Chinese Translation Service

Chinese translation services have always dominated in terms of the sheer volume of translations that Chinese translation services providers have to generate. There are several factors that contribute to the increase in Chinese translation services.  Economists would have argued on the wealth and ambitions of China as the main drivers of Chinese translation services. The basic facts are there.  China is too huge, too populous and too rich to be ignored and that goes for Chinese translation services as well.

As selecting the right Chinese translation services provider is important, it is therefore important to understand what and how do most Chinese translation services consultants provide their services. Most Chinese translation services providers offer the basic Chinese translation service, which is basically translation without proofreading and editing. Some Chinese translation service providers offer proofreading and editing services by an independent translator at an extra charge.

An experienced Chinese translation services provider such as an established translation company can provide Chinese translation services, included with proofreading and editing. This is because it has a larger pool of translators. The pool of translators in established translation companies is also more competent and experienced, as they go through a higher volume of Chinese translation services.

Proof reading and editing is essential when engaging a Chinese translation services provider, especially for translations into English. Here are some common errors which you wouldn’t want to get from a Chinese translation services provider.

For example, the Chinese do not distinguish between subject or direct or indirect pronouns. So, when the word他们is translated into English, it could be a “they” or “them”.  Therefore, when ”你会找到他们。” is translated, you wouldn’t want to see “You will find they.” from the Chinese translation services provider. Instead you should expect the correct sentence “You will find them.” from the Chinese translation services provider.

The above common error highlights an important fact about Chinese into English translations. They require experienced Chinese translation services providers that are skilled in translating within the context of the entire document.  Most times, the subject is absent and there is no “it” in Chinese sentences. Therefore, a Chinese translation services provider would have to understand the implied meanings before it can properly translate into English.

Apart from proofreading and editing, an established Chinese translation services provider such as a globally based translation company do offer related translation services such as interpretation, website translations that are suited to the local market, patent translations, multi-language typesetting and transcriptions of videos and other media, and voiceover by a native Chinese. 

I shall leave you with the above article to ponder. Meanwhile, I hope my article has shed some light on Chinese translation services and sound out some issues that we need to be aware of in hiring a Chinese translation services. In my opinion, it is worth our while to hire the more established and experienced Chinese translation services companies as the quality of translations and range of services are better.

Korean Translation Services

In the past Korean Translation Services were more involved in Mandarin and European languages as South Korea’s exports to China and Europe were doing well. Now, with South Korea looking towards increasing exports to the United States, Korean Translation Services, into English, is set to rise again.

As in any translation not just Korean Translation Services, it’s worth our time to understand the culture as well as the language. It helps us to understand why the end result of Korean Translation Services sounds strange to the English reader even though it’s in English!

To begin with, the Korean communication style is defined by its cultural values. As the source documents for most Korean Translation Services are from Korean, the first draft of the translation tends to adopt the Korean communication style as well.

So, what is the usual Korean communication style that can affect the translation that is done by a Korean Translation Services provider. The Korean values that are instilled in its communication style is usually indirectness, honor, and respect.

So what is wrong with adopting the Korean communication style in the translation done by Korean Translation Services providers? There is nothing wrong in terms of accuracy of the translation that is done by such Korean Translation Services providers. However, a westerner such as an American would rather have clear, specific and straightforward Korean into English translations from the Korean Translation Services providers.

On the other hand, should a Westerner wishes to translate his correspondences to South Koreans, he or she would really have to apply the Korean communication style and values to connect smoothly to his Koreans network by choosing a native Korean Translation Services provider preferably. At this point, the Korean Translation Services provider may ask the client to provide details of the status of the mentioned persons in the source documents if it’s not obvious. The Korean Translation Services provider can then add his or her final touches of the Korean communication style to perfect the translation. 

Why do I need to provide the details of the status?  A perfect translation done in an English to Korean Translation Services would present the relationships of all mentioned parties in a manner so as not to cause them to “lose face”. Examples of other elements seen in a higher quality of English to Korean Translation Services provider is seen in the effort of converting harsh criticisms into the ‘Informing’ style so that it is implied and not overtly offensive in the eyes of the Korean reader.

It is quite clear that the quality of translation is dependent on the Korean Translation Services provider’s ability to apply the culture and communication style of the recipient reader. Therefore, it is important that the right Korean Translation Services provider is chosen.

Choosing a Korean Translation Services provider where the supply is short is rather difficult. However, we can always lean on a few rational criteria in selecting a Korean Translation Services provider.

