The purpose of team collaboration on various communicationprojects – reports, websites, presentations, and other is to achieve through the collective energy and expertise of the various team members results better than the outcomes each individual could achieve otherwise.

Although it seems and easy task, we should say that collaborating on team messagesis not that simple. It has its own specifics and requires special effort. First, the work habits or priorities of the members of the team may and normally differ: an engineer, for example, would rather focus on accuracy of information and compliance with technical standards; aPR professional would rather pay attention on organizationand coherence; a manager would focus on deadlines, cost, and common organizational goals. Then, the team members also differ in writing styles, background and personality traits, which can also complicate the communication process. In this light, effective communication requires flexibility, honesty and openness to other opinions giving priority to team objectives rather than to pursuing private business goals or imposing “their way” to do things.

In this light, the professionals from a college transcript translation agency give hereafter the following guidelines for collaborative writing: to select carefully collaborators whose experience, background and talent best match the project needs; to agree on and clearly formulate project goals before the start of the project; to define clear individual responsibilities, including their scope and deadlines and other. The translation workers also advise us to avoid writing as a group. In their opinion, the best approach in most cases is to research, discuss and outline the writing as a group, but to assign the development of the text to one person. Of course, you would need to divide larger projects among more writers, but even in this case, Philadelphia Japanese Translation Agency professionals recommend the final revision to be done by one person to ensure consistency of writing.

People join organizations, work in teams, in short – collaborate to achieve together what they cannot or will take too much effort to reach alone. To be effective collaborators in a team setting, team members must recognize that as individuals they must share their unique and valuable assets in the form of acquired knowledge, skills and expertise with the team. The workers from a Chinese Translation  define strong collaborators as individuals who are open to sharing important data and insights, are strong in evaluating problems and opportunities, and skilled in resolving problems and challenges that develop. Collaborators have faith in others and will listen to contrasting opinions in order to develop betters methods and achieve superior results for the team or firm as opposed to acting for their own personal gain and self-interests.

Jim Smyth, a Spanish certified translation professional from Dallas, generalizes that the most efficient and productive teams are created with a specific objective and a mutual feeling of mission, communicate honestly and discuss purposely so that they can come to an agreement, are composed of creatively thinkers who discover fresh approaches for solving problems, are comfortable with disagreement and have the capacity to resolve disputes. Because mastering these team skills requires significant training, today’s organizations invest in programs that concern team skills more frequently and extensively than any other aspect of business.

In contrast, ineffective teamwork can waste time and money, produce low-quality work, and breed frustration in both managers and employees. The professionals from the above diploma translation agency cite a lack of trust and guarded communication as the most common reason for team failure. Ineffective teams lack a strong internal relationship and credibility; their members are suspicious of one another’s motives or ability to contribute. Another frequently cited cause of team inefficiency and inability pertains to weak communication, particularly when members are of different cultures, countries or time zones. Poor communication can also result from conversational style differences. Some people expect discussions to follow an orderly pattern while others are comfortable with a more overlapping, interactive style.

Contemporary research workers in the field of organizational behavior believe that successful teams can largely improve productivity, increase employee involvement, foster creativity, and even provide for better job security. And yet, although teams can play a vital role in helping an organization reach its goals, the professionals from a Chinese translation agency in California remind us, that they are not the “ultimate” solution, for they might not be appropriate for a given situation. Moreover, even when they are appropriate, the particular organization needs to weigh both the pros and cons for using a team-based approach. It is true that a successful team can provide a number of advantages: pooling the experience of several individuals often results in increased information and knowledge and thus better decisions made. In addition, team members can bring a variety of perspectives to the decision-making process. However, as the Spanish translation workers also remind us, the multiple perspectives can hamper the joint efforts unless they are guided by and centered on a shared goal.

Another advantage of team work is that it often improves the likelihood that employees will embrace a solution because they developed it. In addition, since the members of the team have a greater likelihood of embracing the solution that they developed, they will likely try harder to encourage other workers to accept it.

