Top 10 Common Language Industry Terms Explained
We hear it all the time. There is a bilingual conversation at an event, and someone says: “We need a translator!” What they actually need is an interpreter.
This is a common misunderstanding. However, it led us to think about how there are several terms in the language services industry that may not be as easily understood or recognized by those who are not in our industry. With that in mind, we present an explanation of some common terms in the language industry:
Translation: The process of converting written text from one language into another while preserving the original meaning, tone, and intent.
Interpretation: The process of converting spoken language from one language to another in real time or near real time.
Consecutive Interpretation: A form of interpretation in which the speaker pauses after a sentence or segment, allowing the interpreter to render the message into the target language. This mode of interpretation is commonly used during interviews, business meetings, and legal settings.
Simultaneous Interpretation: A form of interpretation in which the interpreter translates the speaker’s message almost at the same time it is being spoken. This mode of interpretation is commonly used for conferences, multilingual meetings, and live events.
Whisper Interpretation: A form of simultaneous interpretation in which the interpreter sits close to the person or small group needing interpretation and quietly whispers the message as it is being spoken. This mode is also known as chuchotage, derived from the French word for “whisper.”
Simultaneous Translation (Sim Trans): A term often used informally and primarily in the market research industry to describe simultaneous interpretation during interviews or focus groups. It is a misnomer as translation normally refers to written content.
Localization: This is the process of adapting content to meet the specific cultural, location, and regulatory requirements of a particular target market. It goes beyond simple translation.
Transcription: The process of creating a written record of spoken content by converting speech into text. This can be monolingual transcription where the audio is transcribed into text in the same language. This can also include multilingual audio-to-text, which is a process that converts audio or video content in one language into written text in another language(s). CETRA can provide clients with transcription services where the client receives either just the transcribed monolingual text or the written text in both the original and translated language(s).
In-Language Coding: A qualitative research technique in which survey responses, interviews, or focus group comments are categorized and analyzed in their original language, before any translation occurs. This is a system often used to help organize and analyze data from multilingual market research surveys, including open end responses. The process preserves the cultural nuances and meanings of the responses, while avoiding potential bias introduced through translation.
Back Translation: A quality control method sometimes used to assess a translation by translating the target-language text back into the original language. At CETRA, we do not recommend back translation as a primary quality control measure because it evaluates how easily a translation can be reconstructed rather than whether the translation is accurate, natural, and fit for purpose in the target language. In addition, a poor initial translation can affect the results of the back translation.
Example of how it works: A document is first translated from English into Spanish, for example. A different translator then translates the Spanish version back into English. The two English versions are then compared.
Again, we do not recommend using this method to verify translation accuracy because the back translation will almost always differ from the original content. This can create confusion and may lead to unjustified concerns or complaints.
That’s our initial list of common terms in the language industry. Let us know if you have any suggestions that can be added to this list.
For more information about CETRA or our provided services, please contact us at info@cetra.com.
