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Clients rate Translators
Rating is 4.9 out of 5.
4.9/5
based on 58,152 client reviews
Sok E.
$16/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Audio Transcription
  • Video Transcription
  • Subtitle Localization

I am a native Khmer speaker who was born and raised in Cambodia. I graduated with the major of English from a recognized university in Cambodia since 2011. The major I took trained me to become a professional educator in English language. English is the main language used in college, both academically and informally. To be honest while I was in college, I was in a translation team that was created to strengthen our knowledge regarding translating skill. There were some materials we used as our source of translation such as, educational books, newspaper, magazines, movie scripts and short stories. After graduation, I have been using my...

Llinos J.
$15/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Welsh to English Translation

My name is Llinos and I am a 43 year old woman living in north Wales. I work for a charity as a Head of Services and am fully bilingual in Welsh and English. My skills include translations, proof-reading, writing reports, customer service, community development and health and social care. I am interested in politics and environmental issues. I enjoy writing in both my native Welsh and in English.

Maria R.
$25/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • English
  • Castilian Spanish
  • Content Localization
  • Proofreading
  • Subtitling
  • SRT
  • Website Translation
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Technical Translation
  • SDL Trados
  • English to Spanish Translation
  • Spanish to English Translation

I'm Maria Romero, a freelance translator with more than 7 years of solid experience. I'm a native Spanish speaker from Venezuela with high proficiency in English and a basic command of Italian. I collaborate with clients in the adaptation and right conversion of their English-written materials into Spanish by using the appropriate CAT tools and offering the guarantee of a high-quality translation while preserving the original format, if needed. I'm a detailed-oriented professional who will make sure to do the necessary research in order to find the correct terms. Besides performing text translations, I can also take on a variety of...

Eliska B.
$30/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Czech to English Translation
  • English to Czech Translation
  • French to English Translation
  • Czech
  • Copywriting
  • Content Localization
  • English

Some people have a way with words. Others don't. Making sure you fall into the first category is my job. If you let me, that is. I am a native Czech speaker with a Master's Degree in English and French, focusing on commerce, and teacher training besides. To back that up, I have an eight-year experience working in English, from teaching the language to pre-schoolers to customer support and, most recently, copywriting. My true passion has always been writing and translation; having said that, five years ago, I finally decided to go independent, and pursue my career as a freelancer. I am fully fluent in Czech, English and French, with...

Minna R.
$25/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Writing
  • English to Finnish Translation
  • Finnish to English Translation
  • Proofreading
  • Finnish
  • General Transcription
  • Medical Translation

I am a Finnish-British translator and proofreader with six years of experience. I am a native Finnish speaker and currently live in Finland. I have also lived in the UK for many years with my British spouse. My background is from health care; I am a registered dental hygienist in Finland. My favourite subjects to translate therefore include all manner of texts relating to health, medicine, and wellbeing. I also have extensive experience in translating online casino content, marketing e-mails, blog posts, product descriptions, and technical manuals. Please feel free to contact me with any type of English to Finnish or Finnish to English...

Catharina V.
$30/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Data Entry
  • General Transcription
  • English to Dutch Translation
  • English
  • Dutch to English Translation

As a Dutch native with an English father I am fluent in both languages. I was educated in both countries and I also worked and lived there. Over the years I have translated various websites, manuals, brochures, product labels, newsletters, legal documents, medical documents, general correspondence, etc. so I have a lot of experience. Currently I am working as a freelance translator/proof reader/VA.

Bradley S.
$29/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Technical Translation
  • Chinese to English Translation
  • Technical Manual
  • Product Documentation
  • English - North America
  • Written
  • Content Localization
  • Mandarin Dialect
  • Proofreading

I have 11+ years of experience with the Chinese language, including an undergraduate degree in its study and time spent living abroad in Harbin, China. I stay up to date watching current Chinese television programs and reading news to maintain my proficiency level and knowledge of any language usage trends/changes. As a native English speaker and avid reader, the translations I provide will have the grammar, flow, and structure of a piece originally written in the English language. I am capable of - and interested in - working on either creative writing or technical writing projects, and have a wide range of experience in everything from...

