When translating from English to Spanish for business purposes, it is essential that the translators used for this Spanish translation be familiar with customary business language!
You may be surprised to learn that many freelance Spanish translators don’t come from a business background. Consequently, they may not be familiar with nuances and style conventions in commercial correspondence. When this is the case, you run the risk of receiving translations that can be overly literal, stilted, or be written in an excessively informal tone.
A professional translation agency uses teams of qualified linguists who have been tested for their knowledge of contemporary style conventions—including business language in both English and Spanish. Experienced translators know whether a given bit of jargon or business idiom should be translated, stay in English, or be substituted by some equivalent expression in the target language.
Business Spanish tends to be slightly more formal than contemporary English correspondence; for example, going to greater lengths to make requests sound less like commands. Greetings and closings also tend to be somewhat more formal, even slightly old-fashioned sounding when they are literally translated back to English. In short, there are style conventions, just as in any other language—and no matter how strong a person’s linguistic qualifications, these are no substitute for real-life experience with modern business correspondence.
Be sure to work with qualified, professional translators, whose field of expertise includes business as well as your particular technical field.
ASIST Translation Services, Inc. is a full-service translation agency located in Columbus, Ohio. We provide translation, interpreting, proofreading, voice recording and media production, localization of interactive and Web content, and specialized language services to clients around the world.
