What’s the difference between translation and interpreting?
Translation involves the written word, while interpreting is spoken. If your source text is a book, Word file or transcript, it needs to be translated. If you need to hire someone to facilitate a live conversation, speech or phone call, the person for the job would be an interpreter, not a translator.
Not all translators are skilled in interpreting, and not all interpreters are skilled in translation. Both tasks require a very different skill set: translators must have patience, I.T. competence and acute attention to detail, while interpreters must have excellent concentration, public speaking skills, and the ability to work under intense pressure. Many language professionals are able to perform both functions: if they are, they will tell you! Napa Valley Translation Company can provide both written translations and in-person interpreting services from qualified and experienced language professionals.
Do I really have to pay for every word, even the ‘little ones’?
Yes! Translators generally charge by the word, rather than by the hour, because it’s convenient for the client to know up-front how much the translation will cost before the job begins. But usually, that charge is calculated based on the translator’s desired hourly rate, divided by how many words, on average, they can translate in an hour.
Of course, some of those words are ‘easier’ to translate: words like ‘and’ and ‘but’. But the per-word rate takes this into account by using an average across the whole word count of a 20,000-word text, so it evens out over the whole sample size. Can you imagine if we charged two separate rates for ‘easy’ and ‘difficult’ words? It would take hours just to produce a quote!
Why pay a translator when Google will do it for free?
Google Translate is useful for a variety of things, like understanding a text message from your Polish aunt, or getting a rough idea of what is being discussed on a Reddit thread. Professional-grade translations intended for the general public are not one of those things! If the translation is for a book or paper that you intend to publish, or anything your clients or potential customers are going to see, the stakes are too high to risk using automated translation services.
Why? Because at best, the output could be imperfect or sound unnatural, even if it is grammatically correct; and at worst, it could be unintelligible and even embarrassing. And unless you speak both languages involved, you might never even know that the mistake is there. Oops!
One of my employees took French in college. Can’t they translate into French for me?
It depends. If it’s an informal note, and you just need to get a basic message across, they can probably get the job done. But for anything destined for public use, you should consider hiring a native French translator. Even professional translators only work into their own native languages: in my case, I translate from French and Spanish into English, because English is the language I grew up in.
I’ve been learning French for over fifteen years, but I might still phrase things in a way that sounds unnatural to a French person, even if it’s not technically incorrect. That’s why I don’t offer translations into French: I can’t vouch for the flawlessness of my output in the same way that I can when I translate into my native English.
Have you ever seen a website or social media post written in poor English? Doesn’t it make you less likely to want to buy that product or deal with that company? It makes them seem less competent, and that loses them business. It’s better to invest in hiring someone who will protect your image and message, because it’s their job to do so.