Noah O.
$38/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Video Editing
  • Proofreading
  • Japanese to English Translation
  • English to Japanese Translation
  • Subtitles
  • Writing
  • Voice Acting
  • Teaching Japanese
  • Teaching English

Welcome to my Upwork Profile. I am a professional Japanese translator, interpreter, subtitler, writer, and cultural/travel consultant who holds a BA in East Asian Languages and Cultures and an MA in Global Studies. I have lived, studied, and worked in Japan for eight years, including two years studying at the prestigious Sophia University in Tokyo, as well as four years teaching English on the JET Program in rural Fukushima Prefecture, during which time I often served as an interpreter for the local government and board of education. I have engaged in translation work for over ten years, and have worked successfully with hundreds of...

Marcos G.
$30/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Adobe InDesign
  • English to Spanish Translation
  • Technical Translation
  • Video Editing & Production
  • QA Engineering
  • General Transcription
  • Subtitles
  • Spanish to English Translation
  • Adobe Audition
  • Native
  • Adobe Premiere Pro
  • Content Localization
  • Proofreading
  • Technical Documentation

I’m a retired disabled veteran, available full-time to put over 30 years of experience to work for my client. I lived most of my life in the United States and consider myself fully bilingual and a native Spanish speaker. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico where I graduated from high school and later on attended a one year technical college. Additionally, I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Phoenix, USA. During my career, I gained experience working, and received training in a wide range of fields. Now, I provide general and technical translation in the following areas: Business, Legal, Marketing,...

Stef M.
$25/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • English Proofreading
  • German Proofreading
  • English to German Translation
  • Creative Writing
  • General Transcription
  • Audiovisual Translation

I am reliable, personable and passionate about language. Fully qualified through the Chartered Institute of Linguists, I have worked as a translator for years and on a wide range of subject matters.  One of my areas of expertise is the translation and transcription of historic and handwritten documents for genealogy and academic projects from English to German and vice versa. Due to my history degree, I am familiar with the context of many historic documents from the last centuries and can offer additional explanations, if necessary.  So, if you have old letters, diaries, official documents or even recipe books you can neither read nor...

Sandra G.
$15/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Romance
  • Dutch to English Translation
  • Writing
  • English to German Translation
  • Ebook Writing
  • Creative Writing
  • German to English Translation
  • Novel
  • Short Story Writing

I have been working as a Freelancer with the main focus on translations on different platforms for well over 17 years now and started to do it professionally in 2012, since my move to the US. Over the last few years I have mainly focused on translating numerous novels for bestselling authors. Due to my previous job background as Personal Assistant and Sales Manager I have plenty of experience in building websites, writing website content, internet research, data entry and everything administrative like paperwork, writing letters, emailing, working with the usual computer software WORD, EXCEL, etc.. A big part of my job was also...

Daniel H.
$34/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • English to Norwegian Translation
  • Norwegian to English Translation
  • English to Icelandic Translation
  • Proofreading
  • Localization
  • Website Localization
  • Norwegian
  • English
  • Subtitles
  • Content Localization

I'm a native Norwegian looking forward to helping you with your translation jobs! I've been using Upwork for some years now, and I am always interested in any size new projects. I am a quick learner of different content and always work hard to reach my deadlines. My employers mention me as an outgoing, flexible and honest person. Language quality is my #1 priority. Some of the companies I've worked with: - Babyshop Group (ongoing) -translations, localization & proofreading (lekmer.no & babyshop.no) - Parent.cloud (ongoing) -translations & localization - Letgo.com (ongoing) -translations, localization & proofreading - Brightbid.ai (ongoing)...

Dominique M.
$20/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Management Skills
  • Microsoft Office
  • English
  • Tutoring
  • Administrative Support
  • Accounting
  • Online Research
  • French
  • Stenography

I am a French, English and Spanish teacher with an academic background in Art History and Education Studies. I grew up in Canada, so French and English are both my native languages. I am also fluent in Spanish since I moved to Mexico in 2012 while continuously developing my knowledge of the German language with my German life partner. As an organized and motivated professional with experience providing comprehensive administrative support to drive productivity and efficiency in a variety of environments, I am confident in my ability to become a valuable asset to any project or team. From teaching languages, translating documents into...

