By Aparna Singh
Translation is a mental activity in which the meaning of a given linguistic discourse is rendered from one language to another - the act of transferring linguistic entities from a source language into their equivalents in a target language. The translator needs good knowledge of both the source and target language, plus a high linguistic sensitivity, to transmit the writer's intention, original thoughts, and opinions as precisely and faithfully as possible.
Translation is not going away
Translation has been around for several millennia and it is not going away anytime soon. It continues to evolve, promote understanding, and improve communication among nations, individuals, groups, and communities. As nations opened to the global community, translation became more important, with a client base ranging from the smallest business concern to huge multinational conglomerates. As countries and populations are more exposed to each other, technology keeps making things better and faster: document translation becomes more sophisticated, and intercultural communication becomes more complex.
According to anthropologist Edward Hall, intercultural communication is a form of communication in which different cultures and social groups share information, taking two forms - low-context and high-context cultures - depending on how cultures value direct and indirect communication.
Technology reshapes the translator's work
There is little doubt that technology has brought marked changes to the translation industry. Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) tools, translation memory, instant communication, and glossaries have eased the burden on translators. What lies ahead, according to professional forecasters, is a mixture of intelligent devices coupled with experts in different subject-matter fields, working alongside one another to deliver accurate translations at competitive prices.
Physical frontiers are no longer a bar to communication, so any business, small or big, can enter global markets as long as it has high-quality translators. With many translation businesses entering the lucrative market, competitive pricing will be necessary, and translators will need to turn over more projects to stay in the market. That means translators cannot ignore the benefits of integrating CAT tools into their everyday work - there is no way a purely human translator can compete effectively with those who embrace every type of technology while still providing high-quality translations.
What the next decade looks like
This is not just about the translations themselves, but about managing the workflow as well - quickly downloading translation requirements and uploading finished translations, and using better content management systems to cut turnaround times. In summary, the following will increasingly be part of the translation process at the start of this new decade:
- Translation memory, including terminology and technical vocabulary
- Simpler access to prior work and resources for gathering information
- Multilingual SEO, integrating local keywords into translated content
- Tracking tools that monitor workflow, limiting emails and manual file transfers
- Simpler proofreading tools, increasing accuracy and reducing checking time
- Wider use of artificial intelligence by translators
- More cloud-based translation platforms
Embracing change is part of the world today, so translation businesses have to be quick to stay ahead of competitors and tap into the lucrative translation market.
