The world has become much smaller due to the Internet. Unfortunately, language translation technologies have not kept up. When I began talking to people in Ukraine on the Internet, and started to travel here to establish a life, I found myself walking through a verifiable minefield of challenges to understand and be understood. Here is what I've learned.
Translation and interpretation are slightly different things. For the purposes of this article I will refer to translation as written translation and interpretation as oral translation because these terms translate better into the Slavic languages spoken here in Ukraine. Written translation is meant to take a text written in a "source" language and rewrite it into a "target" language using vocabulary and a structure that is as close as possible to the source. Oral translation is meant to interpret the meaning of something spoken and communicate that meaning as accurately as possible. A good oral translator might take an entire five minute tirade and reduce it to, "they are really angry about what you said because it's an insult to question someone's authority here in Ukraine."
Computerized translators have improved considerably but still struggle to accurately translate many messages. There are a couple of ways to minimize misunderstandings. First, always back-translate a message if possible. By using the same translator you can take the target translation and translate it back to the source language. If the meaning is retained it's probably a good translation. If the meaning of the back-translation is incorrect you can reword the original message and try again. As I mentioned earlier in this article, we use written and oral translation instead of translation and interpretation because these terms translate better into other languages, especially with computer translators. Second, when possible write in your native language and let the other person use a translator. I discovered, the hard way, that if I sent my message in translated form the other person assumed I meant exactly what it said but, if they did the translation themselves they were much more likely to understand that the translation might not be completely accurate.
If you want your message to be clearly understood a human translator is still required. This has its own challenges as I discovered when I first started hiring written and oral translators here in Ukraine. I found that many of the translation agencies I used were simply running the text through computerized translators and then giving the text a cursory look. In addition, the oral translators I hired, complete with certifications, simply could not keep up with even simple conversations.
Oral translation is challenging because it requires not only a solid command of both languages but, a familiarity with the subject of the conversation. This includes both technical terminology and the ability to understand and communicate the context surrounding the conversation. The makes an understanding of the subject and the situation even more important than the basic languages skills of the translator.
Written translation is challenging because there is typically an expectation that the vocabulary be very accurate and the writing be without grammatical mistakes. This makes the command of the target language important to the point where most written translations are done by someone who is a native speaker and a skilled writer of the target language.
Unfortunately, finding good written and oral translators here in Ukraine is challenging. The level of English required for various degrees and certifications is relatively low and students rarely have significant contact with native English speakers. That said, there are definitely very skills translators here in Ukraine. One just needs to vet them carefully.
At Caravela we have a team of written and oral translators who are native speakers in Russian and Ukrainian and work with native English speakers on regular basis. We prepare them for oral translation projects by studying the topic and interviewing participants before the event so as to understand the technical language and context. Finally, we have native English speakers who edit any translations when English is the target language.
