{"id":24656,"date":"2021-09-07T11:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T09:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/once-translated-and-all-done\/"},"modified":"2024-09-30T10:02:23","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T08:02:23","slug":"once-translated-and-all-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/once-translated-and-all-done\/","title":{"rendered":"Once translated and all done?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No, because language is not static!<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Have you ever been bloomy? Have you dismissed a proposal as \u201charebrained,\u201d that is, outrageous or foolish? And did you know that an \u201cankle biter\u201d is a small child and not a vicious dog? The above examples show that language is subject to constant change. Things that were part of everyday language just a few years or decades ago now sound outdated, strange, discriminatory, or may not even be understood. For translations, this means you need to constantly check that your terminology and stylistic patterns are up to date and whether they are still aligned with the Zeitgeist. Professional, native-speaker translators have their finger on the pulse and know exactly when something sounds antiquated and needs to be updated. After all, a suitable, good and politically correct translation is a calling card for any company. <\/p>\n\n

When it comes to language change, you need to overcome these three hurdles:<\/p>\n\n

Hurdle 1: Constant review is a necessity<\/h6>\n\n

Ask a 10-year-old for a \u201cflorin\u201d or tell a teenager that you would like to \u201ccut some rug.\u201d They\u2019ll probably look at you like you\u2019re from another planet. With every written, filmed, spoken, and also translated text, you have to bear the following in mind: Language changes. Something that has been translated or localized once, therefore, does not remain good and universally understandable for all eternity. Therefore, brochures, websites, corporate videos and professional articles should be continuously reviewed \u2013 and not just for their factual content and messages. Companies are also required to have their foreign-language copy retranslated and checked every few years: do your documents still correspond to current language conditions, or not? It is good to set a firm deadline. For instance, both the content and language of company-relevant content should be revised every five years, because every company naturally wants to address and retain their particular target groups in an up-to-date and made-to-measure manner. And this won\u2019t work if terms come across as outdated or are not even understood in the first place. <\/p>\n\n

Hurdle 2: Language feeling and expert knowledge<\/h6>\n\n

Duden<\/a> estimates the vocabulary of German everyday language at about 500,000, the core vocabulary at about 70,000 words. Once you add technical terms, you end up with several million words. Experts believe that the English vocabulary is even larger, while the French vocabulary is somewhat smaller, but this is also related to the fact that words are formed differently depending on the language. Just bear in mind that Germans are very fond of conflating terms, such as Bahnhofsw\u00e4rteruniformjacke (station guard\u2019s uniform jacket). This means you need translation experts \u2013 in the various languages and, ideally, native speakers who are well versed in linguistic changes and subtleties. <\/p>\n\n

In addition, each person has a different-sized vocabulary: older people tend to know more words than younger people, and academics tend to know more than people with lower levels of education. Then you also have to bear in mind that some terms, like \u201cmusic cassette,\u201d are gradually disappearing from the language. Sometimes new terms are added, for example the \u201cWalkman\u201d in the 80s of the last century, which only remained in use for a relatively short time. And let\u2019s not forget terms that were initially used neutrally but now have a negative connotation: just think of relatively innocuous terms such as \u201cknickers\u201d or even \u201cmissy.\u201d Today, we would be more likely to say \u201cpanties\u201d or \u201cunderpants\u201d and instead of \u201cmissy\u201d we prefer the term \u201cyoung woman.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Another phenomenon of language change are foreign-language terms that find their way into another language, such as \u201ckindergarten\u201d in English, or \u201cComputer\u201d or \u201cConcealer\u201d in German. Anglicisms are particularly widespread in Germany. \u201cLockdown,\u201d \u201cSuperspreader-Event,\u201d \u201cSocial Distancing\u201d and \u201cHome-Office\u201d: the corona pandemic has recently brought with it quite a few new English terms that one can hardly imagine German everyday language doing without these days. <\/p>\n\n

One rule of thumb<\/a>: Anyone who can use about 1,000 terms in a foreign language grammatically and appropriately can get by reasonably well \u2013 they can ask for directions, order a meal, or have a conversation by the pool. However, this is nowhere near enough for a good translation of a company text. That\u2019s when you need to turn to professional translation assistance. <\/p>\n\n

Hurdle 3: Watch out for stereotypes, political correctness and the like<\/h6>\n\n

Language can also evolve as a result of political and social changes. Whereas in the 19th century, for example, there were still many French terms that were used in everyday German, this changed with the founding of the German Empire. Instead of \u201cKuvert\u201d (envelope), people started to use the term \u201cBriefumschlag,\u201d the \u201cTrottoir\u201d (sidewalk) became the \u201cB\u00fcrgersteig.\u201d In France it\u2019s the Institut Fran\u00e7ais<\/a>, in Italy the Accademia della Crusca<\/a> which advocate for replacing foreign and loan words from abroad with words from their own respective languages. The French, for example, call their computers \u201cordinateurs\u201d and the software \u201clogiciel\u201d in order to put a stop to the influence of English. <\/p>\n\n

Political correctness is also important: for example, it is wrong to speak of \u201chandicapped people.\u201d The politically correct term is \u201cpeople with disabilities.\u201d And \u201cmanpower\u201d is now \u201chuman resources.\u201d Moreover, today the German language no longer has just teachers and doctors, but struggles to find inclusive terms for male AND female teachers and doctors. Translators must be familiar with all these \u201cdo\u2019s\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019ts\u201d and social guidelines. This means that they should also constantly question their own vocabulary and adapt it if necessary. Because translating technical or specialized texts demands the experience and intuition of industry experts. Language is all about change, and that\u2019s a good thing! <\/p>\n\n

Do you want to calmly overcome these hurdles to present your company in the best possible and most accurate way and master linguistic change so as to always address your customers in the most appropriate way? The experienced and linguistically skilled translators at ACT Translations<\/a> know exactly what to look out for. <\/p>\n\n

Contact us<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does content that has already been translated need to be periodically reviewed and updated? Yes, because language is changing. If you translated your website, brochure, or manual a few years ago, it needs to be constantly reviewed and updated to give a modern impression. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1183,1199],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides-en-gb","category-translation-en-gb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24656"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26615,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24656\/revisions\/26615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}