What exactly does a translation agency do? At TSI, we are asked this question quite frequently. We’ve put together a one minute video that outlines the services we provide and how they can benefit you and your company. Here’s a link:
More Than Translators
A classic scenario: you have documents you need translated into Spanish. It turns out you have a cousin who lived in Spain for 5 years. Why not just use them to do the work? No knock to your cousin, but a lot more goes into translating a document than converting words on a page. If the process was that simple, TSI along with the hundreds of other translation agencies would not exist. In addition to having a team of extremely talented translators, we do more than translate. Translation Project Management From sourcing documents to delivery, translation project management is an essential portion of each and every job we take on. Our group of talented project managers understand each integral step of the process, like preparing accurate quotes for clients, determining which translator is the right people for the job, overseeing the integration of your translated text into your original file with our graphic design team, and helping you understand the billing process - our project managers handle it all. Our project managers are not translators. Getting your job done properly requires a team of uniquely skilled individuals. The Document Translation Process Once we receive documents for a quote, we enlist a handful of translators to process each job. Why? This is because each job requires numerous steps during translation to ensure it’s done properly and without errors. Step like proofreading, translating, reviewing and editing all add up to complete the actual translating portion of the job. By bringing on different translators to complete each of these steps, it affords us the brain capacity of 3 talented foreign language speakers as opposed to just one. Naturally, this helps catch any mistakes or overlooked aspects of the document translation. 
Graphic Design Formatting Once our language experts and project managers approve the new text, it is send off to our graphic design team. Their job is to integrate the new language text into the original document formatting. This means adhering to your margins, spacing, typeface, colors, etc. It’s a job that doesn’t get enough credit, as many languages require extra words and have longer sentences, which forces graphic designers to think creatively in order to fit the new text and still have it look professional and on your brand guidelines. 
Translation Document Delivery Arguably the most important part of the translation process is getting the final document back into the customer’s hands -- and of course, doing it on time and on budget. This means coordinating with the client about the formats in which they need their files, be it PDF, DOC, PSD, TXT, etc. There’s no format we can’t do! These steps in the process are all essential to ensuring that your final translated document is up to the standard we at TSI consistently deliver to our clients. For assistance with document translation, consultation or a free quote, we would be more than happy to enter a dialogue with you. Feel free to contact us via phone, email, or our contact form on our company website.  Real Estate Translation Services Commercial and residential real estate translations help boost sales. The American dream of owning a home is now attainable to non-english speakers. With middle and upper classes growing across the world, money is no longer the main barrier- it’s language. If you’re a realtor or work at a financial institution offering Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS), real estate translation services can help you reach a greater audience and substantially increase your sales. The rise of Foreign Real Estate Buyers All across the globe, we have seen a massive increase of individuals and families who are independently wealthy. For example take China, where GDP has averaged almost 10% for the last 20 years. This has led to many Chinese citizens investing a portion of their net worth beyond the great wall, mostly into homes in America and Canada. A portion of the recent housing boom over the past few years is a result of these new investors. Some of them simply buy to have a safe haven for their equity, whereas others are looking to establish a foothold into the American lifestyle and community for either them or their next of kin. When visiting Southern California recently, we had a chance to meet with a real estate firm that focuses exclusively on Chinese nationals looking to buy in America. When discussing their challenges, their main issue was these potential buyers speak little to no English. This highly complicates the process and the firm has many bilingual agents to make interpreting easier. But one thing they did not have was a relationship with a translation agency who can help with the real estate translation process.  Real Estate Documents Requiring Translation Getting the proper information to buyers is key. Think about a standard home listing with photos, a description of the home, the neighborhood, and sales terms. As we’ve discussed before in previous articles, machine translations won’t necessarily work in this scenario because terms for “living room” “patio” “pergola” all have different words depending on the region in which you are located. This is one reason why using native translators who understand real estate terms is essential. One of our main points of pride at TSI is we only hire native translators who have localized experience for the target language and industry alike. Other documents that require translation go beyond real estate sales and marketing materials. Once a buyer is interested in making an offer, the process of submitting said offer with applicable bank documents, loan approvals and proof of funds is a whole other challenge - it’s difficult enough processing this as a native English speaker, so just imagine how difficult it would be with little to no understanding of English! Bilingual real estate agents can do in-person interpreting, but when dealing with legal documents, it’s extremely important to get terms perfectly correct. We have a select group of translators who specialize in real estate related subjects.  Commercial Real Estate Translations It’s not just potential homeowners looking to buy in to the American dream - commercial real estate has seen a surge as a result of international economic growth. The beauty of a healthy global economy, is that the benefits go both ways. For example, we’ve helped companies based in Singapore open offices in America. They counted on TSI to translate legal contracts to help close the deal. And more commonly, we’ve seen clients of ours expand their business beyond America and open offices overseas. As one would expect, this required a great deal of assistance when purchasing offices abroad. Whether commercial real estate translations or residential, TSI has the experience to ensure your deal isn’t botched due to miscommunication. Contact us for information on your next translation project, or just drop us a line to get added to our mailing list for discounts and deals on translation services.  Getting ahead of the competition with online sales for your e-commerce venture is always a moving target. SEO tips, email lists, A/B testing, loyalty programs- the list goes on! But one frequently overlooked tool to help expand your target audience is e-commerce translation. Sure, there’s numerous plug-ins that can help automatically translate your website into other languages, but the results are far from optimal, and sometimes laughable in their attempt. The benefit of using an e-commerce translation agency like TSI is we have actual native speaking translators who understand the intricacies of online sales. Here’s a short list of 5 tips on how to increase product sales internationally. Find International Target Markets There’s many great ways find a market beyond the United States. You can use government resources to help suss out overseas trends. Websites like www.export.gov are a wonderful resource. Using keyword searches like www.kwfinder.com and setting search parameters to other countries is also an excellent method of finding untapped buyers.  Translate Your Current Website When clients come to us for translation help, very few think to offer multiple language options on their website for international customers, but after discussing the benefits, most opt-in for this service. A frequent question we get is “why not just use the google translate website option?” The problem is google translate is far from accurate. Thousands of words have numerous definitions which can completely change the meaning of your sentences if not translated properly- this is the main issue with computer and machine translations. When we are asked to translate an e-commerce website, we only use native language speakers who understand the target country’s terminology so that there is no confusion for potential consumers.  Create Custom Websites and URLS for New Markets In addition to translating your e-commerce website, you can give your online presence an extra international boost by creating standalone websites in other languages. To take it even one step further, customize the website with your target country’s URL. For example, if your company website is www.bestproduct.com, consider purchasing www.bestproduct.it if you plan on selling in Italy. This way, in addition to translating your website copy, you can also optimize your keywords and SEO for the italian market as well. In addition to custom websites, consider joining already established online marketplaces that have decent traffic. Amazon has recently made a large push into numerous countries across the globe through their Amazon Global Selling (AGS) program. At TSI, we have experience translating for Amazon Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) and AGS.  Add Additional International Payment Methods Offering numerous currency options for payment can help entice international customers to purchase your product. You can take it a step further and even add some of the more popular cryptocurrency options as payment as well. When adding new currencies, it’s important to understand localization of these numbers as well as your payment portal- another portion of e-commerce website translation. For example, the US and other countries list dates and times differently: month/day/year versus day/month/year. Little details like this left unfixed will give your potential buyer the impression that your company does not take them seriously.  Localize Your Marketing Materials In addition to your website, there’s a plethora of additional platforms and methods of reaching consumers. Social media is a huge one, as are banner ads. We love helping our customers with punching up their ad copy into other languages through the use of transcreation. This form of localization can also be targeted to specific demographics or locations, therefore it’s essential to hire translators who know the lingo of your particular customer. What are you waiting for? Contact us for a free quote on how we can help your business expand abroad and reach customers across the pond. With our extensive experience and deep portfolio, we are here to offer your business all the translation services you require.  