Working in teams can foster creativity and unleash new levels of energy in employees who share a sense of purpose and mutual accountability. According to Milwaukee German Translation Service professionals, effective teams can perform better than individuals at solving complex problems. Finally, since individuals are social beings who need to belong to a group, teams fill this individual worker’s need. Working in a team also reduces boredom at the workplace, increases the feelings of self-worth and dignity, as well as lowers stress, anxiety and tension between workers.

When communication tools are well-chosen and function in a smooth way, they can not only facilitate transition and change. The professionals from a Houston Chinese translation service give a good example to support this statement. They told us the story of Carter Law Firm, based in North Carolina. James Carter, a senior partner in the firm, wanted to replace the computer system they used at the firm for everything from contact lists to document storage. Though very powerful software it was too expensive and complicated for their needs. The solution he chose for his small law firm was a wiki, the same technology that people around the world use to contribute to Wikipedia.

The wiki not only helped cut costs, and handling much of the firm’s document storage and formal communication, but it also introduced informality. Many employees have added personal pages with information, which helped people within the organization to get to know each other, and in the opinion of the legal translation Service workers to bond as community.

In introducing the new system, Mr. Carter faced a common problem that often accompanies the any change, especially when it comes to the introduction of new communication tools: people tend to cling to the routine and familiar ways of doing things and are reluctant to embrace change. So he decided to encourage the use of the new wiki with a friendly competition. Except giving a chance to win a prize for each page created during the competition, from time to time, Mr. Carter also forced use of the wiki by publishing important information only on it.

What was the effect of all this? The Japanese translation services workers who gave the above example admit that the move to the wiki led to some disturbance and commotion. Employees split into one of two groups that had different ideas relating to how information should be stored and organized. However, they eventually reached a compromise and resolved the disagreement. So, the introduction of the new communication tool was not only cost-effective, but it also fostered more effective communication and teamwork.

One of the ways to classify tourism is in terms of its specifics, direction and quality of rendered services. In essence, tourism is the production of services by way of a specific combination of physical components required for the production of an intangible product. Here we may quote from what the workers at a French translation agency in Dallas, Texas say: “Tourism is a promise of the supply side to create a certain effect seen on the demand side as an expectation to meet specific physiological and spiritual needs. In this light we can say that tourism as a business depends largely on the aims it pursues and on the demands of its customers – the tourists it attracts. In this light, the translation services workers from the above agency also add that tourism can be classified as a business not only in terms of its quantity but to a large extent in terms of quality.

The reforms in the countries that passed through a period of transition to a market economy have undoubtedly left their stamp on tourism. The workers from a Houston Portuguese Translation Agency formulate the following areas, particularly affected by these reforms:

• The impact of the structural reforms associated with the processes of privatization in the tourism business and change in ownership;
• The changes in the legal environment for tourism;
• The impact of structural reforms on the market characteristics of competition in tourism and its commercialization.

Although the structural reforms aimed to develop a natural market environment for tourism in these countries since they did not involve control as a natural part of their implementation, this led to accumulation of problems in the business environment. In many of the post-socialist countries the keywords that can characterize tourist business are: overbuilding and bad management approach, making benefits without regard to the overall effect of the functioning of tourism and its coordination with other sectors of the economy. This, naturally, have lowered the prices of holidays offered by these destinations. Of course, there are a lot of travel agencies in these countries that can claim to provide good results in line with the notion of attractive tourism products and we hope that their number will rapidly grow in the future.

We may say that to prepare individual pro-forma budgets is neither formality nor an end in itself. The aim is to create accurate, reliable, valuable and useful information which reflects the business activity of the entity for a future reporting period as well as to provide for a basis for systematic control. Budgets can be used for forecasting the costs for the next reporting period as well as for the execution of ex-ante, ongoing and ex-post control over expenditure.

In the opinion of Tom Stevens, a Spanish translator from Los Angeles, one of the priorities of the accounting staff in the business entity is to develop operational and financial reports. After they have collected information from the accounts of the previous reporting period and information from the annual financial statements for the subject span of time, as well as from original data sources, verified and issued in a chronological sequence, they proceed to the calculation of the estimated data. The advice of Tom’s former colleagues in a German translation company is first to prepare a Sales Budget, followed by a Stocks of Finished Goods Budget.  These budgets are fundamental, as they project the future development of the entity. Only after they have developed them they should proceed to the development of a Production Budget, a Cost of Materials Budget, etc.

