Revolutionizing Communication: The Power of Machine Translation

translation service malaysia

Revolutionizing Communication: The Power of Machine Translation

In today’s interconnected world, where borders are increasingly blurred and global communication is more critical than ever, machine translation has emerged as a revolutionary technology that is transforming the way we cross language barriers. With the ability to swiftly and accurately (with a high degree of accuracy) translate vast amounts of text across multiple languages (including very uncommon language pairs that were hardly possible before), machine translation is playing a pivotal role in connecting people, cultures, and businesses around the globe.

In this article, we will explore the significance of machine translation, its advancements, and the challenges that lie ahead.

The Rise of Machine Translation: Machine translation, the automated translation of text from one language to another using computer algorithms (commonly referred to you as artificial intelligence (AI)), has witnessed tremendous progress in recent years. What was once considered a mere research topic has evolved into a robust technology that is being adopted across various sectors, including business, academia, healthcare, and tourism. The advancements in natural language processing, neural networks, and deep learning have fueled the development of highly sophisticated machine translation models capable of achieving human-level translation quality. Enhancing Communication: One of the most significant contributions of machine translation is its ability to break down language barriers and enable effective communication on a global scale. It empowers individuals to engage in cross-cultural interactions, access information in different languages, and participate in international collaborations. Machine translation systems provide real-time translation services, facilitating seamless conversations between individuals who speak different languages. This technology has played a vital role in fostering inclusivity, promoting understanding, and bridging cultural divides.

Empowering Businesses: Machine translation is a game-changer for businesses operating in the global marketplace. It enables companies to localize their products, services, and content to reach a broader audience. With machine translation, organizations can efficiently translate their websites, marketing materials, customer support documents, and legal contracts, opening doors to new markets and driving international growth. Moreover, machine translation assists in market research, enabling companies to gain insights from foreign language sources and make informed business decisions.

Advancements in Neural Machine Translation: In recent years, the advent of neural machine translation (NMT) has marked a significant milestone in the evolution of machine translation. NMT leverages artificial neural networks to process and translate text, resulting in more accurate and fluent translations. By considering the context and the entire sentence structure, NMT models can generate translations that better capture the meaning and nuances of the source language. This approach has significantly improved the overall quality of machine translation outputs. NMT is able to understand and render correctly more complex concepts, idioms and figures of speech that were not possible before.

Challenges and Future Directions: While machine translation has made remarkable progress, challenges still exist. Translating languages with complex grammatical structures, idiomatic expressions, and cultural nuances remains a significant hurdle. Additionally, maintaining privacy and data security during the translation process is a growing concern. Despite these challenges, ongoing research and development in machine translation aim to overcome these limitations through enhanced training data, better language modeling, and continued advancements in artificial intelligence.

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Machine translation is revolutionizing the way we communicate, breaking down language barriers, and fostering global connectivity. Its impact spans various domains, empowering individuals, facilitating business expansion, and promoting cultural understanding. With further advancements and research, machine translation holds immense potential to become an indispensable tool for seamless multilingual communication. As we continue to embrace and refine this transformative technology, a future where language is no longer a barrier to global communication draws closer.

Lebih daripada portal: bagaimana kami mengurus dan memastikan data anda selamat

translation service malaysia

Lebih daripada portal: bagaimana kami mengurus dan memastikan data anda selamat

Maven International berfungsi dengan sistem pengurusan projek yang boleh diakses oleh pelanggan, pekerja dan vendor kami. 

Dikuasakan oleh XTRF, ia menawarkan kefungsian, komunikasi selamat dan kapasiti storan data lebih baik daripada e-mel tradisional atau FTP. 

Faedah utama portal boleh diringkaskan seperti berikut: 

1) Simpanan dan pengesanan projek berpusat. Ia bertindak sebagai titik pusat untuk mengesan projek, sebut harga, invois, fail terjemahan (seperti kandungan sumber dan sasaran). Ini membantu dalam menyimpan dan mengurus semua operasi dan komunikasi kami dengan cara yang jelas dan ketara, tanpa mengira kerumitan, isipadu dan kekerapan sebarang kerjasama yang berpotensi. 

