Six Tips on How to Find a Translator
1. Professionals Please: For the highest quality translation, go with a professional translation service. Several companies are available to help you translate from English into a variety of languages. Choose a company that openly discusses the standards they hold to their translators. If this is not clear, ask the company how they specifically regulate the quality of their translator's work. Since the room for error in translating is large, you want to know that the company has an efficient and dependable system for detecting errors. If the translator you choose is working independent from a company, ask them what measures they take to insure their translation is correct.
2. Native Speakers Only: Native speakers have the advantage of natural fluency and innate understanding of the language. If the translator is not a native speaker, you want to be sure that their experience is closely matching to that of a native speaker. Ask them how their skills compare to a native speaker. Perhaps they will tell you they lived in the country for 25 years and spoke the language every day. Alternatively, they might provide you with a list of recommendations who say that they have an uncanny ability to speak like a native. Such language talents do exist. However, be wary of any translator who is not a native speaker, and who lived in the country for less than ten years.
3. Local Living: Is the translator currently living in the country of your needed language? If they are not, when was the last time they did live there? Ideally, you want your translator to be living there now. Why is this important? If they are using the language every day, with locals, the language is staying fresh. If the translator is living in the USA, they may still be speaking the language on a daily basis. For instance, if you need a Japanese translator , the translator may live in a Japanese-speaking community within the USA. However, keep in mind that Japanese spoken in Japan may be different from the Japanese spoken in the USA. For the most professional translation, you would want your translator to be living in Japan now.
4. Experience? How many years has the translator been working, and in what capacity? Ask how many documents they have translated, and for what companies. Perhaps the translator has more experience with verbal translation, in business meetings, rather than document work. You want to know that the translator you hire has plenty of experience in the area of your project - be it verbal or written translation.
5. Test Them: Give them a test before you hand them over the documents that could cost you millions if one error occurs. The test should be difficult, at the same level of the project you need assistance with.
6. Recommendations: The best way to know the translator's quality of work is to find out what other companies are saying about them. If you are hiring a translation company, ask for their list of clients and quotes of recommendation from those clients. This should be easily available on their website, too. Seeing who their clients are will also give you an idea of their level of professionalism.
About the author: Amy Brevard is a Writer for Innuity. For more information about professional translation or to find a Japanese translator or other translator, go to MultiLing
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Six Tips on How to Find a Translator