Fast Translation: 3 Essential Steps When Speed Matters

Fast translation is sought after for many reasons and we are used to it. Even so, questions like “How fast can I get my translation back?” or “How long will you take to translate my document?” are difficult to answer. There are multiple factors that will influence the speed of translation:

  1. The size of the document
  2. The type of the document and its intended purpose
  3. The target language(s)
  4. Your desired deadline
  5. Additional complexities such as formatting or need for specific software
  6. The quality level needed

1. Get Your Document Ready

Your translation services provider will ask you to see the document before committing to price and turnaround time. Be ready to provide it. If your document is a PDF, see if you can locate a copy in the native format (text editable). Read more here about the specific challenges of PDF document translation.

2. Specify Target Audience and Purpose 

Who will be the recipient of your document? Where are they? Is there any other demographic information you can share? How will your document be used? Is it for information only or will it be published? Is it to address a customer service issue or to make a presentation to an important business partner? Any information you can share will help your provider select the correct path for translating your document. Avoiding unnecessary steps will speed up the process, as well as correctly understanding your goals.

3. Settle on the Desired Turnaround Time

Come up with the best and the worst case scenario. Allow your translation provider to express their opinion. Keep in mind that while they want to help you meet your deadline they also want to deliver the best possible product. Translation companies have ways of speeding up by changing the process, scaling up available capacity by using multiple translators and/or by using automation. There will almost always be some trade off in terms of quality, though. For example, a document translated by 5 different translators rather than 1 – and without the time for proper editing – will read like a document written by 5 different people.

Last but not least, be available for consultation during the translation process. If you are there to answer questions you might just be able to help speed things up.

Consider working with your translation partner closely during the phase of authoring documents for translation to avoid last minute rush scenarios. Anything that can be done to switch the translation process from reactive to proactive will help.

About St. Jerome, Translators, and Always Doing Our Best

St. Jerome, born around year 347, was a scholar, a theologian and the first truly accomplished translator we are aware of. He translated the Bible into Latin – the Old Testament from Hebrew and the New Testament from Greek. He very much thought about his target audience, just like every good translator should, and did not choose just any version of Latin. He used the one people actually used and spoke at the time, the “Vulgate” Latin. Vulgate means “language of of the common people”. St. Jerome died on September 30, (year 420), hence the celebration of the International Day of Translators on 9/30.

There are many timeless quotes that have been attributed to St. Jerome: “A friend is long sought, hardly found, and with difficulty kept”. “Why do you not practice what you preach”. “True friendship ought never to conceal what it thinks”. My favorite by far, though, is this one:

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Till your good is better and your better is best.”

The reason I love this quote is because it describes the attitude so many translators actually embody. Most of them probably never heard about this quote but, still, their passion for learning and improvement permeates their professional careers. Translators often work on a freelance basis, from their homes, far removed from anything that looks or feels like a team that could provide some motivation and support. And yet they live in a highly competitive environment where one needs to work very hard to succeed. The translators we have come to know as our own work family show great self-discipline and desire to go above and beyond. It is amazing, sometimes, to see just how much effort they put into their work and making their skills better – and we are honored to be able to call them our colleagues.

Our vision for what drives our business is similar – continuous learning and improvement – that lead us to achieving success for our clients. If something worked yesterday, it does not mean it will also work tomorrow. What works for one client may not be the best solution for another one. And the technology we did not think could exist is now here and we need to adapt and learn to use it for our client’s benefit. There are countless examples of how we get better each day, how we learn and apply what we know so we can make our “good” far “better” and turn the “better” into the “best” so we can always be proud of what we do.

And so we celebrate all lovers of language who were fortunate enough, just like us, to be able to turn their passion into their profession. But above all, we celebrate and are proud of all those who never stop learning, growing, and achieving. Here is a big thank you and cheers to them!

Simple Translation or a Life-Changing Event?

I am a translator by background. I did actively practice translation for over 20 years. Now, as someone who runs a translation business, I am still deeply involved with every aspect of the translation process, even if i do not actually translate anymore.

There is a great deal I miss about actually translating. The solitude of uninterrupted, focused work, for example. How it feels to be the only one responsible for stringing words together just the right way. Doing research and letting myself go down interesting rabbit trails that would take me away from the issue on hand but still deliver the delicious result of learning something new.

There are things I do not miss as much. Like learning the hard way that words can in fact be loaded weapons, as Jean-Paul Sartre once observed.

I was once contacted by a young lady who was looking for someone to translate a bunch of emails for her. She called and nearly cried on the phone when I told her I was in the middle of a large project and would not be able to take a look for a couple of days. Thinking that maybe I could come up with a shortcut, I asked her if she needed them all typed up or if she just needed to know what’s in them. She said “I only need a simple translation. Just knowing what’s in them will do”.

So I quickly read through them and knew right away. There were two parties to the email conversation. One was the woman’s husband, a native of a European country, the other was his lover in that country. His wife here in the U.S. suspected there was more to his business dealings there than just selling electronics products. So she got a hold of some emails from his account and looked for someone to translate them.

When I finished the last email, I took a few minutes to think. Mostly to see if I could avoid the unavoidable and only to find out that I could not. So I called her back. Yes, there is a woman. Yes, they are planning a future together. He will be moving there this summer. Wait, it gets worse. She is pregnant.

The woman on the other end of the line got quiet and then took a deep breath. “What do I owe you?”

“Nothing”, I said. How do you charge someone after you just ruined their life? “Thank you”, she said. “I will go pack my bags now”.

I will never forget this story and how being an unwilling but crucial participant in it has made me feel. It has stayed with me as an example of how translation can touch and completely transform lives. Sitting by the computer, accompanied only by the glow of the screen in front of us and pondering the best tweak to the sentence we just typed up, it is sometimes easy to forget the context of it all. May we always be reminded of the potential of each and every word.

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