Technical Translation: Communicating in Global Markets
Have you ever bought a product with “assembly required” and found the directions to be a mish-mash of nonsensical word-salad? Those directions were not much help, were they? You were lucky if you didn’t break the thing trying to get it put together!
Technical translation is a whole sub-field of translation services, and it’s even harder to get it done right.
But technical translation is increasingly in demand as more specs, medical documents, engineering documents, instructions manuals, manuscripts and other specialized texts reach global audiences.
Why is it so tough to get these documents translated well?
Technical documents are difficult to begin with. Do you remember the last time you read a legal contract or waded through a medical paper? The language is dense and difficult, and unless you are an expert in the field it’s easy to get lost.
These technical documents use “jargon,” a specialized vocabulary for a certain field of study. These terms will not be found in an ordinary dictionary, and to use and translate them correctly, you really need to have some background in that field.
More than any other kind of text, these documents need to be perfectly translated in order for the other party to understand clearly. It’s not the time for interpretation; the words have to be there just as they are in the original, or the whole thing could be a failure.
Translators may find words that do not yet exist in the language! This may be hard to believe, but there are highly specialized technical terms that nobody has thought to translate into certain languages yet. This means that the translator will actually be coining new terms, and they have to have experience in their chosen field to do this.
If you need a technical translation done, there are a few ways to find a good service.
First, look for someone who specializes in your field. For example, if you have medical documents that need to be translated, get a service that specializes in the medical field, or has lots of experience doing medical translations. There are translation services that specialize in certain fields, and some that have a few specialties they deal in.
Try to find a translator who has some experience in the field, outside of the translation work they have done. Look for certification and experience. If you need an engineering document translated, look for a translator who is also an engineer. They will have a deeper understanding not only of the terminology specific to engineering, but also how to write for engineers.
You will need a translator who not only knows their field, but also knows the culture and country that you are selling your product to. Find someone who has lived and worked in that country for a long time, or is native-born and bilingual.
Finally, look for membership in linguistics organizations. The more language certification they have, the better.
Technical translation is growing in demand, and in today’s global marketplace, whether you sink or swim could be determined by the translation of your texts. Find a good technical translator once and you can stick with them forever.
Today’s global market calls for communicating information to many different people. Most fields are multi-lingual. With professional technical translations, your business can stay competitive. Visit Certified Translation Services for your translations. http://www.certifiedtranslationservices.com
Alerting Your Business Regularly
Today’s businesses need to stay ahead in the rat race if they want to maintain the edge over their competitors. Business messages, notifications, and alerts help your business strategies to be put to use much in advance.
The business world does need to be reminded of the important events linking various business operations. For example, reminders, notifications, and alerts help organizations to the dynamics in the marketplace.
There are occasions when retailers would want to showcase their products as the market becomes competitive enough to keep up with the marketing effort. At such times, a section of companies engage in email marketing. This is a great idea for the holiday season.
REMINDER SERVICES:
Many organizations outsource reminder services to expert companies that have specialized in this field. There are service oriented companies who would even offer their services to help you set up your own reminder service internally. Alternatively, you could also fully outsource ASP style solution. The typical enterprise solutions offered are:
* Optimum customization.
* Extensive integration throughout the enterprise.
* Terms and fees are in accordance with the customization needed.
* Extended technical support.
* Reminders, notification, and alert services.
Business notification services ensure that timely and important information reaches organizations which help the companies to exploit available opportunities. These notification services are available to all kinds of organizations, independent of their business operations, the size of the business, the company’s human resources, or its technical expertise.
In choosing the services, the vendor companies usually select commodity codes belonging to their business interest. So when the companies start to receive email regarding the opportunities available, the mails carry a link to the original entity.
BUSINESS NOTIFICATIONS:
Several smaller business organizations make use of business notification services. As a result, they receive news regarding seasonal and exclusive offers, as well as of special discounts which pertain to their business activities. Business notification services are a booming service industry in this age which clearly has more info than it can handle. Business notification services provide quality business notifications to all levels of business industries.
In order to subscribe to such services, the providers ask you to select the categories of your interest, and from then on you start to receive information on a regular basis. In these kinds of services, there are provisions where you can unsubscribe totally or from the specific categories that may not be of use to you.
BUSINESS ALERTS:
There are several kinds of alert messages that you could avail of. These business alerts bring immense help to various organizations. You can avail of services such as, news alerts, media alerts, business alerts, political alerts, and so on.
The news alert messages would provide you with instant news flashes on the important happenings in the world, while business alerts would provide you with information about various business developments such as on the stock market, thus allowing you to be up to date about all things. The alerts are usually available as text messages which you subscribe to after selecting the categories of your interest.
In the same fashion as in business notifications, a partial subscription is possible if you do not want to pay for too many categories.
Set reminders and notifications at http://www.premiereglobal.com/notifications-reminders with our reminder service at http://www.premiereglobal.com/notifications-reminders-alerts and message service at http://www.premiereglobal.com/notifications-reminders-alerts/
Are You Ready To Go International?
Although North Americans were the dominant population on the Internet, that has now changed, and the rest of the world has caught up rapidly. And while English is still the most widely used Internet language, it’s not the language of choice for many, many Internet users.
So are YOU ready to communicate in this international medium? Whether you’re building your own Web site, taking part in discussion groups, visiting a chat room, or just sending and receiving e-mail, you’ll meet more and more foreigners on the Internet – and vice versa, of course.
