If you’re new to buying translation, the glossary below should help you get a head start on understanding what services are available and what your chosen translator is offering.
This is by no means an exhaustive glossary. The terms mainly relate to the type of work I do, i.e. translation (not interpreting) of practical rather than literary texts. Please let me know if I’ve missed anything and I’ll consider adding it in.
#xl8: Hashtag short for “translate”.
CAT tool: Computer-assisted translation tool. These tools offer translators digital environments to make their work easier. They can split the text into sentences or paragraphs (known as segments) and allow the translator to search previously translated documents (via translation memories), glossaries or term bases. Below you can see a screenshot of Trados (a leading CAT tool) and the one I am currently using. Computer assisted translation is not the same as machine translation because the human translator is still doing the actual translation work.
Certified translation: In the UK, a certified translation is simply a translation that the translator has certified is accurate via certificate that they provide. Translation is not a regulated profession in the UK, meaning that anyone can certify a translation. However, that doesn’t mean that the translation will be accepted by the courts or the UK government. Generally speaking the UK government requires translations to be certified by full members of either the Chartered Institute of Linguists or the Institute of Translation and Interpreting.
CIOL: Chartered Institute of Linguists. A professional body for people who work with languages, including translators and interpreters. There are various membership categories and members who meet certain criteria can be recognized as Chartered Linguists. I have been a Chartered Linguist (Translator) since 2018.
CPD: Continuous professional development. This term isn’t
specific to the translation profession, but I’ve included it because it is so
important for us translators to undertake regular continuous professional
development (aka training). This might take the form of translation and writing
workshops, peer review and learning about our specialist areas, among other
activities. I am a huge advocate for making CPD integral to our translation
practice and you can find my CPD record here.
Dead/ non-editable file: These files are usually scanned documents or protected files. The text they contain cannot be edited or copied. This makes it impossible to use a CAT tool to translate the text unless the text is very clear and suitable for optical character recognition (OCR).
Editable file: A word processed file that can be edited. Usually in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or plain text format.
Glossary: This! A list of terms used in a specific field, with definitions and explanations. A bilingual glossary will include translations as well as explanations.
ITI: Institute of Translation and Interpreting. A UK-based
professional organization for professional translators and interpreters. I have
been a member since I was a translation student over 10 years ago. The ITI has
different membership categories, with full (assessed) membership denoted by the
letters MITI.
Language direction: Most translators only translate into their first language from their second or third language. My language direction is French into English or Spanish into English because I translate only into English and not into French or Spanish.
Language of habitual use: Your language of habitual use is the language you use on a daily basis. If a translator has lived in a country where their second language is spoken regularly, they might translate into their language of habitual use rather than their native or first language. My language of habitual use is the same as my native language (English).
Language pair: The source or original language and the language that the text will be translated into. I have two language pairs: French to English and Spanish to English.
Machine translation: Machine translation is translation done by a computer using a machine translation engine. There are several machine translation engines on the market (e.g. Google Translate, DeepL and ModernMT) and each has its merits and shortcomings. While machine translation is no longer simple word-for-word substitution and can produce fairly good results, computers still can’t translate and write like real people. The translations they produce are often not fit for purpose.
MITI: Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting. A member of the ITI who has passed the translation assessment or fulfilled certain criteria attesting to their professionalism and skills. They appear on the ITI database and can certify translations for official use in the UK. I have been an MITI since 2019.