Julien R.
$50/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • French to English Translation
  • Quebec French Dialect
  • English to French Translation
  • Technical Translation
  • Business Translation
  • Editing & Proofreading
  • Legal Translation
  • Document Translation
  • Financial Translation
  • Medical Translation
  • Contract Translation
  • Proofreading
  • French
  • Academic Proofreading

- General and technical translations EN-FR & FR-EN - 1,500+ five star ratings - More than six years of experience - $0.06 to $0.10 per word, depending on the deadline and the technicality of the document - Graduated with Bachelors degrees in both Science and Education - High degree of professionalism - Diligent in meeting deadlines - Native French speaker / Fluent in English I always make sure to provide well done, accurate translations which sound European French or French Canadian, as well as translations into proper English. I have a lot of experience translating and proofreading websites, product descriptions, user manuals, legal and...

Sireliis V.
$20/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Content Writing
  • General Transcription
  • Copywriting
  • Subtitling
  • Writing
  • Academic Research
  • English to Estonian Translation
  • Russian to English Translation
  • Estonian to English Translation
  • Subtitles
  • Technical Translation
  • Estonian
  • Proofreading
  • Russian

I have been working as a freelance translator since 2011. I specialize in medical, technical and legal texts. My main language pairs are EN-ET and RU-ET, but I also translate ET-EN and RU-ENG. I also have experience in translating books (science, maths, psychology, entertainment, history etc.), transcribint/transliteration, subtitles (including subtitle programs and writing content. If necessary, I am capable of translating big volumes fast and accurately.

Alise L.
$14/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • English to Latvian Translation
  • Transcription
  • Russian to English Translation
  • Proofreading
  • Writing
  • French to English Translation
  • Blog Writing
  • Latvian
  • Blog Content
  • SEO Writing
  • Editing & Proofreading
  • Copywriting
  • Website Content
  • Software Localization

- I have been translating various types of texts since 2018 (mostly English to Latvian and vice versa). - I have experience with various types of texts - legal documents, manuals, ads, blog articles, reviews, product descriptions, websites, apps, etc. - My native language is Latvian. - I am fluent in English - I have been studying English since I was 6 years old (I have studied English Philology at the University). - I speak Russian and French - I can translate FROM these languages TO Latvian or English - Writing is my passion - I can write all types of texts about any topic (in Latvian or English), following all your guidelines and...

Sandra S.
$24/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • General Transcription
  • Subtitles
  • English to Swedish Translation
  • Swedish to English Translation
  • Copywriting
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Swedish
  • English
  • Written
  • Content Localization
  • SEO Writing
  • Editing & Proofreading
  • Technical Translation

Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, my native tongue is Swedish. I studied English and excelled throughout my entire education. I have lived in Canada for the past five years, working and socialising exclusively in English. In that time my proficiency in English has progressed to the point that new acquaintances are often surprised to find out that it is, indeed, my second language. Having logged hundreds of hours of English/Swedish translation, my experience extends to product descriptions, blog posts, legal documents, medical texts, websites, and more, and I have successfully completed projects as small as 5 words and as large as...

Roxane L.
$23/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Proofreading
  • Writing
  • Illustration
  • English to French Translation
  • French to English Translation
  • Written
  • French

Hello there! I am a native French speaker and translator for English-French. I have a Master's degree and a Bachelor's degree in English studies (literature, history, translation, and linguistics), so I have a deep understanding and knowledge of the English language and can read and write perfectly well in both languages. I'm now a full-time translator and was formerly teaching English in middle schools and literature at university. -Translation- Proofreading- Editing- Translating is a very demanding task that requires the ability to define the problems inherent to the translation task and the know-how on how to solve them in order to...

Maurice L.
$28/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Academic Translation
  • Audiovisual Translation
  • Editorial Translation
  • Website Translation
  • General Transcription
  • Academic Editing
  • Copywriting
  • English to Chinese Translation
  • Chinese to English Translation

I am an experienced freelancer working mainly on text work. Previous jobs include academic papers of various disciplines, business proposals, magazine articles and editorials, and various other projects involving translation, transcription and text editing. My language skills are proved by clients’ continual feedback and, certainly, my exam scores. I am also confident in meeting project schedules from the past 8 years of freelance experience, for I have overcome challenges of extremely tight projects.

