The Police Need Translators and Interpreters Too

The amount of money that police in one of Britain's counties is paying out for translation services has become a controversial topic with local politicians claiming that the money could be better spent on tackling important local crime issues, like rural crime.

Lincolnshire is a large county in the Midlands of England. One might wonder, like one of the candidates vying for election as the county's Police and Crime Commissioner, Marc Jones, why the police in this largely rural county might need to spend over $500,000 on translating services.  These are not German translators or French translators but mostly translators who can interpret and translate languages spoken by some of Britain's most recent immigrants including those from Eritrea, Somalia and the Philippines.

When contacted by media representatives, a spokeswoman from the Lincolnshire Police, Deputy Chief Constable, Heather Roach, said that the county had become more diverse over the last decade and there was a need to be able to communicate with victims, offenders and witnesses who could not speak or understand English well enough. She went on to say that the police force regretted the amount of money being spent but thought that it was unavoidable in this era.

Marc Jones had made the comment about the expense of translating and interpreting services being astronomical and suggested that he might set different priorities if he won the position of Police and Crime Commissioner. He said that the Lincolnshire force had already overspent far too much on legal help to remove a former Police Commissioner.

Presumably, whatever Mr. Jones thinks about one specific government agency, this trend towards an increasing need for translation and interpretation services in many areas of life is something being experienced all over Europe where there has been a surge in immigration recently. Germany is one of those European nations that has chosen to take in many immigrants during the Syrian Civil War crisis and it can only be guessed how many German translation services will be asked to provide help to communicate with these immigrants.

What’s Behind the Scenes of Success as a Translator?

A freelance translator is unlikely to boast success immediately, as it takes time to build up experience. In fact, it involves years of learning and working with text in order to reach a successful outcome. It is difficult to shortcut when it comes to translations and there are no keys that will allow instant access to success as a translator.

There are some things you can do to help you on the road to be a successful translator. The first thing is to get qualified as a translator through undertaking an advanced degree followed by a professional certificate in translation. Certification may not necessarily be required but it is a good way to begin. The second stage is to ensure you have proof of your competency in your second language. This can be in the form of a formal test. The third stage is gaining experience and this could mean at first acting as an interpreter for people in need. Maybe a new immigrant needs help with difficult parts of the language when it comes to translating.

Once you have started to build up a portfolio of your German translation achievements you can start marketing your skills as a translator. You will be surprised how many different organisations you can approach who need translation services. These include police stations, law firms and your local hospital.

You can also start up your own website where you can showcase some of your translation achievements. You can list your rates for the services you offer as most translators work on a freelance basis rather than being tied to one company.

As you move forward you may find that you have become more specialised in certain translation areas and you are familiar with terms related to particular industries as an English German translator. This will benefit your ability to get German English translation work too. Learning the language of specific industries makes you an expert compared to other translators which offers you more openings with less competition.

So What is so Different about Legal Document Translation?

Legal document translation is as different to any other type of translation as the legal language is to any other technical language. It’s a bit like asking a French translator to translate an English document into German if you ask a marketing translator to deal with a legal document for you.

German translators who are capable of handling legal documents and legal document translation should be experienced first and foremost in the two languages of English and German, of course, but also should have working knowledge of the two legal systems as well and preferably have experience in translating legal documents. You will probably pay a bit more for this sort of specialised service, but if you want your Mercedes looked at by a mechanic, you don’t necessarily want to employ a mechanic who has only been used to Volkswagens, do you?

Legal documents include things like birth, death and marriage certificates, deposition records, financial statements, patent confirmations and certificates, letters of application, wills and covenants, business contacts and litigation material amongst others. The German translation service you choose should be aware of what these documents are all about and have had experience in translating them. This means they are well versed in legal terminology but have a working knowledge of the intricacies of German law as well as that of the English speaking country you are based in.

