“A picture”, as the saying goes, “is worth a thousand words”.

And, the question of how many words corresponds to one picture is a subject close to the heart of professional translators translating to and from alphabetical word-based languages, like English, and hieroglyphic-based languages such as Japanese, when it comes to being remunerated for their work.

Using the example of Japanese to English translation, the translator will set different rates depending on if they are billing based on source character or target word, implying that there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the two. This tends to be set somewhere in between 1.5-2 chars for every word. Therefore, if, for example, you are charging $0.04 per source character, you might charge between $0.06-$0.08 per target word. 

Of course, the Japanese translator often is not given a choice on whether to charge based on source or target, as this may be determined based on the convenience of the end user i.e., the client.

For the end user, there are benefits to both. Calculating based on source character allows them to have a precise cost before starting the work whereas calculating on target words generally makes counting simpler (particularly in case of source formats for which software-based character counts are not readily available, such as PDF or image files).

Further, there is a feature of Japanese that makes finding a fair equivalence between source and target rates more difficult than other hieroglyphic-based languages, such as Chinese. This is the phenomenon of “kana”. If we take the translation of a kanji character pair, such as “keizai” (2 kanji characters), this will normally be translated as “economy”, so the 1 word:2 character ratio mentioned above is satisfied. Now consider the katakana word “jibuchiruhidorokishitoruen” (13 kana characters), which translates as the chemical compound “dibutylhydroxytoluene”. Instead of a 1:2 ratio, you are looking at a 1:13 ratio. If you were translating this word, would you rather be charging based on source or target?

For this reason, I know of end users in fields such as medicine, where there are a lot of borrowed words (the main source of kana), who refuse to accept billing based on source character. The moral of this story? If you are billing based on source characters,  kana (katakana) is your friend.

About the Author
Simon Way is a contributing author to SAECULII YK, the owner of Translation Services Japan Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/services/japanese-translation-services.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

This part of the article series Polishing Your Translation Style focuses on the machinations of grammar.

Now, that may sound like a grand, all-encompassing ambition. But, rest assured, the goal is to simply highlight a few common errors that persist in translation products -- Nothing but a few tips 'n techniques to give shine to your style!

Run-on sentences do not translate well
Japanese-to-English translation can often be challenging. This is because as a language, Japanese emphasizes subtleness that produces multiple phrases in run-on sentences. The object of these marathon sentences is dropped in at the end. Obviously, this doesn't translate well!

Run on-sentences should be reconstructed with a single idea or thought per sentence. Not only will the translation be easier, but it will read better. Don't be shy about taking the knife to unwieldy sentences!

Omitted words are not translated!
In the English language, much is implied and therefore omitted. It is common to do away with constructions such as "that." An example of this point would be "I know that I can do it!" which often becomes "I know I can do it!" in translated text. Some languages require these constructions, and the translation would be incorrect without them.

There are numerous other words, such as particles ("the") that are often omitted in English. Indeed, all languages have these grammatical "quirks" that are ill-defined. A simple rule-of-thumb to follow is that if you are not sure, do not omit it.

Acronyms can be misleading
And that, translators, can lead to the "lost in translation” malaise. Take "ASAP", for example. Now, everyone knows that ASAP stands for "as soon as possible," right? Think again! According to acronymfinder.com, "ASAP" has roughly 90 definitions, including "as soon as possible."

The definitions of acronyms vary from language-to-language, and are very much dependent on the reader’s professional training and background. Avoid using acronyms in your translation. And, where you absolutely have to use an acronym, provide the definition. Use an easy to understand format -consistently- such as "Applied Securities Analysis Program (ASAP)."

Avoid abbreviations
If I've convinced you that acronyms can be misleading, and, therefore, should be qualified with a definition in an easy to understand format, you'll have no problem in adopting the same format for abbreviations. If you still need convincing, then lookup "ATM" on the web!

Do a double check on a double check!
Numbers, dates, times, and names -- Check, double check, and then check again.

Japanese is one of those languages that has a particularly un-wieldy number system. One billion, for example, translates as 10 one hundred million(s). In doing a Japanese translation on super computers, I achieved a level of notoriety by turning one of the fastest computers on the planet into a "that is like so last year" has been -- I inadvertently dropped a single digit of the machine’s teraflop speeds. Fortunately, it was caught at proof reading.

Here's what you do. Create a spreadsheet, and list the numerals of your native language, for example English, on the left and the corresponding numerals of the target language in the adjacent cell on the right. It should look like this:

1,000,000,000 (1 billion, English) -> 10, 0000, 0000 (1 billion, Japanese).

When deadlines are looming large and you're balls to the wall, it is easy to confuse numbers, dates, and times especially when different formats are required. Develop handy cheat sheets -nothing fancy or complicated- to reference at a glance.

Consistency rules
Your writing style should be creative and varied (refer to Polishing Your Translation Style - Part 1). The technical aspect of your style, however, must be consistent. For example, acronyms and abbreviations should be defined in a consistent format throughout your translation work. If you've adopted a particular word or phrase for a term, ensure that you consistently use the same term throughout. For example, an "aircraft" is an "aircraft," and not alternatively a "plane," an "airplane," or a "flying object." There are professional tools, such as glossaries and termbases, to help with this task.