Jennifer N.
$60/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • French to English Translation
  • English to French Translation
  • Writing
  • French
  • Proofreading
  • Legal Translation
  • English
  • Official Documents Translation
  • Contract Translation

As a retired attorney and a former French teacher, my writing, editing, and proofreading skills have been honed over 30 years of both contract drafting and guiding students to create their best work. I am experienced in translating and editing everything from legal documents to fiction, including localization of content. My passions are reading and writing, and I love helping authors perfect their manuscripts for publication.

N Staffan L.
$35/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • English to Swedish Translation
  • Swedish
  • General Transcription
  • Swedish to English Translation

Highly motivated Jack of all trades with broad knowledge in many areas. Since 2019, my main focus has been on translation of travel-focused content for publication on the web. Alongside that, I have worked with translation of old Swedish letters and postcards into English, as well as the translation of immigration documents and many other smaller and larger translation projects between English and Swedish. One of my favorite jobs was translating and localizing for Wix.com for several weeks at the end of 2018. As part of a team of 14 translators, I translated and localized 100,000+ words of English content from their Artificial Design...

Guy D.
$30/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Italian to English Translation
  • Medical Translation
  • Patent Law
  • Medical Law
  • Italian
  • English

​My name is Guy S. Donald, I'm from the UK, and have worked with various companies in translating documents from Italian to English since 1998. I'm pretty much bilingual having spent 29 years working in Italy in various sectors: - Banks - Legal - Insurance - Medical - PA Please feel free to scroll my reviews, and to put me to your tests regarding translation skills. GSD

Nathalie B.
$15/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Subtitles
  • Aegisub
  • Proofreading
  • English to French Translation
  • Spanish to French Translation
  • French to English Translation
  • Spanish to English Translation
  • General Transcription

- Subtitles: movies - theatrical releases, DVD releases, documentaries - Translations: websites, general translation, Facebook games and quizzes English / French (Parisian) / Spanish (Castilian) Available 30+ hours per week 10 years + experience Currently based in France. Lived in Ohio 20 years and Barcelona 3 years

Eunice A.
$30/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • Language Interpretation
  • Academic Translation
  • Website Translation
  • Korean to English Translation
  • English to Korean Translation
  • Teaching English
  • Creative Writing
  • Office Administration
  • Christian Theology

Proficient Bilingual Translator/Interpreter, Teacher, Language Education, Language Curriculum Development for home schools/apps/learning. Real time Interpreter, Legal/Academic/Personal Translator, International Teacher, and Published Writer and Editor. - I currently translate and make video lessons and language teaching material for learning apps from Korean to English, and vice versa. I translate academically for homeschool material, and language learning services from English to Korean and vice versa. I have several experiences in on-site real time interpreting at events such as international conventions translating from Korean to...

Robbin v.
$35/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • English to Dutch Translation
  • Medical Translation
  • German to Dutch Translation
  • Dutch to English Translation
  • Technical Translation
  • Financial Translation
  • Legal Translation
  • Content Localization
  • Dutch

Born and raised in the Netherlands, I have been active as a professional translator for the last few years. I am a native Dutch speaker and offer translation services from Czech, German, English and Swedish to Dutch. Since starting on Upwork, I have built up a solid track record through successfully completing large and small translation, proofreading, and writing projects on a variety of technical and non-technical subjects. I specialize in business-related translations across a variety of domains, including marketing, sales, ecommerce, product development, finance and cryptocurrency. However, if you have something else you need...

Anouschka K.
$35/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • English to French Translation
  • English Proofreading
  • French Proofreading
  • French to English Translation
  • English Grammar
  • English Spelling

I am a knowledgeable and experienced translator who is fluent in both French and English. As an experienced account director with expertise in business writing, I can offer translations from French to English and vice versa. I have outstanding verbal, written and editing skills in both languages. I will ensure seamless style, context, and overall meaning in the target language for all translated materials while applying proper language parameters such as grammar, syntax and appropriate terminology. My goal is to deliver excellent translation services while meeting all of my clients’ requirements and deadlines. I grew up in a francophone...

