Common Mistakes to Avoid in Translation

The translation is regarded to be sometimes a very tricky job in Singapore. It is a complex task which involves extraordinary language skills, knowledge of editing and proofreading and lastly, professional approach to handle translation task at a tight schedule.

Moreover, Singapore translators also should take care of the    customer’s interest. But, unless the translation task is not carried via machines, it is common to have mistakes. This is because the translation is carried out by humans who are professional translators.

Mistakes are common when you are involved in the lengthy document translation which is quite complex. Mistakes usually happen in translation due to complex translation topics, short deadlines, etc.

Sometimes, mistakes also happen due to the client’s end too when they do not provide the required details and guidelines to the translators. Simultaneously, when the translator fails to have some skills or have not researched the topic well before doing the translation.

What Are The Factors of Mistakes To Consider During Translation?

Below you will find some of the factors which enable common mistakes made by the Singapore Translators while translating documents. The factors are as follows:

• Source & target language:  Document translation from one language into another is easy if it belongs to the same family group, for example, English and Chinese.  Still, when the translator sees that the two languages are so similar, the translator may be tempted to use the same word order or same punctuation marks as mentioned in the source document. This is the biggest mistake and blunder ever committed by the translator.

• Type of the document:  Documents can be easy and complex. If complex documents are translated then you can have some mistakes and errors.
• Text length:  Most of the translators offering translation services feel bored and takes very casually to translate the lengthy texts of a particular document. They are in a very hurry to complete the translation process that often they miss some silly mistakes they commit.

• Complication involved in the subject matter:  It happens that when the translators were given the document to translate they fail to understand the guidelines to translate the document. It happens when the client does not give the full details of the guidelines to them.

• Deadline: When the deadline is very short and translation work is long, some inexperienced translators are making silly mistakes when they translate in hurry to match up with the deadline.
• Experience of the translator:  A small fraction of young Singapore translators is not much experienced to carry out the task of full-fledged research. Also, most of them lack the skills to identify errors.

What Are The Common Mistakes Made In Translation?

In general, mistakes while doing translation occurs due to technical errors, personal errors and subjective errors. Moreover, the translators also make mistakes since they follow the structure, punctuation, and grammar of the original document text.

 The most common technical mistakes are:

• Following the identical word order of the language of the original document.
• Copying the same punctuation style, idioms and sentence length from the original document’s text.
• Verb tense kept unchanged.
• No change in the format of dates, names, currencies. It is used as same as the original document text.

The most common personal mistakes are:

• Loss of energy due to long working hours.
• Overconfidence of the translators when they tend to pay less attention to the translation task thinking it as easy as they have done this kind of translation earlier.
• Not being updated on the new terminology. Most of the translators fail to adopt advanced means of terminology.
• The translators also make mistakes when they do the translation work with no enthusiasm at all. They think that the translation task is boring and tedious. The loss of enthusiasm is also might be due to the low pay they get from the client. Most of the time, the offered translation rates in Singapore for translators in Singapore by clients are very low.
• Not familiar with the recent translation practices or tips to successful and easy translation.

How to Avoid Common Mistakes While Doing Translation?

You can avoid committing common errors and mistakes while doing the translation. These mistakes can be avoided by learning advanced translation skills and also have proper language knowledge. These are the best tips that are quite helpful for the professional translators while doing the translation, which are:

• As per the language needs, you must change the word order.
• Re-organizing phrases that sound quite well.
• Use of correct and right punctuation.
• Fragmentation of sentences into 2 or 3 as per requirements.
• Re-writing phrases and sentences so that it sounds well in the targeted language translated. This is done so that it conveys the same message with the right feeling and moderation.
• Writing the names, dates, street names, numbers, and currencies in correct and accurate order so that there is no occurrence of any kind of confusion.

Therefore, these are the few guidelines and tips discussed to help the online translators of Singapore. This will help them avoid the discussed translation mistakes above in the future. Apart from following the tips, the translators are also advised to read the translated text carefully before sending it for editing and proofreading.

The task of editing and proofreading is very important since it enables the translated copy to be free from mistakes and errors. It also makes the translated copy quality- rich also.

Conclusion

Every translation task is done with the purpose of communicating the same idea and exact message in a different language. This is the main job of the language translator. Most of the translators while doing translation do some mistakes.

The only way to avoid these mistakes is to do the task with great enthusiasm and by using advanced skills and techniques involved in translation. So, whenever you need translation services like some documents need to translate for studying abroad, you can contact the online translators from Singapore’s renowned translation service company called singaporetranslators.com.