Saying that someone is a translator is like saying that someone is a doctor. So, a doctor… but of what? We all know that it takes doctors a long time to specialize in order to reliably do their job. The same goes for translators, who have to specialize in a specific field if they want their translations to be of the best possible quality.
To have a general text translated, you can turn to any qualified translator who’s fluent in both the source and target languages and has undergone training in the skills necessary to do the job well. That’s enough for most jobs, but if you need to translate a specialized text with considerable terminology, such as a text on pharmacology or the instructions for the 3D design of an industrial container, not only will you need to engage the services of an extremely good translator, but the translator in question must also have specific experience in translating this type of documents.
Like many things, translation is learned by doing, and certain issues can only be resolved if the translator has previously encountered the same problem in another text—and the more often, the better. The abbreviations, terminology and specific structure of specialized texts vary according to the subject matter and language, and you could be making a mistake if you were to entrust the translation of a text on molecular biology to a translator specializing in business contracts, and vice versa.
If the translation has to be 100% reliable, you’ll have to turn to someone who’s a specialist in that specific subject matter. For clients who wish to save time and get it right on the first try, they need look no further than a translation agency as it always has a pool of translators specializing in different fields and in different languages available. In this way, you have a wide variety of resources within reach just a phone call away.
As a client of ours once said, the solution is not about seeking help, but rather having the phone number of who to call to help you. And it goes without saying that if you have any doubts, ask your translation agency of choice what minimum requirements their translators have to meet. This way, you’ll clear any doubts about the reliability of their translations. Reliable, trustworthy and responsible companies will be more than happy to give you all the explanations you need about all the time and effort they put in to be able to offer you translations of the utmost quality.
