The translation business is growing daily due to the importance of having an internet presence, and the need to communicate your message to as wide an audience as possible to remain competitive. There are many different types of translation agencies and companies around, ranging from lone “friends of friends” who can help out at a pinch, to large, international companies with professional translators available at the click of a mouse.
Tag: professional translation
SEO strategies that you must learn about
What is SEO?
SEO is the acronym for “Search Engine Optimisation”. It is an internet marketing strategy which uses search engines and affects the process through which it increases a web page’s visibility on the results of the search engine. Meaning that a website or a web page will appear higher on the search results of a search engine (like Google or Yahoo).
Translating Content Marketing
What is Content Marketing?
We can understand what translation is, and everybody knows what is meant by marketing. But what about content marketing? What is the difference between this and plain marketing? According to the Content Marketing Institute “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
When do I need a translation?
The answer to this question is more complicated than you might think. The need for translations come up all the time in business, especially those operating internationally, but the reasons to need a translation can be quite varied. Read more “When do I need a translation?”
Transcription Services to Boost your Business Profile
Translations have allowed companies to grow like never before, and the profession is constantly expanding and evolving in order the meet the demands of clients from all across the world. One stand out example is the presence of videos across the internet, particularly on social media, which has led to a higher demand for audio and video transcriptions.
These days, people are more aware than ever of the importance that good language practice can have in terms of developing their business. Translations have allowed companies to grow like never before, and the profession is constantly expanding and evolving in order the meet the demands of clients from all across the world. Indeed, an increasing amount of companies are adapting their services to respond to the evolution of new media. One stand out example is the presence of videos across the internet, particularly on social media, which has led to a higher demand for audio and video transcription services.
More and more companies have been tapping into this; not just because the use of transcription allows for greater accessibility in the online global marketplace, but also because videos provide an excellent opportunity to boost a company’s SEO. For pages that produce longer videos, the advantages are even greater. Longer videos logically contain a larger transcript, which gives businesses a huge opportunity to target additional keywords in various languages.
Something for everyone
The benefits of transcription aren’t just reserved for e-commerce, where good SEO is always a priority; several studies conducted by a range of companies, including Discovery Digital Networks, SafeNet, and even the radio show This American Life have proven that adding subtitles and transcripts to videos can increase search traffic, page views, search rank, and engagement. A similar study by LiveClicker compared 37 web pages before and after adding transcripts. Pages with transcripts earned on average 16% more revenue than they did before transcripts were added.
Satisfy your clients
In addition, these pages also have an opportunity to increase customer satisfaction when they enlist the help of a transcription service. For example students, researchers, journalists or anyone else who’s looking for a particular moment or quote within a video will no longer have to trawl through minutes or even hours of footage just to find what they’re looking for. It’s all there, fully transcribed and easy to locate.
Clients with hearing difficulties are also accommodated for, and will appreciate a service that is not always available to them from other businesses and media outlets. Transcribing your video opens your business up to an audience of millions of people throughout the world who rely on this kind of service to make their multimedia experience worthwhile.
There are a number of reasons why businesses or individuals could require a transcription or captioning service. Whether you’re looking to provide your customers with greater satisfaction, someone requires a written copy of your video or audio file, or you want to use your content in new ways to spread your message to a wider audience and increase your SEO, transcription and captioning can provide innumerable advantages to you and your company.
Difference Between SEO Translation and Localisation
Many people think that localisation and SEO translation are basically the same thing – if you fall into this category of ‘many people’, then we suggest that you think again! While they are both types of translation, they each have different purposes, and most companies look for translators or translation agencies who can provide them with both of these types of translation as it helps to increase their business globally.
