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.
When it comes to translating measurements, first consider how precise you need to be. For example, when warning consumers to store a gas cylinder at least “three feet” away from an open flame, you probably would not want to use a literal translation. Three feet actually equates to “0.9144 meters,” so in this instance, rounding off to say “one meter” would be acceptable. Those few tenths of a millimeter won’t matter in this situation, and the smooth flow of your copy will be preserved.
On the other hand, measurement units for tools and machinery need to be very specific. Wrench, nut and bolt sizes are a common example, and we frequently see this mishandled in amateur translations. When a 5/8” wrench is required, that’s exactly what must be communicated in any language. Specifying only 1.5875 cm (or much worse, rounding it to 1.6 cm) leaves the user not knowing which tool is required, or possibly stripping the nut because of a misleading conversion in the translation!
All of this is relative to the scale, and the significant digits in the original measurement. When providing high-altitude recipes for cookie batter at 3,000, 5,000 and 7,000 feet, it doesn’t make things any “clearer” to the audience if you specify 914.4, 1,524 and 2,133.6 meters in your French translation. On other hand, when a component is only several centimeters long in the first place, fractions of a millimeter can often be very important.
Sometimes you might want to include both English and metric measurements—either to ensure that units used in the original situation or component are retained, or to provide approximations that help your audience get a sense of the sizes, weights or distances involved. In translation, as a general rule the common measurement units of the target language appear first, followed by the original equivalent (within parentheses, for example). Again, the translation team must have sufficient knowledge of the subject matter—and common sense—to know when a word like “approximately” is called for, and the appropriate level of precision for each conversion.
However, there are exceptions to this default order, like the wrench example cited in the previous section, or where the product itself is supplied in English units—spools of cable in lengths of 100, 500 and 1000 feet, for instance. When documents are directed towards non-English-speaking populations within the U.S., it is also common to use English measurements—sometimes followed by their metric equivalents if that will provide additional clarity.
So when it comes to communicating measurements across countries, use common sense in deciding when to be exact and when to be “close enough.”
Metric Trivia:

• The famous platinum bar established as the meter standard in 1799 (at an international scientific meeting in Paris) was supposed to represent one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator.
• The measurement was wrong! We now know that this distance is actually 10,002,000 meters, and our standard meter is actually about 0.2 millimeters short of that exact proportion.
• Today’s definition of a meter: the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in one 299,792,458th of a second. Yeah, that makes it much easier to remember
• Thomas Jefferson devoted much effort to make the United States the second nation in the world to adopt the metric system. Obviously, he was unsuccessful. However, it should also be noted that France, the birthplace of the metric system, was reverted to the older system of measurements (livre, aune, etc.) by Napoleon in 1812, and didn’t complete full conversion back to the metric system until the end of World War I.

For more than 30 years, ASIST Translation Services, Inc. has worked with business, government, educational and non-profit clients around the world. We improve foreign language communications through a full menu of translation and interpreting services, including content localization, studio voice recording & audio-visual production, transcreation, proofreading, website content, page layout & design, cultural training, and other specialized language support. To learn more about how we can assist you, visit our LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook pages or our Website!

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.

