HOW TO AVOID NO-STAR-WHERE TRANSLATION
Have you ever struggled in translating documents into English? Have you ever felt that you are using a “Vietnamese” translation? Translators Team of Specialist Department is here to help you with some useful tips get from our experiences. If you then try them, please let us know the result by giving the comments below.
THE VERY FIRST THING, GET TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TRANSLATING!
A good marketer always says that the first step to master marketing strategies is to know your customers. A good translator says the same thing. First of all, let’s scan your document to get the main ideas or to clarify its characteristic, general or specialized, formal or informal.
Then, it is very important to identify the keywords which will help you in searching the appropriate English words. In terms of looking up new words in the dictionary, beside the paper ones, some online websites can be good choices such as Cambridge Free English Dictionary, Thesaurus and Online Oxford Collocation. What you have to take notes is to make sure that the English words you use is suitable for the Vietnamese context.
The next step is to identify the ways you will develop the whole Vietnamese sentences into English ones and how to connect them. By experiencing, we may point out four fundamental rules for writing style:
- Use exact collocations. This can help you build a right paragraphs with plentiful ways of using new words.
- Apply more grammar structures. By using some complex structures such as compound sentences or relative clauses, you can upgrade your document to a more professional version. However, please remember that too much of anything is good for nothing, which means that complex structures are good but in the right amount. Sometimes, you need to use short sentences to avoid your paragraph from being over complicated.
- Use noun phrases. Using too many gerunds may make your translation boring. Instead, let’s transform some of them into noun phrases to refresh your documents.
- Apply passive voice. In some cases, passive voice may help you resolve the problem. For instance, in a sentence, when the object obtains important information, passive structure is more likely to be the best way to express them.
Last but not least, it is necessary to check the spelling and grammar carefully. It is better if you have a good knowledge but if not, don’t worry, in this 4.0 era, online websites or applications can effectively help you. Grammarly.com or Prowritingaid.com may be your cup of tea.
To conclude, these are all the tips our team want to share. Hope you will find them useful. However, practice makes perfect. So try your best, we believe you can do it. If you have any other ways to have a good translation, please share with us in the comment below.