2) Titik akses tanpa had. Kami memberi anda seberapa banyak titik akses untuk rakan sekerja anda seperti yang anda perlukan di bawah akaun korporat anda. Pengguna mungkin mempunyai peranan dan hak pengguna yang berbeza, seperti “akauntan”, “kewangan”, “pengurus projek” dll. Sebagai contoh, anda boleh menetapkannya supaya hanya pengguna tertentu dapat meluluskan sebut harga, manakala yang lain mungkin hanya mempunyai akses untuk melihat dokumen seperti invois dan sebut harga. 

3) Keselamatan Data. Salah satu sebab kami melaksanakan portal ini adalah ramai pelanggan kami secara khusus menekankan kepentingan kesulitan. Sebilangan daripada mereka dengan tegas melarang berbalas melalui e-mel untuk menghantar dan menerima dokumen menurut polisi dalaman. Adalah penting untuk ambil perhatian bahawa portal ini diperakui ISO untuk pengurusan keselamatan maklumat. Ini digunakan untuk portal pelanggan, sistem pengurusan projek dalaman kami dan portal vendor. Kesemuanya saling berkait; sebaik sahaja anda memuat naik dokumen untuk terjemahan melalui portal, kami boleh berkongsi terus dengan penterjemah dan penyemak yang berkaitan, dengan itu memintas e-mel. Penterjemah kami kemudiannya memuat naik fail yang diterjemah ke sistem menggunakan portal mereka. Pendek cerita: tiada fail yang pernah dikongsi melalui e-mel. Dengan ini, kami juga mempunyai prosedur keselamatan dalaman yang ketat, panduan serta NDA yang ditandatangani secara mandatori dengan semua vendor dan pekerja kami. 

4) Storan tanpa had. Dokumen asal dan terjemahan anda mendapat akses kepada storan tanpa had. Satu-satunya had adalah pada saiz fail individu, yang ditetapkan pada 1 GB setiap fail. Fail dwibahasa yang diterjemahkan serta sebut harga dan invois projek semuanya boleh diakses melalui portal. Ini amat penting apabila anda mempunyai banyak fail yang memerlukan terjemahan, memandangkan ia sering tersesat dalam rangkaian e-mel yang tidak berkesudahan.

5) Pengurangan masa tunggu. Anda boleh meminta sebut harga dan memulakan projek terus daripada portal, yang akan mengurangkan masa tunggu dengan ketara. Anda boleh membaca lebih lanjut tentang portal di sini.

Anda boleh mendapati akses kepada portal di sudut kanan atas laman web kami.

More than just portal: how we manage and keep your data secure

translation service malaysia

More than just portal: how we manage and keep your data secure

Maven International works with a project management system that can be accessed by our clients, employees and vendors. 

Powered by XTRF, it offers functionality, secure communication, and data storage capacity better than traditional emails or FTP. 

The portal’s main benefits can be summarized as follows: 

1) Centralized storage and project tracking. It acts as a central point for tracking projects, quotations, invoices, translation files (such as source and target content). This helps in storing and managing all our operations and communications in a clear and transparent manner, irrespective of the complexity, volume and frequency of any potential collaboration. 

2) Unlimited access points. We provide you with as many access points for your colleagues as you may require under your corporate account. The users may have different roles and user rights, such as “accountant”, “finance”, “project manager” etc. For example, you may set it up so that only specific users are able to approve quotations, whereas others might only have viewing access to documents like invoices and quotations. 

