The art of translation is as ancient as
languages themselves, and what we normally understand by “translation” nowadays
is the most traditional form of translation services: document translation. Not
without good reason, of course: over the course of centuries, all sorts of
literature have been translated into hundreds of languages by hand at first,
then with the help of a typewriter, and finally computers.
With the arrival of internet, the quantity
of documents that need translation has multiplied exponentially, and some, if
not most of them, are not even in the traditional document format we all know
anymore. A very specific type of translation has also risen in importance: website
translation. And with it, the demand for professionals that can satisfy this
need in a fast, reliable way.
However, this is not as easy as it sounds.
Website translation is very different from traditional document translation. A
website has a system of its own, and a language of its own, as well. And for a
website translation to be done properly, the linguist must be aware of all
this, on top of being fluent or native in the languages s/he is working with. A
website translation is not composed of sentences like we all know,
subject-verb-predicate. A website translation consists of commands, of small
explanatory texts that must give very clear instructions with a strict
character limit, of menus, of header bars, etc.
The language in a website must be, among
other things:
- · Concise
- · Self-explanatory
- · Functional
- · Mostly devoid of embellishments
But with all this, the result must be:
- · Clear
- · Intuitive
- · Easy to read
- · Coherent
Coherent not only with regard to the rest
of its own content, but also with the rest of websites in the same language: we
don’t want to make our website as unique as to confuse the user, now, do we?
A website is also a multimedia document.
That is, it can contain pictures, audio files, videos, animations, slideshows,
and many other things. The language for all these elements must also have its
distinctive features, and they must remain there after the website has been
translated.
For all of these reasons, when a person or
a company wants to have its website translated, they must be careful about who
to entrust this delicate job to. Experience in this field and a guarantee of
satisfactory results are a must, especially considering that nowadays a
business’ success pretty much depends on its Internet presence. The internet
offers commerce on a global scale with millions of people accessing the web in
multiple languages other than English.