Conclusion
Adopting a translation style that puts you on a level by yourself is easy -- Follow the 6 simple steps above and apply these steps to your translation projects. Clients' will be asking for you by name!

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, experts in Certified Japanese Translation Service in Tokyo, Japan. Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/services/certified-japanese-translation-services.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

You don’t need to translate all your materials.

In fact, you should NOT translate everything!

In other words, deciding what NOT to translate is just as important as deciding what to translate.

Planning a translation project -even in the most rudimentary manner- will:

• Provide effective translated materials that achieve their intended purpose.
• Slash translation costs, you save money.
• Enhance the Japanese translation quality of your materials.

Here’s how. By simply working with your team you can identify and eliminate:

1. Redundancies in materials to be translated.
2. Content that does not apply to your intended target market audience.

When you follow the simple steps above you create a condensed version of the original, which is far more effective. Did I mention costs less, way less?

You can either work with your in-house team (if you have employees with expertise in the target market), or you can work with a professional Translation Company in Japan, Tokyo. The additional cost will be more than off-set by the immediate and recurring savings you gain.

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, the owner of Japanese Translation Company Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/info/contact.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

Uppercase or lowercase - that is the question! The two main factors to consider when deciding whether to go large or small are rules and style. 

Some of the first things we learn at school are that names and other proper nouns should be in uppercase and a sentence also starts with a capital letter. So far, so simple. But even these two very basic rules hide more complex issues. Read on, find out how to take the quality of the Japanese translation services you provide to your clients up several notches!

Taking the first rule, what constitutes a proper noun? Names of people and pets, geographical locations, nationalities and languages, time periods and events, companies, religions, and political parties are all capitalized, as are days, months, and holidays. Seasons, animals, plants, minerals, and food however, are not proper nouns and should be in lowercase, except when prefixed by a proper noun (e.g. “Italian dressing”). For cases such as academic qualifications, when used as a title they should be capitalized (e.g. Master of Science), but not when used descriptively (e.g. “She is studying for her master’s degree.”)

Looking at the second rule, if it starts a block of text or follows a period, then it is clearly a sentence, but what about if it follows a colon? This depends on how the colon is used. If the colon is used for the purposes of making a list (e.g. “Okonomiyaki is simple: eggs, flour, and cabbage”, Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake containing a variety of ingredients.), or only there for the purpose of adding explanation to what precedes the colon, and does not stand on its own (e.g. “Drinking alcohol affects speech: it makes you slur.”), you would not use an uppercase letter. However, if what follows is a complete sentence in its own right, the general thinking is that the first letter should be capitalized. According to the “Chicago style”, however, there have to be two complete sentences after the colon for the first letter to be capitalized.

For headings, the basic rule is to capitalize everything except minor words (articles, conjunctives, and prepositions) of three letters or fewer, but here as well there is not universal agreement.

This mention of “Chicago style” before brings up an important point. Whereas rules on proper nouns are fairly rigid, rules on colon use and headings might more accurately be referred to as guidelines. Remember that the purpose of capitalization is not to fetter the writer, but rather to provide clarity (in the case of proper nouns) and aid readability (in case of division of sentences). Follow the rules, and also develop a consistent style in your capitalization. Nothing screams of shoddy Japanese English translation work like inconsistent usage.

About the Author
Simon Way is a contributing author to SAECULII YK, the owner of Japanese Translation Services Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/services/japanese-translation-services.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

The first exposure of many new learners to Japanese comes via Romaji, the Latin script rendering of Japanese pronunciation.

The reason for this is usually to allow the student to be able to learn Japanese words that they can use in conversation before tackling the intricacies of Chinese “kanji” characters or the Japanese phonetic syllabaries, Katakana and Hiragana. What can be confusing is that there are multiple systems in active use so the same word (and pronunciation) can be written in different ways. This is an issue for the Japanese translator as it is often necessary to “Romanize” Japanese words when translating into English. This article looks at the key differences between the “Romaji” systems.

There are three main Romaji systems in active use: 

• Hepburn, 
• Nihon-shiki, and 
• Kunrei-shiki. 

The main differences between these systems concern how the sounds we associate with “h” as a letter after another consonant, the “f”, “j”, and “ts”.

The Hepburn system is the closest to English and should be used whenever possible (only possible exceptions are when a company officially uses another form for its name on its website etc.) as its use will avoid confusion in readers of your translation. Hepburn uses “h” where it would normally be used in English (“Mitsubishi” rather than “Mitsubisi” in the other two systems), as well as other double consonants that add clarity “Tsushin” (communications) as part of a name, rather than “Tusin”). Other differences include that, in the other two systems, the sound which is closer to “fu” in English is written as “hu”, and the “j” sound is “dy”, except for “ji” which is “di”. 

Another thing to avoid when you are forced to related Japanese words “as is” in your English text is literally writing double vowel sounds. If you are writing the Japanese name “Koki” with an extended “o” sound (like the word “oar” in English), some romanization systems will depict this as “Kooki”, but writing this in English will give the reader the impression that it should be sounded like “who”. In this case, it is better to be less precise than end up writing something misleading.

