Do you need someone to translate for you? Then nowadays you can search online for a translation service. Popular search engines return thousands of search results in fractions of a second. Read here what you should pay attention to when looking for and booking a translation service online.
Do you have texts, contract papers or websites that need to be translated from one language into another?If you understand both the source language (also called the source language) and the target language, you could do the translation yourself. But keep in mind that even small translation errors could distort or even falsify the meaning of the original. And that can sometimes cost you or your company dearly.
Frying fat for Swiss or for frying Swiss – when translations go wrong
The best example of this comes from Switzerland: there, the Swiss supermarket chain Migros planned to advertise its organic butter in English, French and Italian. The whole of Switzerland laughed at the small translation error that happened when the advertising slogan “Frying butter for the Swiss” was unfortunately translated into Italian so that it read “Swiss frying butter”. The supermarket chain less. She also made a spelling mistake when translating into French. She still sold the goods in the packaging with the translation error, but then had to produce new packaging.
David, himself an online entrepreneur, explains in this BBC report that typographical errors on websites designed to sell products or services online have resulted in online shop operators losing millions . Accordingly, online spelling mistakes weakened the trust of the website visitors in their credibility, so that they did not get involved in the online deals offered to them.
To prevent this from happening to you, you need professionals: translators who have an excellent command of both the source language and the target language. There are many such translators: In Germany alone, according to Statista online, almost 9,000 interpreters and translators were working in 2019 and were subject to social security contributions. How do you find the right one for your translation?
Find association-linked translation service online
A good place to start when looking for a legal translations english to italian service online could be the BDÜ – the Federal Association of legal aid interpreter and Translators. On its website, the BDÜ writes that it has more than 7,500 individual members, 79 percent of whom are women. Anyone who joins such an industry association accepts the high quality standards for which the association stands, as well as the technical and ethical norms that they insist on adhering to when practicing their profession. The association collects its members in a database. According to the BDÜ, you will find contacts of language service providers who together could translate more than 80 languages. In order to make the search accurate, in addition to specifying the source and target language, you have the option of naming specific search criteria, for example,
Follow trusted recommendations to search for translation service online
Another way to find a professional translation service is to ask around and follow recommendations from people you trust. Get the contacts of the translators who have been found to be recommended and refer to the person who recommended their services to you in the initial discussion with the translation service provider.
Looking for a translation service online – how to do it right!
Of course, you can also look around for an “online translation service” directly on the Internet. A search engine like Google will provide you with tens of thousands of search results in just a few moments using the search term. Too many to review and compare one by one. You should therefore limit the search with your individual search criteria. That can for example
- the desired languages (source and target language)
- or a subject (e.g. for specialist translations in the fields of medicine and pharmaceuticals, business, law, technology and science, art and culture, IT and software, chemistry, industry)
Also, combine the search term with the indication “native speaker” to find a translation service online that fulfills this condition for the languages you are looking for. You should know that when translating from or into their mother tongue, a native speaker not only considers and compensates for purely linguistic, but also cultural differences between the source and target languages, so that the effect of the translated remains the translation. You should definitely have the translator’s linguistic competence demonstrated: Ask the translation service provider directly about their language training and qualifications as well as their level of professional experience.
The search term combination language plus specialist translator online plus specialist area takes you to websites of specialist translators who not only have a perfect command of the language you are looking for, but also their respective specialist area. When viewing the offers of such translation services online, make sure that the technical expertise or language knowledge of the service provider is documented transparently. For example, by stating completed degrees from technical academies or technical schools.
Book online – that’s what matters!
Have you found a translation service online that is both linguistically and technically competent? Then you should also check the associated conditions before booking the offer. Do you agree with the information?
- order processing,
- delivery time
- and price?
And what about desired secrecy? Are you guaranteed this?
In particular, before booking a translation service online for large orders, you should ask whether the service provider is willing to prepare a sample work (translation sample) for you. With competent and experienced providers, this is a matter of course in order to demonstrate their professional competence.
Finally, you should be able to submit a non-binding translation request. After all, no one likes to buy “a pig in a poke” or “a pig in the poke”.
Do you need a translation service online? No matter whether for private translations or for translations in your company – send us your non-binding inquiry! Our experienced native speaker translators have language knowledge, expertise in their specialist areas and master the usual technical terms.
