But that is precisely the point. There is more than one kind of accuracy. To explain what I mean, I will be borrowing heavily from the work of J. L. Austin in his book “How to do things with words,” a book I highly recommend for those who are interested in how communication might actually work.

If we follow Austin then there are different kinds or levels of accuracy. I would like to illustrate this with a simple situation.

It’s around midnight and a moody teenager arrives loudly back into their parents’ house. They were told to be back home before ten. In the hallway stands their mum (or dad) and in their best, patient-now-but-don’t-test-me voice, the mum (or dad) says:

What time do you call this?

There are three things going on here. Firstly, there are the actual words said. The parent has spoken a question about the time. However, no sane teenager and no sane reader of those words would assume for a second that what the parent wants to hear is:

It’s almost midnight. Why do you ask?

The result of this answer would not be pretty for anyone involved! It would likely involve shouting, threats, banged doors and some kind of punishment. Obviously, seeing the parent’s question just as the words are and without context would be a misinterpretation.

So let’s go to the next level of what is going on. Obviously, in addition to their straightforward meaning, there was some kind of intention behind them. By sheer guess work (and experience!) I reckon that the idea behind these words was to point out that coming home late is not acceptable. So we could probably rephrase this sentence as:

Coming home at this time of night is not acceptable.

Or could we? I would doubt that any mum (or dad) would ever say these words just to explain the concept behind them to a teenager. Put another way, I doubt the idea was just to let the son (or daughter) know that midnight is not the same as ten pm. The next level then is the effect that the sentence had on the person who heard it. Perhaps the teenager apologised and decided to buy a more accurate watch. Perhaps they got in a huff and muttered something under their breath. Perhaps both of these happened at once.

Knowing that there are different levels of accuracy means that we can be much clearer about what we want from a translation. It is always impossible for translators to perfectly give you every single level of meaning so you need to choose your priorities.

Do you want the “words on the page” meaning that won’t give you the full story? Do you want the “force and intention” meaning that tries to produce the same kind of strength and tone of voice as the original at the cost of the words and their effect? Or do you want the translation to produce the same effect on the reader as the original did, at the cost of both the original wording and their original tone of voice?

It’s your choice.

Last week, we looked at the importance of giving as much information as possible to the translators and interpreters you work with. This week, we will continue this theme with a little known fact:

• The purpose of a service determines the best person to deliver it

Would you ever go to a lawyer and ask them to take your blood pressure? Would you ever ask a dentist to fly the space shuttle? Would you expect a mailroom assistant to be the best salesperson in a company? Why not?

We are used to the fact that different people have different skills. The skills required of lawyers are different to those required of ministers. Doctors go through different training than salespeople. The same rule applies to translators and interpreters – different language professionals are best suited to different jobs.

If you want someone to interpret at a conference on vacuum cleaners, it makes sense that you would want someone who a) is a trained conference interpreter b) is decently pleasant to listen to and c) knows something about vacuum cleaners and d) is willing to learn about the things they do not know yet.

If you want someone to translate a patent for a new drug, you will not want to call on the same person who interpreted at the vacuum cleaner conference. This time, you will want someone who a) has translated patents before and b) has a strong enough knowledge of drug terminology to be able to use it correctly.

For the sake of ensuring that the service you are paying for does the job that you want it to do, it pays to find the right person. Taking shortcuts by going for the cheapest provider will only end up costing more in the long run. Think of the malpractice suits and legal costs you would face if you call someone to interpret in a healthcare setting and they are not able to meet the required standard. Think of the lost sales you would have if your brochures are well presented but have badly written content. Think of the loss of impact if the person who interprets your sermon has no clue about anything to do with church

We have all seen laughable examples of translations that were obviously not done by paid professionals with the right skills but noone wants it to be their work in the spotlight. What damage would it do if it was your name above the poorly written slogan or your website with the unfortunate phrasing?

There is always a temptation to go for the cheaper option but it pays to go for the option that will produce a better, more suitable finished product. After all, the translation or interpreting you are paying for is there to serve a purpose. At some point, your current and future customers, colleagues or readers will need to use what you paid for. It makes sense to give them the best.

So there you go, if you want a translation that works, if you want interpreting that does the job, hire the right people and give them the right information. With that combination, you are on to a winner.

If you are reading this, the chances are that you know that you need translation or interpreting. You might want to hold a meeting with people in another country or you might have a message that you want them to read or hear. There are almost as many reasons for commissioning translation or interpreting as there are projects that require them. Nevertheless, all these projects have one thing in common: they all exist for a purpose. In the words of translation theorist, Christiane Nord, translation and interpreting:

should function in the situation in which it is used and with the people who want to use it and precisely the way they want it to function.
(Christiane Nord, Translation as a Purposeful Activity, 1997/2007, p. 29, translating Hans Vermeer)

This might seem pretty obvious. After all, no sane businessperson would spend their hard-earned corporate cash on translation or interpreting unless they had a good reason to do so. On the other hand, if we bear in mind that translation and interpreting is always provided for a specific purpose, we can use this knowledge to improve the quality of the product we will receive. The rest of this short article will examine one way to apply this knowledge.

• The more translators and interpreters know about the purpose for their work, the better they work.

This is not exactly rocket science but it is amazing how many disagreements could be avoided if we bore this in mind. There is a very simple discipline that will improve the quality of the translation and interpreting you receive without costing any more money – never send a request for translation or interpreting without a brief.

What exactly is a brief? Well, think of it in project management terms. Before commissioning a large corporate project, people spend time thinking about the project timescale, the nature of the project, its purpose and some key indicators to be used to measure its success.

The same information can be used to commission translation or interpreting. Spending a few minutes communicating the timescale, purpose, intended audience and expectations you have for the translation or interpreting project will give the language professionals you work with a much better idea of exactly what you want.

Imagine, for a moment, that you were changing jobs and relocating to a different country. In order to get through the recruiting process, you would need someone to translate your CV. You would tell the translator all about where you wanted to move to, the position you were after and even the kinds of companies you wanted to work for. They would then be able to produce a translation that was especially tailored for your target market and would offer you the best chance of succeeding. The relevant information from your original CV would still be there but it would be arranged in a way that would have the greatest impact on the people you wanted to impress.

You can see from this simple example why a better brief will lead to a better translation. The more high quality information you can give to translators and interpreters, the more they can tailor their services to your needs. This actually leads us to the point we will discuss next week.

For the moment, it is still a work in progress. Soon, you will find articles, videos and advice on translation and interpreting. You will also find periodic updates on the activities of the business.

Until then, if you have any questions or any projects that need to be translated, feel free to use the Contact button on the menu above.

Jonathan