In conclusion, as always in translation, you should aim to be consistency. Although it is necessary to be aware of the other systems, you should learn and use the Hepburn system when writing Japanese words literally in English to provide the most intuitive and accessible system to readers of your Japanese English translation who may not be familiar with Japanese pronunciation.

About the Author
Simon Way is a contributing author to SAECULII YK, providers of Quality Japanese Translation Services Tokyo, Japan Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news by Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/services/japanese-translation-quality.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

If you’re bilingual or you just simply want to save money, you may be tempted to do translation yourself.

That could be fatal.

Consider this: I’m sure you have general marketing knowledge (most people do); however, would you roll out a new product (service) yourself, or would you wisely leave it to experienced marketing professionals that are able to develop the best solution to maximize your sales and revenues?

Japanese Translation is NO different!

If you are indeed bilingual, then

You’ll understand writing and speaking is not the same thing.

So, don’t be tempted to produce translation that will be immediately recognizable as foreign -- If not perceived as amusing (which won’t do anything for your brand), it will be considered insulting. (Just take a look at Engrish.com to see what I’m talking about. That’s right, there’s a whole cottage industry devoted to the woes of DIY translators!)

And, while you may initially save money going it alone, the long-term cost in lost sales and damaged reputation could potentially deal a fatal blow to your company. If you are just starting out, and money is a real issue (as it is for most start-ups), then consider working with a Japanese Translation Company to strategically translate key product (service) material within your limited budgeted. Truth is, most professional translation services are more than willing to work with you if you simply ask!

Either way, definitely use professional Japanese translators for professional Japanese translation!

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, experts in Certified Japanese Translation Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/services/japanese-certified-translations.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

If you’ve read part 1 & 2 of this article series, you may be asking "How else does one improve on translation style?"

The answer to that, my friends, is the most important part of the message. Polishing Your Translation Style - Part 3:

1. The client and you
2. Let your reputation precede you
3. Operate like a professional to be a professional
4. Don’t make clients look for you
5. Who do you do business with?

Read on and profit!

The client and you
Let’s for a moment consider our profession from the perspective of the client.

You have a need for professional translators. You pull out all the stops: hit the search engines, post on translation directories,; and, even call in a few favours. In short, you get the word out. Pretty soon you have around a hundred (probably more) potential candidates. Then, based on your translation project requirements, and other priorities and considerations, you cull the list down to 10 candidates. The surviving candidates bring the exact same qualifications and benefits to the table. At this point you do an in-depth analysis on each potential candidate. So, here’s the question:

Who do you commission to take on your project?

Part 3 of this translation article series answers that question.

(Click here to view the complete series - Polishing Your Translation Style)

Applying the lessons of part 1 & 2 of this article series will put you in the final line up. However, although you may be the most accomplished professional Japanese translator in the business, it does not necessarily ensure that clients will contract your services. It is as simple as that -- Brutal to be sure, but the truth none the less! Here‘s where you get to ensure that you’re not one of the "other nine."

Let your reputation precede you
We’re all somebody’s client -- No pearl of wisdom there, I am afraid.

However, think about the time -and we’ve all experienced this at one time or another- when you made a major purchase decision for a particular product or service without the usual angst. It just seemed the most obvious thing to drop the "green", or money, on the table. You were totally comfortable with your decision. Why was that? Dell (computers) was my experience, and not because Dell necessarily produces the best computers, either. For me, it was because their reputation for quality of product AND quality of service preceded them.

What's the lesson here that can be applied to translation style?

Deliver on the promise

Always deliver client projects on time. Better yet, don’t just beat the deadline -- Deliver the project with time to spare. If for some reason -an act of God, hopefully- you won’t be able to deliver as promised, give the client a heads up the moment you realize it. The response may not be pretty, but it definitely will be appreciated. And, whatever you do, don’t come up with lame excuses! (You’re not in university anymore!)

Of course, nobody sets about a project intending to miss the deadline, and yet many do. You can avoid the "unavoidable" by:

• Not accepting projects with unrealistic or impossible deadlines. Negotiate a more reasonable deliver date, or simply refuse the job altogether -- Your reputation will not suffer.
• Working within your abilities. Don’t accept material you have little or no expert knowledge about, because then you will definitely end up making lame excuses.
• Making sure you’ll be working within your abilities. Evaluating the source text BEFORE you accept a project. Check it out yourself -- Don’t take somebody's word that it’s a "business text." (It may be a business contract requiring legal expertise!)

Take a page from Dell’s operations manual -- Make your clients feel comfortable by developing a reputation for delivering more than you promise. You’re already standing tall in that line up.

Operate like a professional to be a professional

Start by knowing your client

That is, do some preliminary research on the client before submitting your proposal. This is important for a couple of reason. First, your research will manifest itself in the proposal submitted, and the client will definitely pick up on it. The message is powerful:

This candidate is interested enough in the job to "go the extra mile!"

Second, you’re playing at a psychological level -- You are appealing to a universal sense of vanity. Everybody likes to feel important enough to be "researched."

(I recently received an email from a freelance Japanese translator. This person had skillfully worked an original phrase from an article I had written into the resume. Now, you just have to know that I took a closer, longer look at that resume -- What can I say, I'm only human!)