Localisation
Many people think that localisation and SEO translation are basically the same thing – if you find yourself in this category of ‘many people’, then we suggest that you think again! While they are both types of translation, they each have different purposes, and most companies look for translators or translation agencies who can provide them with both of these types of translation as it helps to increase their business globally. The majority of translation agencies will only provide you with localisation, which is why agencies such as BigTranslation are so valuable as they also specialise in SEO translation. Let us now make the distinction between these two processes by starting with localisation. Localisation is a process which involves us adapting a text to make sure that it is culturally and linguistically appropriate for the target audience, most often used for website translations. This focuses on the more human aspect of translation as the target text will be received by a completely different culture, therefore native professional translators are often needed to carry out this kind of translation process, ensuring it has the same effect on the target audience as the source language audience. A good example of this is the translation of brand names; a good brand name in one language might be hilarious in another if translated literally (E.g., an Iranian soap product line is called ‘Barf’, which actually means ‘snow’ in Farsi, but becomes ‘vomiting’ in English). They could also be considered offensive or ridiculous: the Ford ‘Pinto’ means ‘penis’ in Brazilian Portuguese and the Rolls Royce ‘Mist’ would be ‘manure’ or ‘dung’ in German. Similarly, one excellent marketing slogan in one language could become a total disaster in another. An example of this is when American Airlines translated their slogan ‘Fly in Leather’ literally to ‘Vuela en Cuero’ in Spanish. The problem with this is that ‘Vuela en Cuero’ would actually be interpreted by Spaniards as ‘Fly Naked’ as it is a set expression in Spanish. This is precisely why it is important to have a native translator of the target language to make localisation possible and ensure that a text is translated in such a way that it is familiar and appealing to the target culture.
SEO Translation
Whilst localisation has the purpose of appealing to humans of a particular culture, SEO translation is different in the sense that its target is internet search engines. ‘SEO‘, as it is simply referred to, is essentially a ‘behind the scenes’ option which ensures that your products and services have search engine visibility in the target country. Every single attribute on a web page such as keywords, expressions, tags, titles, metatitles and anchor texts should be translated in order to make the web page attractive to search engines in the target language. In this sense, SEO is a requirement for the best quality translation of web content, as you want your site to pop up as one of the first options when people of a foreign culture type in keywords related to your site. The best way to ensure that your website is ranked well in all of the international markets that you are targeting is to have each of your website’s SEO elements carefully translated by experts with experience in the field of multilingual SEO. This will increase the global reputation of your business, result in additional customers and of course increase the amount of sales. In order to make a web page appeal to a wide range of clients and acheive the best quality, businesses should employ translators who specialise in both SEO translation and localisation. For example, you may have the best localisation in the world but if your page does not appear towards the top of the list in search engines it won’t be able to gain much visibility or popularity, decreasing the amount of site visitors and potential clients. Similarly, SEO translation alone would not be sufficient; if your localisation is bad, users will find your site quickly but will abandon it even faster. Visitors may have a good laugh if your slogan says that you are willing to fly naked, but it won’t necessarily give you many customers.
Overall, it is clear that SEO translation and localisation are two different concepts, however it is vital to rely on translators and translation agencies who are able to offer both of these. It isn’t easy to strike the balance between a good sales pitch to human customers and search engine optimisation. Many webmasters will request a translation from a good localisation professional first and then turn to a separate SEO specialist, which can work out to be quite expensive. Unlike traditional translation agencies, BigTranslation is capable of offering both SEO translation and localisation services. This is thanks to our carefully-selected network of translators that have strong training in international multilingual SEO. Our professional translation service guarantees to maximise the search engine visibility of websites and increase the amount of its users or clients.
SEO Translation in Travel and Tourism
Translation agencies and companies who specialise in SEO and website translation, such as BigTranslation, thrive on offering their services to clients in the Travel and Tourism sector. This will surely continue to flourish as more and more languages across the globe become more in demand amongst translation agencies and the internationalisation of companies increases.
Travel and Tourism: An Indispensable Industry
If there is one sector which requires the translation of texts the most in order to guarantee success, it is without a doubt the travel and tourism sector! As the whole nature of the industry is based on reaching out to all languages and cultures in order to encourage people to travel across the globe, it follows that the facilitation of communication and translation of texts is an essential part of this process. Hotel websites, brochures, magazines, tourist guides and restaurant menus are just a few examples of the copious amount of documents which require translations in this industry. Translation agencies and companies who specialise in SEO and website translation, such as BigTranslation, thrive on offering their services to clients in the Travel and Tourism sector. This will surely continue to flourish as more and more languages across the globe become more in demand amongst translation agencies and the internationalisation of companies increases.
