Translation - beware of the machine!
In an age where everything is so much better if it's done by computer, there has been a lot of talk about the power of machine translation. It sounds absolutely wonderful to be able to solve all your translation needs at the touch of a button, often without paying a penny! But before everyone rushes off to get their product manuals, information leaflets and marketing data to feed them to the first machine translation website available, just try the following lilttle experiment.
Access the Babelfish site at http://babelfish.altavista.com. At the dialogue box, type in "Buon Natale", then ask for a translation from Italian to English. Interesting, isn't it? Does it actually mean anything? What would be the commercial consequences for you of having your company literature similarly translated? (It means Merry Christmas, by the way).
Machine translation can be helpful, if you have a single word or phrase to translate quickly, but it cannot cope yet with complex sentences. A human translator will pick apart a text, consider the right ways to convey the meaning in the "target" language and provide you with a translated text that is accurate on all levels. And it's always much more expensive to pick up the pieces left behind after a "DIY" attempt than it is to ask about professional translation - and get it right first time!
So if you have translation or interpreting needs, ask the Export Team at Northamptonshire Chamber on 01604 490 490