Too much sweat? Apart from the obvious benefits, you may discover some interesting information. For example, your research may turn up a piece of information that will land you at the head of the lineup. Alternatively, you may discover the client has a history of bouncing checks in which case you probably want to remove yourself from the list. A word of caution is in order, though. When working research into your proposal, do be subtle and forego the flattery.

Professionals know how to listen to understand what’s required.

Have you ever thought about the difference between listen and hear?

And the buzz that comes with a reputation as a good listener -- Pure gold! One hears it all the time:

These guys knew exactly what I wanted, and they got it right!

Apply your listening skills and let your reputation precede you as a professional that gets the job done right, first time round. You’ll be rewarded many times over with repeated requests for your services.

The job does not start until the paperwork is complete!

You need a contract that is detailed, and you need an agreement on that contract before anything happens. At a bare minimum, your contract should have clauses cover pricing, terms of payment, limitation of liability, delivery of product (service), dispute resolution, termination of arrangement and confidentiality. Now, some may think that a contract at this point will scare a potential client away. Quite the contrary -- It speaks loud and clear of professionalism!

In addition to protecting yourself, you’re dealing up front and honestly with an issue that is of obvious importance to the client. And, at the same time you’re providing transparency. For example, the clause on translation pricing will tell the client upfront how much your services will cost and how those figures are arrived at. There’s no greater turn-off than a "black box" pricing structure -- Lurking sticker price shock at its worst!

Records

There are a number of very affordable translation project management software packages targeted at professional translators that do a good job of organizing and storing business records. E-mails, faxes, invoices, contracts, purchase orders, receipts, source files and translated files should all be stored. Some would say that this is a good business practice, which it is. I would argue this is essential to being a professional. Organizing and storing records will ensure clients get a prompt response to inquiries. In addition to lending an aura of professionalism to your operation, stored records are a great source of information when your business grows to the point where data mining becomes feasible.

Plan for the future now!

I’m a repeat customer of Dell. All our hardware (laptops, desktops, and servers) are Dell boxes. As our translation business growths, there’s a continual need to upgrade. How do I know what components to upgrade? I simply log into my Dell account and enter the product number of the box I need to upgrade. Every single information record about that box is readily accessible -- Now that’s what I call business record keeping! Of course, not everyone has deep pockets for a state-of-the-art system, but you get the point.

(How long should you keep records for? In some countries, you’re required by law to keep business records for a certain period of time. If you employ a project management software tool you essential have the option to store records forever -- Recommended. At a minimum, store records for at least one year.)

Communicate like a professional

This is a vast topic that I could never do justice to, and in an article of this length, I also run the risk of losing the original message. Allow me, instead, to focus on written communication since this is probably the most common form of communication that you’ll have with clients, and in most cases, it’ll be the first communication you have with a client.

Your writing abilities either are one of your greatest assets, or one of your greatest liabilities. That’s it.

A colleague found herself in the un-enviable position of having to e-mail the entire company alerting them to an error she’d made on a project she was the lead project manager for. This was a critical error on a major project on which everyone had been slaving away for months. Tempers were primed! I immediately realized she was so stressed, and in such a hurry to fire off that e-mail, that she hadn’t done the best job she could’ve done on format, grammar or style. I explained to her that normally people would overlook such issues as trivial; however, in the current situation she’d probably be put to the stake! We re-worked the e-mail several times, took a lazy dinner, and then re-worked it some. How did her colleagues respond? In her words "Oh... the response was good!"

Written communication is incredibly powerful. Take writing courses if you have to. Definitely re-work everything that clients get to read until it is perfect. And remember this, once it is out there, it becomes a permanent record that you have no control over (i.e. can never permanantly edit or delete).

You can dominate the line up by projecting an image of a professional Japanese translator. Researching the client, listening carefully to identify what the client wants, tying up (legal) issues that are of concern to the client, employing project management tools, and communicating in a clear and concise manner all serve to focus that image and polish your translation style.

Don’t make clients look for you
Getting referrals, putting out resumes, working the phones, and pressing the flesh are marketing approaches I’m sure you’re employing to stay on the client’s radar. What more can you do?

If you maintain visibility by employing any of these approaches, then like the rest of us, occasionally you drop of the client’s radar. How does this happen? Well, physical addresses change, as do phone numbers, when you move. Maybe your e-mail address changed with your new ISP that you got a great deal on. Or, simply, you changed your e-mail provider because you were unhappy with the service. Do you even remember all the places where you’ve posted your contact details? The point is this: your hard work at staying visible is all for naught because the client won’t be able to contact you about a proposal during this transitional phase, if at all.

A web site offers a permanent solution. Translation professionals often shy away from a web presence for a number of reasons. They assume that the cost is too prohibitive, they don’t have the technical skill requirements, or the commitment is too great. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Unfortunately, these misconceptions may be preventing you from harnessing the full potential of the Web to grow your translation business.

A web presence really is within anybody’s reach! What are the possibilities?

• Your internet address, or domain name, will never change which means you’ll have a permanent shingle pointing to your office.
• You’ll always have the latest version of your marketing material in front of the client that can be accessed from anywhere at any time. In effect, you will be open for business 24/7.

A web presence will not only stabilize your income, it will provide the opportunity for growth -- Planning for the future. Stay accessible to clients, stay in the lineup.