Multilingual SEO: A Travelling Tool
One aspect which enables the expansion of the Travel and Tourism sector in particular is the use of SEO translation in travel and tourism websites. Many clients expect that the translation services they pay for will include multilingual SEO, as it has become such a necessary tool in this translation field. The more languages a translation agency can offer and the more it can expand a travel agency globally with SEO translation, the more likely it will be for them to gain work in this sector, as it is massively beneficial to travel and tourism companies. The first thing most people do when planning or booking a trip is turn to the internet; more often than not they will type in keywords and phrases in Google in order to quickly find what they are looking for. They will then be presented with a list of sites in their native language, and this is where SEO translation comes in. If translators are able to make their target text available to the desired audience through the use of specific words and phrases, the travel company is more likely to appear when certain words are entered into the search engine. One of the reasons it is also essential to use professional translators for travel and tourism websites is that companies need to be 100% sure of the site’s content before allowing customers to view information. Similarly, the customer will want to be certain that they understand the information they have read on the site before handing over their bank details or any kind of personal information. Particularly due to the cultural differences and clashes that can arise when translating from one language to another, it is essential that the translator of these texts is a native professional of the target language to guarantee accuracy of meaning and to avoid misunderstandings for the clients.
The translator of travel and tourism websites will essentially act as the representative of the company abroad, in an attempt to attract as wide a target audience in their native language as possible. For this reason, many travel and tourism companies only employ translators who specialise in this particular translation field, as they need to be familiar with the style of language used in order to attract customers and to increase the SEO of the company. At BigTranslation, our expertise in website translation and SEO translation, along with our large team of native professional translators who specialise in various different fields, we are an ideal translation agency for globalising travel companies and giving them the perfect translation quality they need!
Charlotte from England: Experience in Translating
This week, it’s the turn of our intern Charlotte to answer Marie’s interview questions and share a little bit about herself and her experience with BigTranslation. “I was born in the south of England (Crawley) and when I was nine, I moved to France with my family, where I’ve been living for the last ten years (Limoges).”
Translating into English with BigTranslation
This week, it’s the turn of our intern Charlotte to answer Marie’s interview questions and share a little bit about herself and her experience in translating with BigTranslation.
Please introduce yourself (where you’re from, where you live, past or present studies, etc.).
How long have you been working with BigTranslation?
I was born in the south of England (Crawley) and when I was nine, I moved to France with my family, where I’ve been living for the last ten years (Limoges). I did a scientific baccalauréat and then a year of classe préparatoire littéraire.
At the moment I’m studying at the faculty of Philology in Valencia, doing the first year of an undergraduate course in German Language and Literature. I’ve been working with BigTranslation for a few months.
Which are your working languages? What is it that you most like about translating?
Right now I’m working with Spanish and English, although I’ve also translated from French to English and vice-versa. Translating well is always a challenge, and I guess that’s what I like the most about it: the satisfaction of confronting a difficult text and to be able to find the exact expressions in another language. If you succeed in doing so, you turn into a kind of chameleon capable of blending into the people of any country and being taken for native (one of my goals!).
Have you always wanted to be a translator or did you consider other careers? For you, is translation a passion or a pastime?
My grandmother is an English/French translator and since I was little she’s helped me with languages, to learn French for example. She’s passed on to me her passion for languages, grammar and literature, as well as for Latin and Greek, and for that reason translating has always interested me. I don’t have any definite plans right now, or specific professions in mind, but translating is a possibility. In any case, I’m sure that I want to learn a few more languages.
In what capacity do you work with BigTranslation and what was it that made you chose the company? In your opinion, what makes it stand out from other companies?
I’m doing work experience in the company and I found it a bit by chance (a poster in the faculty). However I like the style of work and being part of a big multilingual team, and the experience is very interesting.
What essential qualities or skills should a translator possess? What’s your ‘motto’ on translation, if you like?
Like I said before, my grandmother passed on to me her passion for grammar, and I think that’s essential when translating – good knowledge of how different languages work, because just knowing vocabulary isn’t enough. It’s also useful to have lived in different countries to know how things are usually said, so that you don’t write or speak like a dated exercise book. I think a good translator needs to be rigorous, patient, and above all needs to be passionate about languages and enjoy working with them.
Imagine a world without translators. What would it be like?
Such a world would be very sad! What’s so fascinating about translating is to be able to share different cultures and views on the world, to spread knowledge, to explore languages and the way they work, which always reflects something about the people who speak them… If there were no translators, it’s obvious that conflicts would be far more frequent (although we still have a lot to improve in that matter). Translators are linguistic diplomats, bridges between cultures: to make do with just one language is to cut oneself off from the rest of the world, and the more open we are to countries different to ours and the more we understand each other, the better we’ll all live.
Social Media Translation: A Rising Demand in the Translation Market
One area of companies’ marketing strategies which is ever more important is social media. Making their presence known on social media is now an effective (and indispensable) way for them to reach their target markets and increase brand recognition. Social media is advantageous for companies in many different ways, not least of which is the fact that they are able to communicate, engage and connect with their audience in a way that is usually not possible though corporate websites.
