world. If, in addition, you need your translation graphically edited, published on the web or elsewhere, the process will only become more complicated. Therefore, why not let the agency do the dirty work for you?
Translation agencies handle large, as well as small, projects with the help of human, native-speaking language professionals, project managers, and technical experts. They have a stringent quality control procedure, which is used in all stages of their work, from hiring native speakers with the right expertise for individual projects - as well as hiring the right proofreaders and editors to review the translation - to all the necessary cultural, technical, legal, and/or layout checks prior to delivery.
When you find an appropriate translation agency, you can rest assured that your text will pass through at least two pairs of hands prior to delivery. That is the key to understanding your needs as well as assuring quality results for your project.
Marija Kostovic, co-founder of Mirara Translations, has been a full-time professional translator since 2003. For more information about the company, please visit Mirara Translations or Marija's personal website.
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