This poem is a great reminder of why we should always, always proofread—and for language service providers, why we should do it even more than the average writer. In today’s blog post, we’ll go over the reasons why.

1. Proofread the source material

Oftentimes, language service providers are given source material documents that the parent company wants to distribute at the same time as their translations. Theoretically, these documents will have been proofread already. After all, the parent company will want their readers to focus on the message of the documents and keep up their reputation and good impressions.

However, before translation, it’s essential that the source material be proofread again to ensure that the translator understands the meaning of it. Grammatical or spelling errors can cause the translated document to lose lots of meaning, and potentially bring about lots of costs to fix these mistakes later down the pipeline.

Let’s look at a common English example of a grammar mistake: “Let’s eat, Grandma!” and “Let’s eat Grandma!” With just a forgotten comma, the entire meaning of the sentence changes into something out of a horror novel. An accurate translation of the second sentence’s meaning could spell disaster, if that sentence is a mistake.

2. Proofread the translation

People are only human—making mistakes is something everyone does, and there’s no shame in it. However, what’s important is how we monitor ourselves to make sure that we catch those mistakes and take responsibility for them.

Translators have the same ability to miss a comma or period, misspell a word, or accidentally misunderstand the meaning of a sentence in the source document. To be safe, it’s crucial to hire a separate translator to act as a proofreader for the translated documents.

3. Assure the quality of the final product before delivery

Even after a translation has been proofread, oftentimes, language service providers are tasked with putting the translation into a certain format—a pamphlet, a PowerPoint, a website, etc. Once the translation is in that format, it’s important to double-check the target document. You want to avoid crashing, missing or hidden text, text overflow, and a slew of other issues.

The need for proofreading all stems back to the need for a proper, professional, trustworthy identity between the parent company and the customer or reader. Glaring issues in the text, or visual problems in the final product, convey to the reader that the document was handled sloppily—and if the document was handled sloppily, why would the parent company treat the reader any differently?

Remember: we should always, always proofread.

Let’s start with the basics. To connect to a Zoom meeting, you will first need to have Zoom downloaded to your computer or device and installed. Then, you will need the host to send you one of two things— either a link to the meeting or the meeting ID and the password. Some meetings do not have passwords though, but it’s good practice to ask for a password regardless when agreeing to the meeting. Meeting IDs typically follow this format, 000 0000 0000, with a total of eleven numbers. If the client sends you a meeting ID that does not consist of eleven numbers, you should check with them to confirm. Alternatively, if you do not want to connect through the computer or just want audio only, most Zoom meetings come with a phone number with which you can call into as well.

When you connect, there are several things that might happen depending on both your settings and how the host set up the meeting. If it is a large meeting with many people, then it’s possible that the host will have the meeting set up so that they will have to manually let participants into the meeting. This means that when you connect, you will not go directly into the call. Instead, you will see a screen that says that the host will let you into the meeting. When you get into the meeting, depending on your settings, you might join with your camera on and microphone on, or maybe both of them off, or a combination of the two. Be wary of that if you need a minute or two to get settled and do not want to have your microphone or video on when you connect. You can change this before you connect in the settings of Zoom.

When you are in the meeting, you will notice that there are different buttons at the bottom. As an interpreter you most likely will only need to use the buttons to toggle your microphone and video, the interpretation button if the client has it enabled, and of course the end call button when the meeting ends. Moreover, Zoom has a recording function and a function where the program can transcribe what was said during a recording in the target language. This will only work for the target language, which is English by default depending on what language the host has their program in. The transcription is fairly accurate and can be useful if you want to review what was said or translate the questions into a different language.

First, the host should not be using a free account. The free account comes with many features, but it does not come with the interpretation feature enabled. The easiest way to do this is to upgrade to a business account. Along with a variety of features, the interpretation function is enabled on student and business accounts. Also, be sure to have Zoom updated to its latest version. The interpretation function did not come to the program until later versions, so older versions will not be able to use it. There are many clients who do not realize this and are confused as to why they cannot use interpretation despite perfectly following the instructions.

The next step is to make sure that the interpretation function is enabled. To do this, the host will need to go into the web portal for Zoom and sign into their account. From there, they will need to go into Settings and then go to In Meeting (Advanced). If there is no option for this, you will need to contact Zoom support to have it enabled. After you go into In Meeting (Advanced), all you need to do is scroll down to Language Interpretation and add the languages you need. Just note that you can add as many languages you want to the list of languages, but in a meeting, you can only set up a maximum of five at once.

