Document Translation

Unlike interpretation, which has to do with an oral work, translation is responsible for passing a text from one language to the other.

Nowadays, translation has been greatly facilitated by technological aids called CAT or Computer Aided Tools.

By Lorena Pizarro

November 22, 2020

Not So Easy

However, everyday documents are much more complex than they were before. Before you read in a book, a newspaper or magazine and it was a fixed and permanent medium. Nowadays, in the digital world, everything is WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) but it is not that simple, because behind each text there is a whole lot of hidden code.

For example you see a web page like this:

But behind the curtains, the code looks like this:

In other words, to save the style, font, size, color and other attributes such as links, references, etc., the translator must be very careful not to interfere with the hidden codes. The final translation must be exact to the original but in the language of delivery. The links, the style, the size of the fonts, the colors, or anything else that the initial author decided to include should not be altered.

In order to respect these codes, it is necessary to have specialized software that only extracts the text to be translated and presents it to the translator so that he can issue its version and enter it without altering any code.

The result is an impeccable translation, which to the client looks like the original.

Another advantage is that when using this software, translation memories (TM) are created that allow to store everything translated with its respective original source. In other words, the client can now request to change any segment without having to pay for the entire translation again.

For example, in a contract the Legal Department changes the start, receipt and delivery dates and some paragraphs. The client requests a new translation, but is NOT charged for the entire document. Only the number of new words that were translated is billed.

 

 

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