{"id":596,"date":"2016-10-18T18:03:58","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T12:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/?p=596"},"modified":"2016-10-18T18:03:58","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T12:33:58","slug":"4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Reasons You Should Have a Professional Translate Your Materials"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the age of Google Translate and other advanced translation technologies<\/a>, it can be tempting to use computer-generated translations instead of hiring a professional translator. After all, they are instantaneous, free, and more or less accurate\u2026 right?<\/p>\n

Well\u2026<\/p>\n

Language is Not an Algorithm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Languages were developed to communicate meaning. We use words to try and give other people access to our thoughts, feelings, and experiences.<\/p>\n

If you have ever tried to use Google Translate<\/a> to understand a text in a foreign language, you probably encountered some glaring errors. Some languages are more formulaic and easier to translate, and some are more difficult, but all languages are born out of a specific context that a computer will never be able to grasp. They are intricately tied in to the culture and social environment of their speakers. They are organic, breathing, constantly evolving entities, and cannot be reduced to simple algorithms.<\/p>\n

Communication of meaning can only happen between individuals who can conceive of that meaning. Computers can\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

You Need Professional Eyes<\/strong><\/p>\n

You might feel that you are proficient enough in the target language to spot obvious errors. Or you may have a native speaker on your team, and believe that it will be enough to have that person approve of the translation. The problem is, not all native speakers make good proofreaders, and if you\u2019re not a native speaker yourself, you will have no way to know this. I have seen a number of nonsensical translations that were somehow approved by people claiming to be native speakers. All the more so, it is not enough to be proficient in a language; you need to be able to write well in it. This means you must have a mastery of the grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Not everyone who speaks a certain language has sufficient knowledge of those things.<\/p>\n

Errors Lose You Customers<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a native speaker of a minority language in my country, nothing makes me feel more alienated as a customer than being provided a bad translation. It gives me the sense that the company does not have my needs or interests in mind, and doesn\u2019t care enough about me (or the customer base that speaks my language) to provide an adequate translation. It comes off as cheap and unprofessional. I am much more likely to choose a product or service with a good translation than one with a bad one.<\/p>\n

