What are the skills of a good translator?

Homeland Language Services has a professional team of translators. For more than 6 years they provide our clients with high-quality translation. We definitely know what skills a good translator should have and our translators have these skills!

Translators don’t just convert words from one language to another. They are working with the meaning of the text, considering the specifics of the industry and the culture of the original and target languages. So, the basic translator’s skills are:

  1. 1. Language knowledge.

It is an obligatory skill for language specialists. The ability to speak and write fluently in at least two languages is the main characteristic of a translator’s profession. The best specialists are usually bilingual.

  1. 2. Cultural awareness.

Studying languages: translators are studying cultural peculiarities as well. It helps to understand and translate idioms, references, and slang from one language to another language. The cultural awareness of the translator makes communication smoother.

  1. 3. Writing.

Writing skills have a few components: grammar, punctuation, and style. Grammar and punctuation rules are different in various languages, that’s why good translators should study them carefully. And in terms of examples of writing styles, there are descriptive, persuasive, narrative, and argumentative.

  1. 4.Research.

The translation requires research all the time. The translator should be very confident during the word conversion from one language to another. That’s why he or she should confirm the rules for different languages and the meaning of different cultures.

  1. 5. Computer skills.

Translators generally use several computer programs to work on their projects and be organized. Among them are Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, and CAT tools. CAT or Computer-assisted translation tools are used to refine the pre-final translation. There are different types of CAT software, such as Language search engine software, Terminology management software, Translation memory software, Interactive machine translation software, and Text alignment software.

  1. 6. Reading comprehension.

This skill can boost translation skills. Translators should have a deep understanding of the text they are translating to optimize text value correctly.

  1. 7. Attention to detail.

“Details make the difference”, that’s why they are so important. Accuracy is one of the top-skills of a good translator. He or she should be eager to avoid even small errors in their translations because sometimes can cost a life, especially when we are talking about medical or judicial translations.

  1. 8. Specialization.

Industry specialization comes along with cultural awareness and accuracy. The best translators knows the particular industry and the better quality he or she performs in their projects. The majority of specialized translators have degrees in their fields of expertise. Homeland Language Services gets the largest amount of requests for translations in the medical, business, and legal industries.

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Happy International Translation Day!

September 30th is a special day for our team of translators and their team leads. International Translation Day is an opportunity for us to pay tribute to the work of language professionals, which plays an important role in bringing nations together, facilitating dialogue, understanding, and cooperation. We are proud to have such strong and high-skilled language specialists on board. With their help, we provide high-quality translation services in the USA and worldwide. 

We talked to our Translation Department team to discuss why this day is so important for them. 

Florencia Gomez, Localization-Translation Department Supervisor:

“Today we celebrate the International Translators’ Day in reference to St. Jerome, a priest who translated the Bible from Hebrew into Latin.

His journey in translation could spread the word into all different cultures and make it accessible to a wider audience.

Translators play a fundamental role in bringing the world together, from Peace Treaties to your favorite Pop Song; they make science available to different countries so everyone can access all the most advanced literature.

That’s why, as the Project Manager and Translation Department Supervisor, and translator myself, in Homeland Language Services, I would like to congratulate our staff on their day and remember that your role is greatly appreciated in bringing peace, knowledge, development between nations and cultures all around the globe.”

Martina Viegas, Linguist Quality Specialist:

“As translators, we have a huge and important responsibility and we are liable for our works. We’re living in a globalized world and that’s where our role lies. We connect cultures, we build bridges between cultures and people for them to communicate, we make it possible. We must have the ability to transform everything so nothing changes, what an irony, right? And to be where we are, all of us experienced situations that -good or bad- strengthened our powers. 

Personally, becoming a translator was not easy at all, but acting as a professional translator when graduating was the difficult part, almost the most difficult part of my life! (The most  difficult was to study translation while being a single mom of a disabled child). Anyway, at college you have your guiding people, but after that, you’re left alone in the world. Fortunately, I soon became part of this amazing Homeland Language Services team and I love it. And it doesn’t matter if you’re working freelance or in-house, but you love so much what you do that you wake up happy thinking you have to work, this is called passion. This profession requires passion to succeed, and of course lack of sleep and tones of coffee. I had to fail to succeed, make a mistake to learn, fall to stand up. I could tell many stories to demonstrate it’s not a fairy tale, but each of us has to pave our own way. 

In my experience, every time I had to make a hard decision and I said NO, something better came to my life. So don’t be afraid of valuing yourself and valuing and honoring our profession, happy day for all translators who make the world a better place!”

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How to provide high-quality translation services?

