1. Always obtain translations at the lowest cost.  After all, translations are just another commodity, not much different from paper clips or pencils.  Since one translation is just about as good as another, why pay any more than you have to?  Management undoubtedly appreciates your careful use of the company’s money.
2. Set short deadlines.  Since translation is largely a mechanical operation, merely requiring the translator to read a text in one language and type it into the computer in another and you could actually just run it through a program available free on the Internet, the preparation of a translation should not require much more time than a retyping job. Two days should be more than enough for all but the most lengthy assignments.
3. Do not provide the translator with the best available copy of the original.  If you have an original and copies that had been faxed back and forth, send the last faxed copy with hand corrections, preferably one that has already slightly faded and definitely one from a roll-fed fax that curls nicely.  If you want to do particularly well, make another photocopy of it and then refax it after your copier and your fax have both indicated that they need new toner.  E-mailing or good reproduction quality is an unnecessary frill. The translator will be able to figure out any blurred words or lines from the context. This applies particularly to Chinese and Japanese texts. After all, how important can these funny little squiggles be? If you are having your secretary retype a copy of the foreign text, tell her not to fuss with accents or other diacritical marks — just another frill.
4. Or best yet, have your typist keyboard the foreign language copy or scan it into the computer. Then run it through one of those free electronic translation programs on the Internet. When done, send it to the translator to “look over quickly” because “it sounds a bit foreign.”  When the translator refuses the job, you have a great reason to complain to your wife, friends, and colleagues.
5. Send the translator only those parts of the original work that require translation.  Many documents (particularly patents) include drawings or other figures that require no translation.  There is therefore no point in burdening the translator with such unnecessary material.  By not having to send such items back and forth, both of you will time and maybe even money. This also applies to English abstracts or summaries and to bibliographies. Of what interest could they possibly be to the translator?
6. If you have any related English or foreign language material, keep it to yourself. Many times you may have in your files a closely related article in English, or an equivalent English-language patent.  Since the translator is already being paid more for his services than he is worth, why make his work any easier?
7. If copy is typeset, make sure the translator’s diskette or e-mailed copy is never used and assure that everything is carefully rekeyboarded. Then send the translator white on black copy in a 5-point font for proofreading. This will sharpen the translator’s acuity and gives you the right to complain, if a lower case a is read for a lower case e, and a missing accent is overlooked.
8. Don’t ever buy the Russian or Japanese computer program and do expect the translator to supply you the program illegally for free so you can read the job and, in fact, best ask him or her to come over to your office to install it on your computer (if in the same town) or help you do so hanging on the phone for a few hours giving you explanations.
9. Demand photocopies by mail of all translations. You will undoubtedly need an extra copy for your files and several others for persons in your department. Also have the translator send copies to your agents overseas for review, as well as to the ad agency. Of course, you have ready access to copying equipment with a sorter and e-mail and all kinds of other gadgetry and could easily send out your own copies.
10. However, having to sort and staple copies as well as the original and running out to buy a sturdy envelope big enough to fit the stack will remind the translator that he is your servant.  In fact, he should really be grateful to you for your help in keeping up his office skills.  Besides, the overseas faxes will keep the translator from billing you right away or, if he does, he will not be able to bill you for the overseas faxes because he does not have the telephone bills.
11. Supply only negative feedback to the translator.  Be sure to let the translator know promptly and at great length, whenever there is a (supposed) minor typo in his translations.  If on the other hand, the ultimate user of the translation tells you how well it was done, consider this as a compliment to you, on your skill in selecting the right person for doing the job.  Do not, under any circumstances, transmit favorable comments to the translator.  They will only swell his head and may even tempt him to ask for more money in the future.
12. Whenever possible, split up longer jobs among several translators. This will ensure a refreshing variety of styles and will also prevent the monotony of seeing the same terms always translated in the same way, which is a particular danger in patents or other scientific or technical texts.
13. Rotate your translators.  Just because a particular translator has given you prompt and good service over the years, this does not mean that you are under any obligation to him.  There is always the danger that he will become dependent on you and will come to take you for granted.  By all means, shop around as much as possible every time.  Try out all translators whose solicitations you receive, particularly if there is a chance that they may be able to save you a little money.  This applies particularly to translators living in foreign countries or at least out of state. Although English is not their native language, they have undoubtedly studied it well and will be able to produce just as readable, accurate, and idiomatic a translation as any translator in this country would. And since they are far away, they are not going to waste your time by calling for the clarification of incomprehensibly misspelled words.
14. Take your time in paying for translation work.  Although you will frequently — if not always — need to have translations done in a hurry, and will expect the translator to meet any deadline you set, the same sense of urgency does not apply to paying for his services.  It is only good policy to delay your payments as long as you can.  Even three months is none too soon for payment when the invoice says “payable immediately, or in 10 or 30 days.

