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50 Best Careers in 2010

In these difficult economic times, a change in career or a supplemental source of income is sometimes necessary for many.  One avenue for one to explore is the translation industry.  “U.S. News & World Report” lists translator/interpreter as one of the 50 best careers in 2011.  Demand for translators is growing rapidly as the translation industry itself is increasing at a projected rate of 22% between 2008 and 2018.  Additionally, translators generally work on a free-lance basis, allowing one to choose how much work to undertake, making this the ideal situation for those with a full-time job or a family.  It also allows for you to live anywhere and travel at will, because translations are done over the internet.

To get started in the industry, you need to have at least two languages under your belt, in addition to English.  It is also recommended that you develop expertise in a field that requires regular translation work, such as engineering, medicine or law.  Keep in mind that you have to know the subject well enough to discuss it in both languages, which usually requires a Bachelor’s degree in that field.  So what are you waiting for?   The translation industry is ready for you! If you would like to apply to work with Epic Translations, you can go to www.epictranslations.com, under the “Linguists” tab and fill out the form.  We look forward to hearing from you.

in Blog / Document translation

Translation Memory – expertise at your fingertips

Did you know that EPIC Translations is a partner with SDL Corporation? What does this mean for you? Well, first you should know who SDL Corporation is. They are the “world leader in Global Information Management providing software to help corporations create and maintain all multilingual content.”

How does this help you? SDL Trados is a computer-aided translation tool that:

  1. Enables you to break texts into segments or sentences and presents the segments in a convenient way, to make translating easier and faster;
  2. Enables you to save the translation of each segment with the source text;
  3. Enables you to save the translation units in a database, called translation memory (TM), so that they can be re-used for any other text, or even in the same text.

Here are some of the benefits of creating TM for your content:

  1. Speeds up translation for your content
  2. Ensures consistency and quality within translations

EPIC Translations has the expertise to help you cut down costs on your translation needs.  Contact us today for further information.

in Blog

Take Advantage of Translation Consulting Before Beginning a Project

Advantages Of Professional Translation Company

Many times a business does not contact their translation company until they have already decided on what they need translated and want to begin the project. If your company is operating this way, you may be missing out on one of the most important value-adds your translation company has to offer, consulting.

One of the best things about using a professional translation company is their ability to help your company identify their specific translation needs before beginning any project. As subject matter experts, a professional translation company will be able to understand the specific linguistic services necessary to achieve your company’s goals.

Your translation company may be able to suggest which translated documents will make the most impact when your company can not afford to translate everything at one time. If you are trying to expand your company’s worldwide presence and enter the global marketplace, your translation service provider can suggest what translations would be most helpful to achieving this goal and what languages are the best fit for your product or service.

Many companies may decide to translate a document or website, only to feel later like they didn’t receive the added benefit they were looking for. Consulting with your professional translation company before requesting projects can help your company achieve the greatest value for translation dollars spent.

in Blog / Uncategorized

Machine Translation (MT) on Smartphone

Machine Translation Software on Smartphone

Quite a few companies have released Machine Translation Software for various smartphones and tablets in order to provide on-demand translation service.  In some instances, you can take a photo on your phone and send it to a server where it will provide you the translation in your desired language.

In other instances, the Machine Translation Software can instantaneously translate full sentences for you.  While these are definitely technical breakthroughs, I’m not sure whether many practical applications exist for MT software on your smartphone.

Can you imagine if you’re in a meeting and your company speaks only Chinese or French?  In order to have a meaningful conversation, are you going to first speak into your smartphone and then point it in the direction of your company so they can listen to the translation of your sentence?

Or better yet, if you’re on a conference call with a potential client or a business partner, are you first going to speak into your smartphone and then point it towards your landline phone so you could have a meaningful conference call?