It hardly bears stressing that the outcome of even the slightest mistake in a legal translation might have important and expensive ramifications, so the English German translators used must be professionals in terms of their standards of accuracy and their editing and proofreading. Legal document translation should never be left to a bilingual staff member or, worse still, an online translation tool, whatever may seem to be the savings in cost of doing this.

Finally, two more important aspects of legal document translators are the speed of delivery and the requirement for confidentiality. While you are not expecting a German translator to rush through an important legal document translation you will most likely have deadlines of your own and you will need to know whether the translator can deliver by the specified date. In addition, you will want to be assured that the document contents are totally secure and cannot be made known to any other person or organisation because of lax confidentiality standards. Most businesses or organisations that regularly require legal document translation will usually work with the same trusted translation service once they are happy with the level of service they offer.

Preparation is Definitely Needed for Quality Machine Translations

Many machine German translations are actually quite good, particularly when translations take place between German and the most commonly used languages. Sometimes, complaints are made about the poor quality of machine translations. With a bit of pre planning you can normally sort these out yourself. All you have to do is study the original text before the English German translation begins and then make a couple of quite simple changes.

Firstly, keep the text simple and ensure it is well thought out and a pleasure to read. Complicated sentence structure and ideas that are written in a more complicated way than they need to be, but do not necessarily have the desired effect on the audience. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. Machine translators work well with simply written text. If your business wants your product descriptions translated into German for your international audience, keep to simple text which means short sentences and straightforward vocabulary.

Secondly, correct any typos as a machine German translator has difficulty focussing on typos and other small grammatical errors. If there are words without spaces between them a machine translator will not be able to translate properly. It’s important to use a spellchecker before presenting the information before a machine translation too.

Thirdly, sentence structure needs to be considered as well and the preference is to use the active voice as it is common in many languages. The active voice has similarities in many languages and machine translators are often able to read and fit in the correct translations for active sentences. In contrast, the passive voice does present more of a challenge because it does vary between languages.

Finally, choose vocabulary carefully as sayings and idioms often do not translate correctly across other languages and neither do words that have more than one meaning.  

Using the points mentioned above will help you get the best return out of a machine translation. However, in the long run, if it is quality you are after and you need your translation to be spot on and perfect, then there is no substitute for a professional translation done by a professional German translator. 

Another Discussion About Human and Computer Assisted Translation Quality

Machine translation or automatic translation is an accepted part of many translation services these days and there are few English German translation service providers who are unaware of the pros and cons associated with the technology. Automated technology has been evolving quite fast and these days the more sophisticated technology allows human translators to intervene in a way they were unable to before and it is not seen as a definitive alternative to human translation itself.

It should be recognised here that by non human or computer aided translation we are not referring to the simplest type of computer translation which can be readily accessed on the internet. These are rarely used by professional German translators or shouldn’t be! However they do have a place when used by the individual who wants to know quickly what an individual phrase might mean or wants to compose an email to a foreign business or supplier in a simple sort of way and is not prepared to wait for a professional translator to do the job for them.

The type of translation described in the last paragraph certainly has its uses, but is not up to the standard of most translation requirements. Computer aided translation software and related technology has been specifically designed to help the professional German translator cope with voluminous and often repetitive text. Instead of laboriously translating this sort of text every time it arises, it can be remembered by translation software and then used in any translation task. Basically, the translation memory is instructed to retain chunks of translated text whenever these chunks are repeatedly used over and over again.

In some translation tasks, a German translation service will use the computer assisted software to translate a text, and then improve it based on their own translation and language experience. This cuts down the time taken to complete a translation task without compromising on quality. This is of benefit to both the translation provider and the client. The client benefits because the time taken to retrieve what they wanted to translate is reduced and the translator benefits by completing more work and therefore earning more money in the same time period.

What the computer aided translation technology cannot do very well is translate nuanced text and idiomatic expressions. Time and time again, attempts to incorporate more idiomatic expressions into this sort of translation software have been unsuccessful as it is often completely context dependent.

There have been estimates that in the near future that “intelligent” robots could take the place of as many as 50% of all jobs presently performed by people, but it seems that human translators are still quite safe from getting the sack, even if some of them are beginning to look over their shoulder!

