It is widely believed that knowledge of a second language is sufficient to be a translator and work for a shanghai translation company. In fact, some people think that no other skills are required to translate any type of document. Therefore, many people tend to downplay the value and efforts of these linguists. In this article, we’ll look at the five most common pitfalls you should avoid.
1.master a foreign language can become a translator? No!
Mastering a foreign language simply means that you have a good understanding of both languages. However, translation is not carried out word by word. On the contrary, translation means having a deep understanding of the text in the source language and knowing how to choose the best words and expressions to accurately convey the information in the target language. Not all bilinguals can do this.
2. machine translation can replace manual translation? No!
Translation tools on the market today are far from providing reliable and good translation. Because they only translate completely independent sentences, they cannot understand the different meanings that words can have. Therefore, translated texts often end up being incomprehensible words one after another. In addition, the translation machine is completely unaware of the possible differences between the word order in the source language and the target language.
3. Is proofreading cheaper to translate? No!
It is very common to find translation clients or agencies that require proofreading and editing by a machine or a person who does not fully understand the source and target languages. What customers don’t know, editing this translation usually means re-translating the entire document almost from scratch, which means that the payment will be higher than the regular proofreading fee.
4. Can a translator translate 2000 words an hour? No!
On average, professional and experienced translators translate about 250 to 500 words per hour, so it takes 10 to 20 hours to work on a 5000-word document. Needless to say, if you hire a professional shanghai translation company, a group of translators can process the text at the same time in order to prepare for translation earlier. However, you should always keep in mind that if you expect a high quality translation, you will definitely need to allow enough time to complete the translation.
5. Is there only one expression of the translation that is correct? No!
Different translators translate the same sentence in different ways, all of which are correct. Translation is a language but not a science, so there is no unique and correct way to convey a concept in different languages. However, some translations are more appropriate for the context or more in line with the target audience. That’s why you should always try to hire a translator who is familiar with the industry and target audience involved in the document.
