Anne Chevalier is a language translation specialist and a contributor to the Spicy Learning Blog, where instructional designers and product managers at Saffron Interactive share their invaluable expertise with the wider learning and development community.

Continuing from yesterday’s blog post, Anne Chevalier, a language translation specialist at Saffron Interactive, has compiled another five top tips to help prevent your e-learning projects from getting lost in translation!

1. Is the translator qualified?

Many people who speak several languages advertise themselves as translators. But are they registered with a professional body? Do they have a university education in the foreign language(s) in which they claim to be proficient? If they are certified or qualified you’ll at least know that they have high standards and a strong sense of ethos.

2. Does the translator have relevant experience?

Choose someone whose previous experience is relevant to your needs. If, for example, you’re translating a course on workplace safety at a boat construction site, a translator with an understanding of engineering terminology would be most suitable. If, however, your project is about converting a difficult piece of legislation into an interactive course for an organization’s employees, you should look for someone experienced in translating creative writing.

3. Localize (not localise!) the language

Make sure your translator understands the local culture and language of the learner. An English course for a British audience may use different terminology and idioms than a course designed for an Australian or American audience. And the same applies for other languages such as French and Portuguese!

4. Respect the course’s original style

Carefully brief the translator about the tone and style of the course. It’s pointless to write high quality English content for a course that’ll be translated into six languages if that isn’t also reflected in the alternative languages.

5. Get straight to the point

Have you ever noticed how the English section of an instruction manual comprises less space than other languages? Keep in mind that most translations from English will usually contain at least 30% (or even 50%) more words, and that those words may be longer than in the original text. (Consider that speed limit in English can be translated as Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung in German!)

As Anne Chevalier illustrates, it takes much more than a dictionary to be a good translator and translators are not made overnight. Her next five tips for managing language translations, part 3, will be published soon. We’ll report on it when it is.

By Alex Dupont
Marketing Communications Specialist
Language Translation Inc.

See Also

• A successful document translation should read as if it were originally written in the target language.
  There are too many people out there who speak several languages and advertise themselves as translators.
• Top tips for managing translations (part 2)
  Continuing from last week?s blog post, one of our most experienced language specialists at Saffron has put together another five top tips to help avoid your e-learning projects getting lost in translation!