At
work, you will be asked to find a translation agency that will translate a
larger number of documents as quickly and cheaply as possible. However, when you start making phone
calls, the project leaders ask you questions about many things you've never heard
of.
·
"Do
you already know how many standard pages/words the
text to be translated contains?"
·
"Do
you also have a glossary or do you want us to do the DTP?"
At the same time, they explain to you how much
discount they offer you for what they call "partial
and complete repetitions," and by the way, they also
mention that they can also create a term base and a translation memory with
what they call translation software.
So that next time you don't wonder if
you've actually called the correct phone number, read our post or forward it to
the person responsible for ordering translations. 
1. What is a native speaker of the target language?
Translation agencies often point out that
their translators/proofreaders are native speakers. Unfortunately, this
tells you very little as the customer. All translators/proofreaders have
at least one mother tongue. However, it is important for you that the
translators are native speakers of the target language.
Let's explain this with an example: If you
have a text translated from Spanish into English, you need a native English
speaker. Of course, the translator must also know Spanish very well and
know the difference between good and bad Spanish.
But that's not all. Before you submit
the text you want to translate, you may also be asked if you need the
translation for the UK or American market, for example.
You can find out why you are asked this
when you ask about the localization.
2. What is a standard page?
A standard page is a standard unit that
contains 250 words or 1500 characters without spaces. The default unit for
the calculation is also a standard line that contains 55 characters without
spaces.
In Word, you can check the number of
characters by clicking Check - Count Words - Characters (no spaces) in the top
of the program bar.
If you ask us for an estimate, we will of
course comply with this and send you an estimate based on the actual document
we have received from you.
When ordering a translation, also
check whether the agency calculates the number of standard pages
based on the number of words/characters in the original text or translation.
3. What is TRANSLATION software/computer-aided
translation (CAT tools)?
First of all, it must be made clear that
this is not a machine translation (e.g. using Google Translator) that we will
discuss in the next question.
Nowadays, it is difficult to find a
translator who does not use at least one translation software in his
work. This allows him to speed up his work, do it more efficiently and
achieve a higher quality and consistency of translation.
When translating with translation industry,
it divides the source text into meaningful units or segments (these can even
include only one word/phrase/sentence/whole paragraph).
