Present a Professional Image!

Show your clients that you Care!

Use a professional translator!

          
        Universal ASCII codes
hold down alt key &
with num lock depressed
use these codes in any program

It has often been said that translation is both a science and an art.In order to translate and interpret the intended meaning of the writer or speaker the end result should make sense and convey the message correctly.A professional translation should read as if the author had written it.Good translators need to be knowledgable in a wide area of subjects besides having excellent writing skills.Many translators specialize in  medicine, law, technical areas and literary documents to mention a few. Translators have their own libraries and must continually read and study in order to keep abreast of any major trends or changes in their language groups.

If there are so many bi-linguals living in the United States why are we seeing poor translations? Although many bi-linguals may speak their mother tongue at home, this does not mean that they are automatically capable of translating into a standard text ,appropriate for an audience that does not speak English.Often managers assign translation projects to technical and /or administrative employees unaware that, 1) their languageof habitual use is English and 2) that they have not been educated in the literary form of either the target or source language.The final result may need to be edited or worse yet, left in an embarrassingly incorrect and incomprehensible state.If caught in time the editing of these translations can often delay a project or cause overruns in costs. Many times the editing process turns into a retranslation due to the translators' inability to decipher the meaning and therefore they must return to the source language.Colloquial speech, slang and anglicisms (Spanglish) are not appropriate for use in business.A standard exists in all languages and should be adhered to.If the person doing the translation has never received advanced instruction in a language, read any literature nor written in that language and their conversation is at an elementary school level, the written work that they produce is not always comprehensible.In some cases the grammar may be correct but the usage is not the best due to the literal translation of the document.

Have you ever read subtitles while viewing a foreign language movie and noticed that often there is a textual difference? A good translation is not always a literal word for word rendition.

Interpretation which is often mistakingly called translation, should only be attempted by a person completely comfortable in both languages.It is often thought that a word by word rendition is needed in order to insure accuracy.On the contrary ,different syntactic rules and semantics often require an interpreter to wait until the speaker has finished a sentence in order to intrepret.Semantic differences also create confusion as well as the lack of education in a language.The work is stressful and often difficult.Often a correct Spanish standard translation is not understood by a Spanish speaker living in the U.S. because they are accostumed to mixing both languages.The unfortunate resulting confusion for someone who does speak both languages fluently can be quite disconcerting.

Another common mistake that people make when using an interpreter is
the "tell him/her" or "ask" syndrome. A interpreter is an instrument and will use the subject pronoun of the speaker.In other words you should Just speak and the interpreter repeats what you have said in the target language. A professional interpreter does not interject any additional comment, although it may seem that way to observers.Of course it is a great help to give the interpreter time to finish before speaking again.Remember interpreters that are working in both directions have double work, with the exception of very high level meetings, such as in the State Department or Executive branch of governments.In these cases an interpreter only works in one direction, so that each speaker has their own interpreter.

If you should have the opportunity to work with an interpreter please keep in mind that we are professionals and it has taken us many years of study to obtain the level of knowledge that is required to render an accurate translation or intrepretaion for you.

Please send any comments or questions that you may have via e-mail.