Homeland Language Services’ translators have enormous experience working with different types of texts. With their help, we gathered some tips and advice for novice or freelance translators to become successful in their job.

Any professional translator can’t be excused from learning to use new tools and studying new techniques to provide better translations. In Homeland Language Services the translation process involves several stages that freelance translators are often not aware of.

There is much more to translation than simply typing in a foreign language and using CAT tools or translation memory tools. A professional translation service typically requires both a revision (or edition) and proofreading. These are two essential stages that need to take place before we can say that a document is ready to be delivered to the client.

In other words, the professional translation service includes the Quality Control stage in the process. The final text is read (or proofread) additionally before sending it to the client. Of course, we have a team for this, that’s why one document is translated and checked by several specialists. If you are a freelancer, you should implement the quality control stage in your working process. You should never send a project to your client without additional checks and reading it beforehand. 

Nevertheless, it is not the only piece of advice we want to share with you. Familiarize the following list: 

  1. 1. Review the document or files before starting a translation and check all the requirements from the client. Make sure that you received the right copies before starting translation. 
  2. 2. Work with the texts from your expertise industry. This way you can guarantee the quality of the translation. If you don’t specialize in the topic of a proposed project, think twice before agreeing on this job. 
  3. 3. Check the file format. Generally, files should be sent in a translation-friendly format with a translation memory. Also, don’t change the CAT tool, if the client specified it. By doing this you will save time and money using a tool that gives full compatibility with the initial formatting. 
  4. 4. Try to use glossaries, style guides, and terminology databases as much as possible. Sometimes, clients can send you a glossary or database together with material for translation. Use it! You can import it into a CAT tool and use the right terminology. 
  5. 5. Be honest. You should ask all questions, evaluate the deadline, and set and confirm the price before starting to provide translation service. 
  6. 6. Check your finished translation against the source for missing text or formatting issues. 
  7. 7. Check your finished translation (yes, once again). You should proofread it by yourself if you are a freelancer. If you work together with the editor, forward the project to him/her. 
  8. 8. Leave notes or comments for the client or editor. When you send the final version of the material, write a shorе accompanying letter. Even if there were no issues to mention, write that the process went smoothly. Clients appreciate it when you pay attention and show your concern about the project. 

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The Department of State Hospitals – Napa started a partnership with Homeland Language Services

This year Department of State Hospitals – Napa started a partnership with Homeland Language Services. We became a reliable partner providing Over-the-Phone interpretation services for the patients and staff at the Department of State Hospitals.

Interpreters at Homeland Language Services are ready to assist immediately on an as-needed basis 24/7. Every day our language specialists provide comprehensive interpreting services in 200+ languages.

The Department of State Hospitals’ vision is “Caring today for a safe and healthy tomorrow”. They aim to provide evaluation and treatment safely and responsibly, by leading innovation and excellence across a continuum of care and settings. To do it appropriately, they need a dependable language partner, because some patients of Department of State Hospitals speak different languages, but English. More than 2,000 employees at the Department of State Hospitals – Napa need language assistance to provide care and services twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The clinical staff includes psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, psychiatric technicians, and registered nurses. Our professional Over-the-Phone interpreters became their helpers to provide patients with high-qualified support and treatment.

Interpreting services are a bridge for non-English speaking patients and medical staff in Napa. Despite new pandemic rules, modern technologies help provide interpreting services when needed when face-to-face contact should be minimized. Over-the-Phone interpreting services are easily accessible via phone. Homeland Language Services has a great team of world-class interpreters. With successful experience and continuous training, they provide our clients with the best telephone interpretation.

Our client, the Department of State Hospitals – Napa, can be sure that all the information is interpreted accurately. Moreover, Over-the-Phone interpreting allows limited-English patients to feel confident and safe that their conversations with doctors and nurses are handled consistently.

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Interpreters VS Translators: Why are they different?

Both interpreters and translators help our world to live and develop. They are bridging the gap between different languages, countries, and cultures. Thanks to the work of language specialists the world economy, the medical industry, and the legal sphere work like a clock. 

We are constantly talking about two job positions: interpreters and translators. It is time to define the differences between them!

So,

Interpreters do the talking.

Translators do the writing. 

But let’s dig in more.

Interpreter talks. 

Interpreters work with spoken or sign languages. They convert speech from a source language into a target language and vice versa. Interpretation also has different kinds, such as Over-the-Phone, Onsite, and Video-Remote interpretation. 

Interpretation is far more than having a decent knowledge of two languages. The language specialist should be aware of the cultural features, be tolerant and keep a calm tone of voice. 

