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Translation should be performed by highly-skilled human beings. Even the most sophisticated translation software is no substitute. Should you be in any doubt about this, consider this attempt by a leading internet-based translation program to translate an excerpt from an article in the French newspaper, Le Monde, into English:
(Des marques d'ouverture aussi claires de la part de M. Bush étaient loin d'être acquises avant la rencontre. Les déclarations de M. Olmert lors de la campagne victorieuse avant les élections avaient fait craindre à l'administration américaine que le premier ministre ne lance, sans négocier avec les Palestiniens, une entreprise qui reviendrait à fixer d'autorité les frontières israéliennes.)
"Such clear marks of opening on behalf of Mr. Bush were far from being acquired before the meeting. The declarations of Mr. Olmert at the time of the victorious countryside before the elections had made fear with the American administration that the Prime Minister does not launch, without negotiating with the Palestinians, a company which would amount fixing of authority the Israeli borders".
It speaks for itself.
Translation is very difficult. This is because a language is a unique way of looking at the world. People often assume that if you can say something in one language, then you will be able to say exactly the same thing in another. This is not the case, because different languages are structured differently. There is often no “exact equivalent”. A language is a product of a country’s historical experience, its culture, its mindset, its beliefs.
Translation is therefore about balance. A good translation strikes a balance between the need to remain faithful to the original and the demands of the “target” language.
Semos believes that translation is a process, involving the collaboration of experts in the “source” and “target” languages. We call this the Semos process. To find out more about how we translate your text, go to the Semos Process in the “how we do it” section.
Semos translators maintain scrupulously high standards. All are either Oxbridge educated or have attended other elite universities and colleges in the UK or abroad, such as Imperial College, LSE and Harvard. All are subject specialists, covering a comprehensive range of specialist fields, from Chemical Engineering, Molecular Biochemistry, Medicine and IT, through Law, Social Work, Economic Theory and International Development, to Architecture, History and Literary Studies. Many are engaged in research; some already have a Ph.D. and are doing post-doctoral work. Many of our translators have additional professional qualifications in legal, medical and Public Service translation.
Semos translators are first-class linguists: they know what language is, what it means and how it works.
Our experience
We have considerable experience of working with Translation and Interpreting Departments within Local Government. Our translators have thus also handled a wide range of Public Sector texts, including correspondence between Local Government Housing Departments and Farsi and Arabic-speaking residents concerning both parties' rights and obligations, as well as material for wider dissemination, such as public notices, strap lines and information for Sinhalese-speaking visitors to a London prison. We are particularly strong in the community languages (Indian languages, Arabic, Farsi, Somali, and the languages of the post accession EU states – Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, etc). Private Sector clients entrust us with a wide range of material, from Banking, Finance and Law, to Marketing and fiction.
We are dependable Project Managers. We recently co-ordinated the translation of nearly 350,000 words of highly technical construction engineering material from Dutch into English within the space of three weeks. Other notable achievements included the translation of 79 hand-written Welsh exam scripts into English within the space of a few days.
Semos consultants can translate from and into nearly seventy languages .
To discuss your language needs with us over the telephone, please leave your number and we will be in touch. Alternatively, call us on 020 7193 3912 (0044 20 7193 3912) or send an email to alexander@semos.co.uk .
Need up to 2,000 words translated professionally and without fuss? Click here