3) Data Security. One of the reasons we implemented this portal is that many of our clients specifically stress the importance of confidentiality. Some of them strictly forbid the usage of email correspondence to send and receive documents as a matter of internal policy. It is important to note that the portal is ISO certified for information security management. This applies to the client portal, our internal project management system, and vendor portals. They are all interlinked; once you upload documents for translation through the portal, we can directly share them with relevant translators and reviewers, thereby bypassing emails. Our translators then upload the translated files to the system using their portal. Long story short: no files are ever shared through emails. That said, we also have strict internal security procedures, guides, as well as NDAs that are mandatorily signed with all our vendors and employees. 

4) Unlimited storage. Your original and translated documents get access to unlimited storage. The only limit is on the size of individual files, which is set at 1 GB per file. The translated bilingual files as well as project quotations and invoices are all accessible through the portal. This is particularly important when you have numerous files that require translation, considering they often get lost in never-ending email threads.

5) Lead time reduction. You may request quotations and launch projects directly from the portal, which would significantly reduce the lead time. You may read more on the portal itself here.

You may find the access to the portal in the top right corner of our website.

Is Zoom the best option for Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI)?

remote interpretation

Is Zoom the best option for Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI)?

Meeting over Zoom
Meeting over Zoom

Zoom is currently the most popular video conferencing platform. This rising popularity is largely due to its user-friendly platform; it is easy to set up, run, and manage. Add cost-effectiveness to the mix and you’ve got yourself the perfect ingredients for a ready video conferencing solution. With a conference interpretation plugin that meets all the basic requirements for the service, Zoom can function as a Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) system.

The process of setting up a conference on Zoom, as well as adding interpreters and setting up the RSI, is quite straightforward; although clients often prefer a turnkey solution that would include virtual event production by an agency.  

Something worth noting is that a mandatory 30-minute rehearsal with interpreters, right before the start of the event, is essential as a means to ensure a smooth process and avoid technical problems during the event itself. 

All of the above aside, the system has some serious cons which make it suboptimal for RSI.

1) Zoom lacks a relay interpreting function.

As of October 2021, it’s not possible for interpreters to listen to interpreters outside of their specific language pair. Relay interpreting, sometimes referred to as “indirect interpreting”, is when the interpreter listens to the source language speaker and interprets the message into the language that is common to all the other interpreters. Other interpreters would then render the message to their target language groups. 

2) Zoom’s conference interpretation is not an option at events with breakout sessions (virtual rooms with parallel discussions within the same event). 

If you plan to have an event with more than one parallel (breakout) session, you won’t be able to utilize remote interpretation plugin. 

3) Limited functionality of interpreters’ interface.  

The interpreters’ side of the work is affected as well: they cannot listen and follow the interpretation of their partner in the same language pair (it takes two interpreters per language to perform simultaneous interpretation for any event longer than one hour). There is also the problem that there is no direct communication between the interpreters, and the handover (switch in turns between interpreters) is not really as seamless as it should be when it comes to live interpretation. 

There are other solutions for remote interpretation that are known within the conference interpretation industry, such as Kudo, Interactio, Interprefy and a handful of new players in the industry. These solutions are specifically built with remote conference interpretation in mind. Most of them can integrate and work with Zoom, Google meets and others. They can, of course, also act as stand alone, fully functioning platforms for virtual events. 

Some drawbacks are the significantly increased cost relative to Zoom and that they’re less known to a wider audience. Tech support, setups, as well as briefing delegates and speakers should still be kept in mind. 

Ever since the pandemic, Maven International has been providing remote simultaneous interpretation solutions. We rely on a team of trusted conference interpreters who are well experienced in working remotely, both over Zoom as well as other platforms. As part of our one-stop solution, we offer Zoom platform licensing as well as virtual event production, where we take care of the entire virtual event management process. We also offer third party platforms for virtual events.

 

 

Or drop us an email to [email protected]

Pandemic impact on conference interpretation industry

RSI over zoom

Pandemic impact on conference interpretation industry

2020 and 2021 have been turbulent years for many because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

For the language industry, the most affected service has been on-site or in-person interpretation, and especially conference interpretation. Such events that were due to take place in March 2020 onwards were abruptly cancelled in nearly every country. 

