translation and proofreading services

translation and proofreading services

The Importance of Translation and Proofreading Services

1. Introduction

As the world becomes smaller, the need for translation grows. Translation today is no longer the sole preserve of routers, being tasked with enabling connectivity and communication between systems, as it is increasingly becoming a service that is much in demand in many different fields. Given that the world speaks so many different languages, it is easy to see why this is the case. If you want to sell anything or share your work, be it art, music, an invention, a technological concept, a book, or a written document, then you have to either speak like the locals or translate what you have into the native language of the people to whom you are selling or sharing. Even in a country like South Africa where you have 11 official languages, you often find that documents, mostly initiated in English, get translated into several languages so they meet the legal requirements for making important decisions, such as contracts, education, health-related scenarios, and so on.

If you were manufacturing and selling products in a country where the language was not your own, you’d be quite limited in the number of potential buyers who could comprehend the product descriptions and instructions. The world is a big place, comprising an estimated 7 billion people today, speaking up to 7,500 languages that boast at least one speaker. This is why translation and proofreading services are critical to business today. The world has morphed into a global village where communication has no boundaries. The demand is on the rise for translation services given the fact that the world is organizing more events and exchanging more documents due to the digital technology available at the moment. The internet has made this more significant as commercial, entertainment, and educational information is available to all who inquire about it.

2. Benefits of Translation Services

At an individual level, some of the benefits of language services include employment creation and export earnings, while at an institutional level, translators are taking on greater ambassadorial roles and contributing to corporate social responsibility initiatives. For the general public, the benefits include effective decision-making, poverty alleviation, political and cultural awareness, entertainment, as well as purity of the languages. Internationally, the significance of translation and proofreading services is compounded by the fact that translation fosters the sharing of knowledge and encourages dialogue. It is for this reason also that the International Federation of Translators (FIT) – which is the leading interlocutor at the international level represented in 250,000 translator and interpreter associations in 55 Member Associations and supporting organizations – last held a meeting of this magnitude in South Africa in 1976, and now we are welcoming the Secretary General of FIT to our country.

We exist in a world that is becoming more interlinked and increasingly global. This means there will be a growing need for those working in language services to participate in ongoing, meaningful discussions, partly to educate the general public but also for professional development and expansion of the discipline. This article discusses translation and proofreading services, both of which are important in a multilingual and multicultural society. Machines, humans, and proofreading might be interrelated, but not synonymous. In the field of translation, the meaning of the word “translation” is only growing in significance, and so is the status of translation and proofreading services. When translation has lost its value, it has also lost its place.

3. The Role of Proofreading in Effective Communication

This is indeed the key to effective communication: clear, understandable, and convincing messages. Accurate language use is essential, not only for giving the right definition of the word but also when you want to convince others that you mean what you say. If you get the language wrong, you run the risk of alienating your audience. Words have a powerful impact only when their message is clear and the manner in which they are used is subtle. Committing material to paper can speak volumes about an individual or team: if spelling mistakes and errors litter your material, you will be immediately pegged as someone who can’t pay attention to detail – and will be treated accordingly.

The three-step process – translation, editing, and proofreading – is a failsafe method for consistent and accurate communications because a message can lose its impact if translated incorrectly. Proofreading is one thing that can be really underestimated when it comes to effective communication. As Maggie Adkins, Commissioner of the American Baseball League, points out: “Good communication is as stimulating as coffee. And just as hard sometimes. Truly effective communication requires a wide range of skills. You must put your message across in a clear, understandable, and convincing way.”

4. Choosing the Right Translation and Proofreading Service

When choosing a translation service, you should ensure that all the employees involved in your project are trained and qualified in their field. If they are translation graduates, they should have attended professional translation training before they applied for a job with the company. Their team should consist of native speakers, who are preferably based in your target country. A good translation agency will offer a highly personalized and focused service, providing specialists in virtually all areas of life. For instance, a finance translation would say that translating and editing financial content for a public audience would require a financial background, a detailed understanding of the finance issues with appropriate references (and not just experience, although that is very useful), they would review the figures, be familiar with the issue, and be in contact with the client if they cannot prove it.

There is a plethora of different translation and proofreading services, which mostly makes it more difficult to choose one that would suit all your translation and proofreading needs. Even people who have experience with translation services can still make mistakes, such as forgetting that you may get more out of your money. Do not let it stop you from getting proper translation and proofreading services. The advantages of using a translation and proofreading agency, as well as freelance translators, are that they pay more attention to the brief, they are more responsive in meetings, they offer more opportunities for discussing the style, and they consider the audience. If you have no idea where to start from, you can look at those translation and proofreading services which have websites to see if they are willing to provide you with useful tools and resources that can make the process simple.

5. Conclusion

Making better use of this vital resource involves a new way of thinking within companies and organizations that can have a significant effect on how knowledge is disseminated internally. With over a third of international organizations operating globally expecting to expand their operations in 2020, there is no doubt that translation and interpreting services will continue to be instrumental in the activities and growth of these organizations. Tools, understanding, and the adaptation of impactful use cases in these powerful occasions need to be developed to better understand the dynamics of the workforce, as worldwide business culture and the reputation of international nations continue to converge with the increased usage of professional translators and interpreters.

Given the prevalence and significance of translation and interpreting in business and the global economy today, it is important that companies and the government understand what translation does and how to use their resources most effectively to achieve the highest possible standard of communication. Despite the potential of technology to facilitate easier communication, with each iteration of technology and development, humanity, entities, the environment, and businesses are having to cope with more streamlined methods of communication than older technologies. Enhancing technology in a way that preserves human value systems has never been so important.