Celebrating International Translation Day 2018 On May 24, 2017, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution (Resolution 71/288, https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/71/288) declaring September 30 to be International Translation Day. “International Translation Day is meant as an opportunity to pay tribute to the work of language professionals, which plays an important role…
For regular readers of our blogs and newsletters, you know we often highlight the legal regulations that organizations should be aware of when it comes to providing translators and interpreters for clients/customers. Various federal and state laws are in place to make sure that businesses—especially those receiving government funding—meet basic requirements for providing translation services and interpreter services to people who don’t speak English well or at all (commonly referred to as LEP, or Limited English Proficiency).
Recent cases in Massachusetts underscore our point perfectly.
Willy Brandt, the former West German Chancellor, once famously said: “If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying, dann müssen sie Deutsch sprechen (then you must speak German).”
The quote underscores a point we continue to emphasize more broadly to businesses and organizations today: the most effective way to communicate with clients, consumers and your own employees is in their own language.
Despite the political rhetoric that sometimes surrounds relations between the United States and Mexico, one thing remains certain: interactions between our two countries—economically, culturally and socially—will continue to play significant roles in our mutual growth and success. Our geographic proximity and our shared interests mean we will remain active partners far into the future.
Many of our translation and interpreting clients understand this reality and come to us to strengthen their communication efforts in Spanish. This runs the gamut from entrepreneurs looking to do business in Mexico to companies and non-profits trying to better serve their Mexican customers living in the U.S. But we find a common misconception among many of our clients, and that is: Spanish translation is a one-size-fits-all proposition.
Marketing and promotional videos are more popular than ever in this age of digital media. It used to be that only big-budget businesses could afford the cost of producing a slick marketing video touting all the advantages of their products or services.
Not anymore.
Today, many organizations have their own in-house video production teams equipped with low-cost but high-quality cameras and editing software that almost anyone with a basic knowledge of computers can use. Even more appealing to cost-conscious marketing managers is the array of social media sites that feature videos produced inexpensively on mobile devices and shared easily across multiple user platforms. A study by Cisco estimates that by 2020, video will account for 75 percent of all mobile data traffic! (Our previous blog highlights more fully the impact and opportunities of video marketing.)
If you’ve looked into getting any translation or interpreting work done, you know there are plenty of words and phrases unique to the industry. To help you understand just what all of this terminology really means, we put together a brief glossary of key terms to help you out.
- Bilingual/Multilingual – The ability to communicate fluently in two or more languages. These terms would not apply to someone who is only marginally skilled at speaking another language(s).
Did you know that 90 percent of the world uses the metric system? In fact, only Myanmar (Burma), Liberia and the United States use a different form of measurement. That’s pretty amazing when you think about it. That means for virtually any translation or interpretation project that involves measurement—like length, mass, volume, area, even temperature—you need to be extra careful about how they are communicated.
In some cases, you might want the conversion to be an exact translation, but not always.
If you’re a regular reader of our newsletters and blogs, you know we like to share examples of the unique and rich languages that exist around the world. Many times a word or expression in one language doesn’t translate exactly into another one, but they reflect universal emotions or experiences. Below…
Two of the most critical parts of any translation project are accuracy and confidentiality. You want your content communicated the right way and you want it protected in the process. For medical translations, the confidentiality part takes on extra significance since it may contain sensitive patient records protected by federal…
As the world gets smaller and cultures continue to blend, sophisticated business leaders and marketers are refining the way they communicate their messages into foreign languages.
Think about how hard it is to get your message heard above the din of competing brand campaigns in your own language. Trying to do the same thing in another language is even trickier. How do you go about marketing and maintaining your brand image in another country? How do you ensure that the essence of your brand will resonate with customers in foreign markets? Companies spend plenty of time and money trying to figure that out.
That’s where transcreation can help.