After enabling the interpreter function and adding the desired languages, it is time to add the interpreters. While still in the web portal, navigate to Schedule a Meeting, and after setting up the meeting as you like, then scroll down to Interpretation and check the box for Enable Language Interpretation. In that same section, there should be a box where you can add an interpreter by their email address, and you can add what language they will be speaking. When you do this, be sure that the interpreter is using a Zoom account that is linked to the email that you put in. If they use a different account, then be sure to ask them for that email address so that you can add them.

Finally, you can launch the meeting. After the meeting is launched, have the interpreter(s) join, and then in the meeting controls, you should see Interpretation. Click on that and you will be able to add and remove interpreters as necessary. If the interpreters are not appearing, make sure that they are properly added, on the right account, and that you have the latest version of Zoom. If you follow all these instructions, then you will be on the way to a successful Zoom interpretation session!

The first thing you can do to improve your note taking for interpretation is simple—practice. You can listen to anything you want, ideally something in your industry, and then practice taking notes on what the speaker is saying. This might feel like an awkward exercise when you are interpreting for no one, but it is a very reliable way to improve your note taking skills because you are essentially simulating an interpreting job where you are listening to a speaker and then translating for an audience.

The next thing you can do is while practicing, think about symbols or shorter ways to write some words. This is especially important for medical contexts where words can be extremely lengthy and complicated. It is overall faster to quickly draw a symbol than it is to write out something really long like pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Of course, it might be a little impossible to have a specific symbol for every single diagnosis or word out there. So that is where the next idea comes to play.

You can try to figure out abbreviations for words. With the previous example, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis was mentioned. How can this be shortened and abbreviated that it will be easy to write it quickly and recall what it is when you read it again later? Look at the word and try to split up. So for this, you could maybe do pne-mon-tr-mics-ilico-volc-niosis. The word has been shortened down by more than half and it is not that hard to recall when re-reading it. The way words will be abbreviated may vary between people, so just try to abbreviate words the way you feel you will remember them.

The next tip is to write out the words in a logical order for the language that you are interpreting to. If you are interpreting into English, try keeping everything in subject, verb, noun order. This will help to keep everything organized and make sure that you can keep track of how the sentence is structured. It will also help to make the interpreting a little faster because you will already have the sentence in the right order.

Interpreting is a very mentally taxing job that is not easily accomplished but tricks like note taking can really help to make the job a little easier to handle and less daunting a task. However, even note taking needs practice before it can be a completely reliable tool to assist interpretation. But following these tips will help you improve your note taking and really take you to the next level of interpreting.

First, there is Statistical Machine Translation, or SMT. The best example of statistical translation is Google Translate. SMTs such as Google Translate use statistical models that draw on a large amount of bilingual text that is provided to them. Through this, they try to find statistical matches for how many times something has been translated as something. For example, if the word “apple” has been translated as “manzana” in Spanish enough times, then that becomes the SMT’s pick for the word apple. It does this for every word in the source and target language before it finally outputs a translation. SMTs can be useful for translating basic words and phrases. However, for more complex sentences, SMTs are not a good pick because they do not factor in context. This means that you can end up with some very strange sentences that do not properly reflect what is being said in the source sentence.

Next, there is the Rule-Based Machine Translation, or RBMT. As the name implies, with RBMT, the machine is translating based on the rules of grammar that it is given. It goes over the source language to analyze its grammar and then looks through the target language to see what kind of grammar rules need to be followed when translating the sentence. After it is done, it translates the sentence according to the rules that it looked up. While this might sound as if there might be fewer problems than SMTs, RBMT translations still need a great deal of proofreading to ensure that there are no problems with the text.

Third, there is the Hybrid Machine Translation, or HMT. The HMT takes elements of RBMTs and SMTs and then uses a translation memory. The addition of a translation memory makes the overall quality of the translation higher than that of SMTs and RBMTs, but there are still problems with using a HMT. For one, it still needs extensive editing, meaning that human translators will be needed to review all the translations.

The fourth, and final type of translation is Neural Machine Translation, or NMT. This type of machine translation uses neural network models that are based on the human brain to make statistical models for translation. When they work, NMTs can provide some of the most accurate translations that would need little to no editing potentially. One of NMT examples is DeepL.

Overall machine translation can be used as a tool to expedite translation, but whether it can produce clear and accurate translation for high level discussions, complex concepts, nuances and context that is still in question and requires time to advance it. This once again proves that the value of professional human translators is not replaceable just yet!

