Intercultural Communication and Translation News

It’s always shocking to hear of taxpayers’ money going to waste in vast quantities: especially when it’s easily avoidable. Likewise, it’s always shocking to hear of suffering or death where this is easily avoidable. One of the key concerns for the NHS in the current savings drive is to ensure that services can be provided efficiently: helping people with healthcare needs for the lowest possible spend. When lives are on the line, quality cannot be compromised: price cannot be the bottom line.

A recent Freedom of Information Act request revealed that over £59,000 is spent on translation services² every day in the UK³ within the NHS: and the immediate response to this information was panic. Advice was given to find a cheaper solution in machine translations, or cutting foreign language provision in favour of plain English. Responses were centred around cutting costs and minimising provision, with little concern for solutions that worked for both provider and user. However, experts in the fields of linguistics can point out the flaws of approaches that put translation costs as the bottom line; and can suggest logical ways of reducing costs and maximising efficiency without compromising on provision- indeed often offering savings in the long run.

One such expert is Katy Pritchard of Kwintessential. With an in-depth knowledge of both the public sector and the translation industry, she has today released a video outlining where the NHS could save money without compromising on quality.

In the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7aTO08AVyc), Katy outlines how literal translations can be more costly than they are effective. Translations must not only reflect the original meaning of a document, but they must also be suitable for their target audience. In order to ensure that translation spend is efficient, producing a well tailored piece, and ensuring that it is made available in an appropriate manner is vital. Machine translations are unable to correctly and consistently translate grammar and contextual meaning. In the long run this can mean that time spent producing flawed and unusable translations will result in unnecessary suffering. In the long term, providing well translated information to assist patients with prevention offer the opportunity to save money in the long term.

Translation in the health industry gives a high return. It really is a case of spending to save, but this spend must be in the right area. Imagine if the NHS Direct website was multi-lingual. Surgeries and hospitals up and down the country would no longer need to translate their own documents on conditions or treatments, as they would be available centrally. Not only would this save the repeated spend, but also hours of administrative and doctors’ time would be saved as patients could access information online without the need for an appointment and in-person interpreters. These provisions would be available to all regardless of where they lived.

Developing a Translation Memory is critical. Translation Memory is a tool which records the translation of specific words, phrases and sentences, with consideration given to their context, which can then be used in future translations. This technology, which is very different from literal online machine translations such as Google Translate, can provide a considerable cost saving as words that have been used in a set context before do not need to be charged for translation again. The user gains all of the benefits of a high quality human translator with a good knowledge of the subject matter, and documents can be produced consistently and cheaply up and down the country.

Translation and interpreting facilities are essential provisions in the modern day NHS, but unfortunately are not ones that are ingrained into its structure. Living in a multicultural society it’s inconceivable to suggest that we should preclude individuals who need healthcare – who are already facing enough barriers in accessing this due to cultural norms or expectations – from being able to communicate with experts or understand the information which they need. Before panicking when sourcing translation in the NHS, the industry encourages provisioners to work smarter; and to reap the rewards.

Notes

1. Kwintessential was established in 2003 and offers linguistic services and cultural awareness training.
2. ‘Translation’ is rewriting text from one language to another. ‘Interpretation’ refers to oral translation only. The report linked below incorrectly uses the two terms interchangeably.
3. http://www.2020health.org/2020health/Publication/Professional-Development/Translation-Services.html

So what’s wrong with Google translate? Well actually it’s great…depending on what you use it for.

We recently had to completely re-translate a local food company’s packaging due to them using Google to translate their ingredients, etc into Dutch. However, in the Netherlands they were scratching their heads wondering why the packaging stated that “May contain crazy”. The English original was “May contain nuts”. Yes this is 100% true….a real life example of what happens when you entrust your translation to a machine.

And here is a very basic, illustrated example, of why you should never entrust translations to a machine [no matter how good].

Let’s say I am a British manufacturer of men’s underwear – what we would call “pants”. I excitedly set up a little e-commerce site for the Shanghai market and use Google translate [because I am either trying to save money or I really don't know what I am doing]. I do my keyword translations using Google and voila – my keyword is 男装裤! I get traffic but absolutely no sales! Why? Because Google is telling Shanghai you sell trousers!