To develop the Sales Budget, accounting staff usually uses the information from the Revenue from Sales of Production account for the previous reporting period. Using the information on the production sold by type in the past reporting period and accounting for the price change estimates for the next period, they present in a structured way by months information for: the potential sales volume in kind, the forecast sales price and the estimated revenue from sales.

The above mentioned certified translation workers further explain, that the compilation of the Stocks of Finished Goods Budget is a task of the Marketing Department only. Thus after preparing the Sales Budget, the accounting staff prepares the Production Budget.  In doing so they usually prepare:

• pro-forma budget of sales volume in kind;

• stock of unsold finished goods at the end of the period in kind and;

• potential production volume  in kind.

As a professional certified translator, you might be tasked with an assignment where you will be working collectively with other professionals to solve a common problem or reach a common goal in a team. The following article discusses some characteristics of teams.

Communications within a cross functional work team symbolize a key aspect of professional communication. A cross functional team consists of individuals who come together with an aim of reaching a common goal.  For instance, it might include purchasing, accounting, marketing and even language translation professionals.  As one Houston Chinese translator explains, cross functional teams are formed in order to identify an effective solution and once a solution is determined and implemented with successful results, the team breaks up. Often the members of these problem solving teams come from a number of business areas, specialties and areas of expertise. The positive aspect of this sort of team is that it brings about a range of viewpoints from people of diverse corporate backgrounds and knowledge. However, the downside can sometimes be that conflicting interests can generate conflicts that require strong skills in professional communication to manage.

Committees are structured teams that tend to exist for an extended period of time and might even become a fixture of the organization. Committees generally have regularly scheduled events such as the meeting of the executive committee and perhaps even elections. Regardless of a team’s objective and responsibility, all members need to have the ability to converse professionally with fellow team members and outsiders. According to several experienced Japanese translation workers in Seattle, this need generally requires more advanced communication skills that include disseminating details and facts with members, being attentive to other members, and composing communications that convey the joint ideas and opinions of the team.

Ethical translation involves three elements: ethical individuals, ethical corporate leadership, and the relevant policies and structures to provide employees with the opportunity to make ethical choices. However, the mere availability of these three elements is not sufficient – undoubtedly they need to work in harmony. For example, if employees see that their immediate superiors make unethical decisions and contemptuously disregard the company rules, they might get tempted to follow suit.  As one worker from a Dallas Certified Translation Agency simply formulated it: “If my boss doesn’t care, why should I?” A good leader is and should be trusted, and when we trust somebody we are apt to emulate their behavior. That is why we rightfully hold our leaders to high standards of ethics. Moreover, researchers believe, that ethical leaders foster ethical working environment and that there is a link between ethical organizational cultures and good profits. And to influence organizational ethics, leaders need to develop clear guidelines for what is considered right and what wrong behavior and for ethical business communication in particular.

Companies usually develop codes of ethics to enhance employees in determining what is the proper behavior. Such codes also guide employees when making their decisions. According to the documents they include, the workers from a French translation services company differentiate between: codes of business ethics, codes of employee conduct and codes of professional practice. Codes of business ethics are usually publicly available. They set out the basic principles and describe the obligation of a company to its stakeholders.  A code of conduct, on its part, usually defines the restrictions on employee behavior and is intended only for the employees of a company. A code of professional practice is adopted by professional associations or organizations to regulate a given profession.

As an English to Spanish translator from the above agency adds, code is often part of an employee training program. It also provides for procedures that allow employees to ask questions and report cases of unethical behavior.

Apart from being in conformity with a number of written or tacit ethical guidelines, business communication also must comply with and is bound by a variety of laws and regulations, including the following areas: promotional communication, contracts, employment communication, intellectual property, financial reporting and many other.

