Translation from English to multiple languages
English Translation Services
Translations from and into English traditionally account for a considerable share of any translation agency’s workflow, and HumanTranslation is no exception. Companies order English translations in the following cases:
- They need texts about the company and products with some global appeal
- They need to localize the text to target a particular audience (UK, New Zealand, Australia)
- They are at the stage of exchanging documents with a partner before proceeding to some more meaningful actions, like signing an agreement or making a decision to use another company as a manufacturer, vendor, distributor, or in any other role.
English is a language of business communication, so almost any company has a package of documents in English readily available to exchange with potential partners. And if you decide to cooperate, you will probably move on to communications in another language or localization of materials.
We at HumanTranslation have a really extensive pool of translators working with English to suit every taste and need. They are a diverse community with different experience, credentials, areas of expertise, and cultural background. All this allows us to go beyond the concept of assigning your work to just a “properly educated native speaker of the target language” and select a specialist who matches more specific criteria.
Certified and Notarized English Translation
The documents submitted to an official institution typically require English certified translation (in contrast to standard procedure). Here are the main differences between the certified and standard translations:
- You will need a certified translator to do the job (also called a sworn translator in some countries).
- The resulting text is accompanied by the translator’s statement to attest to its accuracy and completeness. The translator signs and seals the document.
Notarization is one more step that may be required or not. The notary establishes and certifies the translator’s identity to prove that he is the real author of the accuracy and completeness statement.
Mind that it is outside the notary’s competence to check the translation quality or make any other judgments about the text.
Quality Assurance
QA is a pillar of the translation industry that is taken little notice of by customers. It seems less important than in the engineering industry, for example, where poor-quality construction may threaten human life. However, you should know that a poor-quality translation may jeopardize your business reputation. And this seems to be a good reason not to save on editing and proofreading – especially if the text is going to be widely used outside your company.
We at HumanTranslation follow the industry’s gold standard known as TEP (Translating, Editing, Proofreading), which yields excellent quality in the majority of cases. If the text is really important, we may even recommend the customer to have it checked by three independent editors.
We also have in-house guidelines followed by our translators to eliminate the majority of faults right from the start. They are required to do the initial editing and proofreading by themselves. As a result, the editor will receive the text that will need polishing, not rewriting.
We take pride in our team of seasoned experts who can yield impeccable texts ready for publication.
English Facts
- One-fourth of all people in the world can speak English – at least a little bit.
- English has the status of an official state language in 67 countries. However, the US is not one of them as it does not have an official language.
- The longest English word is found in the field of medicine: it is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis, a type of lung disease.
- A new word appears in the dictionary every 2 hours, and it totals 4,000 words a year.
- English is the language of flights: all pilots and air traffic controllers are required to communicate in English.
- Words in English can be formed by adding two words together: a well-known example is brunch (breakfast + lunch), and a lesser-known one is hangry (hungry + angry) which was officially recorded in 2018.
- Can you make up a phrase with all 26 letters of the English alphabet? The result will be called a pangram. A well-known example is The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog that is often used to test a keyboard.
- English has many more words than the majority of languages (about 1 million), but an average speaker knows no more than 30,000 of them.
- The language that can be considered the closest relative of English is Frisian which you will hear in three German areas and in the Netherlands.
English Tips:
Avoid long sentences. Split them into shorter ones wherever possible! First of all, it is easier to make a mistake in a long sentence. Second, the reader may be confused by too much information in the sentence and lose focus. In this case, the reader tends to focus on the translator’s mistakes and inaccuracies, not the information. However, our goal is to present the information, so stick to it.
When you translate, concentrate on what the author wanted to convey – and not the words he actually said. It might sound confusing, but it helps you avoid mechanic translation of just the text you see. A good translator looks deeper than words.
Once you got the meaning, you will have to adapt it to the audience, its age, proper emotional tone, and so on. What is more, you will have to ensure clarity! All of these are the aspects that make the text look readable and authentic.
If you are a fan of phrasal verbs, you’d better not use them in translation as they complicate the structure and often confuse the reader because of multiple meanings. Save them for everyday speech.
Getting rid of the Passive Voice in your text always helps to improve the translation. The Active Voice is understood more easily and needs fewer words to express the same thought.