Who do you do business with?
Let’s revisit that major purchase decision that we happily made a while back.

Sure, the product (service) came with a good reputation, the operation was professional, and we didn’t have to look too hard for it. In other words, even before we made the purchasing decision, we were already quite comfortable with the idea of making a purchasing decision. In effect, we were already "pre-sold." However, pre-sold is not quite the same as being sold. That fleeting interval between pre-sold and actually carrying through on the purchasing decision -laying out the money, so to speak- is where it all happens. Sales people refer to this as "closing the sale." And sales people know that in order to seal the deal, the client must not only feel comfortable with the deal, but must also like the person making the sale.

Surprised? Don’t be, you do it all the time, and so do your clients!

All things being equal, we buy from those we like

That bears repeating:

Ten candidates offering the exact same qualifications and benefits, and clients will always go with the professional they feel most comfortable with and like.

I’m afraid there’s not much that can be done about character -- We are who we are. But, there definitely are some things you can do to improve your "likeability" score:

• A good, positive attitude attracts clients
  Clients don’t want to work with professionals; they want to work with professionals that project a positive attitude. Just as we avoid colleagues that are unpleasant to be around, so do clients avoid contracting professionals that don’t project the right attitude.
• Show appreciation for having the opportunity to work with a client
  Send a card, nothing fancy or expensive, with a personal and original thank you message. You should try it -- It works wonders!
• Have a genuine interest in your client’s best interest
  Share you insider knowledge of the industry with your client. When you can’t take on a job (maybe you have enough work or are not qualified for that particular subject matter), reach out to your network and forward the job to a colleague. You can also point clients to translation websites that can handle their project. Clients appreciate these small acts of kindness, and they certainly do not forget about them!

What would an article be without a true story, or two, for emphasis?

After completing undergraduate school in Japan, I returned to my home country briefly to help in the family business. We made it a policy to recommend customers to other establishments -even if they were competitors- that most likely carried the products we could not provide. Did customers ever appreciate it! They ended up coming around more regularly and making more purchases. Not only that, but even our competitors started referring their customers to us during stock outs. Of course, we made sure not to run out of stock too often -- Clients also have businesses to run…

(The customary caution is not to introduce the client to a nightmare. A good rule of thumb to follow is to never introduce the client to a product or service you yourself would not layout money for.)

When clients like you, you are the lineup.

Ultimately, the success of your translation style can only be measured by the number of your clients, and the number of projects that those clients entrust you with. That’s very much a function of how successful you are in making your clients feel comfortable with your deal -- Defined by:

reputation, professionalism and visibility, and by climbing in the "likeability" rankings.

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, Japan, Tokyo based Professional Japanese Translator Japan, Tokyo. Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/services/japanese-translation-quality.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

In the first part of this article, I looked at points to be careful of when deciding whether to take a Japanese translation job at all.

In this week’s article, I will address some points to note when quoting for work. This also includes, of course, when you are deciding whether or not to accept the offered rate.

As mentioned in the first part of this article, it is a good idea to make it standard practice to view the source document, or a sample of it, in advance. The time you spend on the work (and, therefore, the price at which it makes business sense for you to do the work) will differ depending on the complexity of the work.

You should also consider whether you will be expected to format the document or to add numbers to tables, which the end-user often does not expect to pay for but will be time-consuming for you nonetheless. In case you are expected to do this, you should negotiate with the translation company whether they can add a formatting charge on top of the normal rate.

As you gain experience as a Japanese translator, you will learn what things are time-consuming. For example, using translation software, such as Trados, means that you will not need to do formatting. However, if the source text is heavily formatted, this may lead to a huge number of tags in the Trados document. Working with these tags can be very laborious, and this effort must be considered when you quote for a job.

Lastly, beware of the fact that some unscrupulous companies may use the fact that a character count is not readily available for certain formats, such as images and PDF files, to persuade you to accept an unreasonably low flat rate for a job. Although time-consuming in the beginning, it is worth taking the trouble to count the characters yourself, even roughly, to make sure the fee is within your normal range.

In conclusion, many translation companies/end-users will offer you a job based on a set number of characters for a certain fee. Note, however, as described above, not all characters are equal and it is important to carefully estimate the total effort required in a job before setting, or agreeing to, the price for the work.

About the Author
Simon Way is a contributing author to SAECULII YK, the owner of Translation Services Japan, Tokyo Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/services/japanese-translation-services.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

The popular translation model in many translation clouds is essentially the same as the roundly discredited model for cheap translation that emerged from Asia a number of years back:

Machine Translation + Post-editing by Novice Translators

Obviously, this is not a formula for professional, quality translation services. Which begs the question, why do translation clouds introduce novice translators (unqualified and inexperienced bilinguals) into the equation?

Crowd-sourced novice translators

Apart from the obvious cost benefits (novice translators are cheaper and therefore more profitable), the answer is, surprisingly, straight forward. First, some translation cloud companies fired their professional translators replacing them with bilinguals, while famously declaring to the world:

"Each time we fire a ‘professional linguist,’ our quality improves"¹

I know, it defies the imagination, especially when you advertise your services as professional!?

Another reason -the more important reason- is simply that few, if any, professional translators worth their salt are willing to work for translation cloud companies.