Did you really think a machine is going to know if you are British or American or Australian or South African? No! It’s a machine!

So if you are serious about whatever it is you want to sell abroad,  have a human being who comes from that country, speaks the lingo and knows the shopping habits/terminology translate it for you.

by +Ben Lewis

I have used a tame example above as I didn’t want to shock anyone I could have chosen some funny ones (but they would have been a touch rude)

So, how many LSPs out there carry out regular competition research? Small or large, it is crucial for any business to understand how its pricing structure compares against others.

At Kwintessential, we carry out such research on a regular basis (sorry competitors but I’m sure you guys have asked us for a few quotes too!)

Why? Well for 5 simple, yet critical, reasons:

1) To assess where we are in terms of our pricing model. Are we expensive? Cheap? In the middle? Are the prices against languages realistic?
2) To assess what clients are getting for their money. For example, in the research below, ALS applied translation memory to their quote report and thus a reduced rate occurred due to repetition of terms; some agencies counted symbols in the sample text we sent them, others didn’t; one agency would only price including proofreading (which meant we left them out of the results); and so on. Essentially we want to know whether others are approaching texts in different ways to ourselves.
3) To assess any “extra” charges. Surprisingly some LSPs came back to our quotes with an extra charge for project managing!
4) To assess response times and customer service levels. How long did it take for them to respond to our email? Did they follow us up on the quote?
5) To assess what we need to change to stay competitive!

So, if you aren’t already carrying out competition research, I suggest you do. Try us out and if there are any shortcomings make sure you let me know!!

Here is an example of what we did back in September 2011. One of our team was tasked with carrying out a random check of prices, turnaround times, response times, etc. including ourselves (i.e. secret shopper style). A document was chosen to send out, in this case a questionnaire with a word count of 623. It was general subject matter and we wanted it translated into six languages: Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Arabic and Urdu.

A group of agencies were chosen randomly once we had compiled a list from ITI, ATC and GALA. Eeny meeny miny mo and voila we have some competitors to rank ourselves against.

Now for the sake of brevity we will only look at the pricing metrics here. Our full report covered everything outlined above from response times to what their prices included and everything in between.

Once we gather all the raw data, we pop it into Excel and start playing with sums and charts. Essentially what you want to do is see where your company sits with any given metric. So below you can see when it came to pricing, Kwintessential are under-charging our clients! Well, we think what we charge is fair but at least it shows what the marketplace is doing.

A word of warning, this is a snap-shot of one document into several languages. Had we sent a different document with different languages then this chart may look very different. Don’t take this chart as meaning Agency A is always going to be the most expensive and Agency Z the least.

On top of this there will be some variations due to what agencies can/can’t offer. The rates above cover translating only. A few agencies came back with proofreading included, some with proofreading as an option and some without any mention of it. A few even wanted to certify the document as part of the process. Plus we also had the agency asking for extra to project manage the job. ALS and Global Lingo applied translation memory in their quote report and thus, a reduced rate occurred due to repetition( bravo to those guys). Not all agencies we approached offered all the languages we wanted, which meant they were not included in the final list. In terms of language pairs, the majority of the agencies charged more for Chinese/Arabic/Urdu and less for French/German/Spanish. However some agencies charged the exact opposite which was interesting.

So, as you can see a little bit of effort and a little bit of planning gives you immense insight into your company as well as your competitors. Try it out – let me know how it goes.

by +Neil Payne

The words ‘social media’ can sound a bit scary for some; they were for me anyway before I started to look into it all. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more! However, rather than being anything scary, it is actually a really useful tool for anyone in business. But especially for new businesses or those who run their own business, such as translators and interpreters.

There are many positives to using social media, as long as you do a bit of research before using it, it can be really effective and create some ‘buzz’ around you and/or your business.

Here are some positives:

Linguist image: It can enhance a linguist’s image and allow them to target information in the right direction and in the right manner.
Range of users: Word of mouth has been used for years as a way of marketing. Think of networks such as Twitter and Google+ as another mouth. Use keywords and hyperlinks to your website to make your services known to agencies, etc.
Customer Feedback: Monitor and respond. Any positive feedback is good. With social media, negative feedback can be dealt with more quickly and it looks more professional to potential clients.
Generates business: Easy, free but professional. It is becoming more widely used globally and it increases traffic to your website.

