Going Global With the Help of Translation Services in Australia

Professional translation services in Australia have sprung up in every major city to cater to the demand for a huge range of document and website translation services. Part of this demand comes from the number of migrants, either temporary or permanent to Australia who need some, or all, of their important documents like birth, marriage certificates, qualifications and employment records translated by certified translation services to meet requirements for employment and immigration.

Probably more important in the long term is the increasing demand for translation services in Australia to meet the demand for the growth in global business. Many businesses right around the world have recognised that their potential profits could grow immensely as long as they could market their products and services in such a way that customers could understand exactly what was available and why they should buy them.

Not so long ago, the general attitude of many nationally based businesses was they should confine themselves to dealing with customers at home, as the prospect of trying to communicate with potential customers overseas seemed to be too difficult.

The growth of electronic communication and the almost global access that most of the world’s citizens have to the internet has changed the commercial environment completely.

Now, a Chinese business can sell to the world, whether it has business partners elsewhere in the world or not. However, it is unlikely to be very successful unless what they are selling is understood by the millions of people who cannot understand Chinese!

The same story is repeated right around the world. Australian businesses that wish to sell to the world must use translators who are experienced in the field that the business is involved in. Similarly, Australia and the Pacific Rim countries are important markets for hundreds of businesses elsewhere in the world. Many of them have their bases in nations where English is not the main language, so again these businesses must use professional translators to translate their websites, marketing material, legal documents, business documents and so on.

Most businesses would be wise to choose certified translation services such as NAATI accredited translators in Australia to guarantee that the translation services they use are of an acceptable standard.

How can we Communicate With Non English Speaking Patients?

Many countries these days are multicultural and multilingual but there may still be an expectation that new immigrants or visitors have to speak and understand the main language of that country. Some countries are guiltier of this than others. All the main English language nations, like the U.S. Britain, Canada (of course, Canada is supposed to be bilingual), Australia, and New Zealand have a greater expectation that their immigrant population understands English.

This is far from being the situation. Many new immigrants, especially those who are refugees or family members who have come to live with younger immigrants, cannot speak English well or even at all. So how does the concerned professional, for instance in a hospital, cope with a situation when there is no interpreter or translator available?

One way around the problem of communication is for the hospital or other government agencies which is providing services for non-English speaking new immigrants to use document translation services provide to prepare posters and leaflets in the main immigrant languages on what is available and what they have to do if they want to use the service.

All English language countries these days have a good number of professional translation services that can provide these sorts of services. In Australia, for instance, there are good translation services in Sydney and similar translation services in Melbourne, as well as all the other main centers in that country that are able and willing to offer translation services to meet the needs of patients who visit a doctor or a hospital.

There comes the point when a nurse or doctor just has to do their best when communicating with someone who doesn’t speak English and there is no one around to help interpret. Sometimes an older person who has a health issue might bring along a younger relative to do the translation and this may seem a little strange for the health professional who is not used to dealing with anyone except the patient.

Talking slowly and clearly and using language that avoids technical terms and idiomatic expressions helps. It’s not that the patient is unintelligent, it’s just that English is a difficult language to learn and it’s often hard for the native English speaker to appreciate that the non-English speaker is struggling to understand.

One must also be aware of cultural idiosyncrasies. Many non-English speakers may seem to show their understanding by nodding their heads or smiling and saying “Yes” but really haven’t a clue what you are trying to say!

There are no easy solutions, but persistence and patience always help. Try some open-ended questions to test whether your patients really understand what you are saying or try writing a question in simple English on a piece of paper. It may be that the patient can understand written English more easily than the spoken version, especially if you speak with a regional accent.

What Were the Main Translation Trends in 2015?

Professional translation services, wherever they are based, whether they are translation services in Sydney or any other city in Australia, are always aware of any emerging new developments that can help them provide a better, more efficient service. Translators are well aware that if they don’t keep up with the trends in translation, especially in translation-related technology, that their competitors may do so, leaving them behind in the translation stakes.