When producing video content for customers or potential clients, sometimes your audience is overseas or simply speaks a different language. If this is the case, subtitle translation is an excellent idea. The process is more complicated than slapping words on the bottom of the screen- it involves translation, revisions, and adherence to international subtitling standards to work properly. Thankfully, we have over 28 years worth of experience offering translation and subtitling services for videos. When Should You Use Subtitles? For the average subtitling services project, typically we follow the clients’ lead. If they send us a video that already has subtitles, we provide video subtitling translation services. However there are situations where this might not be the best choice. An effective use of subtitles is when a person is seen speaking on-screen. It’s quite awkward and amateurish to see a person speaking one language and hear the translation in another language. Subconsciously we are trying to match the sound of the words to the movement of the speaker’s lips and it becomes frustrating and even annoying. Most clients will agree to the use of subtitles in this situation, but at times there are those who insist on what’s called the United Nations method, whereby we hear the first few seconds of the person speaking in his or her native language and then a narrator’s voice quickly fades in as the source language is left barely audible in the background. This approach doesn’t appear to be so annoying to the viewing public.  The Importance of Subtitle Formatting and Standards International and company standards exist for the amount of words or characters that are allotted in a line of text. The number of characters generally agreed to is 42. An average English word consists of 6 characters that includes 5 letters and a space at the end. Dividing 42 characters by 6 gives us 7 words per line of subtitle. A maximum of two lines per scene is recommended. If there are more than 2 lines of subtitles, most people would not be able to finish reading before the scene ends and the next scene begins. Let’s analyze the use of subtitles in a English version of a 10 minute video. On average, there are 150 words spoken in normal conversation, that is a delivery not too slow and not too fast. Therefore a 10 minute video would require 1,500 words of text. Assuming that there are 6 words per line of subtitles and that the limit is two lines of subtitles per scene, a 10 minute video would require 125 scene changes. Many people find this amount of changes difficult and tiresome to read. In addition, when someone is focusing on the subtitles, it’s nearly impossible to see what’s going on in the video. If one is reading the subtitles, they are missing the images on the screen. If they are looking at the images on the screen, they are not able to read the subtitles at the same time. This creates a real dilemma and most people will tune out and stop watching. The parameters change somewhat depending on the language that’s being used for the subtitles. Character based languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean (there are others) typically use symbols rather than letters. One character might represent a whole word. For example, a 400 word English subtitle will require 2,400 characters, while the Chinese character count would be 640. This is a dramatic difference. But we also have to consider the size of the characters compared to the size of the letters. A single Chinese character might be the size of two English letters depending on the font sizes used. There’s a considerable amount of planning that has to be considered when using subtitles.  Which is More Expensive, Voiceovers or Subtitles? We get this question all of the time. In the long run, they are very close in cost. The ten minute voiceover which would include recording studio rental, audio engineer, professional narrator and final editing would cost around $1,000. The audio track would be delivered to the client in either .mp3 or .wav format and would be timed to the exact length of the video. The video editor would line up the foreign language audio file with the first audio of the source, lay in the file and violà, the job is done. Subtitles, on the other hand, would require a video editor who knows how to break the language down into the appropriate lines. The editor would most likely work alongside a native speaker of the language, either in person or remotely, to verify that the lines of text are placed correctly. Working from a Word document or an Excel file, they would cut and paste the two lines of subtitles into 125 separate scenes. If the editor could cut and past 12 scenes per hour (5 minutes each) it would take approximately 10 hours to complete the job. The fees involved would be for the video studio rental, editor and language consultant. The advantage of one method over the other would depend on the experience of the people involved. In most cases, the difference in fees would not be enough to choose one method over the other compared to the cost of the entire production. A Client Subtitle Case Study Recently we received a request from a client to translate an eight-minute video that describes the function and operation of a newly designed forklift truck that was being used in the logging business. The machine looked like something out of World War II. It was large, ominous looking and instead of wheels and tires, it rode on heavy duty steel tracks. It didn’t have the typical two pronged forks, but instead, a device that looked like giant tongs that could lift and carry ten tree trunks at a time. It could also navigate mountainous terrain, deep, rugged valleys and cross rivers four feet deep. Subtitles were used to describe the movement and operation of the machine, but there were also captions naming the essential components of the equipment. Our client decided to use voiceovers for the description of the machine’s operation, as we suggested, and translate the captions. In this manner the viewer could listen to the soundtrack and read the captions at the same time. No matter which method is selected, “planning ahead” is the most important part of the job. Give us a ring or shoot us an email. At TSI, our experienced translators and project managers have the experience to ensure your video subtitles and translations are done properly.  Translating videos, films and interactive slideshows is an exciting and effective way to connect with potential customers. Our first ever client here at TSI was Kodak in the 1980’s. We created English to Spanish voice over translations for their commercials and promotional videos. We have decades of experience producing voiceover translations and all sorts of other documents. There are 3 ways to accomplish the production: 1. Voiceover Translation 2. Subtitle Translation 3. A combination of the two There are several reasons to choose one version over another. I will delve into each separately. Voiceover Translation Whenever possible and applicable, voiceover translation is the preferred method, because many people dislike subtitles. Actually, they hate them. I’ve had what I thought were sophisticated and curious friends who would never go to a movie if it were subtitled. Unfortunately for them, they’re missing many great foreign films. There’s no doubt that having to read subtitles takes away some of the enjoyment of viewing the images on the screen. But when you’re dealing with potential clients who would be interested in purchasing your product or services, you should look into the advantages of subtitles. If the video, film or slideshow is in pre-production stage, you’ll have an advantage, because you have control over the timing of the production. As I have mentioned in earlier articles, many of the languages we deal with on a daily basis are longer than English; up to 30% in some cases. What this means is that if you have a 10 minute video in English, a Spanish narration might require 12 to 13 minutes to record the translation. This can be very problematic and costly. There are 3 ways to deal with this dilemma.  1. Read the translated text faster. Well, this is almost never a good solution unless the English was recorded very slowly, as if the voice talent was about to fall asleep at the microphone. Besides, when the speed of the narration is increased over 5%, the voice starts to sound unnatural and even annoying. Then when the speed of the narration is increased over 10% and even as much as 20%, it’s not only annoying, it becomes impossible to understand. It sounds like Jerry the Mouse running away from Tom the Cat as he’s yelling “don’t catch me; don’t catch me”. Seriously, it’s a poor way to solve the problem. 2. Make the video scenes longer. In some situations, this is an acceptable solution, except that now you’ll wind up with an 11 or 12 minute video. And somebody will have to pay for the additional video editing time. This will only work if there’s nobody speaking on-screen. Still pictures can be lengthened on-screen. Even moving pictures can be lengthened or slowed down to increase their time on the screen. However a person looking directly into the camera would appear silly and even disturbing, because the moving lips would not sync up with the foreign language voice. 3. If you have the opportunity to get involved at the pre-production stage, you should be able to edit the translation to make it conform to the length of the English. This is how we prefer to work. Whenever possible, we encourage our clients to let us make the original translation. Our translators understand the intricacies of working with video and film and can adapt the recording script to the allotted time. Choosing the Right Voice Translator Talent When we started translating videos and recording foreign language narrations more than 25 years ago, over 90% of our clients used male narrators. Many of the videos dealt with technical products, heavy duty machinery and construction equipment. They were made to sell products and create safety training programs for issues relating to OSHA. Our clients requested male narrators to match the style and feeling of the English versions. About ten years ago companies started using more female narrators. I prefer the sound and tone of a female voice. Female voices appear sharper and clearer on videos and films. A final thing to consider with voiceovers is the accent of the narrator. If a video were meant to be used in Mexico or some of the other Latin American countries, I would advise a client not to use a narrator from Argentina, Uruguay or Spain. Because there are many countries that have Spanish as their official language, we typically suggest a Spanish speaking narrator with a neutral accent, perhaps someone from Colombia or Peru. The same can be said for other languages such as French, Italian, German and Russian. It’s best to choose a voice that is suitable to the location where the video or film will be used.  When Video Translation and Subtitling are Better than Voiceovers At TSI, we do more than just voice dubbing - we are also a subtitle translation services company. There are specific occasions whereby voiceovers should not be used whenever possible. I advise clients to avoid voiceovers when the talent is talking on-screen. It’s almost impossible to sync an audio track to the movement of a person’s lips when using another language. The results range from being funny to annoying. Our mind wants us to think that the person is speaking the foreign language, but no matter how hard we try, it just doesn’t work, especially when the target language has a different etymology from the source. Imagine trying to sync Chinese, Hindi or Swahili to English. The languages are so vastly different that the viewer will not feel comfortable listening awww.tsi.world/contact.htmlnd viewing at the same time. There is a solution however, when a customer really wants this option. This means finding the right translation and subtitling services company. With almost 30 years as voice language translators, TSI has the experience to ensure your videos are done on time and on budget. Our portfolio offers great examples of some of our clients who return year after year thanks to our professionalism. If your company is looking for a translation agency offering voiceover translation services or subtitle translations, don’t hesitate to reach out for a free quote.   