1. 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).
2. Certified Translation – Often required for official documents, a professional translation agency will verify that a translation job is true and accurate and was performed by a professional linguist.
3. Conference Interpreter – An interpreter who provides simultaneous interpretation during conferences or large group meetings. This interpreter typically relies on a microphone, individual headphones or a large scale sound system to provide one-way interpreting to audience members.
4. Consecutive Interpreting – This interpreting technique is typically used during conversations between two people or a small group. Under this method, a speaker pauses periodically to allow an interpreter to interpret the message into another language before continuing with his/her remarks.
5. Court Interpreter – An interpreter with specialized training or skills who understands legal proceedings and legal terminology.
6. Culturally Sensitive Content – Translations or interpretations that have been slightly modified to fit the social and cultural standards of a target audience.
7. Desktop Publishing (DTP) – Offered by translation companies to ensure foreign language fonts are reproduced correctly either in typical document formats or as text embedded with graphics or images.
8. Dialect – Grammar and vocabulary variations of a country’s primary language that differs from region to region. To be most effective, professional translations should fit the specific dialect of a target audience.
9. Globalization – The process of sharing ideas, products and services across traditional international boundaries in a way that respects and integrates local languages, cultural perspectives and social norms.
10. Interpretation – Verbally conveying spoken words from one language into another language.
11. Interpreter – A person who listens to a spoken message in one language and interprets it into a spoken message in another language.
12. Limited English Proficiency (LEP) – A term used to define a foreign language-speaking person who has not yet obtained a proficient level of speaking or understanding English, either in written or verbal forms.
13. Localization – The process of adapting a message—whether in words or images—to fit the cultural, social, economic, political and religious customs and laws of the target audience. Content is “localized” to present a message in a way that sounds natural and genuine to the receiver’s ear. (Read more)
14. Machine Translation (MT) – A translation produced automatically by a computer program with no involvement by a professional translator or trained linguist. While computer-generated translations can be convenient in casual or informal situations, they equate to literal word-for-word translations without the grammar checks or nuanced re-phrasing needed in sophisticated, localized multilingual communications. (Read more)
15. Over the Phone Interpreting (OPI) – The act of providing interpreting services over the telephone, either for one-on-one communications or via group conference calls.
16. Sight Interpreting – A technique requiring an interpreter to read a printed document out loud and to interpret the written words from one language into another language. Since this is a combination of text and speech, it can also be referred to as “sight translation.”
17. Simultaneous Interpreting – When an interpreter provides direct, uninterrupted interpreting services in real-time while people of different languages are engaged in a discussion. Typically used during large conferences or conventions using interpreting equipment like headphones, receivers, microphones, relay equipment, etc. It also can be employed during court proceedings where an interpreter relays the courtroom dialogue to the defendant.
18. Source File/Source Language – The term “source” refers to the original language that a written or verbal message is being translated/interpreted from. So, for a document being translated from English to French, the source document is English; the target language is French.
19. Subtitling/Closed & Open Captioning – Subtitling entails transcribing the dialogue of on-screen speech or narration into another language(s) for viewers who may not understand the original language being spoken. Alternatively, closed and open captioning targets deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals; these transcriptions include more descriptive information that helps the viewer better understand what is happening on screen, such as who is speaking at any given time and related sound effects (i.e., “sighs,” “wind howls” “doorbell ringing”). “Closed” captions can be turned on or off on a viewers’ device, while “open” captioning is encoded as part of the actual video format and cannot be turned off.
20. Target Audience – The defined segment of a foreign-speaking population being targeted with a message. Often times, instead of simply identifying a general overarching language, a target audience is narrowed down to identify a specific region of a country and the particular dialects spoken within that region.
21. Target Language – The new language into which original text is to be translated, or original speech is to be interpreted.
22. Technical Translation – A more complex translation project often required in the fields of medicine, law, engineering, finance, computing and manufacturing. Typically requires specially trained translators who understand the unusual and difficult terminology associated with a particular industry.
23. Title III – Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) – Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act makes it illegal for any business, building or other establishment open to the public to discriminate against people with disabilities, including deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
24. Title VI – Civil Rights Act – Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin. Courts have found that failure to provide proper translation/interpreting services for customers/clients speaking other languages is considered negligence and a form of discrimination.
25. Transcreation – Adds a more creative element to a translation project by liberally rewriting copy as if it were actually written in the target language while keeping intact the tone and emotion of the original message.
26. Translation – Converting written text from one language into another language.
27. Translation Glossary – A collection of a company’s most common key terms and phrases and their corresponding translation in other languages. Cataloging these oft-repeated words maintains consistency across a company’s multiple translation projects.
28. Translation Memory (TM) – A database of a client’s commonly repeated sentences, paragraphs or phrases that are stored electronically to avoid the need for repeat translation. (Read more)
29. Translator – A person who takes written text in one language and translates it into written text in another language.
30. Video Remote Interpretation (VRI) – The act of providing interpreting services over telecommunication devices, like web cameras, videophones or other on-line technology.