subject: Tips That Make A Visual Presentation Easier For A Language Translator [print this page] Professional translation services are asked to handle many different types of documents. With the growing popularity of slide presentations as an accompaniment for speakers at conventions and meetings, these electronic documents are becoming a frequent item for professional translating assignments. Visual presentations have their own unique set of challenges, things clients may not consider when selecting a language service provider.
Context
One of the purposes of a slide is to provide complementary visual information while the presenter is speaking. Oftentimes the words on the slide are highly-condensed talking points designed to last several minutes. Discovering their true meaning is challenging without any added context. This may affect not only the meaning of the words, but verb tenses as well.
Trade Names
Sometimes the name of a brand or business is the same as a common, everyday word. This changes how the words are treated by the translator. When creating an English to Brazilian Portuguese translation, for example, the name of the brand should be left as is, but the everyday word should be translated into Brazilian Portuguese in the final product.
Acronyms
Acronyms are confusing enough for people that are familiar with the topic. When the translator is not familiar with the meaning, he or she must do extensive research or make an educated guess if the proper information is not provided by the client. The meaning of an acronym may be different, depending on the context. The same acronym can often mean many different things. For example, AOG could mean "Act of God" or "Architectural Oversight Group." Choosing the correct version is key.
Tips
One way to make the translator's job easier and improve the accuracy is to provide the translation company with basic information regarding the overall context of the presentation. A copy of the presenter's script would be ideal. This would lessen the need for guesses about meaning and other nuances. Providing a list of brand names, trademarks and other special usages makes it easier to differentiate words with special meaning from everyday words. If the presentation discusses acronyms, a definition for each is beneficial. Visual presentations often include graphs, pictures and other types of visual aids without any accompanying text. Even though no translation is needed, it is important to include visual aids in the file, since, as the refrain goes, a picture can be worth a thousand words.
