Frequently asked questions
1. What is the difference between translation and interpreting?
2. What's simultaneous interpreting?
3. What's consecutive interpreting?
4. What's whispered interpreting?
5. How early should I order interpreting services?
6. How long time will it take to translate my document?
7. What should I consider when ordering a translation/interpreting?
8. What are CAT tools?
9. What's a translation memory?
10. How do I find out the number the standard pages or word count for a document?
11. Do you do certified translation?
1. What is the difference between translation and interpreting?
Translation usually refers to written text while interpreting is always oral.
2. What's simultaneous interpreting?
Interpreters working in groups of 2 (or 3) persons to translate speeches or to contribution to the target language in parallel with the speaker. They work in sound-proof booths, taking turns in several-minute intervals, and delegates listen to their interpreting via headphones. Simultaneous interpreting is particularly suitable for conferences, congresses, meetings and events with larger audiences.
3. What's consecutive interpreting?
The speaker stops after each sentence or a short section of speech. The interpreter listens, takes notes if necessary and then translates the entire statement. One interpreter is sometimes sufficient. He or she usually sits at the table or stands next to the speaker and speaks out loud to the audience. Headphones are not required. Consecutive interpreting is suitable for various meetings and negotiations, trainings, short speeches, videoconferences and generally wherever more interaction is required.
4. What's whispered interpreting?
"Chuchotage" in Franch. Simultaneous interpreting with no interpreting equipment. The interpreter sits or stands next to a small group of listeners and whispers what is being said. Whispered interpreting is suitable for events where only 1 to 3 listeners need interpreting.
5. How early should I order interpreting services?
The earlier you contact us, the higher the chance we can reserve the time for you. Some customers reserve our services even as early as a half a year in advance. However, such planning is not always possible and you may need an interpreter for the very next day. Please call us and we’ll do what we can to meet your needs. If we’re not available for the requested date or time, we’ll gladly recommend a suitable colleague.
6. How long time will it take to translate my document?
We appreciate that speed is often very important for clients. We’ll do our best to meet your deadlines. If it’s not possible, we will agree on a more realistic deadline acceptable for both parties. For you to get an idea, a standard speed of translation is 2000 words (6 standard pages) per day. However, much will depend on the complexity of the text to be translated and our availability. If you have an urgent and/or large translation, one option is to form a team of translators. More here.
7. What should I consider when ordering a translation/interpreting?
See the brochure Translation - Getting it right for many useful information and things to consider when ordering a translation.
8. What are CAT tools?
CAT stands for Computer Aided Translation. Basically, the purpose of these tools is to inform the translator that the sentence or text segment they are about to translate is identical or similar to a sentence or a segment they have translated sometimes in the past and show them how the sentence or segment was translated.
This is how it works: The software stores all sentences translated by the translator to a special database called a translation memory (TM).
Whenever during the translation process the translator comes across a sentence identical with or similar to a sentence translated in the past, the software shows them the translation stored in the translation memory and highlights possible differences. The translator may check, modify and then reuse the sentence as appropriate. CAT tools are especially beneficial for technical and legal texts where various parts of the text tend to repeat. The software checks not only 100% "full matches", but also partial "fuzzy matches".
What’s in it for the customer:
- Guaranteed high translation consistency and unified terminology usage even if individual translations are done in various points of time
- Lower final price for the customer. Possibility of negotiating discounts for repetitive segments.
- Possibility of receiving bilingual documents allowing to toggle between showing and hiding the original text.
- Optional delivery of the translation together with translation memories reusable for other translation projects.
Computer aided translation is not machine translation. The software doesn’t replace the translator, it merely remembers the results of their work.
9. What's a translation memory?
It’s a special database containing pairs of original and translated sentences. Customers can benefit from reusing translation memories for other translations. In addition to being used together with CAT tools, they can also be used as a source of reference or as a basis for building a terminology glossary.
10. How do I find out the number the standard pages or word count for a document?
1 standard page = 1800 characters including spaces.
In MS Word, depending on the version, go to either Tools or Review and then › Word Count › Characters (with spaces) or Words. If the document is in another format it’s a bit more complicated. You can either:
- Copy the text to MS Word and count the characters/words there;
- If copy-pasting to MS Word is not possible or convenient, e.g. for PowerPoint documents with many text boxes, convert the document to PDF first (you can use a freeware tool like PDF Creator to do that) and then from PDF to MS Word. To be able to select the whole text of the document in Adobe Acrobat Reader go to View › Page Display and make sure that either Single page continuous or Two-up continuous is selected. Select the whole text by pressing Ctrl+A and paste it to a new Word document;
- Use a specialised software (such as Practicount). Be cautious, though, because every software gives you a slightly different character or word count, which may easily lead to a misunderstanding! Test it first and change the settings as needed;
- More advanced users can create or download from internet a special macro such as this for MS PowerPoint.
Note: Depending on the type and size of fonts a single physical page may contain more than one standard page of text!
11. Do you do certified translation?
No, Rasto Geschwandtner is not a judicially certified translator. Certified translations are usually required only for some official documents. Commercial and other documents do not require certification.
If you require a certified translation, contact Zlatica Juhasova, or any other translator registered in the List of Judicially Certified Experts, Translators and Interpreters (in Slovak).