What to look out for in a Translation Service?

To get a professional translation service, you need to research with a certain amount of diligence. As with any service providers, there are good ones and bad ones. You want to make sure your documents are communicated clearly regardless of what language It is, the intended meaning and tone of your document needs to carry across.

A qualified and good translator will not only get the correct words down on the page, but also get across the tone and meaning of the document or written work. Language and communication are complex, and a certified translator should be able to convey your message easily.

Freelance Vs Translation Company

There are a couple of different options on who to hire when it comes to translation services including; a freelance translator or a professional translation company. There are benefits to each.

•  Freelance Translators – Thanks to the internet these people can be based anywhere in the world. Pros: Freelance translation often provides the lowest cost option as you will only pay for your translation needs and will avoid extra costs. Cons: Freelance translators are likely to have several clients, so turnaround times for translation may be slower. They may not have quality control processes in place.
• Professional Translation Company – These types of businesses can provide industry-specific translations and translation into multiple languages. They will be able to provide a high-quality translation and consistent turnaround times. Pros: They have established processes for translation and knows what works best as they are experts. Cons: Their services may be higher than that of a freelance contractor. However, this is often due to: quality control processes and management ensuring a high level of accuracy.

What qualities should you look for?

There are so many companies and freelance translators out there but what makes one translation company better than another?

1. Certification – This will ensure the quality of your translation, so to get the best results I would recommend that you work with an ISO-certified translation company. The ISO is the International Standards Organisation, who specialise in developing quality standards for businesses. One of the services that the ISO certifies is translation.
2. Language Experience – The best translators have fluency in both languages – the one you are translating from and the one you are translating to.
3. Industry Expertise – Find a translator or translation company that is familiar with your industry. This will mean that they understand the technical terminology of your industry, so they will be able to convey your message and tone better. They will understand your audience and how to address them.
4. Get References – Customer testimonials and case studies are great, see if some are available on their website. Are they from reputable individuals or companies? Ask for contact details of some of their customers so that you can talk to them about their experience.
5. Time Scales – How quickly do you need your documents translated? What is your deadline.  If you want a quick turnaround it might be better to look for a professional translation agency as they often operate 24/7 and can process new requests at any time of the day or week.  Freelance translators may already have work on and are bound by their existing schedules, whereas with a translation company they are likely to be more flexible.
6. Quality Control – Having a quality control process in place is important as it will ensure that not only your translation is correct but that the tone and way it is delivered to your audience is correct too. A good QC process includes multiple levels of editing and proofreading.
7. Value for money – It may seem more expensive initially to go with a professional transcription company but cheap is not always a good thing as poor translation can have a detrimental effect on your business, damage your reputation and end up costing you more in the long term. High-quality translation is worth paying for as it can improve your business prospects.

If you are looking for Translation Services then speak to Fingertips Typing Services, we have some great professional translators working for us that have experience in many industries. We can turn any document into a professional one. Click here

All The Good Things – A positive round up of 2016

2017 is just around the corner and as businesses start to wind down ready for the festive celebrations, it is time to reflect on 2016.

2016 has been dubbed one of the worst years in history, but, it was not all bad, yes there have been a number of sad and unexpected things that have taken place, but I prefer not to dwell on the negative and instead look at the positives in everything.

So I have scoured the internet far and wide to put together a list of good things that have happened in 2016:

Here is my Top Ten List:

1. Improvements in cancer treatment – Breakthroughs in Chemotherapy have increased the 5-year survival for pancreatic cancer from 16% to 27%. [1]
2. Climate change has slowed – According to a study published in Science, the ozone layer is repairing itself albeit slowly from the worlds efforts to reducing CFC’s in the atmosphere. The Ozone will be considered healed by 2060.[2]
3. Wild tiger numbers have increased -According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Global Tigers Forum, the number of tigers have increased. In 2010, it was estimated there were around 3,200 animals, but this has since gone up to at least 3,890.
4. The Zika Virus was downgraded – The United Nations Health agency and the WHO declared that the Zika Virus no longer constitutes as an international emergency, The Virus which spread across 30 countries including many in: Latin American, the Caribbean has been linked to birth defects in children, with 2,100cases reported in Brazil alone.
5. Andy Murray’s most successful year – 2016 has been the most successful year of Andy Murrays career to date winning a total of 9 titles including: Italian Open, Queens club, China Open, Vienna Open Shanghai Masters, Paris Masters, Wimbledon, ATP World Tour Finals and an Olympic Gold Medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.[3]
6. Breakthrough HIV Treatment – A cure for HIV is closer after a trial in British man showed no sign of the virus after initial treatment. The treatment combined antiretroviral drugs with a drug that reactivates dormant HIV and a vaccine that stimulates the immune system in an attempt to destroy the cells carrying the virus. This gives hope to the 36.7 million people worldwide living with HIV.[4]
7. Juno spacecraft reached Jupiter’s orbit – Nasa’s Juno space probe braved intense radiation and space debris on its 1.8-million-mile journey into orbit around Jupiter. It arrived at the planet in July after a five-year journey and for the next 20 months it will explore the origins of the largest planet in our solar system.
8. Team GB Success at the 2016 Rio Olympics – Out of the 366 athletes that went to the Rio Olympics 130 of them returned with a medal. Making the Rio Olympics one of the most successful for the Great British team and a podium strike rate of 61%!.[5]
9. The underdogs Leicester win the Premiership – In the football world 2016 was a bit like a fairy-tale for Leicester City fans, who were written off as relegation candidates at the start of the season and 5,000 to 1 to win the premiership. After an incredible journey and against all odds in May 2016 Leicester won the premiership and the nations bookmakers paid out a whopping £25 million pounds to those fans bold enough to make the bet, which is the biggest loss in British history on a single sporting market.
10. France introduced a law preventing supermarkets from wasting food – France became the first country in the world to introduce a law forbidding supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food. Instead, any food left on the shelves will be donated to charities and food banks, providing millions of meals for people who struggle to afford nutritious food.

