Q. Are you planning on applying to a university, which the official language is different from yours?

A. Yes.

Good for you in applying to a college!; the language barrier can be managed. By now, you should probably know that you will need your diploma(s), grades and other official documents translated. But, selecting the best translation agency to do the job is key to an easy and successful application process. Be aware of these important issues:

1. Correct word usage

Your translator could interpret your bachelor’s degree as a high school diploma due to a bad localization process. For example, the translation for bachelor’s degree in some Spanish-speaking countries is bachillerato, which means high school in others.  That would be a major mistranslation and will definitely not get you into the right college level.

2. Certification

The translation of official documents for education has to be accurate, and educational institutions often require a certified translation. That means that the translation of your diploma, the translation of your grades or, the translation of the syllabus need to be certified by the translation agency that did the job and that they assume responsibility. The certification is an affidavit that goes with the translation, attesting accuracy and level of competence.

3. Pricing

Another important element of concern is the cost of the translation. But remember: most of the time, there is a close relation between price and quality. You should consider spending a little bit more, resulting in an excellent translation.

4. Turnaround time

College application deadlines do not wait. You should select a translation agency that works around your deadlines and also offers faster mail delivery services.

Education is one of the most important aspects in a person’s life. Don’t let a bad translation jeopardize your future. Be smart and secure the rest of your life by hiring the services of professional translators from a qualified translation agency.

The federal government has given $174 million to the Freelancers Union in federal loans to build a CO-OP health plan for New York. The group also received $166 million in loans to launch plans in New Jersey and Oregon.

According to the Freelancers Union, these CO-OPs are non-profit health insurance plans that are focused on the needs of the insured, not making a profit. CO-OPs offer more, better and less expensive health insurance options to consumers.

We are very excited with the news since it brings affordable health care to the reach of freelance translators. The American Translators Association has more than 11,000 members, though some are based overseas.

As an ex-freelance translator, myself, I know that access to a health care plan is one of the biggest issues of the profession.

To find out more about the CO-OPs, you can visit the Freelancers Union website http://www.freelancersunion.org/co-ops/index.html

Globalization has brought substantial benefits to countries around the world. Suddenly, the world is smaller and places that were remote and distant are now within reach. With the globalization phenomenon, the importance of communicating with people around the world has grown, and the simple translation of a document is not enough. For that reason, localization services have boomed. Localization is the process that culturally adapts a translation. It looks for linguistics, graphic and numeric equivalencies among other elements of communication.

Marketing and Technology

The tech era allows companies to launch their products to any market in the world from day one, but this advantage also carries responsibilities and critical steps for the product to be successful. A successful marketing campaign will impact the demand for the product, and for that to happen, a sense of identification is necessary. The more the public feels that the product was created specifically for them and to satisfy their needs, the more successful a campaign will be. Localization services, provided by native translators, will help achieve this goal in the translated message.

English and Spanish Localization

The vocabulary used by people with the same language changes with country and region. Linguists have identified and use four major divisions when dealing with Spanish localization, and the same has happened with English localization. The best-known divisions in English localization are English (USA) and English (UK). But, we can’t forget about Australian English and the different variations of English-speaking people in the Caribbean, to mention a few.

You will need localization services to understand and take into consideration the differences. For example, in Australia an esky is a cooler and a nappie is a diaper; in England a garage is not where you park the car at night but a gas station; in Midwest U.S. a pop is a soda.

JR Language has translators from all over the world to meet your localization needs. Trust our excellent localization services and your company will make a first-class, lasting impression

Competing in a global economy and trying to reach other markets is exciting, and brings other activities to your marketing effort. You can charm customers by translating your products packaging, but in doing so you will need to incorporate other steps to ensure that you are doing it right. If you do not take the time to address important issues, instead of reaching potential customers, you will turn them off.

Recently, I went to the local hardware store to buy a replacement for my kitchen sink faucet. While trying to find the right faucet, one of the boxes caught my attention. Not because of its great design or the fact that it was the replacement I was looking for, but because it had a word in Spanish that I didn’t understand. They had used “acobado” for “acabado”; an obvious misspell in Spanish.

This shocked me because they are one of the leading companies for faucets and are well-known for the quality of their products. I was puzzled by the contradiction. They didn’t reflect the same quality in their packaging with poor translation and errors in the DTP. Their mistakes can be used as a guide for the elements you need to take into consideration while doing translation and Multilingual DTP:

• Check and update your TM’s: Be careful with your translation memories; if they have an error it can be repeated several times.
• Be consistent: Maintain order in the languages used in the packaging.

1. a. Do not switch the order – From the beginning the language order on the packaging was: EN-SP-FR and, suddenly they switched it to: EN-FR-SP. Eyes get use to see things a certain way and that error can complicate the instructions. Be careful!
2. b. Do not mix the languages – They introduced a French and an English word on a Spanish instruction.

• Always proofread:  Especially after incorporating the translation into the design of your packaging. With this step, you will avoid errors that can be introduced by the designers while typesetting the translation. Proofreading is paramount with multilingual DTP after translation.
• Use the right people: Creating packaging in multiple languages requires more attention to detail. Use designers that know the languages or have your products proofread by someone who does.

Going global is fun and exciting but you need to do it with the appropriate resources and the right process in place. Two basic components for success are:

1. Create a quality product
2. Respect and take into consideration you target audience

When it comes to globalization, respecting your target customer’s language is critical to their understanding of your product and service offering.