Of course, any new developments in translation quality do not always mean a more accurate translation. Technological breakthroughs often address the question of speed rather than accuracy. Here in Australia, the bulk of translation work is done by NAATI-certified translators and it is not a standard that the average translator is willing to lose because they have learned a new technology that appears at first sight to mean faster work and therefore more work and higher returns.

So, what were the main trends in translation in 2015 that got the industry talking and thinking?

The two main trends are both technology-based, as might be expected.

The growth in demand for cloud-based translation tools is probably the most significant trend throughout the year. Cloud services have become one of the most important services for small businesses or freelancers who either can’t afford or haven’t got the expertise or confidence to use tools themselves. Cloud-based translation software is available at a very reasonable cost to translators anywhere and is provided by a number of key companies.

One of these companies, Memsource, reported a 93% satisfaction rating from its 30,000 users. Significantly, the number of these users and the number of translated words has increased this year and this trend is unlikely to stagnate any time soon.

The second main trend this year is the increase in the use of machine translation or MT. MT has played a somewhat controversial role in professional translation services because some view it as a poor substitute for human translation. However, the reality is that most of the demand for MT this year, according to figures made available, shows that it is professional translators themselves who are looking to use the software. Far from being a substitute for human translation quality, the idea is to speed up the translation in a relatively raw form and then pass this over to human translators who post-edit the text and proofread any mistakes that the software inevitably produces.

You Can Only Depend on a High Quality Website Japanese Translation Service

If companies and even smaller businesses want to sell their products to customers who speak Japanese not English it is sensible to use Japanese as the language tool. This is the only way that a marketing campaign is likely to be successful. Many Japanese speak English but they will react far more favourably to product marketing information if it is written in good Japanese. This means you will need to get a high quality Japanese translator who understands the correct use of keywords in the Japanese language that will attract the right Japanese customers.

Many important big spending clients prefer to see precise and detailed product information about products they may buy. They may consider it some guarantee they are purchasing a quality product they will like to see some information on the company’s website about the company itself and its mission statement. All this requires the use of a professional translation service in Australia that has the knowledge of business language and what a potential client wants to know.

In Australia, accreditation is given to translators who match certain requirements and this is called a NAATI translator who provides a NAATI translation for all types of clients whether on a freelance basis or through professional translation services. Translation services Australia offer high quality translators who are bilingual in many languages including Japanese.

A quality website translated by a professional translation service from English into Japanese will ensure that the message and content of the website will engage and attract a potential Japanese consumer. Globalisation is here to stay and with online marketing as the most effectve way to promote products on an international scale and a quality translation is one way one company can get the edge over another. Japan has one of the highest access rates to the Internet so is a potential market for online buying. A version of your website well translated into Japanese is an invaluable marketing tool that brings you up t close to a potential Japanese customer.

Quality is even more important when it comes to marketing products such as medicines and medical devices as misinterpretation through a poor translation could lead to all sorts of outcomes such as lawsuits if someone is injured because the directions for use of the medicine or device were poorly translated.

Tricky Translation Tips for Businesses

Many businesses now have the opportunity to expand their sales to a much wider international market than ever before. In many cases, international expansion is almost mandatory if a business is not to lose out to its competitors. When the expansion is to a country where a similar language and culture exists, then there is no reason to use any sort of professional translation services. However, there are potentially huge markets opening up in Asia and in that case, there will be a significant language barrier to overcome and effective and culturally appropriate translation will by necessity become one of the important ingredients in an effective overseas marketing strategy.

Many businesses are forced to think about the importance of translation too late – usually when their product does not fire up in the new market they are targeting, despite the demand being there. This is usually because the company hasn’t bothered to consider the fact that most consumers take notice of information that has been provided in their own language. What other tips might expansion minded businesses find useful?