Birk S.
$49/hr
  • Trophy Icon Translation
  • German to English Translation
  • Translation & Localization Software
  • English to German Translation
  • Software Localization
  • Content Localization
  • Website Localization
  • Technical Translation
  • Contract Translation
  • German
  • English
  • Proofreading

I offer expert translation & localization services to help you reach your German audience. I specialize in: • Software & Websites (B2B & B2C) • Marketing Copy • Business Communication • Technical Documentation Need someone who knows your industry and its lingo? I specialize in translation & localization for these industries: • Information Technology • Consumer Electronics • Sports, Fitness & Nutrition • Life Sciences • Gaming Sounds like a good fit? Tell me about your project and let's discuss how I can best help you and your business!

$NaN/hr

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Trusted by 5M+ businesses

How to Hire Top Translators

How to hire translators

In an increasingly globalized society, the ability to translate information from one language to another has never been more valuable. If you want to take advantage of greater access to markets across the globe, a translator can help you expand the reach of your marketing collateral.

How to shortlist translation professionals

In an increasingly globalized society, the ability to translate information from one language to another has never been more valuable. If you want to take advantage of greater access to markets across the globe, a translator can help you expand the reach of your marketing collateral.

  • Industry fit. You want a translator who understands your industry so they can help you figure out how best to reach your target market.
  • Communication. You want a translator who can accurately convey your message to your target audience.
  • Feeback.Check reviews from past clients for glowing testimonials or red flags that can tell you what it’s like to work with a particular translator.

How to write an effective translator job post

With a clear picture of your ideal translator in mind, it’s time to write that job post. Although you don’t need a full job description as you would when hiring an employee, aim to provide enough detail for a contractor to know if they’re the right fit for the project.

The first thing you should nail down is what you need the translator to do. Be as specific as possible about the project, and try and answer the following questions.

  • What are you translating? Be specific about the content you are translating, whether it’s software localization, your website, technical instructions or training manuals, video, or marketing materials.
  • Are there any graphics related to your content that needs translation?
  • What language combination do you require?
  • Define your audience.
  • Explain the tone and voice.
  • Do you have a glossary or style guide?
  • If you’re localizing software, is testing required?
  • How will the content be published and distributed? Describe the finished product, including how it will be delivered to the audience—video, PDF, ebook, etc.
  • Do you require proofreading?

Then, an effective translation job post should include:

  • Scope of work: From transcribing audio files to localizing your website, list all the deliverables you’ll need.
  • Project length: Your job post should indicate whether this is a smaller or larger project.
  • Background: If you prefer experience working with certain industries, software, or media, mention this here.
  • Budget:Set a budget and note your preference for hourly rates vs. fixed-price contracts.

Ready to use translation and localization services to expand your business to new markets and cultures? Log in and post your translation job on Upwork today.

TRANSLATORS FAQ

What does a translator do?

A translator does much more than translate a sentence from one language to another—which is why it’s often necessary to engage a human translator despite advances in automation and natural language processing. It’s rare that a translated document, webpage or even social media post ends up as a mirror image of its source. That’s because more goes into translating than trading out one word for another. These skilled linguists creatively adapt concepts, phrases, and tone, and can make recommendations about layouts, design choices, related keywords, or edits for clarity and relevance.

Why hire translators?

Is your business moving into new markets around the world? Are you localizing your website and content so that it performs better with audiences in other countries? For your translated content to resonate and connect with your new audience, quality is key.

Translators are valuable for a wide range of projects, which can require them to have expertise with more complex topics, regulated industries such as healthcare, law, and finance, and complex technical topics like manufacturing and software development. Often, these types of translations can be so technical that even a professor in that language would be unable to successfully translate the material. It’s all about marrying fluency in a language with fluency in a particular field.

Translators can be critical investments for brands expanding into foreign markets. The skill and expertise of the individual you engage have the potential to directly impact your success. So what can you expect to pay for your project? Let’s break down some key factors to help you more accurately estimate the cost to engage a freelance translator for your business.

How much does it cost to hire a translator?

How much should you expect to pay for your translation project? And what if your content is more complex than cut-and-dry, low reading level material? Rates can vary due to many factors, including expertise and experience, location, and market conditions. Learn about the cost to hire a translator.

10 Common Translation Mistakes to Avoid

Translation can be easy to take for granted these days, with the availability of mobile apps that promise to make communicating in a foreign country a cinch, and Google Translate on hand to automate translation in a click. However, it’s rarely that simple. Translation is an art that skilled translators work hard to acquire

If you’re planning to translate content or localize your website, be wary of these 10 common mistakes before you get started.