The above guidelines are by no means complete but should ensure that the quality of the translations you receive will rapidly drop to the same low level as that enjoyed by your friends.  To make sure that the quality will drop even lower, even stronger measures may occasionally be required but free Internet translations are almost sure to help you with that.

A User’s Guide to Inferior Translations
by Kurt Gingold
1962 – 1999

Larger multinationals in particular are now starting to select their translators with as much care as other professionals. However very few companies could actually claim to have a well-defined and documented translation policy.

Sadly there is still a school of people who think of translators as talking-typing-dictionaries on legs. When they need something translated into a foreign language, they get their secretaries to grab hold of the Yellow Pages and find someone cheap, cheerful, and above all available to do a last-minute rush job.

Yet as industry and commerce grow increasingly  international, multilingual documentation is becoming too important to be left to  the mercy of this Ahit and miss@ approach. In cross-border trade, it is vital to ensure a consistency of terminology in different languages, as well as the  use of vocabulary and phraseology that balances an overall international corporate style with  local custom and practice.

The best translators are gradually becoming central figures in  modern companies, either as in-house staff or external consultants. They are expected to take on an increasingly broader role  in information gathering, multi-lingual technical writing and general copy writing and often to act as editors of sales material and manuals, adapting them for overseas markets where necessary.

Therefore translators nowadays come from a range of professional and technical backgrounds and do not necessarily have an academic background in languages. For many jobs, you will need to employ a translation firm that has a full range of languages at its disposal and the technical facilities to provide, for example, camera-ready artwork in a particular language (an essential requirement if you are producing printed material in several languages).

It is extremely difficult to assess the quality of a translator if you don’t speak or read the language yourself. We have all laughed at the extraordinary pidgin English used in the instruction manuals that come with many foreign-made products and wonder how manufacturers could be so slipshod in their translations. What many UK companies do not realise is that their own foreign language texts can seem equally bizarre to customers overseas.

This is all the stranger because many companies now consider the written  word as an essential part of their corporate identity. Clearly a comprehensive style book is a vital tool for your translator. This should contain  accepted terminology, permitted  and forbidden jargon, and phrases to be avoided in specific contexts because they  give  politically incorrect signals (eg some UK companies persist in making a distinction between the UK and “Continental Europe” which makes other European countries seem to be peculiar places at the very margins of the universe!)

The secret of a good approach to meeting your translation requirements is to plan ahead, even if it may not always be possible to predict when you might need a translator’s services. If you are likely to have extensive requirements in a particular language, you might also consider employing someone in-house.

As a starting point, you have to decide what languages you may need to work into and out of and the likely level of technical complexity. Thus, for example, if you are a manufacturer of computer software, you should locate a translator who is constantly immersed in an IT environment in your target language. Similarly, translation of legal  documentation needs specialised knowledge and someone who normally translates literature for a living may not be your best bet for  this purpose.

Many companies still engage translators for vital jobs without checking whether they are really  up to it. In a sense it is a bit like taking your car into an unknown garage when you don’t know one end of an engine from the other – you then have no choice but to rely on the integrity and skill of the mechanic.

Don’t confuse translators and interpreters. Interpreters are experts in simultaneous or consecutive oral translation, while translators specialise in the written word. These are different skills and are by  no means always interchangeable. Professional translators normally  translate only into their mother tongue. Thus, for instance, your text into German should be translated by a native German, while texts out of Russian and French into English should be handled by someone who was born or at least educated in the United Kingdom or an English-speaking country.