 

South-East Asia, and specifically Malaysia, have been known as a hub for international events. Conference (simultaneous) interpretation in this region was a very demanded service prior to 2020. This is the reason why many conference interpreters are domiciled in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

 

As it often happens, businesses had to innovate and to adjust to a new reality: events and meetings mass-migrated to the virtual realm. Zoom, as well as other platforms for virtual meetings, unsurprisingly flourished. Simultaneous interpretation (SI) followed suit and went online. Commonly referred to as SI, this service now has another letter added to its more familiar acronym; “R”, giving us “Remote” Simultaneous Interpretation. 

 

It’s worth noting that RSI had existed before 2020, with the help of platforms such as Kudo and Interactio, which had been on the market long before the pandemic. With simultaneous interpretation provided remotely, events can now take place anywhere, and interpreters participating from the other side of the globe. The savings that are achieved through this service were evident for projects that required interpreters to be flown in from abroad. Costly on-site (physical) equipment rental and tech support expenses are also crossed out for event owners: even if the event is physical, bulky old-fashioned equipment with high setup costs and headsets for delegates would no longer be required with RSI, where the interpretation can even be delivered through a smartphone.

 

 

RSI over zoom
Interpreter performing remotely

 The question that practically asks itself here is this: is RSI as good as traditional SI? 

 

It turns out that there’s more than what meets the eye when it comes to remote interpretation, and specifically remote conference interpretation. Think of having virtual meetings, or online learning, as compared with meeting someone face to face or being in a classroom. Likewise, physical presence, being immersed at the event and reading non-verbal cues from speakers and delegates are all important aspects of the interpreters’ job that do contribute to a better performance. Hence, while running events virtually or having teams of interpreters remotely does bring about significant savings, it certainly has a flip side of the coin as well.

 

Impact on the simultaneous interpretation industry and events

 

Conference interpretation is normally required at large conferences that have a large number of attendees, high profile speakers, and last for a few days long. Smaller gatherings, trainings and workshops are required at a lesser degree. International conferences just do not run for one day only; that isn’t likely to be the case with attendees coming from overseas, as well as all the networking takes place alongside the main program. Things have changed since early 2020, when the vast majority of events have gone virtual. 

 

Events have become much shorter when taking place virtually. Events that last for a few days now mostly have agendas of up to 4-5 hours per day on average. We witness less formality and more focus on the subject matter at events that take place online. 

 

One would assume that the conference interpretation rates have gone down and averaged globally since 2020, with options of having any interpreter irrespective of his or her physical location (so long as time zones would permit). However, not only have senior interpreters maintained their rates, many of them have raised it. This can be attributed to the working limitations that come with being remotely connected to the event. As explained above, it is more difficult to interpret remotely, and the distinction in quality between qualified and unqualified interpreters is even more severe in RSI.  

 

With exceptions dependent on the region, the situation with the pandemic, and local authorities, physical events are once again starting to take place, and conference interpreters are slowly getting back to their accustomed environment: the interpreter’s soundproof booth. However, we can safely assume that the virtual format has been embraced by most stakeholders, and RSI will continue playing a key role in the years to come.  

 

Maven International’s experience in the field. 

 

Maven International has become a trusted name in the field of conference (simultaneous) interpretation in Malaysia and South-East Asia in general. Organizations such as the UN, Interpol, Transparency International, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA have been trusting our conference interpretation and equipment solutions for years.  

 

We have gained solid experience in providing turnkey conference interpretation solutions with the equipment and technology required for on-site and remote simultaneous interpretation services respectively. We have provided several on-site conference interpretation services, inclusive of tech support, for events that took place in Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, Brunei, Fiji, USA and Turkey. 

 

Since 2020, we have provided remote simultaneous interpretation services to clients such as the AFC, AFI, and the US Embassy in Malaysia to name a few. Apart from conference interpretation, we also provide coordination and tech support to set up, run and monitor conference interpretation at our clients’ virtual events. We also provide virtual event production for events that take place over the Zoom platform in order to do the most we possibly can to fulfill the role of a one-stop interpretation service provider. Please feel free to contact us for further inquiries.  