In my opinion, established globally based Korean Translation Services providers would have more native and non-native Korean translators to provide better quality translations as they handle more Korean Translation Services. These established globally based Korean Translation Services providers would also have some form of checks and balances, such as Korean proofreaders and editors in various fields to ensure a higher quality of translations are delivered.

And that’s just my opinion, which I hope will be of some help to any reader who wishes to engage a Korean Translation Services provider.

Japanese Translation Service

English to Japanese translation services is set to rise again as more economic data for the first quarter of 2015 suggests that private consumption in Japan is now supporting growth. As always United States depend on Japanese translation services providers to export their goods and services to Japan in large scales. Other countries are also engaging Japanese translation services to gear towards exporting goods and services to Japan. 

If you are hoping to export goods and services to Japan, it is worth your while to get a Japanese translation services provider to help you understand the Japanese culture as well as its language. The exclusive nature of Japanese society reflects certain acceptable code of conduct which is often reflected in the translation related services that are provided by the Japanese translation services provider. There are even written Kanji characters to describe these behaviours such as “他見” (pronounced as taken) which means “to be seen by others”　and  “他見お許さぬ” (pronounced as taken oyurusanu) which means “not to be seen by others”. Japanese translation services provider should be able to advise you on certain circumstances where it is better to make a “内談” (pronounced as na-i-dan)  which is a “personal talk” or “内示” (pronounced as na-i-ji)  which is an “unofficial announcement”.

As for the Japanese language, verbs have evolved as a result of the important customs of exchanging gifts in Japan. For example, the Japanese translation services provider　would use “遣る”(pronounced as yaru) when a present is given to a person below his status. On the other hand, the Japanese translation services provider　would use “挙げる” when a present is given to a person above his status.

Your friendly Japanese translation services provider would also advise you that in Japan, respect is given to persons and things. For example, the Japanese translation services provider would translate into “御母さん” (pronounced as okaasan)  when the writer respectfully refers to the mother of another family. However, if it is the speaker’s mother, the Japanese translation services provider would have translated into “母” (pronounced as haha)  instead.

Due to the uniqueness of Japanese language as seen above, it is important that a native Japanese Japanese translation services provider is hired. However, it is not unusual for native Japanese translation services providers to get one or two of their grammar and vocabulary wrong sometimes, as they are only human.  Hence, it is better to engage an established translation company as a Japanese translation services provider. An established translation company would have the resources and volume to justify a larger pool of Japanese translators, proofreaders and editors to produce a higher quality of Japanese translation services.

In my next article, I hope to cover some unique vocabulary, grammar and sentence structures that a Japanese translation services provider would usually adopt to help readers relate more to the Japanese language. In the meantime, I hope today’s article has been useful to some extent for anyone wishing to hire a Japanese translation services provider.

Chinese Translation Service

Chinese translation services are generally in demand despite the downward pressure on China’s economy. In addition, Chinese translation services continue to grow due to the fact that more Chinese companies are venturing to other countries, which results in less dependency on its domestic market.

With many native Chinese attempting to be Chinese translation services providers, we need to be aware of the possible common errors that may arise in translating from Chinese to English. By understanding these errors, a customer who wishes to engage a Chinese translation services provider may also appreciate why proofreading and editing is sometimes required for the final English version. In addition, a Chinese translation services provider who understands these errors may avoid them and deliver better quality translations as well.

For a start, common errors do occur when nouns are being translated by junior Chinese translation services provider. Most Chinese translation services providers are aware that Chinese nouns do not have the singular or plural forms. However, Chinese translation services providers have to bear in mind that certain nouns referring to people have corresponding collective nouns. For example, the singular 朋友 (which means “a friend”) has the corresponding collective noun 朋友们 (which means “a group of friends”). Very often, the word朋友们 is translated by inexperienced Chinese translation services providers to just “friends” instead of the more appropriate phrase “group of friends” or “my friends”. Depending on the context of the document, a Chinese translation services provider may even translate it into “my dear friends”.

Another common error that can be made by some Chinese translation services providers is the inappropriate use of “of” particle and possessive case in the English translation. For example, the sentence 这是李太太朋友的书。which means “This book belongs to Mrs Li’s friend.”  is sometimes awkwardly written by Chinese translation services providers as “This is Mrs Li’s friend’s book.” Or “This is the book of friend of Mrs Li.” Although some Chinese translation services providers may argue that the poor translations are accurate, the latter two phrases can be quite painful to read.

Having shown some common errors, I need to stress that knowing all these common errors doesn’t make us expert Chinese translation services provider. We are still dependent on Chinese translation services providers to deliver good quality translations.