1. Translating content verbatim from a source language to a target language

This is a surefire way to let blunders sneak into your translation. Even though words may be correctly translated, it’s important to know that different languages have different syntax, sentence structure, and subject-object agreement. The key is paying attention to syntactical nuances, the etymology of words, and phraseology between languages.

2. Failing to interpret intent behind language

Missing the intent behind a translation can have big implications. While the translation might be technically correct, the nuance of intent can completely change the meaning of a sentence from one language to another. In some cases, this mistake has escalated tensions between countries bringing them the brink of war, but more often than not it leads to an awkward translation that doesn’t make sense.

3. Assuming english (U.S.) to english (U.K.) is going to be mirror image

The differences may be subtle, but they’re important. For example, large online retailers often have copy departments dedicated to product descriptions just for their U.K. market. Even though you’re essentially speaking the same language, when it comes to reading, there are often spelling differences and phrases that would stand out as starkly American to a British person—words like “favorite/favourite,” and common descriptions like “to the reverse” instead of “at the back.” The devil is in the details, too—some common words (even words to describe parts of an item of clothing) in the U.S. can be offensive slang words across the pond.

4. Not having translated content proofed by a native language speaker

The easiest way to comb your translated content for lost intention or awkward phrases is to have a native language speaker proof it. Allowing time in your project for a final proofing phase is a good idea regardless of translation, but when you’re pushing content out into the world in a language you don’t understand, it’s best to be certain it’s not missing the mark.

5. Not creating a glossary or translation memory (TM) database as you go

Get the most bang for your buck by creating a glossary of translated terms as you go—something your translator can do in addition to their work. Have your translator write down terms that you often use, words that stood out, or phrases that were a bit more complicated to get right. That way, you’re making life easier for future translators, ensuring more consistency, and hopefully reducing room for error.

6. Translating text without paying attention to style or tone

Imagine how difficult translating a poem would be, and you’re starting to gather how complicated and nuanced nailing tone can be. You might be strictly speaking about the types of words your translator chooses. For example, a casual article shouldn’t be translated with a lot of flourishes, or overly difficult words, a common thing someone who wields a thesaurus too bravely might do. Or, you might be talking about the overall gist of a book or script. How it reads can ultimately be as important as what is being read.

This mistake isn’t limited to marketing content or literary works, either. An entire article can be misinterpreted if the tone is off. Say a casual document speculating about weather trends is translated with a very formal, authoritative tone. All of a sudden, the reader might take the situation to be much dire than it is, and assume a global storm is imminent.

Always mind the tone, and make sure you’re communicating your intent clearly with your translation specialist.

7. Assuming knowledge of the language automatically equals skilled translation

Consider this: Even professors who teach a foreign language for a living can make mistakes translating documents. Knowing how to speak two different languages doesn’t automatically qualify someone to translate between the two, contrary to what you might think. Translation is truly an art form and requires learned creativity and plenty of experience to do well.

For certain types of translations—highly technical content, medical and scientific translation, or other regulated industries—knowledge of a language is only half of the requirement. You’re also looking for someone skilled in that industry or field. For marketing translation, you might require more cultural knowledge to resonate with that audience—for example, knowing about religious holidays, political news, or pop culture.

8. Thinking languages never change or evolve

New words are added to the dictionary every year—and not just in the English language. Translators are professional students of the languages they learn, staying up to date on new words, trends, and evolutions of language.

9. Ignoring “untranslatable” words or native colloquial sayings

This is a common problem when using slang, common sayings, or catchy taglines. They might work in one language, but fall flat in another. Your best bet is to have a native language speaker proof it to make sure your meaning carries over to your target language. Or else, you might end up like HSBC bank whose rebranded tagline “Assume Nothing” becomes “Do Nothing” in another country.

10. Assuming numbers are just numbers, no matter the language

Pay close attention to figures, stats, and any translation of numerical information like currency, dates, times, drug doses, and the metric system (weights, distances, temperatures, etc.). It might seem like numbers are numbers no matter who’s reading them, but their formats can vary from country to country, and the language surrounding them might affect their interpretation.

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