 
 

Misconceptions about conference interpretation service

conference interpretation

Misconceptions about conference interpretation service

Since planning for conference interpretation at major events comes with several challenges and complications from various angles, this post helps you proactively deal with some of those potentially devastating issues by laying out some of the most common misconceptions we’ve witnessed in the field of conference interpretation. The following is a list of such questions, most of which have been gathered through our dealings with clients who are not accustomed to managing such projects. 

 

  1. One interpreter is enough for conference interpretation 

It often takes some time to convince our clients that, as per industry standards, there must be two interpreters per language in a conference. Moreover, if the event runs for more than 8 hours (or even 6 hours as per AIIC standards), each “booth” must be supplemented with an additional interpreter (total of three). For example, if you require interpretation for 10 hours into Spanish and French you might need to have 3 interpreters per language. 

 Yes, there are cases where one interpreter can perform “solo” for more than one hour, but this is only an exception to the rule, and in fact strongly inadvisable due to the intensity of interpretation work which can adversely affect interpreters’ health. 

 To understand the reason why there must be two interpreters per language, one should remember that simultaneous interpretation is the only format in the interpretation industry that does not have breaks or pauses, since the content must be fully covered concurrently with the presentation. This is a very intense and highly exhausting process; not only do interpreters have to speak for the entire duration when it’s their turn (normally 20-40 minutes per interpreter depending on the speaker’s pace and difficulty of the subject matter), but to perform interpretation requires a number of cognitive functions – hence the fact that this mentally and physically exhausting process and can only be performed in intervals. 

 

  1. Any interpreter can perform conference interpretation

 

This is grossly wrong and can prove devastating to any conference. The number of experienced conference interpreters is very limited. It’s quite common to only have 2-5 experienced conference interpreters per language in any given country. The number of conference interpreters in major languages is very high in locations such as Washington, Paris or Zurich as there are numerous events that take place in those locations. There could easily be NONE in a particular location for a particular language. It takes a lot more than just being fluent in two languages, or even having experience in other forms of interpretation. Conference (simultaneous) interpreting is the highest and most challenging form of interpretation. The minimum bar of necessary skill can only be acquired by working through real events, and it often requires years of practice before mastering this trade. Having a diploma or training in the field is good to have, but experience is the only factor that is absolutely uncompromisable for conference interpreters. Having the wrong interpreter (inexperienced in the field or inexperienced all together) can be far more costly than you might think, since their very likely poor performance might prove detrimental to the event and – even worse – your reputation. 

 Maven International only works with trusted, experienced interpreters – most of whom we (or trusted business affiliates) have had long-standing relationships with – thus having a track record guaranteeing their competence. Having been in the industry for over a decade means that we have a large database of qualified conference interpreters in Malaysia and beyond. Depending on the complexity of your event and subject matter, our team gives priority to certain candidates who have worked on similar events in the past. 

 Sometimes, we are faced with a situation where we need to work with new interpreters. Here, we deploy a tested three-tier screening process by which we identify, shortlist, and pinpoint competent candidates who have optimal professional experience in the required domain(s) for a particular event. This approach is part of what helped us achieve a long-lasting fail-free track record. 

 

  1. I will confirm the service 1 day before the event

Due to the probably limited number of qualified conference interpreters in any given location, coupled with the increasingly high demand for their services, it is always expected that interpreters would have already-confirmed jobs in their schedules within an 8-week period subsequent to any given time in which they are contacted. Those who are experienced in procuring conference interpreters know this fact very well, so they always confirm the interpreter’s services at least one month ahead of their event. If you delay the booking to the last moment or would like to book interpreters at a very short notice, it may not be possible for on-site (nonvirtual) events where interpreters are required to be based in a specific location (to avoid travel and accommodation costs). It’s very possible to secure interpreters at short notice for virtual events, however, as the pool of candidates would obviously be much wider. 

