S Carpenter: Linguistic Services: More Than Just Translation Milengo

Linguistic Services: More Than Just Translation Milengo:.
Home » Translation Blog » Linguistic Services: More Than Just Translation

Posted by Valarie Badame
April 18th, 2012

Linguistic services covers pretty much everything language related that isn’t translation, and there’s more to this than you might at first think. If you’ve already developed a robust localization strategy for your company then the linguistic services we’ll look at probably aren’t new. However, for some, services like Transcreation or translation certification might be new, so we’ll cover them here in this post.

Editing and Proofreading

We’ll start with the most straightforward of linguistic services, review and editing. When you spec a translation project this is included, however there may be situations where you would want review and editing as a standalone service. Why? Well, let’s say for example you have a bunch of Spanish documentation that was translated a couple of years back, perhaps it was done by an intern and might not be the best quality, or you’ve noticed some errors or mistakes. Rather than re-translate tens of thousands of words, a review and edit would be much more cost effective. Review and editing can help take sub-standard translations and improve their quality dramatically, making them feel more natural and easier to read.

Transcription

Another addition to linguistic services is transcription, converting speech into text. Transcription may be required for a number of different situations, most commonly either legal proceedings or events and seminars. One of the most common transcription requests is coverage of Annual General Meetings where the proceedings are filmed and audio transcribed across a range of languages. The films are then subtitled and the translated transcripts often included in company communications to shareholders in their preferred language. At Milengo we’ve undertaken a number of transcription projects, one of the most notable being the transcription of JFK’s inaugural speech across a range of languages for a well-known Museum.

Translation Memory Management

If you’re managing very large translation projects across multiple languages and you’re not using atranslation memory (TM), chances are you’re wasting a huge amount of money and resources duplicating translations. A translation memory is an essential to a good localization strategy as it enables you to reuse translated text (matches), saving you time and money. At Milengo we can help you build a translation memory from pre- translated content. As long as you have the source and translated documents our engineers can segment and align the bilingual content to create a new TM.

Terminology and Glossary Building

Translation is just changing text from one language to another isn’t it’? You might ask. Well, yes and no. Terminology and Glossary Building are two other important linguistic services that help improve the translation process. Terminology Bases and Glossaries can be built from existing translation assets to define commonality across languages where a description of functions or tasks or product specific information needs to remain consistent. Glossaries and terms bases help translators provide accurate translations where words or phrases don’t already exist in the target language. This is especially important for very technical or scientific content.

Technical Writing

Technical writing falls squarely under the content creation side of linguistic services and often serves to compliment technical translation. Usually this takes the form of product descriptions or operating instructions where none exist previously. These can then form the basis for translation into other languages allowing the creation of multilingual product manuals for example.

Copy writing

Copy writing is similar in scope to technical writing in the grand scheme of linguistic services; however it differs in that the subject matter tends to be broader. Copywriting can cover many different media, from print to online and may also include scriptwriting for TV or radio adverts. Copywriting can be carried out in each target language separately to a creative brief, which allows for distinct local flavours of text, or a source text can be created from which translations can be derived if consistency across languages is required.

Transcreation

Another of the linguistic services Milengo offers is Transcreation. This differs from straightforward translations as it is a mixture of copywriting and translation that is used specifically for the translation of Sales, Marketing, Advertising or PR materials. Adapting text to convey the meaning of the original is key here. Transcreation requires that the translator understands the product or service, the target audience and the market, in order to create a translation that is effective in communicating a concept, idea or motivation to action. Transcreation requires a different linguistic approach and therefore is usually undertaken by senior translators with backgrounds in sales and marketing.

Translation Certification

Translation Certification is one of the more niche linguistic services that Milengo provides as it is usually only relevant for the legal and medical industries. Since both these areas are highly regulated and have strict legal oversight often the translation of texts requires certification in order to comply with either legal or industry regulations. In these cases a senior local linguist with the appropriate legal or regulatory authority is sought to provide final review and certification of the translated text.

Regional Adaptation

Sometimes text that has already been translated needs further refinement to account for distinct regional variations in language. Regional Adaptation is the last of the linguistic services we’ll cover. Spanish is often the most frequently adapted of the languages we translate since, although it is spoken widely round the world there are many different flavours. We often adapt Spanish text into the following regional varieties; Caribbean Spanish, Central American Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Southern Cone Spanish, Mid Atlantic Spanish, US Spanish and International Spanish. This granularity of approach when translating into Spanish adds an extra level of authenticity to the translations and ensures that when read by local readers, that the text doesn’t feel like a translation. This can be important when connecting with your customers through marketing or sales materials since text that is clearly recognized as a ‘translation’ can often have a negative impact on the message conveyed.

Interested in learning some more tips on translation? Please download our free guide below!