Why professional translators don’t buy into the “promise” of the cloud
According to the translation cloud model, computer translation (machine translation & computer assisted translation) promises to deliver 65% accuracy requiring human translators to only handle the remaining 35%. Therefore, the translation cloud companies rationalized, human translators would be compensated at 35% of prevailing rates, or US$0.01~0.03 per word.

Question you got to ask yourself, though, is why would highly educated, skilled and experienced professionals subject themselves to sweat-shop conditions? They won’t, and here’s the reason why.

Despite the exaggerated claims of translation cloud outfits, computer translation’s true accuracy is only about 30%. I’m sure you’re starting to understand what professional translators have known for a long time -- More work checking and correcting machine translated text, less compensation.

But, that’s just half the problem. Assuming we take that 65% accuracy claim at face value, which we certainly don’t, from a professional translator’s perspective (which I am with 20 years' plus experience) sifting through 65% of “accurately translated text” to identify the inaccurate 35% is a task in-and-of-itself! And, once identified must then be re-translated and worked seamlessly into the final translated text…even more work.

Promise of the cloud? No, more like a sweat-shop of bondage!

No professional translators? No problem, we’ll crowdsource bilinguals!
Some of the larger translation directories where translation jobs are advertised have even banned cloud companies from recruiting professional freelance translators, such as the much respected Proz.com Blue Board. (Try googling “[TRANSLATION COMPANY NAME], Blue Board”)

Without professional translators to deliver on their promise of professional translation services, what did these translation cloud folks do?

They first tried reaching out to professional translation service companies for the critically important post-editing task of that remaining 35%. But, here again, why would professional agencies work at sweat shop rates when they have added overhead, such as proof-checking by a second translator and professional editing to ensure the translation quality that clients pay for and rightly expect?

Our professional Japanese Translation Company has been contacted endlessly by some of the biggest translation cloud schemes out there, until, that is, we told these folks to stop wasting our time. Much the same as professional freelance translators, many professional translation agencies continue to shun the cloud.

So, being effectively shut out from the professional translators' market, the cloud folk did the only thing logically possible to bypass these markets. That is, to crowd source novice translators -unqualified and inexperienced bilinguals- directly into their “factory assembly line” like proprietary systems with only rudimentary screening of language ability AND with no regard for expert knowledge (business, legal, medical etc).

As long as professionals continue to shun the cloud, this convergence of machine translation and crowdsourcing of novice translators is set to define cloud translation services well into the future. The implication on translation quality can’t be overstated…

Hold on there, even crowdsourced novice translators improve their skills overtime, don’t they?
True.

But, here’s the catch -- Once a novice translator ups his or her game to a professional level on your dime, why stick around? Professional translators will move onto greener pastures, as this cloud professional makes abundantly clear:

“Decent placeholder until the inevitable better opportunity comes along.”

Quality Manager²

I’m sure you can see what’s happening in the translation cloud, right? You’re paying novice translators for on-the-job training -- That is, you’re being forced to foot the bill for poor quality translation that will negatively impact your business!

References

1. The original link has been taken down; however, the following link provides a bit of information on this now infamous rant: http://traductor-financiero.blogspot.jp/2011/04/new-alchemy-how-to-take-crap-produced.html
2. http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/TransPerfect-Translations-Reviews-E32824.htm

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, owner of the Translation Company Japan, Tokyo. Visit SAECULII for the latest professional articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/info/contact.cfm), and this copyright information.

A little over two months, I wrote a series of article on voice recognition.

At that time, I argued that although there were drawbacks to using voice recognition (VR), such as the initial expense, once you had adapted your working environment to VR, it was a useful tool for increasing your efficiency and translation performance. Fast forward two months and, a little disappointingly, I have found that I am using VR far less than I thought I would.

One reason for this is discovering that VR simply does not suit certain types of translation. English-based VR works by recognizing when you have said one of the words in its memory. If, therefore, you are translating a document with a lot of Japanese names and/or place names that will not be found, you will be forced to either spell them out or type them yourself into the document and this slows down the speed of your Japanese translation. Of course, you can train the software to recognize the names but there is such a huge range of possibilities that this would take a long time.

This leads to the discussion of another factor. As noted before, using VR is an investment not only financially, but in terms of time as well. When using VR, if the software “mishears” you, you basically have two options. The quicker way is to type over the mistaken word, but the better long-term approach is to train the software what you really said. You need to spend time now to save time later, and this is easier said than done when you get busy.

Another issue is that, as you need to prepare a quiet, private environment to do VR properly, it is very easy to get out of the habit of doing this. As I was traveling much of the summer while working, I seldom found myself in an environment to be able to use VR effectively and found that even after returning home, it was much easier to fall back into the established routine of typing Japanese English translation.

From the above, we can conclude that although there are tool limitations in VR software, effectively using VR can be more a matter of conquering your own psychological limitations, such as entrenching good habits and being willing to make a time investment now for enhanced returns later.

About the Author
Simon Way is a contributing author to SAECULII YK, the owner of Translation Services Japan, Tokyo Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/services/japanese-translation-services.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

This is the third and (those of you who are thoroughly bored with the topic will be pleased to hear) final part of a series of articles looking at the advantages and disadvantages of using voice recognition (VR) software in translation.