 Keep in mind that in order to secure interpreters, a 100% non-refundable advance payment is required, because in the case where a confirmed event is cancelled, cancellation fees are payable to the interpreters.  

 

  1. My event only runs for one hour, why am I quoted at a half-day charge? 

 
 Every conference interpreter has his or her own rates and conditions, but all of them have a minimum commitment rate. This could range from a minimum 3 hours, a half-day rate, or even a full day rate. Of course, these minimum charges apply irrespective of the actual duration of the event. In order to secure a qualified interpreter (confirm the booking of their services so they can clear their schedule and turn down other potential offers for the same dates), their minimum commitment rate must be met. This is why even if the event is as short as 1 hour, or even less, professional interpreters would still go by their minimum rate. Working on your event may mean that they had to cancel other potentially longer projects. 

Other considerations:

 

If you plan to have conference interpretation at your event, you might want to consider the following in order to make the most out of it:

 

  • The speakers at your event (moderators, panelists etc) need to be reminded not to speak fast, and make pauses from time to time. This is important so that the interpreters can follow the content and keep up with the speaker. 

  • Sufficient preparation material (agenda, program, speeches or even background information on the event and the subject matter) are highly advisable to be sent to the interpreters beforehand (ideally at least 1 week ahead of the event) so the interpreters can brush up on the appropriate glossary, and familiarize themselves with the subject matter and key information. 

  • If you want to record the interpretation, this must be agreed in advance with the interpreters as there could be licensing fees involved.

  • If your event involves audio and video presentations, and if you’d like such section interpreted, the audio feed should be directed to the interpreters’ microphones as well 

  • The interpreters should have visual access to the stage (where the presenters are) and the screen that is visible to the delegates.

 
 

At Maven International, we try our best to protect the interests of our conference interpreters and provide them with the most comfortable working environment which at the very least meets the minimum health and financial requirements.

Maven International is a trusted simultaneous interpretation provider, having  completed projects for clients such as the UN, INTERPOL, Amnesty International, and FIFA over the years. Contact us for further information today!

Or drop us an email to [email protected]

What you need to know if you consider translating content into Bahasa Languages

bahasa languages

What you need to know if you consider translating content into Bahasa Languages?

Despite the fact that the majority of the population (62% as of 2014) speaks English, Bahasa Malaysia (BM) has been the only official language in Malaysia since 1968.

Translation from English into Malay is becoming increasingly demanded; organizations and institutions that aim to reach large audiences in the country. The stakeholders in key government bodies and NGO officials must keep their communication in Bahasa Malaysia to ensure maximum reach and efficiency.

bahasa languages
Indonesian flag

Sometimes, “Bahasa” is used to refer to Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia interchangeably. This, however, is not exactly correct. Even though both languages stem from the same family, their distinctions are significant. The information below refers to both Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia (collectively referred to as “Bahasa”).

 

 

 

Quick facts.

Bahasa belongs to the Austronesian family, a Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of languages.

Total number of speakers (native and as a second language): up to 250,000,000 (estimated)

It’s spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Christmas Island, and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Officially spoken in: Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.

Recognized as minority language in: East Timor, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Thailand, and Philippines.

Influences and borrowings.

Arabic, Sanskrit, Tamil, Persian, Portuguese, Chinese, Dutch, and English heavily influenced Bahasa languages. The highest number of borrowed words come from the mentioned languages.

Alphabet.

Latin is the official alphabet used in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Jawi – Arabic alphabet is co-officially used in a few states in Malaysia, but not nation-wide, while it is co-official nation-wide in Brunei.

Standards.

There are two standards: The Indonesian standard used in Indonesia, and the Malaysian standard used in Malaysia and Singapore.

Other variants.

There are 10 known variants in Malaysia, with standard Bahasa Malaysia is standardized across the country. Also there is Brunei Bahasa, which is a variant of Bahasa Malaysia spoken in Brunei Darussalam. Indonesia has a number of known variants of its own as well.

