Do you sometimes feel you can’t see the wood for the trees when talking to a translator or translation agency?
Adaptation is the process of rewriting and modifying a text to make it acceptable for a different target audience, culture, purpose, region or country. In these last two cases, the adaptation is part of the localisation*.
When adapting a text, most of the time, as translators, we have to change style, register, grammar and vocabulary so it resonates with the readers.
Example: the adaptation of Dutch content for the Belgian market.
These are the people who will read and use the translation. Examples: athletes, elderly people, MUAs, schools etc.
In creative (marketing) translations, this is the process of re-translating the content in the target language to its original language in literal terms (word for word).
Usually this is done to give the client an idea of the creative liberties the translator took to translate, for example, a slogan, a product name, a pun etc.
This is a person who is a native speaker of two different languages, for example French and Dutch.
CAT tools are Computer Assisted Translation tools that assist professional translators during the translation process and improve productivity, e.g. SDL Trados Studio*.
Not to be confused with machine translation tools, e.g. Google Translate.
Copywriting is the process of writing copy, content or text for advertising or marketing purposes, aimed at converting the target audience.
This is a highly creative process that requires an in-depth knowledge of the target audience and culture, and can’t be done by just anyone.
DTP stands for desktop publishing. This is the process of creating, designing and formatting documents for print or digital distribution.
Sometimes, translations need DTP to recreate the original lay-out and to deliver a ready-to-use document to the client.
Nowadays, the term editing is widely used to refer to the revision of machine translation (e.g. Google Translate or DeepL). It means a translator revises the machine translation and makes the necessary changes to deliver a fluent, natural sounding translation to the client.
1. A more creative translation of the text, where the translator gets more freedom to deviate from the source.
2. A free (not paid) translation to see if the quality and translation style of the translator meet your expectations. Usually free translations are limited (max. 300 words).
These days, many companies try to be as inclusive as possible in their communication. This means they use gender-neutral language. The purpose is to avoid word choices that might be biased, discriminatory or demeaning and to avoid language that references towards a specific gender or sex.
For example: in English, we tend to use they instead of he / she
Globalisation is the process of moving across borders with your company and reach potential customers from all over the world.
Therefore, companies need to develop and manufacture products that are suitable for worldwide distribution.
A specialised, single-language dictionary, which includes a list of terms and their definition, like this one.
A real-life, human translator, as opposed to a machine that translates your content.
Let’s hope they won’t become extinct in the near future.
The rendition of a spoken or signed message into another spoken or signed message. Thereby, interpreters preserve the original register and meaning of the source message.
Keywords are words and phrases that internet users type into search engines (such as Google, Bing etc.) to find information on a particular topic. Keywords are also known as SEO keywords, keyphrases or search queries.
Choosing the right keywords is crucial to rank high on search engines and improve traffic to your website and attract new customers.
A language service provider or LSP is person or company that offers language-related services. These services include translation, revision, proofreading, copywriting, localisation etc.
A linguist is a person who has studied linguistics (every aspect of language, such as grammar, vocabulary, phonetics etc.).
A literary translator is a translator who is specialised in the translation of literary works, such as children’s books, novels, journals, poetry etc.
Localisation is the process of adapting content to a specific region, for example from Dutch (Netherlands) to Dutch (Belgium).
A translation generated by a machine, such as Google Translate or DeepL, without any human interaction.
These translation machines do not generate quality translations. They often lack consistency, very often they contain mistakes and they might compromise the confidentiality of your content.
Be careful when you use a machine to translate your documents!
The language that you learn as a baby and when you grow up. This is also known as native language.
See ‘Mother tongue’.
Proofreading is the process of checking a text, content, translation to correct possible errors or improve fluency before the text is published or shared.
This is the process of assessing the general quality of a translation to check consistency, the correct use of terminology etc.
As part of the ‘four eyes’-principle, a translation is usually done by two people: a translator and a revisor who checks the entire translation.
During a revision, the source and target text are compared and corrections are made if necessary.
SDL Trados Studio is one of the most common CAT tools used by translators.
This tool allows translators to create a translation memory* and a term base* for each client and improves productivity.
A CAT tool is not to be confused with a translation machine.
An SEO translation is a translation that takes into account keywords and SEO to make sure content ranks high on search engines.
The text in the source language that needs to be translated.
A style guide is a document that contains the corporate conventions for writing, formatting and designing content.
Subtitling is the translation of spoken messages into written text, e.g. the subtitles of a movie or series.
A translation that is endorsed by the signature and stamp of a sworn translator. Sworn translations are usually required for official procedures (government procedures, police etc.).
The translation, meaning the outcome of the translation process.
A term base is a list of company-specific terms and their (approved) translations. The term base is intended to improve consistency across all translations.
The rendition of a written text from one language into another language.
A translation memory or TM is a database that stores sentences, paragraphs or segments of text that have been translated before. This is to ensure the consistency between texts for the same client.
Transcreation is a mix of ‘translation’, ‘creation’ and ‘copywriting’. When we transcreate, we don’t just translate text. We create something that conveys the same message, but adapts cultural references to the target market. It’s a much more creative process.
Transcription is the process of converting spoken messages from an audio or video recording into text, including all speech errors, filler words or slang.
I hope this glossary has explained some of the most common translation concepts I use in my communication with clients.
If there’s another concept you would like me to explain, let me know! 🙂
Lots of love,
Reineke
