Translation Services – the Key to Global Communication

A fundamental part of our communication is, of course, language. There are 6809 known languages spoken in the 200 countries of the world, and once we go beyond the major world affairs languages of political and economic power (for example, Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, and English) it seems that all across the world there are huge range of other major linguistic frameworks, together with their various regional adaptations and dialects. Today more than ever before, we are each encountering, and possibly using, a higher number of different languages for our business and pleasure. We increasingly need them in order to be able to socialize and conduct professional relationships in the new global economy.

However, despite the apparent prolific number and diversity of different languages, one thing that is fairly certain is that a surprisingly large proportion of the world's languages are actually disappearing — even as you read this. Experts generally estimate that almost half of the 6,809 language of the world will be facing extinction within the next one hundred years. Take North America, for example. Of about 165 indigenous languages, only eight are spoken by as many as 10,000 people. About 75 are spoken only by a handful of older people, and are most probably on their way to becoming extinct. This is quite a normal state of affairs, considering that about a quarter of the world's languages have less than a thousand remaining speakers.

However, it's not all bad news – because languages are not only disappearing, but are constantly being created. That's one reason why they present a range of exciting challenges for translation services. Languages as a whole are organically being recreated and their phrasing and vocabulary replaced, especially in densely populated areas that favor modern and internationally influenced types of conversation. New vernaculars appear all the time, and the constantly changing and dynamic nature of language is one of the most exciting, but most difficult aspects of the work carried out in modern translation services.

The pressure is also great for translation services professionals to get their work exactly right. Poorly translated or unclear interpretations of one language to another causes confusion, can be offensive, and may even land the copywriter in serious trouble. In business, a poor translation of company materials can make that company seem unprofessional, slapdash, poor at customer service, and culturally uncaring or insensitive.

One common mistake businesses make is believing that if the speakers of A can understand the speakers of B without difficulty, A and B must be more or less the same language. Unfortunately this notion fails in practice because it's impossible to divide the world up into clearly distinct language units. It also fails to account for cultural differences and variations in psychology between regions that speak similar-sounding languages. In some instances, speakers of A can understand B, but not vice versa, or at least speakers of B will insist that they cannot. For example, Bulgarians believe that Macedonian is a dialect of Bulgarian, but Macedonians insist that it's an entirely separate language. The idea of distinctness among languages is actually much less straightforward than it might at first appear to be.

Hiring a professional translation service provider, therefore, is an important investment in today's global economy. It's no longer good enough to have someone with a smattering of the other language try and interpret your personal or professional materials. Today's fast-paced and demanding 24-hour business culture expects nothing less than perfection – and world-class translation services are, now more than ever, our key to entering the modern global economy.

About the Author

Armando Riquier has many years of experience in writing and translating and collaborates with Teknikatrad, a company specialized in the translation of technical or industrial documents. Find out how superior technical translation services will assist you in maintaining your image with customers and result in increasing sales on the foreign markets.

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