For the best results when translating, it is important to always think about the context in which the source text was written and how it might be perceived if brought to the target culture. What this means is that language and culture are always very tightly intertwined with one another, so what one language might find normal, another language might find abnormal or outright offensive. For example, in the Hopi Indian language, there is no word for time, so their understanding of time is very different from most of the world where there is a defined word and definition for time. Similarly, divorce does not have its own native word in most Indian languages, and they instead use the English word “divorce,” if they ever want to get a divorce. However, divorce rates are much lower than they might be in other places in the world, due to their culture seeing marriage as a lifetime commitment. These kinds of cultural differences is why you have to do a little research when you are translating.

Similarly, in Japan, they have adapted a lot of English words into their own language and use them on a daily basis, but if an English speaking person heard these words, they might have a different idea of what they mean. For example the word “lamp” might mean a kind of light that you might find on your desk or in the room, but in Japanese, it is used almost exclusively for indicator lights. So when you translate languages that use words that appear in the target language as well, be sure to make sure that they have the same meaning in both languages.

Another thing you should be careful of is avoiding idioms altogether if you can help it. Idioms are commonplace in any language, but there will not always be an equivalent idiom in the target language. Unless the idiom is very essential to the translation, you should try to figure out a different way of phrasing it. For example, the phrase “two birds, one stone.” There may be equivalents to this in some languages, but if the target language does not have an equivalent, then you could instead say “accomplish two things with one action” or something of the sort.

While translation can be a fairly straightforward process of just taking the source words and then convert it into the target language, it can often be much more complex than that. While fields such as technical and patent translation might encourage a more one to one translation, there are some styles, phrases, and references that just won’t translate if you adapt a one to one style. That is where some creative liberties come into play where the translator tries to find replacement words or phrases that won’t always have the exact meaning of the original, but will be able to give the same nuance or elicit the same kind of reaction as the original did in the source language.

So what do you need to know about localization? Here are some of the highlights of what you need to be aware of when you begin localization. This will mainly focus on both the language aspect of the localization process as well as the marketing strategy of localization.

The first thing is that you know who you are marketing to. Not every product perfectly appeals to everyone in the same way. Some people will be much more interested in your product and some will not. You have to thus really know who you want to focus on. The language that you use to market your product to your potential customers is also very important, and you should thus make sure that any translation that is produced is reviewed by someone who is either a native of the country, or native currently living in the country. This will ensure that they are caught up with all current trends and know what can and cannot be included to avoid any unnaturalness or offensive language.

On the topic of using a native who is currently living in the target country, it is also important to note that they will be able to help to discern any cultural taboos such as design choices (i.e. colors, placement of letters, layout of advertisements, etc).  When they are reviewing the translation, they not only provide a fresh set of eyes with which to see the translation work, but they are basically acting as if they were a consumer seeing your product for the first time in the region you are trying to expand into. This will help to provide invaluable insight into what can be improved or fixed upon and help to develop strategies for the future.

Another thing that is important to take note of is making sure that the native speaker you ultimately choose is well vetted. Some companies might outsource this to other companies that have reviewers as to avoid some of the cost of vetting and hiring, but it is important to ultimately make sure that the reviewer who is chosen is not only proficient in the language that they speak, but also that they are able to understand the goal of your company as well as its culture so that it can properly be conveyed to the new market.

These are just a few of the things to know when starting localization of a product for a new region. Even for regions with similar cultures to your own, it is important to make sure that you have a native review whatever you have before releasing it. Doing so will save you a headache and possibly a fortune in potential legal fees or redesign fees.

Detour translation
Because of the differences between two languages, a direct word-for-word translation is not always possible, and translators may have to find another way around – make a translation “detour.” For example, the source language may prefer affirmative statements (like “Staff Only” in English) while in the target language it is much more natural to use a negative statement for the same idea (like闲人免进 or “Non-staff not allowed” in Chinese). This sign could of course be translated literally, but the result would be something that is not idiomatic, natural Chinese. In situations like this, translators would use the detour strategy.

Repetition
To avoid misunderstanding and make the meaning clear, translators frequently use repetition as a technique. In English, pronouns such as “he,” “she,” “it,” etc., avoid repetition by referring to things that have already been mentioned. Chinese, however, does the opposite and usually repeats the original words rather than replace them with pronouns. For example, in translating a sentence like “George put his bag on the table, which is in the middle of the room,” a translator working into Chinese would repeat the word “table” where English replaces it with “which.” Repetition can also be crucial to preserve the style of a source text in which the author repeats specific words to create a certain effect.

Addition
To make a translation acceptable in the target language, translators may need to add more information. For example, when translating “ease the tension between the two countries” into Chinese, translators need to add the word “situation” (i.e. tense situation) to make the translation complete. A proper translation is “缓解两国之间的紧张局势.” Addition is important when translating culture-specific words or expressions because additional explanation is needed to help readers who aren’t familiar with the source culture. In a case like this, a translator may even need to provide a footnote to provide additional information without cluttering up the main text.