Bottom line

Bottom line is that MT has limitations in its practical applications.  Machine Translation will never be good enough to completely replace the human translator or the human interpreter.

in Blog / Document translation

Rush translations

Some companies need continuous and consistent translation services and have thus created internal teams and processes to successfully service their needs. Yet there are other companies who need translation services 2 to 4 times a year. And yet more, there are companies that need translation services between 5 to 15 times a year.

If you’re a small to mid-sized company that has business interests in multiple countries then there is a good possibility that your company falls under one of the three scenarios I mentioned above. Regardless of what scenario your company falls under, here are a few tips that will help you to efficiently consume language services:

  1. Schedule sufficient time for translation
  2. Clearly define and write down your requirements, guidelines, and instructions
  3. Have a internal reviewer to review the translation
  4. Communicate any changes in the source content right away

When you follow these tips, your experiences as a language services buyer will be smoother. Additionally, your language services provider will be able to better service you.

in Blog / Document translation

Interpretation: on-site or on-phone?

Phone Interpretation Service

Companies that need interpretation services often request the interpreter to be available on-site without knowing that there is another option. Successful interpretation can also be performed over the phone. Doing over the phone interpretation can save companies time and money.

In some instances, court hearing, for example, having the interpreter on-site might be the only acceptable option.  But for many other instances such as business meetings, medical evaluations, and emergency situations, having over the phone interpretation service can be a great benefit.

Over the phone interpretation service works like this:

  1. You submit an interpretation request to a language services company such as EPIC Translations
  2. Language services company schedules a conference call
  3. You are provided with a toll-free number and a conference code to dial into the conference
  4. Once all of the parties dial in, the interpreter will be already there ready to interpret for you

EPIC Translations recently serviced the State of Michigan with over the phone interpretation service and it was a great success where the interpreter didn’t have to travel and the State of Michigan was able to lower their costs. It was done thru EPIC Translations’ interpretation service called “EPIConference” where all parties dialled into a pre-scheduled conference call.  This process saved the State of Michigan at least 20% to 25% in their interpretation cost for the project.

The EPIConference system can also record the interpretation session and immediately email the recording as a mp3 file to all of the participants.  Upon request, a transcript of the session can also be provided.

in Blog

Internal review of a translation

Partnering with a translation company

If you’re looking to do business in another country, it will be vital to have some of your content translated or localized.  Partnering with a translation company such as EPIC Translations can be very beneficial and cost-effective. One of these benefits is immediate access to expert linguists with industry knowledge and experience.  A translation company will most likely have experienced linguists in various areas of expertise such as legal, marketing, technical, and medical.  You can put this expertise to use for your business right away.

However, having your own internal reviewer will prove to be priceless for 2 of the following reasons:

  1. Your reviewer will be able to ensure the content matches your corporate branding objective(s)
  2. Your reviewer can judge whether certain language is compatible with your business culture

Once the review is done, the translation company can implement the changes into the master file fairly quickly. An important thing to remember is that there should be a limit of 2 rounds for an internal review.  Otherwise, there is a risk of analysis paralysis.

in Blog / Document translation

Machine Translations: Two Approaches

Human translators quite often wonder why would anyone use machine translations?  Larger companies quite often wonder why can’t machine translations be made better?   As simple as this sounds, we can not underestimate the complexities involved when deciding which option to consider.  To begin with, I think it’s important to define machine translation. It is “the application of computers to the task of translating texts from one natural language to another.”  This concept is much harder than it sounds. There are 2 different approaches that have been used thus far.

  1. Machine Translation (MT)
  2. Machine Translation PLUS Human Reviewer

For certain cases where extremely structured content is the norm, it makes sense to use a MT system. These cases are far and few, however. Ford Motor Company uses an MT system to translate some of their content that is continuously and dynamically updated such as vehicle assembly build instructions. In these kinds of situations, the content has to be very structured and detailed; preferably written in a language known as Standard Language. This language is a subset of the English language and is restricted to about 5,000 to 10,000 words.