Interpretation in two directions:

Nowadays, most interpreters work in two directions. That means interpreters transfer information both to and from the target and source languages. It is more common for Over-the-Phone, Video Remote interpretation. Meanwhile, Onsite interpretation can have only one direction. For example, Conference interpreters interpret from the source language to the target language and that’s it. 

Main types of interpretation:

Simultaneous interpreting is a type of interpretation when a language specialist listens to and comprehends the source language and simultaneously provides an interpretation in a target language. 

Such type of interpretation is widely used in the court, international meetings, and television news broadcasts. 

Consecutive interpreting allows the language specialist to listen to several complete sentences in the source language and then interpret them in a target language. Consecutive interpretation is the usual method of communication for OPI, VR interpretation, and small and face-to-face meetings. 

Specialization in interpreting:

To be effective, the accurate majority of interpreters choose their specialization. They often specialize themselves in certain areas like medicine, law, business, finance, technology, government, social services, or culture.

To provide high-quality services, the interpreter should always improve his or her knowledge in both languages he or she works with. 

 

Translator writes.

Translators work with written text, converting a message in the source language into a message in the target language. It is far more than replacing one word with another. The translator should see and understand the context, the cultural characteristics, moreover the translator should save the style and the tone of the incoming text. 

One direction, but a good knowledge of both languages:

Translators get the text in one language and translate it into another one. In most cases, they have one target language and it can be their native one. But sometimes, the translator can work with several languages, for example, he can work in such language pairs as English-Spanish and English-Portuguese. 

Specialization in translation:

The same as interpreters, good translators also have specialization in definite niches. This way they can continuously improve and deepen their knowledge in terminology and communication features in the languages they work. 

That’s the major difference between these two language jobs.

When you are searching for an interpreter near you or a translator near you, pay attention to their experience, specialization, and feedback from clients. Or you can consult with a specialist or a language provider about what type of specialist you need. For example, Homeland Language Services managers will be happy to find the best solution for you personally, or for your business. 

If you are a translator or interpreter, who is reading this text and searching for a job, please, follow our Career portal link and apply for your new career stage!

 

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A Good Translator Should Be Passionate About His or Her Job

It is widely thought that speaking a foreign language gives you the ability to be a translator, but this job is not as easy as it seems. We gathered a list of qualities that a good translator should have, as well as a story from one of our personnel who created the meaning of a new word.

So, the question is: what are the characteristics of a good translator?

  1. 1. Passion and curiosity: Professional translators are passionate about what they do and try their best to deliver high-quality projects.
  2. 2. Skilled in linguistics and rich in vocabulary: Certified translators at Homeland Language Services have undergone extensive education and have considerable experience. Our professionals are constantly trained, gathering new knowledge to provide the best services.
  3. 3. Accuracy and honesty: Providing accurate information is essential for translations. The goal of professionals is to express the source text as clearly as possible without ambiguity.
  4. 4. Appreciation for other cultures: Diplomacy is their motto. They break down misconceptions, stigmas, and other language barriers, so as to prevent misunderstanding between different cultures.
  5. 5. Time management skills: Tight deadlines are part of the daily challenges; every minute can make a difference. Our certified translators cope with high-stakes situations when major projects need to be completed in a record time, which is usually in the medical and social industries.

 

At Homeland Language Services, we are proud of our translators, who possess these great qualities. Fortunately,  Ahmed Ali — one of our Arabic-English interpreters from Egypt— has shared with us the story about his translator experience:

“During my college days, I’ve had two major military translation projects. The first one was when my professor chose three of my colleagues —who had top scores in the exams— and myself to assist him with a military translation for a training project report between Saudi and American Air forces.

It was a challenging project, as it was a new field of translation for me and it was the first time I had a deadline to finish my share. Additionally, it was a classified document, so we could only work in our professor’s office with him.

The second project I’d worked on was my graduation project, where he asked us to translate a book in the military field that had not been translated before. I managed to find a book about Military siege tactics across history up to the modern ages.

One of the main challenges I have ever faced was a new word that was not found in any dictionary. After researching in vain, I informed my professor who advised me to fashion a new meaning out of the context. After he approved it, he decided to add it to his own Dictionary, which he was about to release.

Later on, I managed to put a glossary together after I finished translating the book. As a glossary was extra work and I was the only one who included it, my professor gave me the highest score and I managed to graduate with excellence.”

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How is the process of immigration to the USA bound by language services?

In January 2022, the total immigrant population in the USA hit 46,6 million people according to the Census Bureau’s monthly Current Population Survey. It is the highest number ever in the history of America. Despite the Covid-19 travel restrictions, the foreign-born population rebounded dramatically after President Biden’s victory. Reasons for that were restarting of visa processing overseas and the surge of illegal immigration at the border. However, the 1,6 million increase over the last year is quite large and significant. 