As with every type of marketing, there are also some negatives to using social media as a marketing technique.

Commitment: You need to be able to commit time and resources to manage your network presence, respond to feedback and produce new content.
Results: There is no way of monitoring how much business that you have generated from marketing this way. (Although there are now some good tools coming out that can track these such as Social Mention)
Ineffective use: Failing to engage with customers or not responding to negative feedback damages any reputation that you have and makes you look unprofessional and, quite frankly, lazy.

A few final points:

• Social media is all about relationships. Create, develop, maintain.
• Be aware of the network’s etiquette.
• Create a manageable amount of relevant & useful contacts (around 150 valued contacts is about right)
• Be new, original and engaging. Don’t write boring rubbish e.g.: ‘About to tuck in to my favourite sandwich’. Your business contacts don’t want to hear it (and neither does anyone else). Try creating a weekly theme to keep your contacts interested in you.

Basically, if social media is used correctly it is a very effective tool. I hope this article is helpful to any of you who (like I was) are completely confused about how to use social media.

by +Laura Thornton

If you need a translation doing there are two ways of going about it. You can go online and ask a robot to firstly understand your language and secondly, translate it into a different language. Or you can use a company of human translators to do the work for you. Some say that the online way is the way of the future; personally, I believe that the world we live in relies on technology, to give them the answer, far too much.

Online translation could be the answer to all your problems… or it could make so many more that you now have to spend four times more money, and effort, than you would have spent trying to find a professional and reliable translator to sort the mistakes that are now in your document. If only you had made a phone call, or sent an email, to that translation company your friend told you about; things might have been easier and cheaper, in the long run for you. Not only this, but you would know that your translation was being dealt with professionally by a trustworthy and friendly translation company.

If you have translated your document and need to check that it is OK, an online translation can be a good way of checking. But it is still not reliable. Especially if the document you have is, for example, a private letter. A translation company could find you a native translator who knows the ‘local lingo’ of the area you are sending it to, making your letter a lot more personal.
If I were to give any advice for anyone to follow, it would be this; any important documents (anything from a CV to a medical or legal document) I would take it to a translation company. At least then, you know that you have a reliable document to give to people. Also, as a business owner, I think that you would be foolish not to use a company for your translations. Your business relations could break down before they have even started!

So, online translations – the way of the future? From looking into it, I think not 100%. At the end of the day it’s your document, your decision. My choice? Now I have seen what a professional translation team does they would win hands down every time.

by +Laura Thornton

Translators (freelancers anyway) need to find work. How can they find work? Through developing contacts. Today social networking sites are one of the best means of developing these contacts.

There are many social networking sites that you could join to promote your translation business; these include sites like Twitter, Facebook and Flixter. However, there is only one social networking site which stands out for business use and that is LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is the only social networking site that has grown through more professionals connecting together than friends connecting.
The site was originally used as an insider’s approach for job posting and job searching, but in the last few years it has flourished into a community for all industry sectors and in 2008 its population increased significantly by gaining a vast international presence.

LinkedIn continues to be localized with over 5 million users in Europe and with several European languages now available it is becoming ever more popular in Europe and is now starting to gain popularity in Asia.

Due to LinkedIn’s success in localization, the site has become extremely popular with the language, translation and localization industry and is often used to place jobs, news updates, discuss industry trends, conduct surveys and ask/answer questions.

You can use it as a way to gain new information and build new connections to get your translation business noticed, below are a few tips to help you get the most out of LinkedIn:

•    Build your own personal profile for free and include as much information as you can, you will be asked to include your employment background, what your current employment is, your industry focus, your education and a picture.

•    You can gain recommendations on LinkedIn from other LinkedIn users; these will show up on your profile and can act as a testimonial to your work.

•    For your selected industry type your homepage will show you upcoming events, discussions and questions from other LinkedIn users in the same industry. This will help you to keep up to date with all the latest news in your selected industry.

•    Join network groups to help you connect with other professionals in the same industry as you, once you have joined a group you can then join in on all their discussions. This is a good way to show your knowledge in the industry and to gain new information from others.