Language translation is a delicate process. In a world obsessed with technology, native speaking human translators are still the gold standard when it comes to document translation services. While there are various computer aided translation programs available today (commonly referred to as ‘machine translations’), they typically offer a subpar end product that can result in translation errors and lost business. This is why here at TSI, we only use translators who speak the native languages specific to their jobs. We take this role seriously and it sets us apart from other translation service providers. 1. Localization Most common computer translation programs cannot distinguish between a document whose final destination is France versus French speaking Algeria or many of the other countries that include French as an official language. Each language has its own variations from region to region, as we’ve discussed in previous articles. 2. Words With Multiple Meanings We encounter this often, especially with English into Spanish translations. There are many English words, spelled exactly the same, that have different meanings. A professional translator will read the words in context and understand their precise meaning. However, machine translation programs, although having made great strides in the past several years, are not nearly as effective as humans. For example, let’s look at wind (to turn) and wind (flowing air). The main issue with these examples is their counterparts in other languages are not identical. To ‘turn’ in Spanish is enrollar and flowing air is viento. Machine translation programs cannot always differentiate words like this in context. Native speaking human translators are far superior in this scenario.  3. Machine Translations Lack Human Touch In addition to just completely getting definitions wrong, computer translated documents often read dry and stilted. Reading is one of the most essential forms of communication. Anyone who has read a best selling novel understands that good writing can evoke true emotion from the reader. Some are so powerful that they bring readers to tears. While this may not be the goal of your business document translation, HR document translations or legal translations, it’s still essential that your company can connect with your target audience on a personal level.  4. Humans Excel at Technical Terminology Translation If you think a computer can decipher hundreds of parts that make up modern medical instruments and devices, think again. You need a human translator who specializes in precise terminology associated with this field. Terminology that is industry specific does not typically exist in most dictionaries. This means computers can’t correctly process these terms. Even most human translators cannot accomplish this. For this reason, we are sure to pair our projects with native translators who have a robust understanding of the industry in question. For example, when we are dealing with architectural document translations we assign the project to a translator with a degree and several years experience in architecture or structural engineering. A similar rule applies to technical operating and maintenance manuals, to HR and OSHA regulations and legal briefs. Understanding how to properly pair a translator with a job is akin to casting the right actor in an academy award-winning movie. There are hundreds of actors available and eager for their next big role, but it’s the subtle details and demands of the part that makes their role really shine on the silver screen. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Johnny Depp are both great actors, but would never be up for the same role. 5. Human Translators Lead to Cost Savings One myth is that using computer software to translate documents saves customers a lot of money. This is not necessarily the case, for a few reasons. The actual translation procedure from one language to the next is merely one step in the translation supply chain. Due to the increased errors when using computer software, it requires more detailed rounds of revisions (assuming companies even do them to begin with). This additional proofreading and revising adds up. Machine translations do not eliminate the project management costs or graphic design costs, which leads us to our next issue…  6. Improper Formatting for Internationalization
As we’ve discussed in previous articles, internationalization is the design and layout of a document or product so that translation and localization can be easily implemented. When using computer aided translation software, there is no way to know if the final translation will fit within the allotted space on product packaging or pages. This can lead to even more unforeseen costs, like having to send the translated document back to your graphic design team to reformat the file to conform to the layout of the original document. Human translators can make these formatting adjustments while they are working on the files and avoid these additional costs. At TSI, we ensure that our professional translators are made aware of spacing and other formatting issues before they even begin the job. This means that they occasionally may have to substitute words that are shorter or more concise to reflect the correct layout of the document. Machine translation programs cannot do this. If you’re searching for a translation company or online translation services, please contact us for more information or a free quote on your project. Human translations are the correct choice.  As a translation agency offering language translation services and localization for almost 3 decades, we’ve localized thousands of documents and videos of all shapes and sizes. At least once every few weeks a client searching for document translation services asks, “What is the difference between translation and localization?” In order to answer this, let’s first look into the whole picture. By itself, translation, in the context of language, refers to the rendering of a word, a thought or idea from one language into another. Or more specifically, according to Merriam-Webster, “a process of rendering from one language into another.” Localization is a subheading under the broad term of translation. It refers to translating a document or video for use in a specific location or region. Several countries have more than one official language. Here in America, our closest example is Canada with both English and French as official languages. We can break this down further into countries that have the same official language, but one that varies from country to country, this wikipedia page lists territories where English is an official language. Why Does Language Localization Matter to Business? A company or entity wanting to sell products or services to any of the aforementioned English speaking countries would do well to research the local nuances in order to successfully communicate their interests. This is because of the subtle differences between dialects from region to region. In a previous article, we discussed different words with the same meanings in various versions of English. This is a key example of the importance of localization translation. A Localization Case Study  Let’s say you’re living in America and you see this ad about an upcoming art installation. Aside from the cool photo, what pops out to you? Perhaps the spelling of the word “colour?” While numerous English speaking countries use “colour” as the official spelling, the United States isn’t one of them. What message does this send to the customer? It could seem like a lazy translation with no attention to detail in regards to language localization. While an example like this may be okay for a hoity-toity art piece, it surely wouldn’t be okay for a technical document translation. For businesses, branding and communication is key. If that first impression is botched, your likelihood of a potential customer moving on to a competitor of yours increases. But wait- that’s not all… Date, Time & Unit Localization In addition to making sure your written words are correctly localized for your target demographic, you also have to consider localizing numbers, date and time formats, currency, symbols and more. Let’s zoom in on our previous example's details:  The date and time is nothing short of confusing to an American reader. To meet American standards, this would need to be localized to 12/28/19 @ 5:30pm- a big difference! While this is a simple example, other instances are more complex- especially regarding metric to imperial conversions which if done incorrectly, could result in product failure, or even a lawsuit should someone use an improperly localized technical translation. Internationalization Last but not least is the concept of internationalization in regards to translation and localization. The definition varies greatly, but in our context here, internationalization is the design and layout of a document or product so that translation and localization can be easily implemented. A simple example here would be if a client needs Spanish translation services, or Chinese translation services, they require more page space in comparison with English because they have more text per sentence on average. Equally important is leaving additional space on product labels to add numerous unit formats, like inches vs. millimeters. Whatever it may be, we are a translation company that has offered online translation services for hundreds of clients throughout the world. Unlike many of our competitors, we specifically use native translators to ensure that your document is localized properly to ensure your client or customer gets the message as you intended. With your new understanding of translation, localization and internationalization, don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us for a free quote on your next project.  Is it trunk or boot? A hood or a bonnet? A truck or a lorry? An elevator or a lift? An apartment or a flat? Vacation or holiday? Zip code or postcode? Shopping cart or shopping trolley? The list goes on... Does it matter what you write? YES. It’s a matter of respect and professionalism especially in the business world. With almost 3 decades in the translation industry at TSI, we find variation in all languages that have segmented into different countries or different regions. I use English USA and English England as an example here because this is the language you’re reading right now. We can find similar anomalies in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Canada and wherever English is spoken as a predominant language. This is occurs in a more dramatic fashion in Spanish, from the fatherland Spain to the more than 20 countries where Spanish is the official language.  Chinese or Mandarin is the official spoken language in Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. Although it’s mainly spoken in only 3 countries, it has the largest number of native speakers, surpassing more than a billion. Spanish comes in second with 440 million and English comes in third with 360 native speakers.
