1)      Great quality. An outstanding translation company will never compromise on quality. Over and above everything else, a great translation is the criterion used to measure the work done and most highly prized by clients.

2)      Competitive, not Lowest Pricing. I have always been skeptical of claims delivering highest quality at lowest prices. Having worked in the translation (and other industries) for a decade, I am forced to conclude that this simply is not possible. High quality translations can only come from dedicated professionals who have spent many years honing their skills. They therefore have a right to fair renumeration. Thus great translators will not work below a certain price, which is ultimately borne by the client.

Competitive pricing, on the other hand, is a definite possibility. The outstanding translation company can act as a medium between the client and translator, negotiating a fair, acceptable and competitive price between the two.

3)      Deliver BEFORE, not on time. Delivery on time is acceptable. However, this is only the minimum industry standard. You have only met, but not exceeded client expectations. So when possible, deliver before time. There are also practical reasons why this is so beneficial. Let me illustrate with an example:

Suppose a translation is due by 5pm today. You deliver at 5pm to the client. He checks and discovers mistakes and misunderstandings. There is a mad scramble to correct the document as he needs to deliver to HIS boss at 5.30 pm.

Suppose now you deliver at 2pm. He is free at 3pm, reads it and discovers the problems. You (and him) now have at least 2 hours in order to rectify the problems. There is time for revision. No fuss or panic is created.

4)      After Sales Service:  A great translation company will always ask its clients for feedback and ways to improve.

5)      Reliability and consistency. An outstanding translation company will always deliver on time, with great quality translation and competitive pricing. It should also be able to hold one to its best translators and avoid changing them for long-term assignments.

These are just some of our personal feel.

I’m not too sure what kind of jobs do not require constant upgrading. Nowadays, with the economic situation, it would be great to sit back, slow down and do some reconsolidation of your current skills, your work, your life and your future. What do you really need to move on in life, or in your work?

Take translation for example, it seems like the colloqualism of languages are always increasing, and with the internet, more lingos are added day by day. Are there any old words that are being phased out? Yes of course. And also, I realised that the way that we write our books, are becoming more and more conversational. No longer do we need to stick to standard English. Often, you get to see words like “don’ts” or “gals”, which only exist in a book as a conversation.

As we broaden our horizons, our experience go UP, and so you can only get better. So I think we all should read more, see more, listen more and learn more. Translation is no longer just translation, but also an experience or a story behind the words.

This headline was written by ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN on June 28, 2009 for the New York Times at:

Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.

It says this: “About half of the 42 million members of LinkedIn, the online professional networking Web site, are outside the United States, and to further expand internationally, the company hopes to be translated into more than its current four languages — English, Spanish, French and German. But when LinkedIn asked thousands of its translator members to complete a survey this month that asked whether they would consider volunteering to translate the site into other languages, many said “nyet.””

If it were you, would you do this job for free? It really is a controversy. Right now, I’m even having a split mind whether I would do it. It takes up much time and effort. If I get more sales and recognition from doing this, yes, perhaps I would.

For those who would accept the job, I salut your courage and time, but hope that you can consider twice or thrice or even ten times, because everything we do, these intentions can be interpreted differently along the way.

Everyday, tens of thousands of thoughts fly through our minds. Things that we see, hear, feel, taste and smell are translated into different experiences. Some of these may be thought of as bad, while others are good. But have you ever wondered, what if things are not as they seem?

Many times we tend to translate differently, things that are happening around us. Some people may tell you, “You must have woken up from the wrong side of the bed today!” But if you stop or slow down to reflect on the events, you may find that, if you go with the flow, things are not as bad as they seem!

Today, in this period of global recession, you may think losing a job is bad. But taking a step back, this might be a time of consolidation, a time for you to slow down and think of what you really want. Most of us are so caught up with the rat race, that we stop to care for others, be with our families, spend time with friends. What will all these translate into in the end? Life is definitely not like a piece of english document translated into a chinese one within days. Whatever you do now, will translate into something else down your life path perhaps in a matter of years!

So, start thinking about how you ultimately want your life to be, and how you want to start “translating” it into now…

With regards to dermatoglyphics, we also realise why some people are so good with words, others are good in athletics. These abilities are inborn, since the day we were fetuses in our mothers’ womb. However having those kinds of qualities do not  necessarily translate you into a genius in those areas. One must still have a nurturing environment to help you develop those qualities.

Back to translation. For those who are learning a third language, it is also important to immerse yourself into that environment so that you can pick it up faster. Non-native linguists who stay for long in a country would tend to understand even the localised terms. A language comes together with the culture. Thus building language bridges would allow one to build culture bridges as well!

Many successful people would tell you that self-awareness is the first key step to get the result that we want in life.  Through self-awareness, we know what we actually want deep inside our heart and mind.  Henceforth, we will take massive action with great passion and energy  to achieve the goals in our life.

Many people learn based on their personal experience and feeling to find out what they want actually in life.  In a way, a lot of time and effort is wasted.  Many more people are still in the midst of finding their true self. Are you one of those people?

Recently, I get to know about Dermatoglyphics. Dermatoglyphics is the scientific study of fingerprints and how it is co-related to our behavioral and personality. Our fingerprint will never change for the rest of our life. Quite interestingly, the study done in this field is highly detailed and accurate.

Is it important to know about oneself?

The more you learn about yourself – how you think, how you feel, what is your true purpose is and how you want to live – the more your life will flow. Hence this will translate into a better life and having great friends and colleagues.

Beside knowing yourself better, it would also give a good gauge of the other person modality and personality.  It would definitely bridge the gap in your communication and understanding of the other person.

I have still a lot more to learn in this field – Dermatoglyphics.  Will definitely keep you posted for any new insights.

