Challenges of the Technical Translation
Posted by Brian Miller on February 20th, 2017
Technical translation is one of the most difficult types of translations, one that poses numerous challenges to translators. This is why it is recommended to choose professional technical translation services that offer you your money’s worth.
We should start by saying that technical translation has a broad meaning and it deals with the translation of user manuals, patents, etc. This type of translation is very difficult as it requires professional knowledge of technical terminology and it is therefore more expensive than other types of translation. Technical translators are used to translating a high amount of terminology. Therefore, if you want to translate a user guide, an owner’s manuals, instructions for use or other technical documents you need to hire a technical translator. Technical documents contain technological and scientific information.
A technical translator must have expertise in the subject matter and he must also understand and stick to writing conventions. An experienced technical translator knows how technology and culture affect different factors. Therefore, the document he will translate will be culturally-appropriate and written in a natural flowing style. This is how a technical translation should be and the truth is that not everyone can do it. One of the challenges of technical translators is the fast rate of creation of new terminology. Apart from dealing with the speed of new terminology creation, the translation has to see if the term has a differently recorded name in other parts of the world.
Moving on, a translator without knowledge of the subject matter will not be able to translate a technical document. There is no going around technical terminology. A translator must understand the deeper meaning of a term and this requires thorough research. Another technical translation services challenge is dealing with documents that are written in a different style. It is very difficult and sometimes even impossible to recreate the formatting and style of the source document. When it comes to technical translation accuracy and precision are a must. It is the job of the translator, a very difficult job to preserve the content of the document.
Next, when it comes to user manuals there is the issue of how to make instructions as easy to follow as possible in the target language. This means that the translator that offers the technical translation services has to choose precise, appropriate and plain vocabulary in the target language, not to mention that he must pay attention to the conventional document and text formatting. Text length is another major challenge for translators and this is because the same idea translated into a different language will not have the same number of characters and words. Last but not least, accuracy is a must in technical translations and its importance should not be ignored.
We are pleased to put at your disposal accurate technical translation services at competitive prices. When it comes to technical translation we should be your first choice.
