Ecommerce Website Translating - What Should You Do?

In reality, many businesses wish they could depend on their home market to make a living but the world has changed and customers are now seeking the best deal when it comes to the purchasing of products. If your business’s prices are too high or your quality has failed the test customers will be searching through electronic resources to find what they are looking. This means to remain viable you will have to follow your customers’ trends and go global too.

The first obstacle you will encounter is language. It’s simply not feasible to market your products solely in your mother tongue as potential foreign language customers prefer to read product descriptions and reviews in their own language otherwise the product is ignored. Research has indicated that localising your website content and any other online advertising material by translating it into the languages of your customers will inevitably increase your sales. Along with this is that an online presence in several languages gives your product credibility. 

Things you should do

Create part of your business content that feels comfortable in many different languages. Once you have selected that you should get it translated into the main languages of your potential customers by using a NAATI translation service a quality translation business that covers translations of all the key languages and more. These translators have achieved a high status as reliable and accurate translators through the NAATI accreditation process.

To help your translators achieve the best goal possible for your business you should compile a style guide of the types of words and phrases that your company is known for. The length of sentences in product descriptions, the types of vocabulary you like to use are all part of your style guide. You can also create a glossary of terms your business uses depending of course on the industry your products cater for. The hardware industry has its own bank of terms as does the hoe industry. Providing this helps your translator provide the best possible translation for your foreign language customers. McDonald has made a name for itself globally through localisation and you can too.

Professional translation services in Australia are leading NAATI accredited translation agencies and are ready to meet your global translation requirements today.

Why Candidates Fail NAATI Translation and Interpreting Exams

NAATI carries out testing for translators and interpreters in both Australia and New Zealand. When someone passes the NAATI professional interpreter or translator examination he or she can then file an application to become a full member of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT) or New Zealand Society of Translators and Interpreters (NZSTI) and if the NAATI paraprofessional examination has been passed, affiliate status of AUSIT and NZSTI is available.

At the moment the examinations are completed using pen and paper but a keyboard is being considered as an option. Interpreting tests are pre-recorded. All the tests have a part on ethics for both interpreters and translators.

How are the NAATI tests marked?

Two markers are responsible for marking each test. If there is any noticeable discrepancy between the two markers a third marker is brought in to assess the discrepancies. The test solutions are based on responses that are considered acceptable not fixed answers or what the marker would have written but accuracy is strongly emphasised. The language quality is evaluated on how accurate it is. 

What causes NAATI test failure?

Unfortunately the pass rate is not high, at only 10-15%. This is due mainly to candidates sitting the examination being not fully prepared for it. Some simply sit the test to get migration points to qualify for entry to Australia and many really believe that only a certain level of bilingualism is required to pass the test.

The NAATI translation examination is sat by candidates who lack proficiency in their second language. Often, when translating text from their second language to their first language they fail to understand the text sufficiently enough to conduct a satisfactory translation that will enable them to pass the examination. Some exam takers encounter technique problems too so they don’t use words appropriately when translating.

Candidates sitting the NAATI interpreters test fail because of poor listening skills and so are not able to translate fast enough between the two languages. Poor vocabulary knowledge is a problem too particularly when translating in the legal and medical areas. 

To put it simply If you are planning to sit the NAATI translation examination you should begin to prepare early and that means packing in as much practice as you can before the examination date. You must ensure a great deal of proficiency in your second language and that means being able to handle highly complex specialised areas. You will be rewarded when you pass as professional translation services are always on the lookout for those who have passed the NAATI translator’s exam.

Why is a Good Translation Project Manager so Important?

One of the most frequent questions that a certified translation services agency is asked by a prospective new client, especially one that has a lot of potential business with the agency is about the project manager. This is a good question for any client to ask because there is a strong correlation between a great project manager and a good quality translation product. So what exactly does a project manager do and why are they so important to the efficiency and optimum output of the translation agency?

The translation process is a multi step operation and several factors make it a success. There are the translators themselves, the proofreaders, the software and the computer technology which nowadays is used so frequently in any extensive translation project. But the person who oversees the whole process is the translation project manager and he or she has to be a successful multi-tasker, a great communicator, constantly flexible as well as being a positive motivator and an effective organiser. That’s a pretty full list!

Every document translation services project manager has to cope with multiple tasks. They help out their translators, assist in developing translation processes, manage multiple projects in several different languages and often do all of the above every single day.

The project manager must be able to communicate effectively with both the client and the different members of their translation team, making sure that deadlines are understood and meant and that translation outcomes meet expectations.

