Nowadays, you can translate various texts, files, and documents using many machine translation tools and platforms. This kind of platform surely eases the process of translation. However, it is necessary to understand whether the translated texts are accurate and sound natural to the native speaker. And to make sure that everything is good to go, many people always edit the translated texts to make them more human. It is a fact that machine translation tools do not provide such flexibility in delivering naturally translated texts. And this means you should make improvements and edits to the translated text to make it sound more natural.
In this article, we are going to talk about some of the most common mistakes that people make during the translation polishing process and provide some tips to avoid such traps. Apart from keeping everything short and simple or using common words and phrases, there are various other nuances that will help you level up your translation process and have perfectly polished texts.
Make Your Sentences Short
According to many specialists, a perfectly worded sentence should not exceed the word count of 20. This way, the reader will process the sentences more easily, and it will increase the readability score. Whenever you stumble upon a long sentence, try to feel what can be cut, shortened, or separated into another sentence. A great tip can be to read the sentence out loud to see what feels off and change accordingly.
Use One Term for One Concept
Of course, using synonyms is great and keeps everything clear. However, if you are speaking about one term, try to use that particular term throughout the entire text. This way, you will allow the reader not to think about the term.
Double-Check the Dates
Whenever you are translating a text with numerals, data, or dates, make sure to double-check the numbers, as in some countries, the data can be shown differently. With that said, if you have a document with a date, check if the date is in American formatting or European. Additionally, take into account the language of the translated text. So, if you translate a text from the USA to European countries and there is a date, keep in mind that the US formatting is Year – Month – Day, and it should be changed accordingly.
Use Active Instead of Passive Voice
Make sure that your translations are not word-to-word. Therefore, you need to be aware of the grammatical constructions of the language you are translating the text. Always try to use an active voice as much as possible. Avoiding the usage of the passive voice will make the reader understand the text easily. Readers always get the idea of the text easier when the subject is acting and not the action performed by the subject.
Practice, Practice, Practice
To master the art of translation, you need to make a lot of practice. Whenever you start the translation process, begin with some research. Understand how the native speakers of that specific language communicate and how you can make the text more readable. Of course, you can use machine translation tools and polish the already translated text. Just make sure to have the outcome as human translated as possible. Native speakers will surely understand whether the text sounds natural or not. And remember, practice makes perfect.
The Bottom Line
Translation is a very responsible mission that performs the function of international communication. Therefore, it is always essential to take full benefit of the translation tricks we have discussed above to make your translation perfect. This way, you can be sure that your translated texts sound natural and avoid any possible misunderstanding.
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