Trustworthy Australian Based German Document Translation Services

Finding a trustworthy German document translation service provider just about anywhere in Australia is quite easy as there are a number of very good translation services available. If you do not need to meet the translator personally, then finding a German translation service online is easy and it doesn’t really matter where you live as there are suitable translators in every city.

Unless the documents you have are not particularly important you should stick to a German NAATI translator to do the document translation for you. If your documents are intended to be submitted to any government agency or to an employer, then you may find that only documents that have been translated by an accredited NAATI translator are acceptable, anyway.

Not all German translation service providers specialise so it is worth reading the translation company’s own website quite carefully before you approach them to ask for a quote. If, for instance, you have medical or legal documents you want translating, then make sure that the translation service specialises in that sort of document translation.

If you want certificates or personal documents like birth and marriage certificates, educational and professional qualifications and employment records translated these are usually the sorts of documents that just about any sort of translator will be able to do for you. The only difference might be in the price per document (they usually charge by the word) or the turn-around time and if they provide an express service or are able to translate at awkward times such as weekends or public holidays. Usually, there is a surcharge for these services.

If you do have a lot of translation work needed and it is likely to be ongoing, then it makes sense to build up a working relationship with the translation company and especially with the translator who is likely to do most of the German translation for you. You will want to keep a translation service that is open to communication and listens to the specific details of what you want.

Remember that it is unlikely that you will understand any of your documents once they are translated, so it is important that you can trust the translator to do the job well. You will get feedback from the people you send your documents to, so that will help you to feel confident that the translator you have chosen is indeed doing a good job. Also remember that you can help the translator do their work better by making sure that you provide clear, easy to understand instructions about the nature of the document and who it is intended for.

German English Translation can be Trickier Than You Think!

German and English are quite closely related languages and many of the source words in English are similar to the equivalent in German, but somehow this doesn’t make English to German or German to English translation any easier. German English translation can be trickier than you think!

It doesn’t take too much examination of poorly translated text to confirm that translation quality is just as important for these two languages as it is for any other. If the documents or material that needs to be translated have any importance at all, then a German NAATI translator with a solid grounding in both languages is to be preferred.

Here are some sample translation examples that demonstrate how what seems to be easy to translate phrases or paragraphs can end up in what becomes a clumsy expression or even worse, misunderstandings that could have been avoided with a more careful choice of German translator.

Take this example from a series of signs posted in a German camp site. The notices had been translated into English for the benefit of any English speaking campers. The German used was excellent and the translated text could easily be understood, but appeared quite clumsy and this is probably because the German translator used was simply not proficient enough in English.

The notice used the German word “geschirrwaschstelle” and the translator translated this in English as “an installation for dish washing”. The English speaking camper would have worked out that this meant what they would normally refer to as a “place to wash your dishes”.

The same notice also used a German expression, that wouldn’t have raised a single German speaker’s eyebrow, intended to politely point campers in the right direction when they wanted to have a shower, but the German translator translated this into English as “making their toilet in a personal grooming location”. The English speaking camper would probably have had a laugh at this clumsy translation but still understood that it meant “use the bathroom for your personal hygiene needs”.

A second example is from an advert posted by a language school in Frankfurt which was hoping to attract English speakers to sign up for German language lessons. The advert had several technical errors, mainly in the use of articles which a German NAATI translator should have got right if used. One phrase said “We assist you to fully merge in the German language”. This would have caused some confusion probably because the German translator mistook the words “merge” and “immerse”, which certainly seem to be spelled similarly, yet have different meanings. The phrase rewritten as “We help you to fully immerse yourself in the German language” would have been a much better choice of words.

There are plenty of examples like this which demonstrate the difference between a professional and amateur translation quality. Poorly translated texts can lose contracts, cause confusion, hilarity or embarrassment, so if your translation needs are important, don’t hesitate to choose a professional and reliable German NAATI translator.