Why is it good for our clients to know this? If a company wants to sell their products abroad, they will reach more customers if they speak to them in their local or regional language. Technical Translation English to Spanish For a technical translation example, we recently translated a technical instruction and maintenance manual for an industrial company that manufactures off-the-road machines such as pay-loaders, forklifts construction hammers, bulldozers, backhoes, drills, excavators, pavers and hydraulic mining shovels among other heavy equipment. They wanted to sell their products in Latin America but they did not want to have 20 different versions, so we suggested a generic Spanish that would be understood (but perhaps not specifically spoken) by their customer base. One of the words in question was the translation of a large “bolt” used to fasten a transmission to a motor housing and frame. We chose the common translation “tornillo”. Other accepted translations are perno and bulón. Two customers, one from Uruguay and another from Argentina wrote back and said that the word “bolt” in their country is translated as “bulón”. I inquired if they knew the word “tornillo” with which they replied with a hint of humor, “yes, but we don’t call it that in our part of the world”. In this particular instance, the word bulón was universally understood as a technical term and therefore used. It’s important to have translators who understand the intricacies of technical translations and here at TSI this is our area of expertise. If you find yourself searching for technical translation online, feel free to contact us for information about our services. We can explain the process as well as how we determine technical translation rates per word. So I’ll end this artcile with a simple “goodbye”, “cheerio”, “so long”, “farewell” and “gotta boogie” “see ya later” “until next time”.  After decades in the translation and localization industry, we have helped clients expand overseas by translating anything from human resource documents, OSHA translations, Amazon FBA translations, medical industry translations, HTML translations, the list goes on! But like every story, there has to be a beginning. For me, it was my own personal journey with learning a second language. It started many years ago when I was studying Spanish for my eventual tour of duty in South America for the Peace Corps. Our cultural training had ended and it was time to get serious about improving language skills for those of us who were going to be volunteering in a country where English was not the official language. Although I had studied Spanish for two years in university, my real life experience speaking the language was nil. Other volunteers and I who were going to Latin America were sent individually to Puerto Rico for six weeks of intensive language training. I wound up in a small village called Coamo, located in the south central part of the island. I was the only volunteer sent to this location. Others were scattered about the island in small groups or if married, in pairs. I had been working hard on perfecting my grammar, trying to piece together complicated sentences, so as to appear accomplished in Spanish. A favorite thing for me to do was go to a small restaurant from where I was staying at a small clinic and eat with some of the locals. One day at lunch, I was feeling quite confident in my ability to appear fluent, so I approached the owner, who also served as cook, waitress and cashier. She looked directly at me, as she usually did every afternoon and said “¿Qué quieres comer?” (What do you want to eat?). I puffed up my chest and said “Me gustaría pedir un tazón de sopa del día y por favor que le ponga un huevo.” (I would like to order a bowl of soup of the day and would you please put in an egg”) She leaned forward across the counter with her face inches from mine and with a sly smile said, “sopa con huevo”. This might have been the most important Spanish lesson I ever learned. She replaced my 17 words with 3 very short ones. I was both humbled and grateful at the same time. These long, convoluted sentences might be appropriate for literature, but for everyday conversation, it’s better to keep it simple and to the point. I find a lot of similar uses of language every day as clients contact us or send us documents for translation. It’s not our position to tell them how to write. However, if their verbiage distracts from the intended meaning of the document, we will point this out and suggest revisions to make the translation more reliable and effective. Another key example of when keeping it simple is preferred deals with sentence length. A sentence in English is much shorter that its translated pair in Spanish or many other languages. If the amount of text gets too long, it creates formatting issues when our graphic design team needs to go back and replace the original text with the newly translated text. This holds true with video subtitles and voice overs as well. How do you know if your document language will be too long for translation? The best way to find out is to contact TSI for an estimate, quote or just advice. We are more that happy to walk you through the steps of the process to determine if our services are right for your business. In closing, my message to future and present corporate writers: “put some love into your work and remember to KISS.” Transcreation: Why Translating for the Advertising and Marketing Industry is a Bundle of Joy8/18/2018
 At TSI, many of our long term clients come from the advertising industry. For decades, we’ve worked closely with both third party as well as internal ad agencies and firms to ensure their campaign’s message isn’t lost in translation. From our experience, the most difficult part of translating for the advertising and marketing industry is transcreation. We touched on the concept of transcreation in a previous article, but to recap, transcreation deals primarily with copy written for the advertising industry. It is used to create an understanding of the meaning of the message and not simply a translation of the individual words. Let’s look at some common business slogans that word for word have little meaning in a foreign language, without being transcreated into a slogan that would reflect the meaning in that other language. Heinz – “Beanz Meanz Heinz” Due to the clever and unusual spelling, this works only in English. If one were to try and find a translation using any of the well-known online translation programs the answer would come back as “Beanz Meanz Heinz”. I asked different translators to ‘transcreate’ this slogan into Spanish and received the following results. Frijoles favoritos Heinz --- Heinz beans are favorites Cuándo quiera frijoles pida Heinz --- When you want beans ask for Heinz Frijoles significan Heinz --- Beans mean Heinz This last one is not quite as clever as the English, but you get the picture. Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes – “They’re GR-R-R-reat” This slogan is difficult to translate. It’s based on the fictitious character Tony the Tiger. Why Kellogg’s featured a tiger eating Frosted Flakes is anybody’s guess, but apparently it works. Frosted Flakes have been around for a long time and are still a popular breakfast cereal. I imagine it’s due to the crunchy feeling and the sugar rush associated with the sweetened cereal. The reason this is difficult to translate or to come close with transcreation is due to the GR-R-R-reat that emulates a tiger’s growl. I sent this to to different translators and received the following. Un rugido de energía – A roar of energy ¡GR-R-R-andiosos! – GR-R-R-reat! (my favorite) Ten un día salvaje - Have a wild day Son lo MÁS de lo MÁS - They are the MOST of the MOST Simplemente geniales - Simply great Skittles – “Taste the Rainbow” I really like this slogan, although I’ve never eaten a Skittle. The word sounds a little too much like spittle to pique my appetite. But apparently it has been successful throughout the years. After all, rainbows are beautiful and somewhat mysterious the way they appear during a rain shower. Here are the translations to this happy slogan. Un arco iris de sabor – A rainbow of flavor El gusto multicolor – The multicolored taste Saborea el arcoíris - Taste the rainbow Disfruta con el Arco Iris - Enjoy the Rainbow Dejate llevar por el Arco Iris - Get carried away by the Rainbow Despega con el Arco Iris - Take off with the Rainbow It’s not often that we get requests for such popular slogans as the foregoing examples, but we do come close with companies wanting a special slant on their branding. When these requests come in, we choose translators who work in advertising or who are creative writing specialists. We want them to let their imaginations soar and create solutions that are unique and effective. Using non-native speakers for translations that rely on transcreation is a risky bet. Much like idioms presenting difficult issues when crossing languages, transcreation has the same potential pitfalls. Our translators at TSI are native speakers and specialize in the industry for which they are translating. Do you have a product or a campaign that is being expanded overseas? Do you want to freshen up previously translated advertising collateral? Reach out to us for a consultation or a quote. We are more than happy to get you the help you need: TSI - We're GR-R-R-owing your business internationally.   Of course most of us have heard and have even used the common expression “The customer is always right”. Well, it isn’t necessarily so, especially in the world of translations. This is a difficult and delicate subject to talk about, but it must be addressed in a professional manner.
To begin, let’s look at a typical translation project.