In the first part, we took a statistical approach and outlined the speed benefits, whereas in the second part we discussed some minor drawbacks with its use. In this final part, I would like to turn things positive again and look at some additional benefits to using voice recognition in addition to mere speed of transcription.

The first of these is not so much related to English Japanese translation as to general communication. Although VR software is extremely adept at learning your patterns of speech for good recognition, you will still need to enunciate your words clearly, and this in itself is excellent training for public speaking as well as general communication. In the few weeks that I have spent using the software I have become keenly aware how, when I speak, I can “swallow” words at the beginning of sentences as well as articles within the sentence. After using the software for a while you will notice patterns in which words are not being picked up, and this is very instructive.

Got Japanese certified translation questions? Contact a professional Japanese Translation Company Tokyo, Japan

I have also found that being forced to speak the sentence, rather than just write it, has helped rid me of a bad habit that I had when translating by starting to translate the sentence before reading the whole sentence. When you are writing the sentence, you can go back and change the beginning quite easily. However, being forced to understand the whole sentence before you start, as you need to do with VR, is a much better way of organizing your ideas and is more efficient. In the same way, that the software gets better at understanding what you are saying, you will also get better at arranging your thoughts for efficient output. Even in the short time I have been using VR software, I have noticed ever increasing returns in terms of its benefits.

In conclusion, if you can get beyond the minor drawbacks of the initial expense, and also adapting your working style to accommodate a quiet environment, I would seriously recommend VR software as a means of increasing your efficiency and Japanese translation performance.

About the Author
Simon Way is a contributing author to SAECULII YK, owner of the Japan Translation Company Tokyo, providers of Japanese certified translation Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news by Japanese Translation Service

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links,

Sounds pretty obvious, right?

Work-in-progress

However, you’d be surprised how many folks hit the ground running with a "work-in-progress draft" in hand, figuring they can finalize as they go. This is truly a case of “more haste, less speed”!

Here are the reasons why a draft is an absolutely rotten idea:

1. Project turn-around slips.
2. Translation costs skyrocket.
3. Translation quality takes a major hit.

While you will get out the gate faster, constant revisions, re-translation, and proofing will slow down your project. You may figure minor changes will not materially impact the project; however

Know that even small changes mean, for example, entire paragraphs, sections and even chapters may need to be re-worked to ensure consistency to achieve a cohesive message in the translation.

This is where the rabbit slips up!

Then there’s the cost of Japanese translation. I’m sure you understand there is a cost associate with endlessly re-working a project. Of course, translation companies will be more than happy to take on the extra work, for a cost (after all, who works for free?). But, there is a far greater, hidden cost you need to be aware of. That is:

The constant revisions necessitated by work-in-progress materials will ensure translation errors slip into the final product, resulting in alienated customers or even litigation.

Can a cost ever be put on that…?

And, this is the essence of message I would like you to take away from this translation article. When you have multiple drafts floating around under constant revision, translation quality as measured by the number of errors is bound to take a major hit. Take a look at this real world example of the impact on quality you can expect when you start a project with work-in-progress materials.

Finalize it first! Got to get that Japanese English translation project out the door? Need quality Japanese translation? On a budget? It can’t be said enough -- Finalize it first!

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, the owner of Certified Translation Services Japan Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/services/japanese-certified-translations.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

A couple of years ago -about four years- we at SAECULII YK (Japan, Tokyo) ran an experiment on machine translation accuracy.

The experiment was fairly straight forward. We took a sentence from an English news article and ran it through the Babel Fish Translation Service for a Japanese translation.

The article is As Kindle Fire Faces Critics, Remedies Are Promised with the sentence:

The Kindle Fire, Amazon’s heavily promoted tablet, is less than a blazing success with many of its early users.

You can read more about the experiment here

Feedback has varied, ranging from interesting demonstration of the (poor) accuracy of machine translation to claims of unfairness for singling out one machine translation vendor, and the technology is still in its infancy so it’s to be expected.

Overwhelmingly, though, most wanted to know where machine translation accuracy stands today. Many folks reason that since the demand for machine translation -the global machine translation market is expected to grow 23.19% to USD6.9 billion by 2019- is increasing, accuracy must also be increasing (otherwise there would be no demand, right?). These are all valid points.

So we decided to re-run this experiment using Google Translate.

Here’s how the original experiment works, which is replicated below:

• English to Japanese translation
  Run the article sentence through Google’s machine translation software.
  
  
• Japanese-to-English translation
  Why do we need to reverse the translation?
  
  If you don’t understand Japanese, there’s no way to verify the accuracy of the translated text. Therefore, translating the outputted Japanese text back into English will give you an accurate indication of what native Japanese speakers see.
  
  

The verdict of our original experiment is gibberish.

In the intervening four years, not much has changed in terms of machine translation accuracy...Indeed, even the utility of “gisting” is lacking. Let’s call it what is folks:

Still gibberish, pure and simple!

Machine translation vendors regularly make claims of 70, 80 and even 85% accuracy. I’m sure you can see from the result above that that is simply not the case. And, therefore, by extension the accuracy of translation methodologies underpinned by machine translation, such as post-editing machine translation (PEMT), is also called into question.

