What are the qualities of a good translation professional?

When looking for a reliable translation services company, what are the most important features on your check list? Price, quality or turnaround time? All of these may be put on the table before you make your decision. Rates and time are the things that you can measure and compare with ones provided by other translation companies. How about the quality? I, personally, think a good translation can only be done by a good translator.

What are the qualities of a good translation professional?

Firstly, he/she must show their ability and knowledge on languages. Fluency of 2 languages is a must. Holding a degree or diploma in language study should also be considered as well because the language used in translation and business communication tends to be academic and formal, while many people who are just good command of “spoken” languages. A good translator does not only replace words and render the original meaning but he/she should know the best way of demonstration to make the translation culturally and emotionally accessible. We call it a good translation when your audience read the translation and it’s easy to understand as if it was written in their native language.

Another thing that can make someone a good translation professional is their knowledge. I do not talk about how many years of working they have done translation job or how many projects they have joined but how long they have translated Japanese financial annual reports or the number of Vietnamese cookery books they have handled. A person cannot be good at everything. Therefore, it’s pointless to find the best translator; you just need one who can do the best out of his specific speciality.

It’s 21th century, computer shows a great support to all kind of human activities. Translation field alone has hundreds of software and tools to reduce working time and increase the quality of translations. All translators should apply these CAT tools and take advantages of innovations. If you are new to translation, let’s get start with Trados and Wordfast.

As one of a leading translation services companies, Thai Translation understands the importance of recruiting a talented team of translators and editors. Don’t hesitate to ask us anything about our services and in case you are interesting in jointing our team.