We would like to thank all our customers for their business in 2016 and wish everyone a successful and prosperous 2017.

Have a great festive break and see you all in the New Year feeling rejuvenated and determined to make 2017 the best year yet!

 

[1]Source:  http://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/media/697010/pcuk-250-report.pdf

[2] Source: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6296/269

[3] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Murray_career_statistics#Career_achievements

[4] Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-man-hiv-aids-medical-trial-breakthrough-cured-a7341801.html

[5] Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/37132833

How have secretarial services changed?

The growth in Information technology and modernisation of businesses has meant that secretarial roles have changed over the last few years.

In fact, secretaries and assistants are almost disappearing from corporate life, the drive to reduce headcount and streamline businesses removing ‘middle’ managers have caused this decline, when in fact many C level execs could really benefit from an assistant and increase their productivity.

The “secretary” 20 years ago, was responsible for keeping files organised, taking dictations, and conveying information from one individual to another with accuracy, not to mention tea making, dry cleaning pick up and travel planning. With the birth of the PC, quickly followed by the internet and email, much of the role of a secretary fell to the wayside.  However, the role of the secretary is by no means obsolete, they adapted and In fact they have even become technology experts in many offices.

They are the first stop in repairing broken equipment or solving software problems, their tasks have expanded to include internet research, mastering Microsoft Office and other programs, planning large company events, budgeting, customer service, designing collateral, and drafting – rather than note taking, dictation and filing.

Here are some ways that the role of a secretary has changed over the last 20 years

• Supporting multiple managers – A 2011 survey conducted by the International Association of Administrative Professionals found that 52% of assistants said they supported three or more people,
• Rise in Virtual Assistance – This role has been on the rise over the last few years and although elicits an image of a computer-generated AI, these virtual assistants are real people working for you but from their own office or home office.
• Varied duties – One size no longer fits all, and a secretarial or assistant role is no longer a full-time one, many elements are now responsibilities of other members of the team.

What could be included in the future role of a secretary?

• Blogging – Many top-level execs like to be seen to be posting thought leadership pieces, articles, and thoughts on topics to improve their online profile and ultimately gain more business. But this kind of activity takes time and skill. We might see these types of tasking being absorbed by assistants, PA’s and secretaries which would mean that these types of jobs will require the next generation of skill sets.
• Social Media Management – Like thought leadership and blogging, keeping up with your online social presence is very important for top level execs. After all the virtual world of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is where a lot of business takes place. Although managing social media networks usually falls under the marketing teams remit, they simply do not have time to manage the social media accounts of the many execs. So, this role could now fall to secretaries and administrators.

I am sure that the business landscape will continue to change, companies are running smarter, leaner and sharing resources to maximise efficiency, paving way for new duties and job descriptions. It is just a case of wait and see.

Why you should transcribe You Tube Videos and Vlogs

Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world — second only to Google, its parent company. 60 hours of video are uploaded onto YouTube every minute[1] and with over a billion users[2], how do you get your video seen and heard by them when there is a sea of videos out there.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) plays a massive part in your success in getting your video noticed, the basics of which are to use: keywords, title, description, and tags. However search engines can only crawl text, not images or audio, so as a vlogger or YouTuber you need to give your video text which involves having a full and accurate transcript.

By transcribing your YouTube videos you are likely to see your number of views increase.

Why you should transcribe your videos?

• Aid People with Hearing Difficulties – There are 70 million deaf people worldwide, by transcribing your videos you will give people with hearing problems access to your videos. your videos. The laws also requires captioning videos in some context to help deaf people access the same content as everybody.  So it is better to transcribe your videos to be on the safe side
• Better SEO and More Traffic to Your Website – As highlighted about by adding full transcription, keywords and tags you are allowing search engines to access the full content of your video, helping people find them quickly and easily
• Improved Comprehension – Non native English speakers often find it easier to watch videos with transcription, making the content easier to understand and memorise
• When you can’t access audio – If you are on public transport, a library or in the workplace there may be times when you do not have any headphones and therefore can’t listen  to the audio of a video. By transcribing your file you will still ensure that your audience can access it, wherever they are

How to transcribe your videos?

YouTube does have the facility to caption and transcribe your videos, however these tools are basic and although a good starting point, they still often produce errors which will mean that you need to manually clean up the errors which can be both time consuming and tedious.

You could use transcribing software or online resources such as:

• SpeechPad
• Fivver

You can use a professional transcription service like FingerTips Typing Services, which provides high quality services, with a quick turn around.  Contact us to see how we can help

[1] Source: Jeff Bullas.com http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/05/23/35-mind-numbing-youtube-facts-figures-and-statistics-infographic/

[2] Source: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en-GB/statistics.html