You are also strongly advised to conduct a systematic search for the right translators based on the following step-by-step guidelines:

1. Contact the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, which maintains a database and publishes a directory of members, subdivided into language and subject specialities. The ITI is the principal body in the UK representing professional translators and interpreters. It has individual members all over the world and many corporate members including some of the major industrial and manufacturing firms and financial institutions. It promotes high standards of professionalism through training, conferences, seminars and publications, and operates a rigorous code of professional conduct.

2. If you are a small or medium-sized business, you may be eligible for a language consultancy grant under the DTI’s recently launched National Language for Export Campaign (LEXUS). The Government will pay for up to three and a half days’ professional language advice from an approved list of language experts.

3. Decide whether you need a translation for information purposes only or for publication, and allocate your budget accordingly. Generally speaking, “communicative” translations, where the original  author’s words are adapted, say, to meet the needs of a promotional brochure for a given overseas readership, are more expensive than “semantic translations” which should be as close to the original, as possible – as, for example with  a legal document. Remember, however, that appropriate expertise should be more important than cost. For example, in the high powered world of mergers and acquisitions, strictly confidential documents often need to be translated at the last minute. Unless the translator is thoroughly au fait with this type of work, it may be necessary to assign key negotiators to polish up the translated document, which can be both time consuming and very expensive.

4. Ask potential translators, whether freelance, translation companies or possible in-house employees, for references and ask  for samples of the work they have already done – supplying both source and target texts. Get your potential translator to do a half-page sample text for which you should offer to pay. Again, show the work to a native-speaking colleague, client or contact who is as “language sensitive” as possible – ie, if your contact is barely literate in his own language or not a good writer, his opinion won’t be worth a great deal!

5. Ask your overseas offices to look out for good examples of translations in a relevant field and track down the translator if  possible.

6. Start to prepare a corporate style book and glossary of terms, departments and job titles in English, and seek foreign-language equivalents. Ensure that your technical department thoroughly vets the glossary and that the foreign-language equivalents agreed are not just word-for-word translations but actually have the same meaning. Also make sure your product name doesn’t have an entirely unintended meaning in another language – for example the now defunct brand of French orangeade called Pschitt!

7. Remember it is horses for courses. Sometimes a freelancer will serve your purposes best. At other times, you will need the range of facilities only a company can provide. However if you  use a translation company, try to get a written undertaking that the same translator who did the trial exercise will be used for future work.

8. Be prepared to liaise with your translator and provide background documents in both source and target languages and make sure he or she is given as much background briefing material as possible, including drawings and photographs where relevant. Keep in regular contact through the use of fax and e-mail to ensure a good result and, if necessary, ask  for a meeting if the job is of a substantial or complicated nature. Always run proofs past the translator before going to press. This is a safety net that takes little time and can avoid expensive mistakes. If you are producing annual reports, offer documents or other high profile publications, several meetings may be necessary because on the ball translators will inevitably have questions about intended nuances and  they may well identify weak points in the source text and identify cross-cultural pitfalls. For example, if you are producing a  document for use in Spain, it may be wise to refer to “autonomous  communities” rather than “regions” so as not to injure the sensibilities of the Catalans or Basques.

Perhaps the self-effacing nature of most translators has kept them generally out of the limelight. But in a world where trade barriers are disappearing, while people tenaciously cling on to a myriad of different tongues, a good translator is vital if the wheels of commerce are to keep turning.

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While out shopping, almost everyone has seen an interesting product, turned the box over to read the description, or even purchased the item, only to discover that the manual containing the instructions for use, maintenance and safety contained barely coherent information. Although the gist may come across, such lack of quality hurts longevity and perceived reliability of the brand name, because it breeds doubt or mistrust in the product itself.

That’s where we as translators and interpreters come into play. It is our job to ensure that your overseas or US Hispanic customers and all their clients receive an accurate translation without any confusing jumbles of words and misnomers that are common in inadequately translated information. Translation quality boosts the effectiveness of the brand name, thereby enhancing product sales as the customer equates the brand purchased with quality through the information and instructions included with it.

Both you and your clients can rely on Transimpex to provide the Quality of Service, Efficiency and Expediency that is necessary to bridge language gaps. The quality of our outstanding translations and our interpreting services, as demonstrated throughout our almost five decades in foreign language communications, ensures that customer and brand are accurately portrayed in all brochures, labels, package inserts, videos, and legal documents that use our translated English or foreign words to help distinguish your business.