Promotional communication. Businesses, and their marketing departments in particular, are not only morally obliged to ensure advertising that is honest, decent and truthful – they are also legally bound to do so. There are many laws that regulate this area addressing such issues as false and deceptive advertising, misleading or inaccurate labeling, as well as what many legal translation workers call the “bait-and-switch” tactics in which merchants advertise products or services they do not have in stock at a low price, so that they can sell their substitute products, usually at a higher price.

Although contract law varies widely in the various jurisdictions, in general we can broadly define a contract as a promise between two parties, in which one of the parties extends an “offer” to do or not to do something specified. To have an effective contract, the other party needs to “accept” it. The third element required is the “consideration” – what is given in return. The workers from a Houston Chinese Translation Services Agency add, that we enter into contracts at least once every single day -  from buying products in the shop and getting a taxi to applying for a loan, renting a property.

Employment. The relationships between employers and potential or current employees are governed by a great number of laws and regulations. For example, job descriptions must be written in such a way so that they do not discriminate people in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age or disability.

 Intellectual property includes inventions, patents, copyrighted materials, trade secrets, in short, a wide range of creations of the mind. Nowadays when it is so easy to copy or retransmit electronic files, our colleagues from a Milwaukee French Translation services Agency remind us, that the protection of intellectual property is a primary concern.

Ethics refers to recommended standards of conduct that prescribe behavior within a society. Put another way, ethical principles define what is right, good or proper. The experts from a TMA Certified Diploma Translation Agency define ethics as “to be aware of what is the right thing to do.” As a business communicator, you have the responsibility to decide not only what you need to say, but also the consequences of saying it.

Ethical behavior is a concern and duty of every organization. However, whatever an organization does, has an impact on its natural and social environment. For this reason, communication efforts are subjected to strict scrutiny from the company’s stakeholders: legislators, investors, consumer groups, the local community, labor organizations, and all other parties that can be affected by the activities of the organization.

The aforementioned Milwaukee Spanish translation workers believe that ethical communication avoids withholding crucial information, conveys the point without offending the audience and passes true and accurate information.  In contrast, unethical communication purposefully distorts the truth or manipulate audiences in a variety of ways: by omitting essential information, misrepresenting numbers (unethical manipulation of statistics and other data), distorting visuals (making a product look bigger or changing the scale of graphs), failing to respect privacy, confidentiality or information security needs.
As the experts from a San Jose Translation Services company remind, unethical communication is not always obvious and overt. Moreover, deciding what is ethical can be a considerable challenge in some business situations. In some cases, ethical choices are clear, but in others, the right path is not always easy to identify. True ethical communication is based on perception – if a person or a group of people interpret some actions or words to be discriminatory or offensive, whatever the intention of the communicator is, the communication may be considered unethical.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Skype… – are all these the new tools of productivity or the new distractions?  In the opinion of the experts from The Marketing Analysts Translation Services Company, a Houston Chinese Translation Agency, they are key parts of the so-called the “information technology paradox,” in which such information tools can waste as much time as they save, if not more.  According to a recent Gallup poll, the average employee uses office computers for non-business related activity for at least 75 minutes daily.  This, undoubtedly results in productivity losses and may rise legal issues from the inappropriate use of some websites. For instance, non-job related web surfing not only wastes valuable company time and distracts employees from work responsibilities but can also expose employers to lawsuits for sexual harassment if inappropriate images are transmitted around the organization. Employees’ blogs can also be a source of unconscious disclosure of sensitive or confidential information or can damage an organization’s reputation or distort the image an organization would like to impose on the general public. That is why, many employers are so concerned about misusing technological tools, that they install software that limits Internet access during working hours to restrict the use of the internet and corporate e-mail services by their employees.

The speed and simplicity of technological tools can be not only a great advantage, but also a serious weakness: it is so easy and tempting nowadays to send many, often unnecessary or unclear (you can always send another) messages and to subscribe to too many blog feeds and other information sources. The professionals from one of the leading Dallas Certified Translation Services Company believe that this not only wastes valuable company time, but may also cause an information overload which can significantly affect the employee’s ability to focus on their work.  That is why The Marketing Analysts Washington D.C. Translation Services professionals advice managers to developing clear policies that are enforced evenly for all employees and to guide their employees in productive use of information tools.