Let’s look at some tips for communicating effectively in this new global village.
1. Write in plain English
Write clearly, with small words and short sentences. If you’re writing long messages or creating long Web pages, include a simple summary at the top.
Be very careful to write exactly what you mean. If you’re writing for a general audience, avoid sarcasm, colloquialisms and other things that rely on a certain tone of voice or cultural background.
2. Watch out for phrases with two meanings
Although English is the de facto international language of the Internet, differences abound between, say, English and American English. It’s easy enough to allow for differences in the way that we spell colour, apologise and organisation, but other – more subtle – differences can easily lead to misunderstandings.
For example, does bi-weekly mean twice a week or once every two weeks? It’s different for Australians and Americans. Similarly, when Australians table an issue, they are raising it for discussion, but for Americans, tabling an issue means putting it aside.
3. Include area codes in phone numbers
Any time you quote a telephone, fax or mobile (cell) phone number on the Internet, ask yourself whether your readers reside outside your local area. If you’re potentially addressing distant readers, include your international code and area code in these numbers.
4. Allow for variations in postcodes
American zip codes and Australian postcodes use numbers only;
U.K. postcodes contain letters and numbers; Singaporean postcodes use numbers only, but appear in a different place in the address; all have different lengths from each other.
If your Web site includes an order form or a demographic survey, allow for postcodes that fall outside your own local format.
5. Include your full postal address
If you’re addressing an international audience, include your country in your postal address. Don’t expect people to just figure it out. This seems obvious, but a surprising number of businesses on the Internet forget it.
6. Include international postage costs
If you’re selling anything through e-mail or your Web site, cater for international orders, whether you expect them or not. Find out the cost of international postage and shipping, and publish the costs for your customers.
This is a complex area because of the variety of options, depending on the source and destination countries, methods and speed of delivery, customs and duties, and more.
Simplify this as much as possible for your customers. It’s better to start with something very simple (for example, one postage price for all international orders, regardless of destination) and adapt it with experience.
7. Explain your currency
If you use a currency that’s common to other countries – such as dollars – make it clear which version you mean. Some Web sites quote their prices in American dollars as a kind of universal currency, but most use local currency.
Include a link to a currency converter on your Web site to make it easy for your international visitors.
8. Be aware of time zones
If you’re writing a time (for example, the time when you’re available in a chat room) for people in specific time zones, include their local times as well. When writing for an international audience, include the time in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
Include a link to a time zone converter on your Web site.
9. Use icons carefully
Choose icons on your Web site carefully. For example, not everybody understands what a STOP sign means; and a thumbs up sign can offend people from some cultures.
In fact, its so easy to misunderstand icons – even within a culture – that you should always supplement them with clear descriptions.
10. Tolerate mistakes
The more you use the Internet, the more you’ll communicate with people who don’t speak or write English as well as you do. Be tolerant of poor spelling, bad grammar and typing mistakes when you receive e-mail or take part in Internet discussion groups.
Of course, this is just common courtesy, but again it’s surprising to see how many people attack others when they think they can hide behind the safety of their keyboard.
Ranju associate editor of http://GihanPerera.com This website has e-books such as “The Seven Fatal Mistakes That Most Web Site Owners Make – And How To Avoid Them” and “Spin: Turn One Idea Into Hundreds of Information Products”.Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get your complimentary copies now.
Online Phone Cards: Connecting People
The world seems to be a lot smaller than what it was before. This is so because people get to travel to the different parts of the sphere in a few minutes or a few hours or a few days with the help of the various means of transportation that technology has brought into the century. Now we have trucks, buses, boats, planes and helicopters to get us to places. The people from the east can easily take a trip to the west side of the globe sitting comfortably inside an air-conditioned plane and even taking a nap during the flight.
With this development, people not only travel to tour and go visit but a good number of individuals take the trip and decide to migrate and to reside in a whole new different world of an entirely different culture. And although the grass may be greener on that pasture, still you get the pangs of missing the loved ones and friends that you have left behind. But then again the wonders of technology have provided a solution to this dilemma-phones! Through phones we get to talk to people who are miles away like they were just within arms reach. The world is definitely getting smaller.
You can have a telephone installed at the comforts of your home or you can choose a mobile phone that you can bring with you anywhere you may be. As convenient as it may, having phones can be quite expensive. You would think the privilege of being able to talk to someone far away should be of a high price, think again. Innovation and smart minds have made this luxury inexpensive with the help of phone cards. With phone cards you get to make long distance calls whether they may be domestic or international yet get to be in control of your call expenses.
This is because phone cards are generally prepaid. Paying in advance means you can say goodbye to monthly phone bills and detailed statements. Each specific phone card has an equivalent call duration minutes based on the price that you pay. The available call minutes are reduced each time you make a call and on how long these calls are. As soon as your credit runs out, you are no longer to make anymore calls. This kind of control or regulation could be the very solution of people who tend to spend hours and hours chattering on the phone not knowing their limits and waking up frustrated the next day to find a full blown telephone bill. Such limit could make people conscious of their calls and their expenses.
To add convenience, these phone cards are now available online. So with just a click, you can get the full service of a card as soon as possible. A good number of merchants are offering domestic and international online phone cards to the various countries of the world. Each comes with a distinctive rate and boundaries with some even offering added features for your greater satisfaction.
James Brown writes about http://www.simplybestcoupons.com