Are you hiring the right subject matter expert for your translations?

Globalisation has become a way of life in today’s world. The Internet has led many people from different corners of the world to engage with each other in similar business. While languages can sometimes act as a barrier in effective communication, professional translation services can play an important role to help one reach a larger audience. If you are trying to select any translation service for your documents, you must ensure that the translators have a native-level fluency, understanding of the culture of the target audience and a subject matter expertise pertaining to the related field of translation.

Subject matter expertise in Translation

Subject matter expertise is the knowledge of the translator about the content being translated. Whether the Elearning module needs to be translated from Hindi to Russian or whether you require Survey translation services in English, the translator needs to have a deep understanding and expertise in the subject matter. Should you be looking to translate a legal document, does the translator have knowledge and expertise of the required field?Subject matter specialists translate the information of technical, medical, finance, e-commerce, marketing etc to the required language with precision, high quality and accuracy. Especially for medical and pharmaceutical translations that carry critical information, it becomes very important to have subject expert translators and linguists. 

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There are three main types of subject matter expertise:

• Academic: A translator with an academic level of subject matter experience likely has an advanced degree in the field and has studied the subject matter with a good understanding of the associated language.

• Experiential: A translator with an experiential level of knowledge has worked in the field and understands the subject matter from first-hand experience.

• Performance-based: A translator with a performance-based expertise currently works in the field and is up-to-date on practice, procedure, terminology, and regulations.

The Importance of Subject Matter Expertise

A professional language translation company will always hire subject matter experts as translators, who will have years of experience working with similar content. These translators are also well aware of the industry-specific terminologies and have the required technical proficiency. A translator who doesn’t have experience in the specialized field will not understand your industry’s specific language and may deliver a translation filled with inaccuracies. This can require re-translation efforts that’ll cost you significant time and money as well as loss of brand reputation. Ensure that you check for the following points to know if the translations were carried out by a subject-expert translator or not:

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• Analyze the Language

One of the first signs that your translation was not completed by an expert is a lack of technical language. If common terms are used to replace what should be highly specialized language not only you will sound less professional, but the message conveyed may miss your specific intent.

• Check for Signs and Symbols

Each field has nomenclature and representation pertaining to a particular discipline. Signs, symbols, abbreviation, and jargons are essential to the understanding of your message, but those same signs and symbols will represent something entirely different within a different field of study.

• Meaning of phrases and text

Any document or content is rarely translated word-for-word; instead, the words are translated and localized into the meaning of the target language. This often involves adapting the words and phrases to the local language of the user.  A subject-expert translator is able to know not just what the words mean, but why they are being used in the way they are and how they fit into the overall picture.

Subject matter experts can ensure a clear, professional, and accurate translation in a timely manner. They don’t have to pause in uncertainty every few words because they’re fully familiar with the type of content they’re translating. LanguageNoBar offers certified translation services through translators who are subject matter experts with vast experience in their specialized fields.

Remember that translators with subject matter expertise will ensure that your document clearly conveys the original message as intended and hiring the right language translation services will help you reach a much wider audience!

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