How Verbatim Translation is different Creative Translation?

Posted by ivan kevin on October 23rd, 2019

What is Verbatim Translation?

Verbatim is a Latin word, which is commonly used for the term word – for – word. This is what is done in the verbatim translation services. Translating word – for – word is one of the objectives of this translation. Professional verbatim translation services also focus on using the results of open-ended questions to convey the proper sense, context, meaning and mood of the answer given by the respondent.

The verbatim answers can be from an individual using a small screen or from one who is not a good typist, thus full typo errors or maybe in shorthand. The art here in verbatim translation is to identify what the respondent is saying and then translating that, this can go beyond their words.

Benefits of Using Verbatim Translation Services

If your organization deals with businesses that are physically apart or are spread globally, the benefits that you can get from such services are countless. Verbatim solutions by translation service providers ensures a good level of communication with your clients from different areas of the world. However, it is no less than a challenge to choose a professional and trustworthy verbatim translation agency.

Difference Between Verbatim and Creative Translation

In most of the cases, verbatim translation services are simple in the starting. Different languages have different figures of speech and idioms and verbatim translation services are not adequate to convey these different cultures to the targeted audience. It is important to capture the interest of the audience depending upon the language they speak. To do so, a translator needs to understand the interests of the population, language and its dialects, national and local cultural preferences, etc. Therefore, creative translation services are recommended for such kind of translation needs. Creative translation requires translators to possess in-depth knowledge of the target audience.

Where Verbatim and Creative Translation Services Used?

Verbatim Translation

There are many kinds of documents for which verbatim translation services are the best solution. A few of them are –

•         Medical documents because of the terminology specific to the field such as – medical conditions, treatments, medicine names, dosages, etc.
•         Legal documents also use verbatim translation services due to their law specific terms. A law document needs to be translated word – for – word, no creativity required.
•         Technical Documents are another kind of documents that usually need verbatim translation. The accurate translation of such documents is important for the proper understanding of the content.

Creative Translation

Creative translation not only translates text from a language to another but also makes it adaptable according to the target audience. A few of the documents needing creative translation are –

•         Books
•         News articles
•         Videos
•         TV programs
•         Marketing material
•         Taglines
•         Local words or phrases
•         Idioms
•         Branding material
•         Website content
•         Country or culture-specific words or phrases

The differences are there but still, the need for both these kinds of translation services is there. Various industries have different requirements and any one of these translation services is not able to fulfill them all.