Companies can create content in Standard Language that is specific to their operating environment. Additionally, the source content must be developed and/or converted into a format that an MT system can easily understand. Note that the MT system learns your environment specific vocabulary over time so it can not be used right out of the box. A lot of engineering time is needed to customize the MT system for your environment.  For some companies, this might be a cost-prohibitive option.

Machine Translation PLUS Human Reviewer option is viable for situations where there are not a lot of dynamic changes and at least some of the content is structured. Such examples include machine/engineering specs that have to be shared between engineers in different countries and the need for the translation is not urgent. In these scenarios, an MT system must be deployed for a company-specific operating environment and previous structured text must be fed into the MT system in order to do any translations. The need for engineering time and cost to customize the MT system must be given a serious thought.

in Blog / Document translation

Is Your Company Ignoring Potential Clients?

If your company does not have their website translated into multiple languages, the answer is YES!

Website Localization – Convert Prospective into Customers

The internet has opened up the global marketplace to companies large and small in almost every industry imaginable.  A company that takes the extra step of translating their website, reaches those potential clients in their native languages, which helps promote the corporate brand and message much more effectively. Website localizations is the term used to define adjusting a corporate website to appeal to a foreign language market, which involves translation of the text itself, as well as any important cultural modifications to the content and images.

The widespread use of the Internet in the last decade has increased dramatically, resulting in an Internet where most users speak a language other than English. Despite this fact, only a very small percentage of companies make the choice to translate their website into other languages.

Why are most sites only available in a single language? There are several factors that come into play.

  • Cost: The cost of “localizing” a website into multiple languages can be significant because it requires utilizing professional translators, desktop publishers, and IT professionals.
  • Time:  Hiring and interacting with the various professionals needed to translate your website is an enormous undertaking, and many employees do not have the time to take on this task, along with their day-to-day responsibilities.
  • Value: Many companies may not be aware of the advantages website localization has to offer, and therefore, may not see the value in spending their time and money.

Smart, forward-thinking companies, however, have realized that the cost and time of website localizations open up an entirely new marketplace, full of people that understand the company’s message, and feel at ease because the information is presented to them in a language and culture they understand.

Website Localizations Service Provider – EPIC Translations

At EPIC Translations, we make the complex undertaking of website localizations as streamlined as possible for our clients by handling every step of the process from translation, to desktop publishing, and IT. Our clients don’t have to worry about the time and cost of hiring and monitoring various firms for their localization requests. All of our professional localization translators are website translation specialists and translate only into their native language.

The finished product is a website that has global appeal, with a corporate message that is marketed specifically for each language based on cultural variations, resulting in a strong international image and increased profits.

in Blog / Document translation / Uncategorized

Benefits of outsourcing your translation needs

Benefits of outsourcing your translation needs To Translation Companies

Consider the following scenarios:

  1. Does your company have operations in multiple countries?
  2. Does your company have patents that you’d like to file in other countries?
  3. Does your company outsource manufacturing to other countries?
  4. Is your company involved in a legal dispute in another country?

If you answered Yes to any of these questions then there is a good chance that your company will need translation services.  The question then becomes should you hire a translator(s) in your company or should you partner with a translation company?

It often doesn’t make a lot of financial sense for companies to have an in-house translation team simply because of the amount of effort required for a production-ready translation.  Another reason why a lot of companies don’t have an in-house translation team is that there may not be a consistent need. In 99.5% of the cases, it makes better financial sense to partner with a translation company.  No matter how sporadic or often the needs may be; having a reliable partner for your translation needs will definitely be an advantage for you due to some or all of the following reasons:

  1. Translation companies have ample supply of well-qualified translators
  2. Translation companies have a very well practised quality control process in place
  3. Translation companies can often meet very tight deadlines
  4. Some translation companies give you the ability to check the status of your projects in real time.

In the case of EPIC Translations, you will certainly be able to log in to our portal and check the status of your project in real time.  We also have a proprietary quality control process in place that ensures that the translation will be production ready.

Bottom line:  it can make a lot of financial sense for your company to outsource your translation needs.

in Blog / Document translation
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