Table of Contents
Introduction
Editing a Translated Document in local businesses and organizations are realizing that they need to translate documents into English to expand their worldwide reach as the English language becomes more and more significant as the developing “lingua franca.”
When translation is added to the situation, the issue gets much more complex.
So, how do you edit a document that has been translated from another language into English? What considerations should be taken while working on a document like this? These are the kinds of questions we’ll be looking into in today’s article.
When Does the Translation Start Happening?
In its native language, a document should go through a round of editing. This phase of editing and proofreading should take place before the translation to ensure that the original content is free of errors and inaccuracies.
What is the Process of Translation?
In navigating document translation, the approach is bifurcated, presenting the alternative of engaging professional human translators or utilizing translation software.
While a software translator assures swift results, it may disregard local nuances. Conversely, a human translator ensures meticulousness but at the expense of a prolonged turnaround. The fusion of these methods offers a synergistic solution, combining speed and cost-effectiveness.
It’s noteworthy that machine translators are advancing in contextual comprehension, facilitating quicker and more readable translations. This dynamic blend underscores the evolving landscape, highlighting the efficacy of incorporating both human and machine elements for comprehensive document translation.
Post-Editing the Translated Document
Post-editing is the process of making a machine-translated document more readable and accurate in the translated language. This is frequently dependent on the quality of the source text, the translator’s accuracy, and the intended audience for the translation.
For each document, we use three rounds of editing at TrueEditors:
- Proofreading: Technical and syntactical mistakes are carefully checked to ensure precision.
- Copy-Editing: Coherence and clarity are addressed through this phase, refining the document’s overall structure.
- Extensive Editing: A comprehensive round is dedicated to improving general readability, ensuring the content is effective and accurate.
The same parameters are used to make the content effective and accurate, depending on the quality of the translated documents.
If the text’s quality is already good, the editor can just work on grammar and lexical coherence to make it seem like it was written by a native English speaker. If the document’s core ideas and crux already translate effectively, no more steps are required.
However, if the translated material does not properly convey its core ideas in English, extra steps must be taken to discover equivalent expressions, idioms, and ideas in the original language.
Conclusion
In conclusion, editing a translated document is a nuanced process, crucial for local businesses expanding globally. With English’s rising significance as a global language, precise translations are imperative. The process begins with meticulous editing in the document’s native language to ensure error-free content. Professional human translators or translation software are options, each with advantages and limitations. Post-editing, especially at TrueEditors, employs a three-round approach, addressing technical errors, ensuring coherence through copy-editing, and enhancing overall readability.
The success of post-editing depends on factors such as source text quality, translator accuracy, and the target audience. Despite advancements in machine translation efficiency, the human touch in post-editing remains vital for nuanced and contextually appropriate translations crucial for effective global communication. The ultimate goal is to present translated content aligning with the linguistic nuances of the target language and effectively conveying the core ideas and crux of the original document.
-Isabell S.