The ultimate goal for a translator is to translate the source text’s meaning simply and clearly. The above strategies and techniques can help produce more idiomatic translations, and are a required part of every translator’s toolkit.

Look through the translation only
It’s possible to be too “close” to your own work. Artists will say that after hours of slaving over a piece of work and still feeling unsatisfied, they have to step away for a while to give themselves some distance. Coming back later with a fresh view, they might instantly see what’s wrong and know where to put the finishing strokes. As a self-editor, translators should do the same: a few days after you’ve done a translation, come back to it and reread it as if it were originally written in the target language – that is, without looking at the source. The combination of a fresh look and reading the target text by itself can help you judge whether the translation flows well in the target language, sounds idiomatic, follows the structure of the source too closely, etc. Taking a fresh look will also help you identify errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc., which you may have missed the first time around. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can completely toss out the source as soon as the first translation draft is done, which brings us to the second suggestion.

Compare the source and target text
After reading the translation, the second step is to refer back to the source text to see if there are any meaning errors, omitted information, etc. Avoiding any meaning shifts is always on a translator’s mind, but it’s possible to make them without realizing, which is why comparing the source and target again is necessary. Editing a translation, just like translating itself, requires solid command of both languages in order to feel the subtle differences between them and tell whether the translation is a proper rendition of the source text. Be particularly attentive that terminology is translated correctly, and consistently. Make use of term bases provided by the client or agency, and don’t be afraid to ask for them if they haven’t been given.

Format checking
After making sure the content is all good, the last step is to check formatting and layout of the translation. This often may be as simple as matching font and font size, making sure that a few bold, italic, or underlined words in the source are mirrored in the target, or that a hyperlink is in the proper place. Other documents may be formatted in a more complex way, with tables and images which need to be properly recreated or inserted.

The fundamental aspect of producing a translation may be, well, translating, but skilled and careful editing is also imperative. How many authors can write a novel without ever looking at what they’ve written? Following the above three steps will provide a good basis for editing a translated work properly in order to get it ready for delivery.

However, by industry standards, they also have their own distinct professional traits. What do interpreters do that translators don’t? What does a translator need that an interpreter can do without? How different are they really on the job? Here are just a few of the things that set translators and interpreters apart from each other.

1. Work Mode
Professional translators and interpreters sometimes forget that many people outside of the industry often don’t even realize that these are two different professions. To put it as simply as possible, translators write while interpreters speak. A translator takes a text in one language and rewrites it in another language. Interpreters, on the other hand, listen to what someone says in one language and then convey it by speaking in another language.

The fundamental difference in their respective lines of work is this: a translator usually does not speak at a job, but must have excellent writing skills, with all the things this implies: perfect punctuation, spelling, grammar. A successful interpreter needs all the skills required of a good public speaker, delivering messages clearly by speaking.

Translators in general enjoy the luxury of having more time, but that also means they have to be skilled at personal time management and able to focus deeply on one thing for an extended period, whereas interpreters must be quicker on their feet, able to tune out distractions, and have strong multi-tasking skills.

2. Working Environment
Translators and interpreters have different tools in their arsenals, and work in different environments.

A modern translator is computer savvy and skilled with the leading translation software (MemoQ, Trados, Wordfast, Déjà Vu, etc). Translators often have more freedom in terms of where they can do their work, and since translation requires a great deal of focus and time, this means a comfortable space free from distraction, whether it be a home office or a space at the agency or company a translator works for.

Interpreters, by contrast, have much less personalized work areas, since they generally work in spaces that are not their own, although there are interpreters who work over the phone or through video calls from home. Interpreters in many cases also don’t own the equipment they work with: simultaneous interpretation requires microphones, audio transmission equipment, receivers, and headphones, but these are generally provided by the translation company or the client. Interpreters working in the consecutive mode have a more modest toolbox which usually includes just a pen and a notebook. Recently, tablets and digital pens with special features have been making their way into consecutive interpreters’ kits, but are not yet widespread.

3. Dealing With Pressure
Interpreters work under great pressure because what’s being said needs to be interpreted immediately, which doesn’t leave much time to think. For interpreters, time is very precious. If they spend too much time on a certain sentence or word, they run the risk of missing important information that follows.

By comparison, translators are not under immediate pressure but incremental pressure. They spend a long time refining their work and even invite others to edit and proofread it in order to ensure that the final product is as flawless as possible.