Making the right choice
Translators specialize and are not interchangeable.
Choose your linguist with the same care as you would choose the architect to design and build your dream home. In both cases, errors can be costly and painful.
Identifying the right translator for your specific project can be challenging. Two helpful translation buying guides are available for download in the sidebar.
Writing skills
Translating copy means writing it anew. Why? Because great translations are undetectable.
How long did it take to write and polish that “Message from the CEO” piece at the front of your annual report? Did you let the piece sit to come back to it with a fresh perspective? How many revisions did it go through before final approval?
When you ask me to translate it, the process is quite similar. I have to distill the key messages and adapt the structure, content, tone, rhythm and cultural attributes to your target readership’s language, codes and norms for it to read natively. Rarely does that happen in one go!
Culture-awareness
Translators at this end of the market are not only writers, they are intercultural bridge-builders. We have a dual responsibility: to you, the client, to be faithful to your messages and their intent, and to the reader, to be respectful of what they need to receive and understand your messages properly.
Let’s look at just a few differences between France and the U.S.:
| France high context multi-active implicit & indirect communication often favors the abstract & complex social identity stems from belonging to a group time orientation: past |
U.S. low context linear-active explicit & direct communication tendency to simplification & categorization social identity is rooted in the individual time orientation: future |
Culture is the invisible backdrop that molds our behavior, expectations and values and gives specific meaning to words and concepts. When you want to influence, sway, persuade, motivate or change how people think and behave, working within that culture’s stories and codes is highly effective.
Want to get behind the words to communicate beyond them? Get in touch!
Documents I translate:
| Brochures | Reports | |
| Contracts | Newsletters | Software/Hardware |
| E-Books | On-line Help | User &Admin Guides |
| E-Learning | Presentations | Websites |
| HR & Training manuals | Press releases | White papers |