You've handed off your document to your translator, and now their job is to translate the text and return it to you. But suddently they're emailing you with questions. Aren't all the answers in a dictionary somewhere? Here are five reasons why the best translators ask good questions – and why nobody will read your text in more detail than a translator will.
1. There might be inconsistencies or errors in translation memories or glossaries
A good translator keeps things consistent, so they need to know which terminology you like to use and will ask questions if they're unsure. Sometimes, a resource like a glossary might contain discrepancies or ambiguities, especially if it's very large and has developed over time – so it's good to have a translator on your side who can spot those issues.
2. A mistake or typo might have crept into the source text
With the best will in the world, and even if multiple editorial passes have taken place, mistakes can still creep into texts of any kind. Professional translators will ask questions about or double-check anything that looks a bit suspicious, and these also give you the opportunity to rectify the source text itself.
3. The language needs a bit of unpicking
Writing documents like manuals and operating instructions are usually the domain of technical writers (who, like translators, are language experts) – however, sometimes they're penned by engineers who know the technology inside out, but aren't necessarily experts in using language to explain its workings. That might result in the translator asking questions to confirm that they've grasped certain sentences or phrasings correctly. The more information you can give your translator about the machine (or other product) that's the subject of the document, the better – pictures, videos and websites all make it easier to grasp what it's actually like to use the product in real life.
4. The text refers to on-screen items, but there are no images of these
Today's products often come with on-screen displays, and you might even be familiar with the option to set your required language when you first switch on a new gadget. If someone translating into English receives a screenshot showing a menu in German, they also need to know what that same menu looks like in English so that they can reproduce the correct names of buttons, boxes and other options correctly in the translation.
5. Some of the text seems to be in the wrong order or have incorrect references
Text errors can go beyond typos and misspellings: sometimes, paragraphs or sentences might have been inserted in the wrong place inadvertently while the document was being edited, or a reference to an image might call it "Figure 1" when it's actually Figure 2. These are things that translators are trained to spot, so they'll also ask questions if a mistake of this nature comes up (and that's good, because it gives you, the customer, the chance to rectify the original document too!).
Finally, in an age when AI is becoming increasingly dominant, it's crucial to point out that AI and machine translation tools simply aren't sophisticated enough to identify issues like these. In most cases, they take the original text at face value and attempt to create a translation on that basis – which means that mistakes such as incorrect numbers will be replicated in the translation. If you're looking for a translation tool that will read your text in minute detail and raise pertinent questions, you need the brain of a professional human translator.
We have a team with questioning brains built in! Contact us to find out more about the services we can provide for your texts.