Errors Cause Misunderstandings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copy is often your primary form of communication with your customers. You work hard to produce copy that is clear and crisp and communicates your message well. Your copy provides information to the customer about your product or service: what it\u2019s for, how to use it, its conditions, any risks or problems they might have with it, etc. This is very important information, and if it is not communicated properly, this can result in confusion and misuse. In some industries, such as medicine and pharmacy, misunderstandings can be dangerous. It is crucial to make sure your customers understand what they are reading.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, the results of a bad translation will end up costing you a lot, both in business and in reputation. That\u2019s why it\u2019s worth investing up front in a high-quality, professional translation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the age of Google Translate and other advanced translation technologies, it can be tempting to use computer-generated…
Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"In the age of Google Translate and other advanced translation technologies, it is tempting to use computer-generated translations. After all, they are instantaneous, free, and more or less accurate\u2026 right?","footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[143,102,120,264,263],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n4 Reasons You Should Have a Professional Translate Your Materials - Ulatus Translation Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the age of Google Translate and other advanced translation technologies, it is tempting to use computer-generated translations. After all, they are instantaneous, free, and more or less accurate\u2026 right?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 Reasons You Should Have a Professional Translate Your Materials - Ulatus Translation Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the age of Google Translate and other advanced translation technologies, it is tempting to use computer-generated translations. After all, they are instantaneous, free, and more or less accurate\u2026 right?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ulatus Translation Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-18T12:33:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/4-Reasons-You-Should-Have-a-Professional-Translate.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ulatus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ulatus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ulatus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ulatus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/\",\"name\":\"4 Reasons You Should Have a Professional Translate Your Materials - Ulatus Translation Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-18T12:33:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-18T12:33:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d0e17194263c08780b5ee65db70abf\"},\"description\":\"In the age of Google Translate and other advanced translation technologies, it is tempting to use computer-generated translations. After all, they are instantaneous, free, and more or less accurate\u2026 right?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"4 Reasons You Should Have a Professional Translate Your Materials\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/\",\"name\":\"Ulatus Translation Blog\",\"description\":\"Translation Trends & Insights\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d0e17194263c08780b5ee65db70abf\",\"name\":\"Ulatus\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c2dc3dd7a4d0d29a1f014025211b3a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c2dc3dd7a4d0d29a1f014025211b3a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ulatus\"},\"description\":\"The Ulatus blog is a source of insight into topics related to globalization and international expansion. We seek to share meaningful content that will help you communicate to audiences in whole new locations in their preferred language. Our content covers a variety of industries and international business topics that we think would be useful to those looking to grow beyond their regional borders. Subscribe or leave us some feedback on what you think would make our content even better About Us Ulatus, a Crimson Interactive company, is a trusted brand for professional localization services. We established in 2005, with a mission to eliminate language as a barrier to globalization. We empower companies with quality and customizable localization solutions that drive continuous business growth through effective communication coupled with the latest in technology. What sets us apart? We work with 3000+ linguists to provide subject area expertise in 200+ languages. Our state-of-the-art technology and robust ISO-certified Quality Control Processes ensure positive experiences and impactful results for all our clients. For more information, please email us at Connect@Ulatus.com\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"4 Reasons You Should Have a Professional Translate Your Materials - Ulatus Translation Blog","description":"In the age of Google Translate and other advanced translation technologies, it is tempting to use computer-generated translations. After all, they are instantaneous, free, and more or less accurate\u2026 right?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"4 Reasons You Should Have a Professional Translate Your Materials - Ulatus Translation Blog","og_description":"In the age of Google Translate and other advanced translation technologies, it is tempting to use computer-generated translations. After all, they are instantaneous, free, and more or less accurate\u2026 right?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/","og_site_name":"Ulatus Translation Blog","article_published_time":"2016-10-18T12:33:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/4-Reasons-You-Should-Have-a-Professional-Translate.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ulatus","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ulatus","twitter_site":"@ulatus","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ulatus","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/","name":"4 Reasons You Should Have a Professional Translate Your Materials - Ulatus Translation Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-10-18T12:33:58+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-18T12:33:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d0e17194263c08780b5ee65db70abf"},"description":"In the age of Google Translate and other advanced translation technologies, it is tempting to use computer-generated translations. After all, they are instantaneous, free, and more or less accurate\u2026 right?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/4-reasons-you-should-have-a-professional-translate-your-materials\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"4 Reasons You Should Have a Professional Translate Your Materials"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/","name":"Ulatus Translation Blog","description":"Translation Trends & Insights","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c9d0e17194263c08780b5ee65db70abf","name":"Ulatus","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c2dc3dd7a4d0d29a1f014025211b3a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c2dc3dd7a4d0d29a1f014025211b3a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ulatus"},"description":"The Ulatus blog is a source of insight into topics related to globalization and international expansion. We seek to share meaningful content that will help you communicate to audiences in whole new locations in their preferred language. Our content covers a variety of industries and international business topics that we think would be useful to those looking to grow beyond their regional borders. Subscribe or leave us some feedback on what you think would make our content even better About Us Ulatus, a Crimson Interactive company, is a trusted brand for professional localization services. We established in 2005, with a mission to eliminate language as a barrier to globalization. We empower companies with quality and customizable localization solutions that drive continuous business growth through effective communication coupled with the latest in technology. What sets us apart? We work with 3000+ linguists to provide subject area expertise in 200+ languages. Our state-of-the-art technology and robust ISO-certified Quality Control Processes ensure positive experiences and impactful results for all our clients. For more information, please email us at Connect@Ulatus.com","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ulatus.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulatus.com\/translation-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}