Several years ago we translated a 62-page operation and maintenance manual for a complex mechanical system into French for one of our long term clients. In the five prior years working for this client, we had never received a negative review of our work. However this time, they sent back the translation with several pages of changes, all dealing with terminology and style. I shared the revised document with our translator, a retired mechanical engineer who was born, raised, educated and employed for 35 years in France. His first indication was to laugh, because the changes, according to him, “were nothing short of childish”. Whoever performed the review had no background in mechanical terminology. In addition, the changes in style were strictly preferential, quite “flowery” and not suitable for a technical manual. I then sent the original translation and the revised version to another technical translator on our team. He made the same comments as the original translator. But there was a very important issue that both translators pointed out that could have caused major technical damage or personal harm if the revised version was to be used. In one section, the reader was instructed to turn a compressor valve 90 degrees counterclockwise to stop the flow of high-pressure gas through the system. The person who reviewed the original translation apparently did not know the difference between clockwise and counterclockwise and instead changed the meaning to “turn the valve to the right”. We are not in a position to speculate what would have happened if those instructions were followed, but I immediately called our client in France and pointed out the obvious mistake made by the proofreader. Of course, he was grateful and relieved to find out that we had found the mistake. As I later discovered, the company had recently hired a new divisional supervisor who brought along his personal team, including his receptionist. He instructed her to proofread the manual and make changes as needed. She was told that a company in the USA did the translation and he wanted to make sure that the French was correct. After discussing the situation with my direct client, I found out that the receptionist was not fluent in English and hence unable to make a valid comparison of the two languages, but that she also had no experience in manufacturing and technical terminology. Fortunately the head of the facility readily understood the situation and approved the translation that we originally submitted. We have since created a formal procedure for reviewing future translation projects. We encourage all our clients, both new and old to establish an independent review process, especially when we are in the initial stages of developing a working relationship. This creates a solid business bond that is mutually beneficial. At TSI, we take a great deal of pride in bonds like this. Maintaining long term connections with our clients is tantamount to both their success as well as ours. We truly believe it’s a symbiotic relationship. Throughout every step of a job, we are here to answer questions to clients should there be any curiosity or confusion in our standard operating procedures; who thought an industry as mundane as translations could necessitate so much human interaction? It’s a good reminder of the power of the written word. If you are a previous client or a potential new client, you are always welcome to reach out for a consultation, quote or just to inquire more about our process, because remember, the customer is always right… right?  At TSI, we take pride in our years of experience translating documents for Amazon sellers. In today’s online sales market, its nearly impossible for vendors to do business without utilizing Amazon’s selling platform. Many brands who attempt to sell exclusively through their own website wind up seeing their products listed on Amazon eventually via third parties sold as used, or sometimes even counterfeited goods. Amazon offers brand protection services to help deal with counterfeiting and copyright infringement which helps to an extent, but there’s other lesser known programs they offer that help sellers: to expand their business internationally.
We are referring to Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA), known to the consumer as Amazon Prime. By joining the Amazon FBA program as a seller, your items are shipped to consumers free of charge domestically. While the United States is by far Amazon’s largest marketplace, what about other territories? Depending on who is counting, there’s roughly 195 countries in the world. Amazon currently operates in almost two dozen markets throughout the world, so why limit yourself to just one? One huge hurdle is language. Product pages have very tactically written copy that helps describe the item for sale, but still generate top notch search engine results. Keywords and descriptions are essential to having your product seen in searches before your competitors. Navigating this world in let’s say, Japan, would be nearly impossible as an English speaking seller. Where do you even start with translating your item description? And what about keywords? To rely on computer translation software such as google translate will leave your listing in the dust, and also give consumers the impression that you’re not a serious seller or even worse, a scammer yourself. Because we have extensive experience at TSI working with Amazon FBA sellers, we can assist in solving these issues for you. This way, you can put your mind at ease as a seller and focus on the other important aspect of business like retaining your buy box, managing reviews, and analyzing your sales conversion rates. While Amazon Global Selling (AGS) helps you expand to other territories, they do not offer their own translation services. This is why it’s essential that you choose wisely when using third party translation providers. However, third party providers open up a new can of worms. It’s no secret that Amazon has been plagued by seller scams and buy box wars between mom and pop sellers based in America who are now battling Chinese factories that are undercutting prices to unrealistically low levels. A similar predicament exists in the translation and localization industry. Dozens of low cost translation companies have been popping up in China and India offering unbeatable rates. But as the old idiom goes, it’s too good to be true. The quality of these translations are subpar. They are able to hit such low costs per word by employing computer translations which, as we’ve covered in previous articles, are dangerously unreliable. Another tactic they implement is using non-native language speakers who have no proficiency in the niche area for the document needed to be translated. A comparison would be hiring an electrician to fix your plumbing: while they both work as handymen, their skill sets are completely different. What sets TSI apart from other third party translation and localization providers is we never use computer translations. Additionally, we employ translators who are native in the output language and have a deep understanding of the industry at hand. While our rates are not rock bottom, they are in line with domestic industry standards. Taking it a step further, we strive to help guide our customers through the process so they understand exactly what they are paying for. At the end of the day, is paying a few dollars more worth the correct SEO, keywords and descriptions to lock in sales? We think it is. Feel free to reach out for an estimate on your project. In conjunction with Amazon’s Global Selling platform, we are eager to help you grow your business beyond North America.  Of the five following languages, which one has the most native speakers?
English Chinese 中文 Spanish Español Arabic عربى Hindi हिंदी Answer: Chinese (Mandarin) has 1.2 billion native speakers Spanish comes in second with 400 million native speakers English comes in third with 360 million native speakers Hindi ranks number 4 with about 330 million native speakers, but it’s complicated Arabic comes in last, but like Hindi, it’s also complicated The above figures are estimates and the numbers while close, are always changing. To add to the confusion, languages such as Hindi and Arabic can have such dramatic variations, that people who speak what they consider to be the same language are often not able to fully understand each other. Here we are talking about “native” speakers. If we consider people who speak an additional language, the numbers change significantly. For example, the total number of people who speak English fluently (not necessarily native) increases to more than half a billion, thanks to English being at the forefront of global business relationships. Which language has the most words? Most scholars would agree that English has the most words. However this can be quite tricky to calculate. English comes out on top because it borrows many of its words from the Germanic and Latin languages. It is also constantly creating new words with its emphasis on science, medical and technical inventions. The problem we encounter is, what constitutes a word? And if a single word has more than one meaning should this be considered two words or more? Let’s take the word ‘bear’ for example. Here are a few of its possible meanings. *I couldn’t bear to see that movie again. *She will get married and bear a child. *A bear was spotted behind my neighbor’s house. *The walls were not strong enough to bear the weight of the roof. *Next year that tree will bear fruit. *His excuse doesn’t bear close examination. *I’m not going to bear the blame. *That statement doesn’t bear repeating. *Bear to the left or the boat will hit the buoy. So what happens in the translation process when there is a word in English with no corresponding word in the target language? This takes us to the topic of: “transcreation”. As currently understood and used, transcreation deals primarily with articles and copy written for the advertising industry. It is used to create an understanding of the meaning of the message and not simply a translation of the individual words. Let’s look at some common business slogans that word for word have little meaning in a foreign language, without being transcreated into a slogan that would reflect the meaning in that other language. I will give examples of “transcreation” in the world of advertising in the forthcoming blog. Case Study – A Word is Born Well, it wasn’t actually born the way puppies or fish or birds are born, but rather invented, or just plain made up. In 1947 John Robinson Pierce, while working for Bell Telephone Laboratories, invented an electronic device he named a “transistor”. It replaced many of the functions of vacuum tubes, which back in the day were commonly used in radios. The device transfers an electrical current across a resistor, hence the term transfer + resistor, shortened to transistor. When you go to a global translation website today to find out what this word is called in different languages you’ll find that the following languages adopted the word without changing the spelling: Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Turkish, Catalan, Czech, Romanian, Estonian, Filipino, Hawaiian, Hmong, Malay, Norwegian, Scots Gaelic, Somali, Sudanese and Welsh. Other countries have incorporated the same word, but changed the spelling slightly to conform to their specific pronunciation. Croatian = transistor Slovak = tranzistor Finnish = transistori Hungarian = tranzisztor Polish = tranzystor Romanian = transistor Vietnamese =tranzito I didn’t include the character-based languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. because they use phonetic symbols to express the sound of the spoken word. Since the beginning of human time, families, tribes, villages and countries have created words to define their world, express their feelings, thoughts and ideas. With the advent of the internet, jet travel and international business, the interchange of languages is growing and changing at a rate faster than any other time in history. So what does this matter to us as translation industry professionals? There’s a couple key takeaways from the concept of transcreation and how it relates to our business. First and foremost, transcreation renders computer translations unusable. This is why here at TSI, we never use computer translation applications in the process of our work. Second, it shows the importance of hiring the right translator for the job. For example, when dealing with transcreated words relating to a specific industry, it’s essential to match that project with a native translator well versed in the lingo or jargon pertaining to said industry. Because of our close to 30 years of experience working with very niche markets, our team of translators is ready to handle language subtleties with ease. If you have a need for translation of documents that are unique, don’t worry- we can handle them at TSI. There’s numerous ways to contact us for an estimate.  Very few languages use as many idioms as English, where they are found quite frequently even in business correspondence. At TSI, we see thousands of documents each year of all sorts of different content. Here are several idiom examples that have come across our desk.
