Ok, we all had those big and important projects where we started them early so we don’t get into a tight spot when it comes to time, and we will end up late or right at the last minute. Why is that so?
Well, the fact is that big projects and passion projects are always important and we always tend to put the most energy into them. Not saying any others are less important, no, but those closest to us personally get most of our attention and on those we are often late. Being late on a project you love isn’t a direct relation to being lazy or tardy, it has something to do with attention to detail, grammar, translation and other things.
Grammar on a project today is not that difficult to do and we have both online and offline places to do a quick and thorough check-up, but when it comes to translation, especially on languages not used so often, we find ourselves in a lot of issues and we tend to be late because of that.
If you are wondering why are we mentioning translations and what they got to do with projects, we believe that no matter what the business, job or position is, what the project is about, anyone who does not use multiple sources or at least read a few other professional opinions based out of their country can’t be considered a serious researcher, and can not do a quality project.
This is where the translation gets involved and this is where and why these types of projects are usually late. Today we will help you out by showing you a few smart ways to speed up the process of translation and we want to share a place called blc.co.za that is the best when you need African translation to English.
Now let’s get on with the most important thing here – the ways to expedite this process…
1. Read the entire text you need to translate
A bad habit people have, and some translators are to not read the entire text, article, research or whatever. They simply start translating and while doing that they get a result that is neither readable nor logical. You get the text that is filled with mistakes, it is difficult to understand and the meaning of the translation isn’t right or it does not sound right. This is why the first step is to read whatever you need to translate through and understand its scope the most important parts and skim read them to get the feeling for the content. When you do so it will be a lot easier and a lot faster to do the translation and you will avoid mistakes, and misunderstandings and the translation will be a lot better and readable.
2. Initial translation
We know that most of you, including us, do not like to do one job more than once for the sake of both sanity and productivity, but when these things are in question you do. After that initial part of reading through the text, you need to start translating this but do it as an initial translation – systematically work through the text, translate chunks of words, 5-10 at the time, and when you do that read it and see what you got. Then go back to the original article and try to find words, phrases, meanings or messages that are important and that you have left out or missed. Incorporate them in another initial translation and when you are sure that the entire article with its meaning, message and everything important for your project is there go to the next step.
3. Accuracy check
Until here all you have got is the draft translation that has been browsed and fly-by translated. From here you are digging deep and you are going methodically through it where you will chunk-by-chunk compare this to the original text. This will confirm that you haven’t left out any content, that the content hasn’t lost its meaning or that it hasn’t been misinterpreted. This is also the step where you improve on any bulky, unnatural wording and try to improve the flow of the translated text.
4. Take a break
Yes, we are doing an article on speeding up the translation on urgent projects, but taking a step back, clearing your mind and taking a short break so your brain rests is important. But everything aside, both texts everything you have been doing so far and go get a coffee, breathe some clean air and take a short stroll. Anything that relaxes you and that can help your brain relax and your body rest is up to you. when it comes to the translation of important texts for big projects you want to do everything right. Including this break. An ideal stop you should take is a few hours or even an overnight break if it’s possible and this should help you clear your mind and rest for the final and fifth and most important step.
5. The polish
Now, this is what needs to be perfect and this is why you need a break. In this step, you will take the text and re-read it without reference to the original text. You are to see if the translation has the quality of expression it needs. Here you can make some improvements if necessary but if you have done the other 4 steps as you should there be much changing. It is as called a polish so everything is perfect with slight to no changes in wording, flow, readability and understandability.
Now, another thing that is good to mention is that these steps are not religiously followed by all translators. Some professionals use this some don’t it is all about their training and education, but these have been proven as steps that are bulky enough to root out any issues in translation.
If you have a passion for a very urgent and professionally important project you would want to try and apply these steps to your next translation and see if that speeds the project up. It will most definitely make it more quality but we want you to confirm that you also sped up the process overall.
Best of luck and take care.
