THE ART OF COMMUNICATION

Language and our ability to communicate with complex linguistic structures is one of humans' defining features that separate them from other animals. But the skill to communicate, particularly when the two sides are speaking different languages, is full with underwater rocks and risks for mistakes and misunderstanding.

An example from the recent past illustrates this. In 1969, American President Richard Nixon met with Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Satō to discuss some important bilateral questions. Trade exchange was one of those. When Nixon raised the question for easing Japanese quotas for import of American goods, Satō answered "Zensho shimasu." The interpreter that attended the meeting translated the phrase literally, "I will do my best." Nixon was satisfied by the response, but some months later it dawned that Japan hadn't planned to do anything of the sort. Enraged, Nixon called the Japanese politicians "liars and utterly untrustworthy."

In actual fact, Satō didn't intent to mislead the American president. The phrase he used to answer the American proposal indeed says "I will do my best," but in reality it has the opposite meaning. It is often used when the speaker wants to refuse a proposal politely, sparing the feelings of the opposite part.

Thus the lapse of an interpreter who knew the language but not the context became a source of an international misunderstanding.

Today professional translation is even more important. Globalised world has led to globalisation of individual, international and business contacts. And if people commenting a piece of news on Facebook can to an extent trust the machine translation offered by the social network, companies and institutions cannot afford such a luxury. Professional translators are more important than ever. In Bulgaria, you will find those in specialised agencies.

The experience, the implemented quality standards and translation softwares are trademarks of the good translation agency. Since its establishment in 1994, Lozanova 48 Translation Centre (Sofia: Dante Office: 2 Dante St; Parchevich Office: 68 Parchevich St; Bulgaria Office: 23 Tvardishki Prohod St, Office Building, Office 2-3, Varna Office: 13 Ivan Vazov St; www.lozanova48.com) has been a standard for high professionalism. The agency was the first in the country to introduce software for translation. Lozanova 48 offers the full range of translation services for individual and corporate clients, and every translation includes localisation. The quality of the service is guaranteed by the implemented standards ISO 9001:2008 and BDS EN 15038:2006, systems for project management Oracle Primavera 6P and Trados, the use of terminology data bases in a large area of specialised fields. Lozanova 48 applies strict criteria in selection of translators and invests in their constant upskilling. When needed, the company partners with external consultants and experts.

In the recent years development of machine translation softwares marked a significant progress and its quality is constantly improving, particularly to and from widely spoken languages such as English, French, Spanish. In spite of this, machine translation has a long way to go before being capable to provide quality in complex and specialised texts with specific context, particularly when less spoken languages are concerned. Bad grammar and lexical mistakes are a tell-tale sign of machine translated texts. These could be funny when you read the badly translated menu in a restaurant, but are inadmissible in business correspondence, translation of an official document or online advertisement.

Of course machines have invaluable advantages such as capability for creation of terminology data bases that provide consistent translation. But the human factor cannot be avoided. Professional translators with specialised education and experience, who constantly improve in their work, are the most important factor defining the quality of the translation, even if the main part of the work was indeed done by specialised software.

The expertise of over 200 translators working in more than 30 international languages and presence in 23 cities in Bulgaria – Prevodachi.eu Translation and Legalisation Agency (national line 0700 310 01; www.prevodachi.eu) not just aims to provide reliable service. It successfully offers it to its clients and partners. Prevodachi.eu combines the knowledge and experience of people with the latest achievements of technologies with CAT tools such as SDL TRADOS STUDIO and terminology data bases to guarantee quick and quality translation of documents, specialised and technical texts, legalisation, interpretation. The agency takes online orders and has both in-house and freelance translators. The company approaches every order individually, taking in consideration the deadlines, the specifics of the task, the experience and expertise of the translators, and maintains constant contact with the client. Prevodachi.eu has a contract with the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is certified under the European Quality Standard for Translation Services ЕN-15038:2006 and has implemented a system for quality management under ISO 17100:2015.

Modern life places new requirements to translations – every word, phrase and term have to be polished to perfection, websites have to be translated to different languages while preserving their message understandable for the target audience.

Content Translations translation agency (Sofia, 1 Pop Bogomil St, Evrotur Business Center, fl. 5, office 27, phones: 0882 98 2020, www.content-translations.com) is a trusted partner in this. Established in 1998, the company offers valuable combination of experience and professionalism, and innovation. The complex translation service offers not only translation, but also proofreading, editing, usage of terminology data bases and specialised software, while keeping the original file format of the translation. The website localisation service, for its part, helps for the successful translation of promotional and other content to the culture of the target audience. The agency also offers a full range of translation and interpretation services and legalisation of documents.

All of these show that progress in modern technologies is a great thing but only when it is combined with the qualification, talent and experience of the professionals.

How to find the best translation agency on the market? When making the solution several factors have to be considered, like the reputation and experience of the agency, the presence of combination between high technologies and the work of professionals, the implementation of quality standards and project management, the attention paid to details and quality even in express and large-scale orders, the client feedback. This is the only way to be sure that we have identified a reliable partner with whom business communication will be smooth, effective and without underwater rocks.