Most experienced professional translators understand these common idioms and know if there are similar expressions in their native language. In addition, we thoroughly review every document intended for translation while looking for these phrases that have the potential to create misunderstandings. The problems arise when clients rely on software to translate their documents. Here is one of my favorites. I’m pulling your leg. We know that this means I’m joking with you or that I’m teasing you. The Spanish version of this is: Te estoy tomando el pelo, which translates back into English as “I’m taking your hair.” It’s as far away from the intended meaning in Spanish as I’m pulling your leg is in English. So how does one avoid confusion or misunderstanding when venturing into the world of idioms?
Know your translator, and if you don't, feel free to reach out. We are always available for a consultation or a quote regardless if your documents contain idioms or not.  Almost 50 years ago Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. Since then several countries have either created their own versions of OSHA or they have adopted similar rules and regulations used in the USA. The rules deal with asbestos, fall protection, cotton dust, trenching, machine guarding, benzene, lead and blood-borne pathogens, among other work related issues. Some of our earliest work at TSI was translating OSHA documents 25 years ago for American based companies who had employees who were not native English speakers. The first job was Latin American Spanish, then Haitian Creole and French Canadian. Later on the number of languages expanded as companies with affiliates worldwide decided to offer the same information and training to their employees living and working abroad. Many of the topics needing translation were and continue to be related to Construction, General Industry, Maritime and Agriculture standards that protect workers from a wide range of serious hazards. Examples of OSHA standards include requirements for employers to: Provide fall protection; prevent trenching cave-ins; prevent exposure to some infectious diseases; ensure the safety of workers who enter confined spaces; prevent exposure to harmful chemicals; put guards on dangerous machines; provide respirators or other safety equipment; and provide training for certain dangerous jobs in a language and vocabulary workers can understand. A common misconception amongst employers is that if they do not have a warehouse or manual labor workers, OSHA does not apply to them and their business. This is not only false, but also opens up business owners to federal government fines and possible revocation of business licenses. It also puts them at risk because employees can file lawsuits against them for failure to follow OSHA regulations. The US Department of Labor has a number of posters in various languages for you to hang in your workplace. While these documents are very helpful, there may be others that only exist in english. If you need OSHA documents translated, here at TSI, we have extensive experience working with this documentation and can help make sure your business is in compliance with federal regulations. Our experienced translators’ familiarity with OSHA language ensures that there’s no confusion for your foreign language speaking employers. Please reach out to us if you’re in need of document translation. Here at TSI, we would love to add you to our robust portfolio of happy clients. Contact us for a consultation or a quote.  If you don’t work in medicine, you probably don’t know the exact term to use when describing the specific instrument needed to perform a certain step of a complicated procedure. There are more than ten thousand tools and instruments in the medical field, and hundreds more are being created and introduced every year. Consider the following short list of medical tool terms:
If all of this isn’t already making your head spin, let’s ask the real question: How do we deal with these extremely complicated and technical terms in foreign languages? More often than not, in many languages there are no official translations for a large majority of these instruments. So, how do you deal with this language barrier? When in doubt, an inexperienced translator or one who isn’t familiar with the industry might consult a medical dictionary in his or her native language, only to find that there is no suitable word. Without a grasp of exactly what he or she is translating, it may be impossible to accurately convey the meaning and purpose of the word at hand. In an even worse scenario, he or she might use a translation that is just plain wrong. For example, there is a dental tool called a “burnisher” that’s used for smoothing amalgam, and looks like a small metal pick. However, if a translator looks for the same word in a basic dictionary, a “burnisher” might look like a huge vaccum cleaner. Try fitting that into somebody’s mouth! Enter the term “transcreation,” whereby translators take it upon themselves to invent a word that adapts meaning and intent when no other source is available. This approach might work in marketing or advertising, but not necessarily in medical or technical situations where precision is crucial. The only suitable solution to translating these complex and particular terms is to utilize the skills of a translator who is a tried-and-true expert in the topic at hand. When the language is this complex, and the stakes involve discerning the correct tool for an important procedure on a patient, it’s simply too high of a risk to go to someone who relies on a dictionary. In critical situations like these, it is imperative to trust your source. At TSI, we work with reliable, expert translators with deep knowledge of, and background in, specific industries. We work closely with our clients to understand the unique needs, concerns, and scope of a job, and then go through a meticulous vetting process to identify the best translator for it. We pride ourselves in delivering perfection to our clients, and we have done so for significant companies in many specialized industries, including healthcare, finance, heavy machinery, hospitality, petroleum, and beyond, for over 28 years. Who is doing your translations? Contact us to discuss your next translation project. Trust TSI.  Equifax. Anthem Blue Cross. T-Mobile. Every day it seems like there’s a new online privacy breach that leaks our personal data to elusive hackers. Who is protecting your personal information: name, age, social security number, home address, email address, medical information, net worth, etc.? So much of it is in the hands of the companies with whom we, as consumers, use for business. As we have recently seen with concerns over Facebook’s privacy issues, most major companies that have international offices are dealing with similar problems and are creating or updating privacy policies to protect their employees’ personal data. In an effort to counter issues arising from the increase of leaked personal information, the European Union recently added new regulations for companies all over the world: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR “aims primarily to give control to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU.” It’s integral for business owners to understand how this relates to their industry. In most of these cases the companies are having these documents translated only into the languages of the countries where they operate. Here at Translation Services International, we recently translated a privacy policy for a major US based company with offices in India into Hindi. Within a week, employees in different locations requested that the same policies be translated into Urdu, Bengali and Gujarati, other languages commonly spoken in India. The company graciously agreed and a few days later we delivered the requested translations. Why are these privacy policies so important? What could happen if your private information were to be leaked to hackers, or even legally shared with others without your permission? This happens more frequently than you would think. Here is an article outlining some of the dangers involved. In order to maintain legal standing with international laws and also ensure trust between you as a business and your clients, properly translating these documents is essential. While our experience at TSI transcends beyond legal documents, this is a particular area in which we have extensive knowledge. We hire only the most skilled native human translators to helm some of these very specific niche topics and ultimately deliver flawless translations to help keep your international business running smoothly. Do your privacy policies need updating or translations? Contact us for a translation consultation or a quote. We are more than happy to share our expertise in this area to make the process smooth and seamless for you and your business.  At TSI, many of our clients need translations of website related content- particularly their company websites or web portals that employees or customers use to conduct business. Translating websites, particularly HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), adds an additional level of difficulty to the project. But why?