The issue is how do we ensure these Chinese translation services providers deliver good quality translations? The answer is to hire established translation company with companies, based in well inculcated English and Chinese environments, as Chinese translation services providers. An example of such translation company is the Singaporean global translation companies. The globally based Singaporean Chinese translation services providers have internationally accepted English and Chinese standards with experts in various fields.

Why is it better to choose the more established Singaporean translation companies as Chinese translation services providers? It’s better to choose the established Singaporean translation companies as they are likely to have more resources for proofreading and editing, and internal quality checks and control for Chinese translation services.

For now, I shall leave you with the above two points on common errors that are usually made by Chinese translation services providers. For the next article, I hope to share with you more on these common errors.

Japanese Translation Service

It seems that Japanese translation services are set to be on an upward trend as the Japanese economy is expected to grow in 2015. The need for Japanese translation services is still predominant as Japan's economy is third only to that of the United States. Leading Japanese companies, such as Sony, Toshiba, Canon, Minolta, Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi that have infiltrated the world market in the past, continue to engage in Japanese translation services.

These Japanese translation services are not related to English languages only. They include Japanese translation services that can originate from non-English languages and translated into Japanese or vice versa. Hence, these days it is quite normal for Japanese translation services to involve non-English languages, such as Mandarin, Arabic, Bahasa Malaysia, etc .

As the need for Japanese translation services grow, so would the number of Japanese translation services providers. Therefore, it is important that we understand the unique issues involved with translations, in particular, into Japanese so that we can take them into account when hiring a Japanese translation services provider.

When engaging a Japanese translation services provider from English to Japanese translation, it is important to hire a native Japanese translation services provider. Why is it that important?

Firstly, the Japanese reflects their social hierarchy and cultural sensitivities in their written language. For example, the Japanese translation services provider would have to attach some kind of respect to certain persons and objects in the form honorific characters in front of their related characters. The type of honorific characters to be chosen as prefix by the Japanese translation services provider would also depend on the origin of the word. For example, if the origin is from Japan, then お(o) is supposed to be used by the Japanese translation services provider, while ご(go) is usually used if the word is from China.

Secondly, there are many minute and detailed differences in the Japanese vocabularies and verbs that require the Japanese translation services provider to be exacting in his translations, otherwise he or she may end up conveying different messages.

For example, under vocabularies, the Japanese translation services provider would need to use different terms to differentiate a cow or bull. For the female cow, it is called雌牛 (meushi), the male ox is called 雄牛 (oushi ), the young cow or bull is called 子牛 (koushi) and the parent cow or bull is called 親牛 (oyaushi).

With regards to Japanese sentence construction, the Japanese translation services provider would need to use the exact Japanese verbs to express the subjective view, feelings and intentions of the speaker. For example, the Japanese translation services provider should know the slight difference between the conjugation of the same verbs in the 2 sentences, 雨が降る。and雨が降るかしら。which gives rise to entirely different meanings. The former simply means “The rain falls.” while the latter means “I wonder if it will rain.”

Very often, there are many rules as well exceptions in the Japanese language that requires the Japanese translation services provider to dedicate a team of translator as well as proofreader to translate very important documents, such as legal contracts. That is why it is important to consider engaging professional global translation company as Japanese translation services provider as it would most likely have a larger pool of Japanese translators, proofreaders and editors.

In my next article, I hope to share more examples of the uniqueness of the Japanese language which can only be fully understood by a Japanese translation services provider. In the meantime, I hope this article proves to be useful to some extent to readers who may be engaging a Japanese translation services provider or simply trying to understand the Japanese language.

Simultaneous Interpretation Malaysia

It seems Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia is gaining popularity in reaching the masses. Companies as well as politicians are leveraging on Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia as it has been found to be an efficient tool in communicating to large groups in their mother tongue languages.

Apart from being efficient, more Malaysian companies are venturing into Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia because it is an effective method for promotion as well. Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia creates the possibility for consumer products to be efficiently and effectively marketed to the general public.

Besides the cost of organizing a Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia, one of the concerns of conducting a Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia is the extent of work that goes behind the scene. Project managers who frequently have to manage a Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia may find it mind boggling, especially when it comes to handling large scale events such as conferences and conventions. However, Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia can be smoothly executed if certain key areas are considered, planned and resolved in a timely manner.

A well executed Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia often requires a project manager to consider the following:

a)    Engaging experienced Interpreters who have done Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia

Generally, the most established and globally based translation company tend to have the more experienced SI Interpreters to undertake Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia. In addition, a globally based translation company has to meet global International standards with regards to providing SI interpreters for Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia.