Tip No 1: In-house translators are not always the cheapest option

Some businesses might be tempted to use their own staff as translators, known as “in- house” translators, but this is not necessarily a cheap or effective option. Professional translation services in Sydney, or any other city in Australia for that matter can be used whenever a translation project is needed, but there is no need to pay them when translation is not needed, or pay them holiday and sickness benefits and any other perk which must be paid to your own staff.

Tip No 2: When translation accuracy is critical use a professional translation service

Many professional translators belong to an officially recognised organisation like the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI). Using a NAATI translation service is a guarantee that the translation will be done correctly and efficiently. When your business expansion depends on official document translation, for example when negotiating with overseas government agencies licences and rights to operate as a business.

Tip No 3: Avoid over reliance on machine translation

Machine translation or automatic translation has its place in the overall scheme of things, but is best left to translators themselves. Good translators will use computer aided translation tools to reduce their workload, especially when they do a lot of work for the same company and many of the documents they translate are repetitive. The temptation for some businesses is to use an online or automatic machine translation themselves without considering that it has to be part of an overall translation project and not an absolute substitute for human translation. Over reliance on MT will result in clumsily worded phrases, even gibberish at times, cultural insensitivities and end in negative sales growth in that particular market.

There are many other tips which can help companies aiming to expand their business away from home. They all boil down to the same main message which is that using a professional translation service is a wise investment in future business growth and not a waste of resources.

Why you Shouldn’t Expect your Smartphone to be a Serious Translation Tool

In this age of universally available and technologically sophisticated communication, it may be tempting to fall for the hype that some translation app promoters appear to promise. Just imagine, you may think, how you could cut down on translation costs by doing everything yourself. Just arm yourself with one or another translation app which has come on to the market and you can dispense with that expensive professional translation service you were first considering.

Unfortunately, no translation app can yet match the quality of a professional human translation service if the sort of text you want to be translated is crucial to your business.

The reality is that translation apps generally translate a text word for word and are incapable of considering the context of a phrase or paragraph. There are some apps that have been designed and promoted by people who have never bothered to learn any other language except their own and have absolutely no idea of the intricacies of translation.

The worst thing that can happen if these sorts of translation apps are used too widely is that words are translated too literally and become meaningless or even cause offense in the target language.

Admittedly, there are occasions for which a professional translation service in Sydney or other Australian cities is not necessary. Translation apps are quite useful for the sort of communication you are likely to use while on holiday, especially if you are traveling somewhere on a one-off basis and there is no benefit in the long term in learning the local language. A lot of these new smartphone apps will allow you to communicate on a rudimentary basis and get by even if from time to time you may be confronted with incomprehension when the app spits out phrases that have been mistranslated.

If you are traveling on business, then relying on a translation app is trickier as the fate of your business trip may be dependent on effective communication. It is best to take with you copies of any important documents that you need translated by a professional translation service and make use of a local interpreter if you have a lot of verbal communication to do.

So do translation apps have any value at all and are they getting better?

The answer is yes to both questions: take Google Translate, for instance. You would be very unwise to use it, despite it being a free service, to translate your important legal documents, but for casual travel, it at least tries to use contextual translation rather than rely totally on word-for-word translation. Some of the new apps do have large vocabularies and have the advantage of being able to be used away from an internet signal, which can cut down on phone and roaming charges, so the conclusion is that smartphone apps have, at least at present, limited use whenever the translation needed is not critical or too important.

Local Language Translation is one of the Keys to Global Economic Growth

International marketing is the key to success for many companies based around the world but success in this area depends on whether potential marketing materials are in a language that international buyers really understand. A business can build its language capabilities by using professional translation services to translate important product information into the local languages of potential customers. No one can make the assumption that English can be understood by all and if they do they will certainly lose business to their competitors who have used effective document translation services to translate important product information and marketing information into local languages.