Translating websites requires an understanding of HTML, which is a set of markup symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display on a browser page. Each individual markup element is referred to as a tag.While some tags are self-closing, such as the <mg >; and <input > tags, most require code to denote the beginning and end of the tag (i.e. <p>My paragraph content<p>). In those cases, text or copy is inserted between tags. Think of the pulldown menu on a site as an example. What we see as someone browsing the site may only say “HOME” or “PORTFOLIO”, but there’s an entire list of words and symbols that are not visible to us. It is also common for there to be nested tags: (i.e. <p>Some regular text with a word I want <b>emphasized</b></p>). Every web browser has default "styles" for standard tags that dictate how the tag content will display. For example, <h1> tag content will be bold by default, and <p> tag content will not. Inline style properties on tags or CSS properties set in a <style> block or imported via an external CSS file can be used suggest to web browser how the copy appears on a page, what the color of the text will be, the size and type of font, whether it is bold, italic, etc., and whether it is indented, justified, left-aligned, centered or right-aligned, etc. A translator has to be careful not to inadvertently delete, move or otherwise disturb the tags, which would result in misalignment of the copy and the introduction of unintentional modifications to the visual language of the website, or even worse- rendering pages of the website unusable. When it comes to jobs requiring HTML translation, we have a talented team of native language translators who are not only proficient in language translation, but in code and HTML. This helps keeps translated websites free of any errors. If you’re interested in expanding your business abroad, HTML translation is a great place to start because in this day and age, most consumers use the internet to search for businesses. Don’t hesitate to reach out for a quote and consultation. The following are examples of HTML translations in several languages. English "Out of {{totalSelected}} line(s) selected, {{totalAdded}} added to the order list successfully!", "Process No. <b>{{processNo}}</b> for customer no. <b>{{customerNo}}</b> has been approved successfully with order no. ", "Showing <b>{{RESULTCOUNT}}</b> match for serial number <b>\"{{PARTNUMBER}}\"</b>", =============================================================================== Russian "Из общего числа выбранных строк ({{totalSelected}}) в список заказов было успешно добавлено {{totalAdded}}!", "Процесс № <b>{{processNo}}</b> для заказчика № <b>{{customerNo}}</b> был успешно утвержден с присвоением номера заказа", "Отображается <b>{{RESULTCOUNT}}</b> совпадение(ий) для серийного номера <b>\"{{PARTNUMBER}}\"</b>", =============================================================================== Simplified Chinese "已选择的 {{totalSelected}} 行中有 {{totalAdded}} 行已成功添加到订单列表！", "客户号 <b>{{customerNo}}</b> 的处理号 <b>{{processNo}}</b> 已成功核准，订单号为 ", "显示流水号 <b>\"{{PARTNUMBER}}\"</b> 的 <b>{{RESULTCOUNT}}</b> 个匹配项", =============================================================================== Portuguese "De {{totalSelected}} linha(s) selecionada, {{totalAdded}} foram adicionadas à lista de pedidos com sucesso!", "O processo n.º <b>{{processNo}}</b> para o cliente n.º <b>{{customerNo}}</b> foi aprovado com sucesso com o n.º do pedido ”, "Mostrando <b>{{RESULTCOUNT}}</b> correspondências para o número de série <b>\"{{PARTNUMBER}}\"</b>", =============================================================================== German "Von {{totalSelected}} ausgewählte(n) Zeile(n) wurden {{totalAdded}} erfolgreich zur Bestellliste hinzugefügt!", "Die Prozessnr. <b>{{processNo}}</b> für Kunde Nr. <b>{{customerNo}}</b> wurde erfolgreich mit Bestellnr. bestätigt. ", "Es wird das <b>{{RESULTCOUNT}}</b> Gegenstück für die Seriennummer <b>\"{{PARTNUMBER}}\"</b>" angezeigt, =============================================================================== Latin American Spanish "Fuera de {{totalSelected}} línea (s) seleccionada (s), {{totalAdded}} agregado a la lista de órdenes con éxito!", "Nº de proceso <b> {{procesoNo}} </ b> para el Nº de cliente <B> {{clienteNo}} </ b> se aprobó con éxito con Nº de orden", "Mostrando <b> {{RESULTCOUNT}} </ b> coincidencia para el número de serie <b> \" {{PARTNUMBER}} \ "</ b>", =============================================================================== European French " Du{{totalSelected}} de la (des) ligne(s) sélectionnée(s), {totalAdded}}} ajoutées à la liste des commandes avec succès. !", " Le nº de processus <b>{{{{processNo}}}</b> pour le n° de client. <b>{{{{customerNo}}}</b> a été approuvé avec succès avec le numéro de commande.. ", " Afficher <b>{{RESULTCOUNT}}}</b> correspondant au numéro de série. <b>\"{{PARTNUMBER}}\"</b>", =============================================================================== French Canadian "Sur un total de {{totalSelected}} ligne(s) sélectionnée(s), {{totalAdded}} ont été ajoutées à la liste de commande avec succès !", "Le no. de traitement <b>{{processNo}}</b> pour le client no. <b>{{customerNo}}</b> a correctement été approuvé avec le no. de commande ", "Affichage de <b>{{RESULTCOUNT}}</b> correspondances pour le numéro de série <b>\"{{PARTNUMBER}}\"</b>",  The absolute need to use only native speakers as translators
There are many translation agencies that use recently graduated language students with a proficiency in a foreign language in order to keep their operating costs to a minimum. Generally speaking, these students, with fluency in a second language, have something to offer in the translation business, but not necessarily working in a target language that is different from their native speech. The nuances and subtleties in all languages can create hurdles for anyone trying to learn a new form of speech. When someone tries to translate into a language that is not native to them, the result can be anything from humorous to devastating. It’s a common error to think that a word that sounds the same in two different languages means the same thing. However, “it’s not necessarily so”. I found out the hard way. Shortly after graduating from college I joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to a public health program in La Paz, Bolivia. I had taken 4 years of Spanish in college and had additional language training before arriving in South America. I earned a Spanish language competency score of 4.5, which at the time was considered fluent, but not native. A week after arrival, our group of volunteers was invited to a local university to meet the students and tell them about our backgrounds and the programs we were involved with. The school auditorium was packed with over 500 students. One by one volunteers walked onto the stage, were handed a microphone and addressed the audience in Spanish. When it came my turn, I walked up the rickety wooden stairs, reached for the microphone and inadvertently dropped it on the floor. As I picked it up, red faced and all (I wanted to say, excuse me; I’m embarrassed), I said in my best Spanish possible, “Discúlpame, estoy embarazado.” The entire audience erupted in laughter. Now I was really embarrassed, not knowing what I had said to create such an uproar. The Peace Corps Director leaned over and whispered in my ear. “You just told them that you’re pregnant.” Such are the perils of knowing a language, but not quite enough to avoid potentially embarrassing situations. There are many similar sound alike words called homophones in many languages. For example, ropa in Spanish means clothing and sopa means soup. In French pain means bread and pin means pine. In my case, the error was harmless, but when translating a document or a website, a seemingly simple mistake can cause equipment to malfunction, personal injury if operating instructions are misunderstood or a company website to look amateurish casting a bad light on the company’s image. Avoid these potential problems by using a professional agency with a long history of successful translations. At TSI, we take pride in using native speakers as our translators. It helps avoid simple mistakes and saves money for our clients down the road. Contact us if you’re in the market for document translation. We can help guide you through the process step-by-step and explain what makes our business model and team unique in the translation industry.  Technical translations are all around us- from instruction manuals on your new video camera, to your pots and pans you purchased at your local cooking store. They also exists on a B2B level for employees and workers to build equipment properly. Every now and then we receive the following question from our clients, “Are technical documents the most difficult to translate?” The answer surprisingly, is no and yes. Let’s look at the “no” first.
Most of the technical translations that we provide deal with the petrochemical industry, automotive equipment, compressors, valves, electrical components, pumps and a wide variety of specialized tools. The reason I say “no” is because the writing for these projects, such as instruction, assembly, operating and repair manuals, is very straightforward. There’s no creative or expressive writing involved. There’s only one way to assemble an engine or operate a centrifugal pump or repair a broken compressor, etc. The writing is almost always direct and precise. The translators knowing the equipment of course, do not have to question the author of the documents as to their intent, unless, that is, they find a mistake, which does happen on rare occasions. Creative writing and advertising, on the other hand, can present problems. Imagine translating the Red Bull ad “It Gives you Wiiiings!” or Typhoo’s (a brand of tea) “You only Get an ‘OO’ With Typhoo”. These are extreme examples, but nonetheless we have to deal with similar writing on a daily basis. The reason I say “yes” to technical documents being the most difficult to translate is due to the complexity of the equipment. Imagine trying to translate an assembly and repair manual for the equipment shown below. The translator has to understand the names of each of the parts, as well as how they function and interact with each other. It’s not the language that is difficult; it’s the machinery itself. This is why we only use translators who are engineers and experts in the specific industries involved. We wouldn’t use an automotive expert to translate a reciprocal compressor or an electrical engineer to translate an installation manual for an industrial sewage pump. For the best results, all of the pieces have to fit together like a complex puzzle. It’s teamwork with each person working in synchronicity with each other. After a quarter century in the translation business, our team and procedure for technical translations has been tweaked and refined to near perfection. If you’re in need of technical translations, feel free to reach out for a consultation or quote. We are happy to describe the process in further detail to help make the process easier for you and your business.  Business, like a good movie, inevitably involves some sort of conflict. It could be a disagreement between co-workers, board members and executives not seeing eye to eye, or even with a third party vendor. While conflict makes for excellent entertainment, it’s never fun in the workplace and innevitably leads to headaches for the human resources and legal departments.
