Learn how to provide translators with the right context for accurate translations. This guide covers textual and visual context tips, ensuring quality translations, and the benefits of using a translation management system (TMS).
As technology makes the world more interconnected, companies all over the globe are going international. There’s an emerging mindset that a company can be born global and reach out to international markets from day one.
Although eager businesses might be tempted to jump headfirst into the worldwide market, it’s wise to take things slowly and concentrate on maintaining quality in your localization campaigns.
The first step in localization is a quality translation of your content. When working with your translators, it’s necessary to pay extra attention to translation context.
A translator must understand your text before they can translate it. Providing your translators with as much contextual information as possible will help to greatly improve the quality of your translations.
Why is context so important? Because the translation of any word from English into a foreign language can vary greatly. The way the word is translated can depend on several factors – subject matter, gender, case, and whether the source word is a noun, verb, or adjective. Situational context is also a factor that determines how words work differently in different situations, times of day, or regions.
As an example, let’s look at the word "turn" in a variety of contexts.
The list could go on! It’s unlikely that a single translation of the word "turn" in another language will cover all of these contexts. So it's best to leave plenty of clues for your translators to help them understand your meaning. We call these clues translation context.
Here are some ways to help your translators produce the best possible translation of your content.
To improve the quality of translations, it’s essential to leave context notes for your translators so they can understand the context of any tricky words, phrases or slang. Missing context can dramatically increase the chances of errors in your content.
Sometimes, you may need to make your content. more localization-friendly. Consider modifying your English source text to avoid confusing words for translators. For example, a sentence like “You might run into an error if you click the Exit button” could be translated literally, like “You might jog into an error if you click the Exit button.” Instead, you can increase clarity with a better phrase with clear context: “Do not click the Exit button.”
Another way to provide better translation context is with visuals. Visual context can help translators understand the meaning of your source language.
Localization plays an essential role in the pursuit of new global business. Quality control should be a foundational step in the localization process, rather than an afterthought when things have gone wrong.
Any translation project requires a high level of linguistic expertise. Your translator needs to be familiar with the local dialect and culture of the target audience. Incorporating context into all phases of the translation process will help to ensure a top-quality end product.
Here are some tips for ensuring you get the best translation for your international audience.
Localize’s state-of-the-art TMS comes with tools to streamline the process of assigning context to your translations. Before translations go live, Localize makes collaboration easy with a built-in quality check. Plus, a variety of translation methods can be seamlessly integrated into our platform.
To learn how we can help your localization team translate websites, mobile apps, or docs, give us a call.
At Localize, our passionate writers explore a wide range of localization topics, from technology trends to cultural insights. With diverse backgrounds in various fields, they bring unique perspectives to their articles, aiming to inform and inspire our readers.
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