The United States possesses, at 26 percent, the largest online market. This will inevitably drop as more companies market their products online by using as many local languages as possible. Most internet users have emphasized through their consumer behavior that they respond more favorably to product and marketing information in their own languages. Most people would not choose to learn another language just so they have more access to global goods and services. They expect to be presented with the facts in their local language which offers them the best chance of making the right choices when wielding their purchasing power.

Common Sense Advisory (CSA) has revealed evidence that the potential future markets are in places like Russia, Vietnam, India, and Brazil whose economies are accelerating at a faster pace than those in the English-speaking world. These potential buyers are more responsive to marketing in their local languages than unfamiliar languages such as English, so important marketing materials need to be translated by professional translation services so that the language used is not only correct but culturally appropriate too.

Australian companies seeking out global markets need a NAATI translator to ensure that the translation for the local language is professional and correct as it is considered to be the standard for the best document translation service available in Australia.

How a Freelance Translator can Take Advantage of a USP

The acronym “USP” means “Unique Selling Proposition’, which is the unique aspect of your service that makes you stand out from the rest. It is not necessarily based on how competitive you are but is more related to the type of service you offer. It’s often difficult to evaluate your USP if you are offering professional translation services. You have to think about how what you have to offer is so different from other translators. If you can set yourself apart from other translators in any way at all this gives you your USP. With this USP you are able to market your NAATI translator services in relation to it.

Some translators choose to select an area that few translators focus on such as mastering the language of certain technical products. This can open doors in that specialist area that other translators don’t know how to tackle because they lack the language expertise in that particular field. A person who has gained recognition as a NAATI translator can take on language translations that require the translation to be done only by a qualified NAATI translator. This excludes other professional translation services which do not have these credentials. A NAATI translator accreditation can be part of your USP too.

Identifying your USP can be difficult, as most professional translation services have standards to follow which makes it difficult for a freelance translator to better.

There are some general points outlined below about translation services that you can use when considering your USP.

1. Professional translation service offer high-quality translations on time;

2. Freelance translators have the edge over agencies and tend to offer high-quality, polished translations;

3. A few translators provide translations that are exceptional because they are able to specialize in some select areas which enables them to be true masters.

From these points, you can draw up what you think you should aim at for your USP.

A Three Step Translation Service is the Best

Document translation services that don’t rush through a translation will get the best results. There are no precise criteria set for each document translation as it all depends on who is to receive the document as this will determine the type of language used. A translation service does offer a product when it provides translations of documents but it differs from products which have the same identity as each translation is unique.

Document translation services create an end product that suits precisely the client’s requirements. If the document has to be translated into layman’s language for a non specialist to read professional translation services will provide an appropriate translation. If the same document is to be read by a specialist the document translation services can provide a suitable translation with appropriate terminology for a professional. This type of service defines how adaptable professional the translation services are. The NAATI translator has the necessary experience to choose appropriate language in a document translation to suit the document’s audience

Most professional translation services do have a means of ensuring quality control and don’t necessarily depend on one NAATI translator to do a particular document translation. In fact there is a process that is followed that usually involves 3 steps. The first is a translation performed by a linguist who has been designated a professional in the field of language translation in the languages that will be required in the translation.

This translator should be able to provide a document translation that fits the audience in terms of language appropriateness, tone and style. Next, a professional editor is set loose on the document translation where he or she will, if necessary, alter and perfect so as to ensure the words fit the subject matter as well as confirming that the correct grammar, spelling and punctuation have been used.

The last step is when the final document translation is read by a professional project manager to make sure that the proper formatting of the document has been completed. Once these steps have been completed the document is ready to be dispatched to the client. This type of document translation service is the best that anyone can expect when using a professional translation service.

Common Challenges for Spanish to English Translators

One great thing for translators working for professional translation services translating Spanish to English is that no one assignment is ever the same, so language translation can be interesting and challenging. There is always a need to use different writing styles, translate a wide range of topics, and often have to consider the use of dialects or slang. You have to be more than bilingual when it comes to providing professional translation services.

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