Monterey Language Services' Blog » translation review

Localizing Material for a Different Country

Ana — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 21:31:46 +0000

If you are thinking about expanding your business to a different region, most likely it will take a lot of work, and it isn’t always as easy as just translating your content to the target region’s language. There are many more steps that go into this before one can successfully gain a foothold in the new region, and one of the major things is to make sure you have a good grasp on is localization. While still a relatively new field, localization helps to ensure that when you expand to a new market, your product, marketing, social media, etc. have nothing that would negatively impact your brand’s image.

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.

Translation Services – Doing the job right the first time

Ana — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 01:46:24 +0000

At Monterey Language Services, we do the job right the first time! Our customers can depend on us to deliver a high-quality translation from the beginning. Our goal is this: Our customers will not need to have it reviewed and sent back to be corrected even once.

To assure this, we have developed a rigorous management process, starting with choosing the best translators from our translator database. We always select translators with the subject matter knowledge and experience necessary for the project at hand, using translators who specialize in marketing for marketing translations, medical translators for medical translations, legal translators for legal translations, and technical translators for technical translations.

Using translators unsuited to the subject matter leads to mistakes, and it is the most common problem in translation projects. That is why selecting the right translators is a fundamentally important step in our process.

We don’t rely on just a handful of translators. We have a huge database and network of linguists, many of them accredited and certified, and we are continually expanding it, always looking for the best translation professionals in their fields. We start by screening our translators and testing them to make sure they are able to perform to our standards. We also build and maintain a professional working relationship with them, to make sure they understand our standards and our clients’ needs.

Even after the translation is complete, we further review our translators’ work to make sure they meet our quality requirements. We find, isolate, verify and resolve any issues. With the multi-stage quality assurance process, which uses at least two linguists for every translation, followed by an extra round of QA and Verification, we ensure that no mistakes slip past us into the final product.

Doing the job right the first time is utterly important. It saves time and avoids extra cost. Best yet, it helps our clients increase communication success and business growth. This is our mission every day and we are loving it!

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to contact us for a quote.

Chinese to English Translation

Ringo — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:30:52 +0000

I recently received a translation assignment, which consisted of only one sentence. The assignment came from a Chinese restaurant owner, who gave me a picture with the sentence in it. Many customers, including English and Spanish speakers, always asked her about the meaning of that sentence. My first reaction was, “This should be a piece of cake!” However, the assignment turned out to be a fulfilling learning experience.Because I followed the Chinese sentence structure very closely, my initial translation was a little confusing to some native English speakers. This raised a very interesting question: can Chinese be translated word for word? The answer seemed to be negative, as Chinese and English have very different syntaxes. One sensible approach is to understand the meaning first. However, even with the understanding of the Chinese text, searching for the perfect English equivalent will require time and patience.And then it all became clear to me. Only through meticulous analysis and review, a quality translation can be produced. Quality lies in every single word that I chose to use — even if it means going over the minutest details. It was an assignment with only one sentence, but it gave me a priceless lesson on the value of quality. ~ By Ringo Li

Chinese Sentence:
当然知道人生高高低低起伏不定. 但为什么总在我最最低潮时, 才愿意真正相信这句话呢？English Translation:
I know well enough that life has its ups and downs and is constantly changing, but why when I am depressed is when I truly realize this?Spanish Translation:
Sé bien que la vida tiene sus altibajos y cambia constantemente, pero ¿por qué cuando me encuentro deprimido es cuando realmente me doy cuenta de ello?

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to contact us for more information.