Whenever we speak about immigrants or foreign-born people, we mean people with native languages different from English. Of course, some of them have learned English at school or University, so they can freely communicate in English and solve their problems. But the majority don’t know English. That’s why there is a huge network of language providers. Homeland Language Services, one of them, provides non-English speaking people comprehensive interpreting and translating services in different spheres of their “new life”. For example, interpreting services are very much needed for legal and social issues (from filling in the form in order to get the Green card to getting food stamps for the family), in healthcare and medical support (from taking out the insurance to visiting the doctor’s appointment). 

Going back to the background of immigration process development, we need to state that the United States of America has been the main country destination for international migrants since 1970. Since then, the number of foreign-born people residing in the country has more than quadrupled – from less than 12 million in 1070 to near 50 million in 2022. This amount is the highest percentage in 112 years – immigrants are 14,2 percent of the total population. 

More than 40 percent of all international migrants worldwide in 2020 (115 million) were born in Asia, with nearly 20 percent primarily originating from six Asian countries including India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, and Afghanistan. Mexico was the second-largest country of origin, and the Russian Federation was the third. Several other European countries have sizable populations of emigrants, including Ukraine, Poland, the United Kingdom, Romania, and Germany. 

States with the largest increase in the immigrant population from January 2020 to January 2022 are Florida (up 531,000), Virginia (up 268,000), Texas (up 263,000), California (up 212,000), Indiana (up 205,000), Tennessee (up 198,000) and New Jersey (up 183,000). 

Nowadays, it is much easier to access the language needed by means of interpreters and translators. Homeland Language Services has a huge team of professionals who work remotely. We provide interpreting services that can be accessed from any city or state. The foreign-born individual can get the needed social service in his native language with the help of an Over-the-Phone interpreter or attend a telemedical appointment with a doctor with the help of a Video-remote interpreter. These services are affordable and easy to use because the certified interpreter can be in touch at any time and in any place, just a device, like a smartphone or computer, is needed. Our services are available in more than 100 languages.

Furthermore, our company has offices in California, Florida, New York, and Texas states. We can provide onsite interpreting services as well. There are some cases when an interpreter offline is needed for the meeting. Homeland Language Services offers simultaneous and consecutive interpretations. 

Taking into account the current world situation, which has been changing since February 24th, 2022 when Russia started the military invasion in Ukraine, we expect an increase of Ukrainian and Russian-speaking refugees all over the world and in America too. Day after day our sales department searches for new partners to be helpful with language services. At the same time, our interpreters and translators work 24/7 to fulfill the current demand in Over-the-Phone interpretation and translation services. 

 

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Homeland Language Services has been recently certified in the State of New York as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) program

We are pleased to announce that Homeland Language Services has been recently certified in the State of New York as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) program.

This Act promotes and encourages the participation of Service-Disable Veteran-Owned Businesses in the State’s public procurement of public works, commodities, services, and technology to promote and advance economic development in New York State.

Homeland Language Services can serve the public sector of the state with comprehensive interpreting and translating services. We are looking for a greater role in the State’s economy by increasing our participation in the State’s contracting opportunities.

“We are very excited about this new certification. Our company already has the experience working with the public sector in many states, building trust & credibility among our clients. We are ready to position Homeland Languages Services as one of the most dependable and cost-effective Interpreting & Translating services across the State,” – Ernesto Lanazca, COO & Co-founder of Homeland Language Services.

For over 6 years Homeland Language Services has been a reliable partner of language services. Our interpreters and translators work for the most important industries in the country, including medical and healthcare providers, government and legal services, and social and educational organizations.

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Stories of volunteers in Homeland Language Services

Volunteers selflessly benefit the lives of others. The people, who volunteer, make the world a better place. Volunteer Recognition Day acknowledges the beauty of this phenomenon. Every day there is a place for help. You can help other people, animals, and nature. 

We are proud to share stories of Homeland Language Services’ employees who volunteer and try to make this world better. 

“From February 24th lots of people in my country, Ukraine, became volunteers. So did I. I helped our army and volunteering organizations with money from the start of the war, which was initiated by Russia. I don’t count how I helped my family in occupied Chernihiv, because it is my family. I had to help them with evacuation, electric generator, money, and medications. Moreover, in the city where I live, Dnipro, I help the shelter for refugees with clothes. During the war, I made lots of free translations of documents. Just because I can. 

Each Ukrainian person, who has enough power and mental strength to do something in such a situation, tries to help with useful information, money, clothes, food, and drugs. During the war, we see an unbelievable amount of volunteers and volunteering organizations. Lots of them are working under the fire, a lot of them were killed and injured… Nowadays, volunteers are the second heroes after militaries,” – Kseniya Tarasova, Homeland Language Services. 