Honorifics and registers. 

As monarchies, Malaysia and Brunei have special language registers when referring to members of Royal families. These are honorifics as well as certain verbs and nouns which are not used by and in relation to commoners. If your target audience is the Royal family, you’d need to adjust the language accordingly.  

The following Royal registers of Bahasa Malaysia exist:

Royal Malay language

Royal Brunei language

Other uses: Indonesian is used at UN peacekeeping missions

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/ 


Maven International, a translation company in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has been successfully providing translation services from English into Malay and Indonesian languages since 2013.  We have translated content for some clients into the Brunei variant of Bahasa Malaysia as well as into Royal Brunei and Royal Malay registers and transliterated content using Jawi alphabet.

Translation process workflows

translation service malaysia

Translation process workflows?

Before going into details, it’s necessary to know and understand the definitions and terms involved in localization industry.  

Below is the most typical workflows that are found in localization industry starting from the most basic to the most advanced.

Machine Translation + Human Post Editing (MTPE)

Suitable for very large volume not very critical information, where understanding only required. Also its very suitable for short lived content (subtitling, running line in news, posts in social media etc) or translations that simply aim to shed some light on the content of a text for a foreign-language reader.  This service is commonly referred to as MTPE (Post Machine Translation Editing).  

Human translation + human revision

Most popular and trusted form of translation. This workflow is performed by two independent linguists to ensure accuracy of the translation. Suitable for critical, complex information, such as technical documents, contracts, important correspondences, memos, announcements, letters, and marketing material. Most recommended process for expert translation. ISO 17100 requires that translation is revised at least once after being translated. 

Human translation + revision + proofreading  (TEP)

Suitable for translations meant for publishing, such as books, website content, articles, etc. This workflow is commonly referred as TEP.

Human translation + revision + (proofreading) + review

As an extra option we may add review stage (skipping or keeping proofreading stage) which is monolingual examination of target language content for its suitability for the agreed purpose. This is performed by subject matter specialist. These steps are important for something that is meant for publishing and of highly technical nature. It also could be very important that the readers understand the message precisely. Example could be: manual for the machine usage, safety instructions at oil and gas plant etc.

Please contact our translation company if you wish to know more or if you’re not sure what translation workflow you require. 

The Importance of Ethical Awareness and Formal Training for Court Interpreters

court interpretation service

The Importance of Ethical Awareness and Formal Training for Court Interpreters?

What distinguishes court interpretation from other types of interpretation?

Court interpretation can refer to any kind of interpretation with a legal context, but mainly that occurs within a court setting. It may take place in the form of simultaneous or consecutive interpretation and can even be carried out at a distance through telephone or internet communication channels, as well as other modes of remote interpretation services. In Malaysia, most court interpretation services are conducted in the form of on-site consecutive interpretation.

The most crucial aspect that sets court interpretation apart from the rest is the emphasis placed on ethical standards. This naturally comes with the structure and importance of court settings; when the liberty and lives of people are on the line, it isn’t surprising that court interpreters are held to the highest ethical standard possible. It is not just the semantic relaying of meaning that matters, but often time the gestures, the stutters, and even “filler” words like “umm” make a difference. The following is referenced by Research Gate:

“….Gonzalez et al. (1991) and O’Tool (1994a) have observed that prosodic elements and paralinguistic features are frequently left uninterpreted, and that a witness’s testimony suffers accordingly. Shlesinger (1991) similarly reports a general tendency on the part of court interpreters to ‘grammticize’ ungrammatical utterances and observes that ‘the overriding tendency of theinterpreter to delete a false start may in fact lead to the omission of a self-correction which, it would seem, was expressly intentional’ (ibid.: 150). Hale (1997) documents consistent patterns of register variation in the courtroom, with interpreters between Spanish and English in Australian courts raising the level of formality when interpreting into English and lowering it when interpreting it into Spanish.”

