It is natural for all of us to have misconceptions about things we are not familiar with, just like when we used to question how challenging being a homemaker can be.

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It wasn’t until mother blew her top and left the house in our care for one day did we realize that almost nothing is as simple as we think. Similarly, for the translation industry, some people may have a few misconceptions, especially when this skill is being deemed as not being widely in demand. You may have, once or twice, made a few assumptions, but we are here to share the truth. Here are five common misconceptions:

1. Anyone Can Translate As Long As They Understand The Language Pair

This may be similar as saying that anyone can drive as long as he/she learns how to, which is true, but we all know that not everyone drives the same way. Some are born racers who can drift into a parallel park with their eyes closed, but there are also some who can never exceed 50km per hour. To put it simply, if we were to insist that anyone can translate, then perhaps the difference lies in the quality of the translation.

2. Translation Should Be Done Fast

While it is true that professionals might be able to complete a translation task faster given his skills and experience, it doesn’t mean that translation should be a quick job. Due to this misconception, translations are often left until the last minute and are almost always listed as “urgent” with minimal time given for completion. Any translator who takes pride in his/her job will take serious care to research background information so that the source text is being translated to its highest accuracy, and this pre-translation task takes time.

3. Translation Should Be Cheap

Besides researching and the actual translating work, a few rounds of proofreading and editing is necessary before handing the completed task back to the client. With such an amount of effort and time involved, translation is seldom a low-priced service. Other than that, specialized content, such as medical or legal documents will also ask for higher rates.

4. Translators Can Translate Any Word

As much as we would like to be known as a walking bilingual dictionary, it is unlikely that we can translate every single word. So don’t be surprised if you hear us saying “I don’t know” because, true enough, there are words that are simply untranslatable. But a true translator will be able to creatively use other measures to accurately express the same meaning of that untranslatable word. That explains the seemingly expensive rate that you are paying.

5. Translation Is Easy

This may not be a question, but the answer is simply … no.

 Visit Yiu Translation to find out more about Lee Ling’s work.

_{This post was first published on Yiu Translation Blog and has been reposted on Executive Lifestyle with the permission of the author.}

_{Edited by Nedda Chaplin
Image credit: business ladies working from Shutterstock}

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