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“I volunteered with Amnesty International in Bangkok. I set up a program for refugee children to get scholarships at international schools in Thailand. Children from Myanmar, Eritrea, Congo and other countries where they came from as refugees could study at schools completely free because of the project that we started,” – Kirill Konin, Homeland Language Services. 

“I am a volunteer translator for a Foundation in my home country Venezuela called Fundacion Madre Maria Luisa Casar. It is a school for 400 children located in a high-risk area of Caracas called Petare. They provide education, nutrition, and health services for the children and their families, as well as to the community where they are located. As a volunteer, I am in charge of translating their monthly newsletters for the Global Giving fundraising platform, as this is their main source of funding. This project is very dear to me and it is a blessing to be able to contribute,” – Gabriela Salas, Homeland Language Services. 

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“I had a kind of volunteering experience in Africa. I was there for around 10 days in 2020 (January). I saw how kids living in really poor areas are involved in education with unsuccessful methodologies, unfortunately, and the lack of organization, which is hugely afflicting locals. 

I was with my Kenyan friend, Betty, and on that particular occasion, she could explain to me a bit more about the habits of the community as well as the diseases that kids or adults are subjected to seasonally. We tried to run our own NGO that was aimed to build a school in the area of Kilifi, but then, the virus came and we had to stop running it. 

We are planning, however, to start it again soon! :)” – Sara Mazzuoli, Homeland Language Services. 

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“I’m so glad to hear there are so many of us (volunteers) and the number keeps on growing.  

I’ve been a volunteer for over a decade in a local NGO helping people after mental crises and those diagnosed with severe mental illnesses. It’s worth mentioning that the city I live in, Szczecin, is one of the biggest cities in Poland. Yet my organization is just a drop in the ocean of needs. However, thanks to volunteers and municipal support we celebrated the 17th anniversary this year and ain’t gonna stop.

I teach English in this NGO and give overall language support. Now and then I also act as a tour guide or a cleaning lady. My point is that there is always something to be done and everyone has skills to share, ever the slightest support matters. So it’s worth sharing your time, even an hour weekly to help. 

There is great power if people act together and every little help counts. Plus those who are being helped are mostly great teachers we learn from the big time,” – Małgorzata Gajda, Homeland Language Services.

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Why you Need a Certified Translation Professional to Localize Your Healthcare Website

A language services company offers a combination of interpretation, localization, and translation services. As a result, it assists healthcare providers to translate the content of their healthcare websites into target languages spoken by diverse clients. A quality language services company has interpreters and translators on staff that have the much-needed expertise in the field of healthcare. Qualified translation companies come with a wealth of previous experience assisting healthcare providers to navigate constantly changing regulations and rules of language in their industry. In addition, they have certifications in the medical field, which will help you enhance your patient experience. Here is a detailed description of the top reasons why you need to engage a language translation company to localize your healthcare website.

Increased Productivity for Medical Staff

A healthcare provider’s website is the first point of contact for patient access. Therefore, it is important that the information is translated as accurately as possible. Utilizing certified translation professionals can reduce the time medical staff spends engaged in tasks outside patient care. For instance, rather than spend time explaining hospital policies to patients with limited proficiency in English, the medical staff concentrates on other duties aimed at making their work more useful. In essence, undistracted medical staff means more prompt healthcare for all patients.

New Patient Acquisition

There is a strong positive correlation between providing content in your customers’ native languages and the likelihood of that customer requesting a service. It follows that translating your healthcare website into multiple languages puts you in a better position to attract new patients. Hence, if you are a healthcare provider who aims at acquiring new patients within the community you serve then it makes sense to localize your website with new languages.

Improved Patient Health Outcomes

Offering better services to patients with limited English proficiency can improve patient health outcomes. Patients with limited English proficiency are more likely to have adverse effects from being misunderstood by their physicians, low health literacy, poor understanding of diagnoses, and drug complications. Healthcare websites are one of the most visible patient communication tools. As such, making sure they are accurately translated ensures improved outcomes. When you engage a certified translation professional, you undoubtedly improve this communication.

Improved Patient Experience

Healthcare websites are used by people to accomplish three essential tasks easily: finding the right healthcare provider to get treatment, retrieving medical records, and paying bills. In this regard, it is important to engage a certified translation professional to provide competent care.

At Homeland Language Services, our translators are HIPAA compliant and bound by a Language Interpreter Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics. This attribute ensures that the information disclosed remains strictly confidential and that translation is performed professionally.

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