Blogs

Our previous blog post focused on the concept of “writing for translation” and here we will look at the principles for writing technical documentation in more detail: keeping our content simple, being consistent, and making sure our content is acceptable to an international audience. These three principles should help make translation, localisation and globalisation of

It is probably safe to say that authors of many materials on their native language do not necessarily think about how their work will be translated. They are most likely to be writing for a specific audience and purpose without too much concern as to how easily it might be translated into other languages. For

In May 2017, the United Nations General Assembly designated September 30th as International Translation Day to be celebrated each year across the United Nations network. So, this is only the second-ever International Translation Day (ITD). The theme for 2018 is Translation: promoting cultural heritage in changing times. We’re going to think about the concept of

The previous blog post offered an introduction to terminology management and highlighted this practice can lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness when trying to achieve a consistent image for an organisation, the successful promotion of products and services and ensuring delays are avoided and the general public or other bodies are not confused by varying

Previously, this blog touched on social science texts and this entry builds on that. The specificity of social science texts is considered in terms of the challenge posed when a translator is faced with discourse and concepts. Taking examples from the works of Julia Kristeva, a psychoanalyst, literary critic and semiotics theorist, this post will

Jacques Derrida (1985, p. 248) asked: ‘How do you translate a signature?’ with the intention of highlighting the limits of translatability. Of course, the general rule is that a person’s name is not generally translated from one language to another (unless localisation is the focus key concern or the author specifically requests it). So, there

Social science texts can be considered as distinct from the natural science texts (chemistry, physics, mathematics) and posing particular issues for the translator. This post is going to highlight some of these issues. In both the social sciences and natural sciences, the translator needs sound knowledge of the subject matter being dealt with. Within the

 What do we mean when we refer to the ‘translation process’ and where does it end? Generally, it’s assumed that the translation process ends when the translator has finished working on a text or when it is sent to and received by the client. In this conceptualization, a translation process is an act with