There are often no hard and fast rules with translation tasks and project managers find they have to be flexible and adaptable so they can manage the time constraints, office staff needs and client demands.

Translation work can be stressful and it takes a great project manager to overcome all the little difficulties that present ongoing challenges. This requires a positive outlook which will also help to motivate the other members of the translation team.

Good project managers must be well organised, dealing with schedules and timelines, budgeting and editing. If a project manager fails in being a good organiser, projects fail to meet deadlines, delays are then inevitable and clients become disillusioned and frustrated.

Translation Errors Can be World Shakingly Important

One would hope that professional translation services in Australia know their languages so well that errors just don’t happen or at least the proofreader spots the errors in time before they get passed on to the client. Translation errors have happened frequently throughout history and in many cases, they have just caused minor confusion or even mirth, but occasionally they have been very serious omissions. If you are looking for a professional translator in Australia, it’s always worth making sure you use a NAATI translation provider. NAATI is the Australian national accreditation authority for translators and interpreters.

Some of the best known translation errors get passed around time and time again. Some of them continue to amuse but others are a chilling reminder of the importance of getting translation or interpreting right.

In the ‘serious’ category are the well known Miami hospital story of a Cuban man, Willie Ramirez, who was taken to hospital in a coma. His relatives couldn’t speak good enough English to explain what they thought was the problem, so a bilingual hospital worker was used to do the translation. The family said that Willie was intoxicado, meaning, in Spanish, that he was suffering from some type of food poisoning. The amateur translator mistook the word as being intoxicated and that’s how the hospital treated him, or more exactly, didn’t treat him, until it was too late. Willie ended up being paralysed because of the translation mistake and later successfully sued the hospital for damages to the tune of over 70 million dollars.

Another commonly quoted mistranslation was a phrase used by Russia’s Nikita Khruschev in the Soviet era cold war period. The Russian president was translated as saying that the Russians would ‘bury’ the Americans. It was enough for the U.S. military to prepare themselves for the worst: nuclear war. In fact, Khruschev was merely bluffing. His Russian, if it had been translated by a more professional translator, would have shown that he was only telling the Americans that the Russians would be still around to see the Americans ‘buried’, i.e. they would outlive them. 

Of course, not all translation errors are quite so serious. There are the funny ones, too. The U.S. President Jimmy Carter took on a rather poor Polish translator when he visited Poland in 1977. Of the many translation errors during that visit, one message he had for the Poles was that he had ‘abandoned’ his own country. He actually meant that he had left his country on a visit. He then told his hosts that he understood their ‘lusts’, actually meaning their desire for a better future!

And then, of course, there is the old KFC slogan mistranslation which keeps on being retold. That’s when ‘finger lickin’ chicken’ was translated into Chinese as ‘eat your fingers’. Fortunately, most Chinese saw the translation error for what it was and avoided ending up fingerless!

How Does the Final Translation Product Depend on the Original Version?

If you think that your translated documents are not really up to scratch after they have arrived back from a professional translation services agency should you blame the translator or was your original document or documents to blame?

Translation is a sequential process and there are several steps involved. If there is a weakness in any of the individual steps, then the translation product will not be 100%.

When you submit a document or upload it onto a translation services in Australia website, then the skills of the translator are obviously very important. How experienced is the translator and how knowledgeable are they when it comes to the sort of document that you have submitted? Some documents are highly technical and the vocabulary can be very specific. Does the translator understand what the document is trying to say if there are idiomatic expressions in it? How well did the translation agency do the editing and proofreading after translation?

Assuming that all these steps were efficient and thorough then maybe you should take a look at the type of document that you are submitting. The quality of the original document can certainly influence the final outcome and if the original is poor or hard to decipher, then it’s likely that the translator will have a hard job doing a good job.

Some of the ways that you can ensure that you have made the translator’s task easier are given below.

1.Proofread the original document carefully and make sure there are no grammar errors in it and it makes sense. Any grammatical errors or lack of clarity will probably be converted into poor grammar and lack of clarity in the target language.

2.Try and avoid submitting a pdf version of the document. Pdfs are fine for what they are intended to be used for, but are often hard to modify (that’s the intention, of course!) Use an editable version of a document like Word. It’s not only quicker and easier for the translator, but will mean that mistakes inherent in the conversion process are not going to occur.

3.If you expect to depend on a lot of translations, it may be useful to compile a glossary, especially if your documents are very technical. You will find that a good professional translation services provider will appreciate an accompanying glossary. If you do a lot of work together it is something that can be digitised and expanded. This makes it easier for any member of your staff and any translator in the same translation agency to work with the documents you submit.