Technical Translation Services: General and Technical
The need for professional translators or translation specialists is increasing with the development of the modern world.
When it comes to translation approaches, there are two main criteria, namely, general and technical translation.
General translation is the process of translating general documents from a source to a target language. It usually does not include specific terminology.
Meanwhile, technical translation services deal with writing designed for use in specific fields or disciplines.
They include documents in engineering, technology, business, economy, marketing, law, healthcare, tourism, science, pharmacy, and many more.
Texts in these disciplines may contain terminology and concepts particular to the field.
Technical Translation Services: What Need to Have?
The evolution of the society and technology has led to the need for specialization in all aspects of life.
In the past technology and engineering might be learned as a single domain, but now, they are two different fields, which also have much different terms and concepts.
Translating technical texts can be challenging, particularly if the translators are not familiar with the field.
Translating technical texts in a literal way can result in deviation in meaning.
Technical translation agency is the solution for those who need to translate technical texts, documents, books, journals, or articles.
The agency must be supported by technical translation specialists.
They are translators who have experience and knowledge on the field of text being translated.
Of course, technical translation is not a simple task.
The translators must be carefully selected to make sure that they have the following criteria:
- Creativity
- Flexibility
- Ability to explain or paraphrase the meaning of technical terms
- Good cultural knowledge, particularly for texts in business and tourism
- Knowledge on a variety of technical domains
- Analytical competence
- Good logical thinking
- Familiarity with the subject area
Those capabilities do not come overnight. Instead, they come with practice and experience. Technical translation is widely known to have a higher degree of difficulty.
The translators at the technical document translation services may be faced with difficult terms, which do not have equivalent terms in the target language.
Sometimes, the technical terms and concepts do not need to be literally translated.
The point is that the translators must be able to differentiate when they can paraphrase a sentence or paragraph and when they have to translate them in a literary way.
In addition, the technical translation services may have a number of technical translators who specialize in certain fields.
For instance, some translators only deal with technical and technology texts, while others focus on healthcare and business, and so on.
The translators may focus on domains that they are familiar with. This can be a choice for translation services that often deal with technical documents.
The translation agency can guarantee the accuracy since the job is done by translators who have experience as well as passion in the domain.
Technical Translation Services: How They Do the Job
Just like the general translation, technical translation should also make quality and accuracy a priority. Therefore, the translators may do the job as individual work.
For technical texts that may have legal implication and need high level of accuracy, the technical translation services may have the translators work in a team, which include specialists in the subject area or specialists from different subject areas, depending upon the need.
But the question is, “When do you need technical translation?” If you are dealing with contents that use terminology, which is not generally understood by people, then you need the technical translation agency.
Likewise, if you want to modify contents to increase their visual appeal or if the documents may have legal implications, then technical translation is the choice.
On the other hand, general translation is considered the simplest approach, as the translators do not need to be experts in certain subject matter.
Basic knowledge of the source and target language, cultural backgrounds, and writing competence are also important in general translator.
However, the translators may not deal with technical terms and concepts.
Therefore, for those who need to translate technical texts like texts in healthcare, dental care, and technology, going to technical translation services is the best choice.
For multinational companies, general translation is usually not enough.
For instance, marketing materials are classified as technical texts, as they use technical terms, which are not familiar to people outside. They may be posters, presentations, videos, brochures, and many more.
The multi-national company needs to translate them into some languages as it has target customers in some countries.
Accordingly, the company needs to hire one of the technical translation services available.
The costs of technical translators are usually more expensive. This is not surprising since the translators need specialized expertise in certain subject areas.
They also need years of experience to familiarize themselves in the subject areas. This needs time for the process. However, the process is worth the results.