While an interpreter’s precision and ethical awareness is vital in all settings, when it comes to court interpretation, it can be a matter of life and death.

The training of court interpreters Language proficiency, ethical and cultural awareness, and interpretation experience are among the essential eligibility requirements for court interpreters. However, while necessary, they would not suffice but with a strict adherence to stringent ethical codes. Several aspects related to professional and ethical guidelines, courtroom protocols, presentation concerns, standardized jargon, and cultural nuances are all vital. Considering the uncompromising quality standards and the serious consequences that could be at stake, this cannot be regarded as a matter of interpreters gaining experience and picking up skills as they go; formal training is an absolute requirement for before recruiting new court interpreters.

At Maven International, a comprehensive training is provided to eligible and newly recruited court interpreters. This in-house process is extremely rigorous as we are adamant on maintaining our below 1 % error rate in our long-term cooperation with the Office of The Chief Registrar of the Federal Court of Malaysia.

Cultural Nuances

One of the reasons why court interpretation (and interpretation in the broader sense) is not synonymous with a mere literal translation of words from one language to another is the linguistic and cultural nuance that comes with the job. The relevance of cultural nuance to interpretation is no less than the relevance of language. Aside from words and phrases that could be understood differently in different dialogues of the same language, cultural relevance also extends to mannerisms, gestures, and the tone of speech. For example, certain gestures may imply sarcasm that cannot be derived from a literal understanding of the words. The interpreter being intimately familiar with the source and target languages and their surrounding cultural nuances can help minimize understandings, some of which can be catastrophic as explained above.

Checklist for placing a translation request

translation services

Checklist for placing a translation request

Knowing the intricacies of a translation process is tremendously helpful and facilitative in efficiently managing your projects. You could either overestimate or underestimate the cost of translation, misjudge your content, requirements, project timeline, and even language pair. While our team would certainly be glad to help you with these details, being aware of them would save you a lot of valuable time which might otherwise be wasted in a perfectly avoidable back-and-forth.  Below is a simple “checklist” you should consider when placing a translation order:

  • Budget

Translation costs vary. The deadline, topic of translation, and language pair all play a significant role here. The type of translation required is also a defining factor. Some translations are extremely delicate and possibly highly technical and would thus often require a 3 or 4-stage translation process, with proofreading and reviewing involved (more on this here). Certain content wouldn’t require these additional steps, and in such cases, you might require a “translation-only” job or a 2-stage process without the necessity for ISO 17100:2015 compliance (more on ISO 17100:2015 here). Knowing these details puts you in the driving seat and helps you allocate a budget that precisely corresponds to your needs.

  • Target audience

 Is your translation intended for the general public, internal circulation within your organization, or a specialist on the subject matter?

  • Language pair

Selecting your required language pair may not be as straight forward as it seems. This point is closely tied to the previous one in that knowing your target audience is cruicial. For instance, there are several of French, Spanish and German dialects, all which vary depending on where each language is spoken. It’s often extremely important to specify the required locale depending on your target audience (e.g. French or Canadian French). The significance here isn’t only linguistic, but certain cultural and regional nuances are almost always at play in translation projects. The cost of translation may also be affected by this point (e.g. US Spanish and Latin-American Spanish vary greatly).

  • Abbreviations and proper nouns

Abbreviations could prove very confusing even for the most experienced translator. Dictionaries can be helpful, but not always. Proper nouns often have standard spellings, but again this isn’t necessarily always the case. You may need to provide official name spellings in the target language as per official documents.  This information is very helpful in building a solid translation memory in our system as it contributes to maintaining a consistency of terminology usage throughout your translations and reduces translation costs, saving you money in the long run.

  • Deadline

The date (and sometimes exact time) the completed translation is required

  • Additional queries or requirements regarding the translation

You may have concerns or requirements that are specific to your needs at the time, be sure to communicate them with the designated project manager!

As mentioned earlier, if you’re confused about any of the above points or simply do not have the time to go through the checklist in detail, just give us a call and we’d be more than happy to help!