An established global translation company would also have a larger pool of SI interpreters for Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia, at least for those relating to local languages. This is due to the fact that an established global translation company conducts a higher volume of Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia that can justify for the larger pool of SI interpreters.

At the individual level, you can tell that an SI interpreter has experience in Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia from the profile that the translation company usually provides. The type and size of events for which the SI interpreter has conducted Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia in the past can shed some light on his or her experiences.

When would an SI interpreter be considered experienced enough to do Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia?

An SI interpreter for Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia would be considered experienced enough when he or she is able to:

- interpret the speech of the speaker from the source to the target language almost rather quickly; approximately after 4 to 5 words of the spoken source language.

- give a reasonably accurate meaning of the spoken sentences

- interpret without having to summarize and paraphrase

- interpret professionally without being bias

Note:  Project managers need to bear in mind that interpreting for the whole day can be mentally exhausting for the interpreter, especially for Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia. Therefore, a full day Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia would usually require 2 SI interpreters. The performance of the SI Interpreters will definitely be better as the interpreter can take turns to interpret for every 10-15 minutes or so in the Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia.

b)    Space for equipments and other peripherals for the Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia

The interpreters’ booths that come in various sizes, the control console, the transmitters and other peripherals are essential parts of the equipment for the Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia.

To give an idea of how much space an interpreter’s booth can take in the event for the Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia, you would need to imagine a cubicle of dimensions 2.5m wide × 2.3m high × 2.4m deep (8.2ft × 7.75ft × 7.87ft).

Even a simple table for the collection and return of headsets can take up a fair amount of space in the conference room. Hence, project managers would need to plan with the provider for the SI equipment for the Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia and conference room way ahead of the event in order to ensure smooth execution.

c)    Sufficient material pertaining to the topics to be presented in the Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia 

As no one SI interpreter can be an expert in every field and that every company of similar industry has their own brands and preferred terms, it is important that materials are shared with the interpreters before the Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia.

Despite the challenges that may arise from inception to implementation, project managers need to focus on the positive advantages of having Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia. The benefits of a well conducted Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia would definitely outweigh the costs in many aspects.

Finally… Although my thoughts in the above article may not cover every aspect of Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia, I hope at the very least, in may help in facilitating better cooperation between project managers and providers of Simultaneous Interpretation in Malaysia.

certified translation services

It seems to many that Certified Translation Services is simply about “certifying” a document.  However, not many would know that there are many ways that a certified translation services provider can “certify” your document after translation. The reason as to why there are many ways to providing certified translation services is due to the fact that different organizations require different kinds of certified translation services to be applied to different kinds of documents.

The simple rule to getting your document certified is to:

1)      Clarify with the person (who had required you to engage a certified translation services provider) and with whom you are handing your documents to.

For example:

a)      If it is an application for admissions to an overseas university that requires you to translate and engage certified translation services for your documents, then you would need to clarify with the admissions officer as to how he or she wants the certified translation services provider to certify your documents.

b)      If you need to submit translations of your personal documents which requires certified translation services to a bank officer for loans purposes, then you would need to clarify with the loans officer of that particular bank as to  how he or she wants the certified translation services provider to certify your documents

2)       Then convey the instruction to the  certified translation services provider

In the first example cited above with regards to University Admissions, different Universities of the same country may enforce different set of rules for accepting certified translated documents that has been done by a certified translation services provider. For example, both New Zealand Universities in Wellington and Auckland requires the translation to be certified by any certified translation services provider. However, the former University requires a copy of the original document with stamp ”Original Sighted” to be included in the certified translation services. 

In the 2^nd example cited above with regards to loans application, different banks require different types of certification to be done by a certified translation services provider. Usually, the Headquarters of the different banks would set realistic rules on a country by country basis as to how they want the certification to be done by a certified translation services provider. After all, they can’t turn away their customers simply because of certified translation services that can’t be done within the specific local country.

There may be many certified translation services providers who may claim to have the ulitimate authority to providing certified translation services within the country they are based and seem to know what you need even before you present your documents. However, a responsible certified translation services provider will listen first to the purpose of the certified translation services and then apply the appropriate certified translation services to your needs. 

The truth is the organization that is supposed to receive your documents with applied certified translation services has the ultimate say and authority over how your translated documents are to be certified. 

In my next article on certified translation services, I hope to provide more examples of certified translation services and share with you the differences between them. Meanwhile, I do hope that the above written article proves to be useful to you to some extent.