Subcontracting Trade Fair starts today, Tuesday, at Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre, and the language service business TellWell Translations will be present at Lempäälän Kehitys Oy’s / Business Lempäälä’s (Lempäälä Development Ltd) stand E401 on the opening day at 9.30 AM – 12.30 PM.
Read below how TellWell Translations’ multilingual team of specialists translate, edit and write texts for a wide range of clients’ business purposes, using a variety of translation and text creation technologies. Find out more about us in this article, by browsing our services or by visiting us at stand E401 today, Tuesday at 9.30 AM – 12.30 PM.
Thanks to computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, there is no need to reinvent the wheel
The basic tool for professional translators is translation memory software, which ensures consistency within and between texts in client projects and automatically checks many essential dimensions of quality. Term lists can be integrated into these tools to ensure that sector-, company- and product-specific vocabulary is reflected in the texts as desired.
Translation memory software can also be used to retrieve previously translated sentences or parts of sentences from a custom translation memory directly into a new text. Thanks to this consistency is maintained within the same text and between texts produced at different times. TellWell Translations mainly uses the CAT tool Phrase, but we are also familiar with several others.
Machine translation (MT) plug-ins speed up the translation of many genres of text
Machine translation plug-ins can be integrated into translation memory software to speed up the translation of many straightforward, clearly structured text types – for example, user manuals. TellWell Translations often uses DeepL as part of the Phrase translation memory – unless the nature and sensitivity of the text prevents the use of MT. However, professionals never take risks with machine translation output; instead, they check the translation’s accuracy by systematically and comprehensively comparing the target text with the source text.
Using a machine translator without linguistic competence is a risky game
A machine translation is a good servant but a bad master.
If a business uses a machine translation blindly without a comparative validation by a qualified specialist, the worst-case scenario is that an unvalidated machine translation contains false or misleading claims about the company, its products or its business practices, poses a danger to the users of the product, or presents the company to readers in an unfavourable light.
The veracity of the claims is only one side of the coin – the other, and very important, is ensuring the cultural appropriateness, fluency and authenticity of the target text, and this is where a native specialist in the target language is needed as part of the process. Compromising on such linguistic, stylistic and cultural aspects undermines the effectiveness of the text or, in the worst case, makes the effect quite the opposite of what was intended. The use of machine translators and their limitations should therefore be discussed with the company’s communication specialists and their translation agency partner, so that the obvious benefits of machine translation can be used in an efficient but controlled manner.
AI translation also requires a linguist’s insightful validation
AI technologies are increasingly being introduced into translation memory software, led by large translation technology companies. The principle behind the use of AI translation is the same as for machine translation: the human specialist usually needs to assess, in the light of their linguistic-cultural-business view, to what extent the suggestions generated by the AI are: a) suitable for use as they are, b) suitable for use after editing, c) not helpful at all but the texts needs to be rewritten/translated from scratch.
The human-eye review on AI translation is based on the same competences as for “traditional” translation, i.e. the validator must have a high level of competence in the source and target languages, and the process must involve a native specialist in the target language to ensure the authenticity and idiomaticity of the output. What your AI is trained with is also crucial to the quality of the end result.
ChatGPT is useful in editing tone of voice, restructuring texts, and proofreading
Artificial intelligence applications are currently used by many translation agencies – including TellWell Translations – for example in content creation work, where they can be handy tools for versioning the same text into different text genres and for different communication channels. They also help a lot with translation. When the AI is carefully guided by appropriate prompts, it can also be used to adjust thetone of voice in texts. In the case of a translation, the final result must be validated by comparison with the source text as described above. On the other hand, if the project is about monolingual content creation, the truthfulness of the facts must be verified.
Meet Paula at stand E401 on Tuesday!
Come and have a chat with Paula Erkintalo, the entrepreneur and project coordinator at TellWell Translations, about your internationalisation and communication landscape. We have a timeslot on Tuesday, October 1, at Business Lempäälä’s stand E401 at 9.30 AM –12:30 PM! The swiftest visitors to the stand will receive a bag of sweet-tasting building material for communication – and the rest “Suomi” chocolates (‘Finland’) for the honour of the cultural-linguistic specialisation of TellWell Translations. You can also contact Paula directly at paula.erkintalo@tellwell.fi,+358458551734 or by using the service form.
Subscribe to TellWell Translations’ newsletter and contact us!
No worries if you didn’t have the chance to meet Paula from TellWell Translations at Lempäälän Kehitys Oy’s / Business Lempäälä’s stand on Tuesday: you can get to know us by browsing our services, by reading about our mission and values, and enjoying our series of articles published during the Subcontracting Trade Fair week. If you’d like to talk about your potential language service needs with us, feel free to contact us at paula.erkintalo@tellwell.fi or +358458551734!
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