In a few words, conflict of interest is a situation in which the concerns or aims of two different parties are incompatible. We translate policies regarding conflict of interest for companies with employees within the USA and abroad. In the USA the translations are generally in Spanish for workers in the restaurant, food and agricultural industries. They might be cooks, dishwashers, servers, hosts, managers, field workers, equipment operators and anyone who might not yet have a good command of English. These workers often come from different Spanish speaking countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Cuba, etc. In fact, there are 20 countries in the world where Spanish is the official language. In order to accommodate this broad range of dialects, we offer a generic Spanish translation that everyone will understand. In most cases it would be financially prohibitive for a company to provide 20 different translations for their employees. Another language we have translated for USA based employees is Haitian Creole, which is common in Florida and a few of the other southern states. Conflict of interest becomes much more complicated for companies who have offices and businesses abroad. Behaviors that appear quite normal in foreign countries may conflict with company policy. We recently translated legal documents for an employee who was involved in a conflict of interest in the Asia. This case involved an executive working for an American company who hired a family member as manager of a prominent division. In his country of origin, this was common practice. A worker, who felt that he was next in line for the position, filed a formal complaint with the USA based company, whereby according to their official policy, the hiring was illegal. Conflicts of interest vary from country to country and companies need to become aware of this when they are drafting their own policies. We offer guidance by giving examples of past situations when companies come to us asking for advice. Translations of these human resources issues helps get all parties on the same playing field in an effort to expedite the resolution process so that all parties can move on and refocus on working. If you are in need of conflict of interest document translation, do not hesitate to reach out for a consultation and a quote.  Many people love to write, but one aspect of writing whether creative or technical is the editing process; rarely is a first draft ever good enough. Anyone who has worked as a copywriter understands the amount of tedious reviews their work needs to go through before it hits the press (or the web). But there’s many times when the quality of writing isn’t up to par for translation. A solid source document is the first and most important part of the translation process. The following three tips are ones that we live by at Translation Services International and serve as a great guide to cleaning up your copy.
1. Purpose? What is the purpose of the document, letter, brochure, manual, video, advertisement, training program, etc.? Typically it depends on the company’s division requesting a quote. Are you selling a product or service, describing the function of a computer program, training someone how to operate and maintain a compressor, informing employees about company policy, etc.? 2. Who is writing? It has come to our attention that quite often, writing assignments are handed off to employees who might not have proper training or experience. This will be illustrated in the continuation of this section. The Internet has many sources to help understand the basics of most writing assignments. For help writing business letters check out this guide from Purdue. Here’s a helpful scriptwriting guide from Column Five Media. There are obstacles involved in video scripts that will be explained in a future article. If the company you work for sells products or services and you are writing the advertising copy, here are 5 helpful tips for advertising copy. It is not uncommon for the documents we receive to have major spelling or grammatical errors. We also see this on company websites, which in turn create a negative image of the company. If they don’t care enough to exhibit high quality writing, a reader might wonder if they care enough about the products and services they are selling. Some errors are simple typos wherein the wrong key is inadvertently typed, while others are basic misspellings. Words that are commonly misspelled are loose for lose, it’s for its, recieve for receive, seperate for separate, embarrased for embarrassed, — — you get the picture. If you feel that spelling is one of the areas where you need help, here is a link to the most common misspelled English words. 3. How to review and proofread a document Writers need to put themselves in the position of readers. A writer may have a vast amount of knowledge in the material they want to communicate. But this can be both a boon and a bane when it comes to communicating their thoughts. Because what seems to be quite clear or easy for them to understand might be totally misunderstood by a reader. Writing coaches suggest the following:
When following these three tips, your copy will be primed and ready to pass of to our agency to commence the translation process. It will save you time, money and ultimately result in a greater experience with the reader.  When you think of document translation, harassment is probably the last thing that comes to mind but in this day and age, it’s a delicate area that needs to be addressed not just for English speaking employees, but everyone. Thinking internationally, it’s also essential to make sure offices beyond the U.S. borders are dealt with properly. It’s rather common for us at TSI to translate anti-harassment human resources documentation for clients across the globe.
As of late the national news has been focusing on the issues of sexual harassment. However in the broad scope of employee relationships, anti-harassment covers a wide range of behaviors including all forms of discrimination and conduct that can be considered harassing, coercive, or disruptive. The task at hand for companies at home in the USA, as well as abroad is to prohibit any actions, words, jokes, or comments based on a person's sex, race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or any legally protected characteristic. The latter includes gender reassignment, belief, civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity. Specific examples of harassment include:
The list above accounts for the majority of harassment issues in the USA, however what may be acceptable in this country may well be totally out-of-bounds elsewhere. It’s important for U.S. based companies to check with the proper authorities where they have offices abroad in order to tailor their anti-harassment policies to include behaviors that are not permitted in the host country. When a conflict occurs in this area the response “We didn’t know” is not an acceptable or appropriate answer. Improper handling of sexual harassment accusations can lead to costly legal battles and sometimes public relations nightmares. We have experience translating manuals and documentation dealing directly with human resources training for employees, and employee manuals relating to anti-harassment guidelines. If your company has non-english speaking employees or international offices, feel free to contact us for a quote. Handling this now can avoid costly mistakes down the road.  Although we’ve been known for over a quarter century as a translation agency that specializes in technology, we also have a substantial amount of clients who require Human Resources translations. When people think of HR, they assume it’s the hiring and firing department, but in reality, human resources goes way beyond that. One unique area of human resources is anti-corruption in global business, which deals specifically with anti-bribery. Over the years we have translated documents of this nature for a variety of international corporations who are typically companies registered in the United States with employees in offices abroad. In most cases, the documents deal specifically with the anti-bribery laws enacted in the United States, but they also reflect similar issues and concerns of the host country. As the business world grows internationally and employees find themselves in situations where they interact with a wide range of personnel, it is important for them to be aware of their personal conduct in order to avoid finding themselves in situations that border on corruption. This involves issues as blatant as bribery or even matters as seemingly innocuous as accepting gifts whereby the giver expects something in exchange for the favor. From a cultural standpoint, there’s many different ways to express gratitude and appreciation to clients, or to give gifts but due to anti-bribery regulations, it’s essential that there’s no confusion amongst all parties as a bribery or corruption charge can land your company in hot water. By ensuring these regulations are properly translated, it helps eliminate any confusion and gets all parties on the same page so that they can focus on the business at hand as opposed to worrying about regulatory snafus. Having a talented human resources department is a great first step, but making sure their documents are translated properly really puts the icing on the cake. To take a deeper dive into the human resources translation services we offer, visit our human resources page.   The debate regarding the origin of language has been going on for several millennia. Within the past few years however, linguists have spread out across the globe looking for evidence of primitive languages. One of the more compelling areas of discussion is the continuing prevalence of languages based on whistling, perhaps whose origins sprang from the imitation of bird songs. Below is a link to an BBC Future article called “The beautiful languages of the people who talk like birds”.
What can we learn from this and how does it apply to our contemporary world? Like the people who talk like birds, we as modern day humans tend to alter our speech patterns, vocabulary, and accent based on our neighbors and local community. This explains the evolution of the American accent versus British, Scottish, Kiwi, etc. But accents usually don’t alter how we translate the written word. Just like speech, there have been slight adjustments in sentence structure and spelling throughout the course of the english language. For example, the word “color” as we would spell it in America is different that what the folks on the other side of the pond write which is “colour”. Now how did this come to be? With this one- it’s political. Noah Webster (yes, of dictionary fame) was a famous lexicographer who, when America was establishing herself as an independent entity from England, developed updated spellings of certain words to make them more unique. Color is one of these. Grammarly.com dives in even deeper here. As the owner of a translation company, it’s subtleties like this that are extremely important when understanding where your client’s final product will land in the world. Spanish in Spain is drastically different than Mexico or Puerto Rico. It’s these little subtleties that make a translated document read “native” as opposed to “foreign” and one of the reasons we strive to use translators whose native tongue best fits our client’s needs. Good luck doing that with a computer! Considering the popularity of emoticons, emojis and animojis, who knows- perhaps someday we will be translating those as well. Learn more about Translation Services International and the services we offer. |
Author
Francis Semmens is the founder of TSI and author of all blog posts with a focus on translation for clients and translators alike. 
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email: tsi@tsi.world Phone: 239.821.1724 Fax: 775.361.0926
Translation Services International LLC © 2019
email: tsi@tsi.world Phone: 239.821.1724 Fax: 775.361.0926
Translation Services International LLC © 2019