Now that you have your LinkedIn profile up and running you can also expand your professional social networking presence by joining other sites like Twitter.

by +Steph Lyons

Translating an advert into a foreign language needs to make sense and register an understanding in the target culture.

This is done by adapting the original document, which means a linguistic and cultural transference from the original to the target translation.

A well-adapted translation will fulfil the original document by reflecting the correct meaning and nuances in a way that is relevant to the culture in question.

There are many aspects that need to be considered when adapting a translation:

•    The aim of a good adaptation is for it to read as though it were originally written in the target language so it is a good idea to compare your own budget to the budget for the adaptation/translation and consider what damages may occur from a poor translation.

•    Consider where your translation will be going and what may be different in the following points:
-    Cultural differences
-    Religion
-    Humour- what they may find funny or offensive
-    How they may  view the product differently to you

•    Test your ideas in the target market before committing to them; hire a market- based expert to test your ideas so you know what will most likely work and what won’t.

•    When writing the copy you should think about the assumptions and associations the English copy relies on and see if these apply in other foreign markets. If so, the concept should work, if not, more problems are likely to occur and may need reviewing.

•    Ensure idioms and colloquialisms used have a translatable version that the target market will understand, good translators should be able to alter the words so that they will have the same meaning in the foreign culture.

•    Be careful using brand names, they may be well known in English speaking markets but not necessarily in other markets. If it is not a well know brand in the other markets the viewers may not fully understand your concept.

•    Use an adaptation brief to help ensure that the foreign adaptations will be a success. This should include the context of the wording to provide a background as to how the words need to be applied; who the target market is; what needs to be adapted and what issues could occur.

•    When using an adaptation brief make sure you invest a good amount of time and effort into creating it, as the more information you provide for the translator the better the translated copy will be.

•    If possible, include a visual reference with the adaptation brief as it will help the translator to understand the concept of the text given and to ensure the correct meanings are used.

•    Once the document has been translated make sure you get the work proof read, this reduces the risk of errors arising in the final copy. You could also get a back translation done, which means the document would be put back into the original language so viewers who cannot read the target language can make sure there are no omissions or misunderstandings in the translated document.

by +Steph Lyons

Everyone expects the highest level of quality for their translations, for most, this usually means receiving a translation that is readable and understandable.

However, there are a number of levels of quality for translations and it is important to distinguish which level you require as this won’t only affect how the document reads but also the timeline and costs for the document to be translated.

In order to work out which level of quality you require, considering the following questions will help you to make your decision:
•    What language do you require? Usually you would be asked what language pair you need, for example, English into Portuguese or Portuguese into English.
•    Where will the document be used? For example, for English into Portuguese, a different translator would be required for Brazilian or European Portuguese.
•    What is the intended use for the translation?  Dependant on the intended use of the document a number of factors would be altered to achieve the quality required for its use. For example, a legal document that would be used in the courts would require further editing and reviewing to ensure the translated information has the same understanding and perspective as the original, compared to a basic instructions manual for a new product.
Once you have worked out the answers to the questions above, you would need to decide what level of quality you require.

There are four levels of quality for translations and are outlined below:

1.    Machine Translation- this is the lowest level of quality and is usually used if you only need to get a rough idea of the document, it is quite unreliable because words can be missed out in the translation and often fails to deliver the message outlined in the original document.

2.    Literal Translations- are translated word for word and usually lack the correct meaning of words in the translated document. They are usually done by a bi-lingual individual who is not a trained linguist or by trained linguists who are working outside their area of expertise.

3.    Professional Translations- take into account the meaning of the statement and translate so that the same meaning is in the translated document, these translations are always done by a trained linguist who specialise in the topic of the translation, this makes the translated document easy to read and understandable.

4.    Transcreation- is the highest level of quality and is used when the message in the document is of higher importance than the words. This is usually done if the document is going to be used in a specific location, for example, English into Spanish translations for Cuba would contain certain nuances and colloquialisms that would need to be kept in the translation. Instead of translating the exact word, the Spanish equivalent in Cuba would be put in. This means that the readers of the translated document can gain the exact same understanding as the readers of the original document.

This decision is vital to ensure you receive a good quality translation, if you need some assistance in deciding which level is best for you then contact me for further information and guidance.

by +Steph Lyons