Do you think there will be a significant improvement in accuracy by the time the end of the decade rolls around? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

(Oh, and we’ll keep you posted when we re-run our experiment…about 2019.)

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, the owner of Tokyo based Translation Company Japan Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/info/contact.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

If you’re looking for professional translation for the first time -or dissatisfied with your present Japanese translation service- then you’ll want to spend a few minutes on this translation guide and discover how you can get first class translation service, quality, turnaround all at competitive prices.

According to a study conducted in Canada way back in the 90’s -which, by the way, holds true even today- the most important criteria for professional translation service needs are:

This translation guide, which is based on the four criteria above has been compiled by experienced translation professionals, divulges industry secrets, is designed for easy and quick reading, and is constantly updated with the latest information.

WARNING: Don’t Use the Services of a Japanese Translation Company Until You Read This!

Before you jump into the translation guide, spend a couple of minutes familiarizing yourself with the different types of translation. Making the right decision here will ensure you take possession of a translation project that not only meets, but exceeds, your expectations. Read Translation: The many differences

Professional Translation Guides
Click on each module below for more details*

1. Translaiton Service Satisfaction
2. Translation Quality
3. Translation Price
4. Translation Turnaround

NOTE* All modules include a free checklist summarizing key points for referencing at a glance.

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, owner of the Tokyo based Japanese Translation Company Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com/english/info/contact.cfm), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.

We often get asked by clients about the difference between all the kinds of translation options out there.

Plenty of translation industry folks get confused, too. So, let’s jump right in.

Professional Translation

As the name implies, this is translation services provided by professional human translators who work for an organization (translation agency, company, firm etc) or who work for themselves freelance. Regardless of how translators choose to deliver their translation services, professional Japanese translators are:

• Bilingual (being fluent in a learnt language they translate from into their mother tongue)
• University educated (although not an absolute requirement)
• Trained and experienced in translation
• Skilled in the use of various translation tools
• Experts in their subject matter of choice (such as law, technology, finance etc.)

As you can see from the definition above, being bilingual by itself does not qualify a person as a translator. More importantly, professional translators only translate into their mother tongue (never the other way around).

Professional translation produces the highest quality translation. Contact the professional Translation Agency Japan for professional Japanese translation

Computer Translation

This term is cause for no small amount of confusion!

“Computer translation” is a generic term that actually refers to 2 completely different types of translation using computers. These are namely Machine Translation (MT) and Computer Assisted Translation (CAT).

In machine translation, a human translator supports the machine. In other words, a computer program (software) translates the source text, with the resultant translated text then being edited by the human translator, if it is edited at all.

In terms of quality possible, machine translation is a thoroughly discredited technology with limited utility.

In computer assisted translation, a machine supports the human translator. That is, a professional human translator translates the source text with the aid of a computer program (software). The heart of this technology is what’s called:

• Terminology base (database store of preferred translated single words)
• Translation memory, or TM (database store of previously translated short sentence or "segments")

Used appropriately by experienced professionals, computer assisted translation has potential to improve efficiency, although quality is somewhat shy of the level of professional translation. In addition, the benefits of CAT vary according to the type of source language.

The Hybrid - Post Editing Machine Translation (PEMT)

Euphemistically termed Post Editing Translation, this is where a qualified human translator edits and corrects machine translated text. The thinking behind this type of hybrid translation is an attempt to combine the best of both worlds: the speed and low cost of machine translation coupled with the accuracy of professional human translators.

In theory, PEMT sounds like a good idea. In practice, however, the results are questionable, not least because the human component of this formula -professional human translators- tend to shy away from this kind of translation work. Here’s an excellent article by a professional translator that explains why PEMT may not be the right option for your project

Translation Crowdsourcing

Most people are familiar with crowdsourcing, although they may not necessary know it. Ever used Wikipedia? This is the same approach used in translation crowdsourcing, where many human translators work on the translation of a source text. Translators respond to an “open call” with each participant being assigned a different section to translate.

Much the same as Wikipedia, since many people -a crowd, essentially- do the translation, quality issues, such as quality of contributors and final product, are to be expected. In addition, crowdsoucing is notoriously plagued by “Editor Wars” where numerous editors continuously override others’ editing. The benefit of translation crowdsourcing is its ability to speed up the translation process.

Translation Cloud

The translation cloud is a collaborative translation technique that has been enabled by advances in cloud computing technology, and, as such, is a fairly recent development in the translation industry. In cloud translation, multiple human translators collaborate in real time simultaneously in the same workspace with shared resources. (This should not be confused with translation crowdsourcing, which is not a collaborative technique.)

The purpose of translation clouds is to realize improvements in efficiency, communications between translation project participants, and to reduce or eliminate the managerial tasks associate with projects. The introduction into shared resources of computer translation (i.e. machine translation), along with the practice in some translation companies of using novice translators (to cut costs and thereby enhance profit), has brought into question the quality achievable with translation clouds.

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, the owner of Tokyo based Japanese Translation Agency Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

Copyright (C) SAECULII YK. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this article is permitted with inclusion of the "About the Author" reference as is (including text links, japan-translators.saeculii.com), and this copyright information. Articles may not be altered without written permission from SAECULII YK.