Demand For High-Quality Technical Translation Keeps Growing

A large proportion of professional translation can be categorised as technical translation, and the demand for it keeps increasing.This should not really come as a surprise to anybody. In an increasingly globalised world, it seems normal that the translation of technical documents should also be increasing. These technical translations include a wide spectrum of documents, ranging from the translation of user manuals for highly sophisticated machinery (that gets exported from, say, Germany to around the world), to the legally required translation of the user manual for a television set that is manufactured in China.In many instances, it is of course crucial that the quality of the technical translation is excellent. Take for example a manual for a nuclear power station. One would not want any inaccuracies on the translation of such a manual, because the consequences could be catastrophic.Technical translation services should therefore only be carried out by highly trained professional translators, with years or preferably decades of experiences in the particular subject area of the required translation. Ideally, a technical translator should be somebody who actually worked in a relevant field as a practitioner, and who then added translation services to their skill set.In fact, the safest option is to entrust technical translations to accredited translation agencies. Freelance translators may seem like a cheaper option (and they often are), but they also don’t come with the amount of expertise and resources that a leading translation agency has at their disposal. Thus for example, if a freelance translator is offered a translation that is ‘close enough’ (in their eyes) to their area of expertise, they are very unlikely to turn it down. The result is very likely a translation that is, well, ‘good enough’ (hopefully), but certainly not excellent.A technical translation agency, on the other hand, has a large number of experienced technical translators on their books, with whom they have long and trusting relationships. As a result, the project manager can assign the translation to a team of translators and proofreaders that is ideal for a given translation … and do this every single time.The result is a much more consistently excellent translation than would be obtainable from using a freelance translator. Bearing in mind the high hidden cost of poor quality technical translations or straightforward mistranslations, this will represent a saving in the end in real terms.