Why is professionally translated social media content important?
One area of companies’ marketing strategies which is ever more important is social media. Making their presence known on social media is now an effective (and indispensable) way for them to reach their target markets and increase brand recognition.
Social media is advantageous for companies in many different ways, not least of which is the fact that they are able to communicate, engage and connect with their audience in a way that is usually not possible though corporate websites. It also helps businesses to improve their search engine rankings, increase inbound traffic and gives their brand more authority. All this means that, as translators, social media translation is an area that is worth familiarising ourselves with.
[Tweet “Social media translation“]
If companies sell their products or services in different international markets, they should not overlook the importance of having their publications accurately and effectively translated by a professional native translator.
Unfortunately, it is very easy for clients to assume that a shorter text like a Facebook post or tweet can be improvised by someone in the office with a decent level in that language or by relying on tools like Google Translate, when nothing could be further from the truth! The whole point of social media is that it is easily and frequently accessed by a large and diverse public and so any content should be as accurate as possible. This is where we, qualified and native translators, come in!
The challenges of social media translation
When it comes to social networks, localisation is of vital importance! Publications need to take into account the current political and social climates of each target market, as well as important local events and the social habits of your intended public. This is why it is essential that companies work with native translators with the necessary cultural knowledge. But, even more than this, they need to define their market well and work with translators that know and understand the specific sector and target markets.
With this kind of project, as with any, translators need to be familiar with the correct terminology. We need to bear in mind the specific channel (i.e. which social network), as well as the intended audience. Each social network employs different terms and has its specific purpose. One particular pothole with this kind of translation is the use of slang, set expressions and plays on words.
Another restriction which is particularly pertinent to this kind of text is the space allowed! As we know, on social networks such as Twitter, the message needs to be localised and effectively conveyed within the confines of 140 characters. In many ways, the challenge is akin to that of subtitling in this respect. Often this means that social media translation calls for a creative and clever solution that speaks to your audience!
Luckily, as translators, we often use social networks to keep up to date with goings-on in the sector, events, updates, jobs, etc. so we are able to put this experience to good use when translating social media content!
7 Curious Facts About the Native Professional Translator
The mind of a Bigtranslator is an intricate maze, but it is an organised maze, and the intricacies of this mental labyrinth allow the native translator to hit on the central nerve and true meaning of a text to be translated.
The internal workings of the professional native translator’s mind are a thing of wonder…
The mind of a BigTranslator is an intricate maze, but it is an organised maze, and the intricacies of this mental labyrinth allow the native professional translator to hit on the central nerve and true meaning of a text to be translated. The mental switch made by a native professional translator is something incredible, like the work of the synapses, passing small electrical impulses from one to the other. Translation, in the mind of a native translator, is exactly like this: an electrical storm.
Among the interesting facts that, perhaps, you didn’t know about native translators:
1. A translator never stops translating. Their brain is in translation mode continuously. A translator translates EVERYTHING around them, everything they hear in another language, they translate. A continual ‘hearing-mental translation-understanding-reworking-final translation’ circuit without an off switch.
2. A native professional translator counts in their own language, regardless of where they are in the world. Counting literally anything usually takes place in their native language. 1,2,3…
3. The organisation of their life plans is done strictly an ‘according to future translations’ basis.
4. A native professional translator can find the right nuance for every word or cultural expression, so that the message is passed from one language to another without losing ‘too much’ of its true meaning.
5. Each piece of information that a translator’s brain processes is dissected piece by piece. No part of the information is left un-interpreted in the translator’s mind. And if they don’t understand the exact meaning of something, their mind stays there and thinks it over, and thinks some more, and thinks a little bit more still until, suddenly, ‘eureka’! That perfect translation makes its light bulb appearance.
6. A native professional translator feels the weight of the cultural importance that goes hand in hand with being an important representative of their language on their shoulders. Translation is treated with the utmost respect.
7. Finally, something you’d never believe… The native professional translator lives on coffee! Native translators barely sleep when they are busy with their translation projects and they become a kind of nocturnal species, which manages to stay awake solely by the power of that modern nectar known as coffee!
Translation: a demanding profession
Moving on from this last humorous note, one thing that we are sure will indeed make your hairs stand on end, is the dedication and sense of vocation of the native professional translator. They demand a lot from their mind, and invest a lot of their time in their work. When you entrust your project to a native professional translator, you can be sure that whatever quality you demand from their work, they will demand double from themselves.