Clients of language services are always looking for the best translation for the best price. This is only natural. In the absence of any way of judging the linguistic qualities of the service provider, one of the ways of differentiating between offers is the translation process. Agencies often highlight their methodology, backed up by ISO standards. However, they all end up looking the same, precisely because of these standards. Things are a little more complex, however, when you look not at an agency, but at the translator himself. While there are as many translations as there are translators, each one also has its own method, and very few describe it. Here’s the method I use when I’m faced with a new text.
Category: Translation
A translator’s tools
Like all professionals, translators need a range of tools to carry out their work, from the most generic to the highly specific. While not all translators work in the same way, there are a number of points in common from one professional to another. However, many of the essential tools are not generally known to the general public. Here is a selection of the tools most commonly used in our industry:
The quality of translation
Throughout my career in the language industry, I have always heard about quality. One agency promises to provide the ‘best quality’, another complains about the ‘poor quality’ of the translated text… But what exactly is quality in translation?