I must say…reading Og Mandino’s book entitled “The Greatest Salesman in the World Part II The End of the Story” is very addictive.  Again, this books has sold millions copies till date and been translated into several other languages.

In this book, Og featured The Ten Vows of Success.  The subject title belongs to the Fifth Vow.  Og explained each Vow in such simplicity that it is easily understood by the readers.  I truly believe whoever reads it will benefit tremendously from his knowledge.

In this Vow, I have learnt that “Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve my performance the next time”.  And never will I allow “The fear of adversity leading to failure casts a terrible shadow on all the days of our life”.    This is because “Experience is the most valuable extract of suffering and yet one of the terrible conditions of this life is that its wisdom cannot be transferred to another.”

“I understand, for the first time, how swiftly all deeds and events, good and bad, large and small, pass on and are no more, the works of man as well as the works of nature.”  I can only be stronger through my experience as “All things in life are not only in a constant state of change but they are the cause of constant and infinite change in each other.”

I will take accountability for all bad events that happen to me.  Never will I shift the responsibility to others.  I will become the best that I can be from each learning experience.  Always will I seek the seed of truimph in every adversity.

I have tried interpretation myself, be it simultaneous or consecutive. It feels as if you are a split person, having the left side working quite differently from the right side of your brains! The ears would listen in 1 language, and the mouth would reproduce the words in another language, almost at the same time.

A good interpretor does not allow for a lag in the speech. He or she will start almost at the same time as the speaker. It is as if the interpretor is the speaker! It takes a lot of knowledge on the topic as well as understandingof the speaker. If the interpretor has worked with the same speaker for some time, he or she will be able to guess what the speaker want to say in the next sentence. This takes a lot of practise, and not to say, much more energy and concentration on the matter.

Why more energy? A good interpretor not only translates verbally the words, he or she would transfer the emotions of the speaker to the audience too!

Not all translators can be interpretors. For translation, you have all the time in the world to slowly “digest” the source and “spit out” the translated words. It is not so for interpretation. Even for consecutive interpretation. You would only have that sentence length of time to process the source and form the correct words.

It is a very challenging job and I did enjoy my experiences as an interpretor. So, for those who would like to try out interpretation, you can start with listening to some audio and translate on the spot. You can record what you have interpreted, so that you can check back on your translation later on.

Have fun!

Seeing that translators are now becoming the up and coming industry, this shows how closely knitted our world has become. The need to communicate with our counterparts in other parts of the world has made this industry boom over the past few years.

Translation has now become a BIG part of our lives, knowing that with globalisation and migration of people, culture and businesses, it is ever so important to know other languages.

I used to learn French, and while I dragged my feet to the language school ever twice a week, I used to wonder whether I would ever need the language, since most people that I come into contact with at that time speak English or Chinese. However decades down the road, I master the courage to take up the language again, because now the need has come for us to communicate with clients overseas! Well, everything starts and happens for a reason, isn’t it?

The article in TIMES magazine has really pleasantly amazed me, and I see this industry still growing as the need to reach a wider network of people increases. Thus we are in a very exciting role, with more opportunities to translate different kinds of materials, and learn much more than what 1 culture can offer to another.

3 Cheers to the Translators in the World! 

As the saying goes…”Whatever happens, happens for a reason”

After I have read Paulo Coelho’s The Fifth Mountain, I continue to read his another book entitled “Like the Flowing River”.  This is a collection of reflections from Paulo Coelho. In this riveting collection of thoughts and stories, he offers his personal reflections on a wide range of subjects from archery and music to elegance, travelling and the nature of good and evil.

What actually caught my attention is when I read a particular short story on “The Other Side of the Tower of Babel”.  In this story, he pays his respect to the Holy Translator, Saint Mesrob.  Below is an extract of what Paulo had wrote and it best summarize the importance of a good book translator:

“Today is 9 October, 2004. The town is called Oshakan, and Armenia, as far as I know, is the only place in the world that has declared the day of the Holy Translator, St. Mesrob, a national holiday and where they celebrate it in style. As well as creating the Armenian alphabet (the language already existed, but only in spoken form). St Mesrob devoted his life to translating into his mother tongue the most important texts of the period, which were written in Greek, Persian or Cyrillic. He and his disciples devoted themselves to the enormous task of translating the Bible and the main literary classics of the time. From that moment on, the country’s culture gained its own identity, which it has maintained to this day.

The Holy Translator. I hold the flower in my hands and think of all the people I have never met, and perhaps may never have the opportunity to meet, but who, at this moment, have my books in their hands, and are doing their best tremain faithful to what I have tried to share with my readers. I think, above all, of my father-in-law, Christiano Monteiro Oiticica (profession: translator), who is today in the company of angels and of St. Mesrob, watching this scene. I remember seeing him hunched over his old typewriter, often complaining about how badly paid translation was (and, alas, still is). He would immediately go on, though, to explain that the real reason he translated was because he wanted to share a knowledge, which, but for translators, would never reach his own people.

I say a silent prayer for him, for all those who have helped me with my books, and for those who have allowed me to read books to which I would never otherwise have had access, thus helping – anonymously – to shape my life and my character. When I leave the church, I see some children writing the alphabet with sweets in the shape of letters and with flowers and more flowers.

When man grew ambitious, God destroyed the Tower of Babel, and everyone began to speak different tongues. However, in His infinite grace, he also created people to rebuild those bridges, to enable dialogue and the diffusion of human thought. This person, whose name we rarely take the trouble to notice when we open a foreign book, is the translator.”

The above extract has touched my heart when I read it.  In this commercial world, some people has failed to comprehend the importance of translation.   They fail to understand that a translator takes much effort and time to produce a good translation work.  My kudos to those professional translators in the world.  Thanks for being the Bridge Across Cultures in this world!