Once information passes through the communication channel and is received by the target audience, it encounters an entirely new spectrum of challenges. Realizing the ways the target audience will acquire, decode, and react to the information you communicate will assist Spanish translation workers and interpreters in developing more powerful communications.

How Audiences Acquire Information
When a member of the target audience receives your message, three events had to take place:

1. The audience member had to perceive that a message was being transmitted,
2. The audience member had to choose the message from all other messages vying for attention
3. The audience member had to recognize that this was a real message (as in contrast to accidental, useless sounds).

Listeners in the business world today are like pedestrians that take the subway and walk down busy streets to get to work. They are overwhelmed with the amount of information and sounds that they can ignore or focus attention on. Throughout the next set of blog entries, Seattle Japanese translation workers will discover a number of strategies for creating messages that draw attention. Generally speaking, you should follow these guidelines to improve your likelihood of success:

Take into account your target audience’s needs, desires and presumptions. Provide communications through the media and channels that your target audience is expecting. If co-workers are used to receiving conference announcements sent by email then you shouldn’t suddenly switch to posting announcements in the breakroom or on a company intranet site without informing the intended recipients.

Ensure simplicity. Regardless of whether the target audience needs to hear what you are going to communicate, it’s likely that they will never be exposed to your communication if you make it difficult for them to receive. For instance, poorly designed websites with dark backgrounds and light or bright text and confusing navigation can obstruct your communication from being received by your target audience.

Stress understanding and expertise. Certified translation workers should use` terms, images, and concepts that are utilized by your target audience. For instance, almost all people who visit your firm’s website now count on finding information concerning the business on an “about us” page.

Scientists nowadays are concerned that misuse or overuse of communication technology can lead to information overload. The term “information overload” (also known as “infobesity”) was first introduced by Berthram Gross in his book “The Managing of Organizations” (1964) but it was in fact popularized by Alvin Tofler in his best-seller “Future Sock” (1970).

Decision makers have a given, fairly limited, processing capacity so if they receive more information than they can effectively process, it is likely to experience difficulty in discriminating between the useful and the useless information, in understanding an issue or making a decision. This will inevitably result in reduced quality of decision making, lower productivity, and often in high levels of employee stress both on the job and at home.

Even though there is not a real solution how to stop information overload, the professionals from a San Jose Certified Translation Services  mention a few things that can be done to possibly reduce it.

As a recipient, you often have some level of control over the number and types of messages you receive. For example, most e-mail systems usually offer good filtering and tagging options that can automatically sort incoming messages based on preset criteria. So using this feature you can isolate high-priority messages that deserve your attention and disregard or spend less time on the information that is not important. Another advice, added by the professionals from a Miami German Translation Services is, to spend less time on interrupting devices such as smartphones or tablets and to be wary of subscribing to too many blog feeds, Twitter follows, and other sources of recurring messages.

It is bad to undercommunicate nowadays, but sending unnecessary messages or sending a message to the wrong people is almost as bad. As a sender, you can help reduce information overload by making sure you don’t send unnecessary messages. Moreover, if you send messages that are not urgent or crucial, it is good to let people know this, to give them the option to prioritize. Moreover, since most communication systems let you mark messages as urgent, the advice of the Marketing Analysts French Translation Services in Washington D.C.  is to use this feature only when it is truly needed. Sending too many messages marked as “urgent” that do not really need immediate attention and actions, will lead to annoyance and anxiety.

In conclusion, we may say that information overload is an increasing problem nowadays, and that those that learn how to deal with it effectively will have a major advantage in the next few years.

Undoubtedly we are living in a “technologically civilized” society and each and every piece of work we do is technology dependent. However, we should always remember that technology is simply a tool, a means by which you can accomplish certain tasks. Even as we write this, a new device hits the market. And though it seems that everything changes, in fact not everything changes. It is the means we actually use to communicate that change almost daily, but communication itself has not changed. Of course, as new technology emerges, there are new manners associated with these changes. However, the standards of communication, the manners associated with the ways we communicate with each other continue to be the key to how effective our communication is.

Technology is not a replacement for people; it just enhances and facilitates their activities. As one Houston Chinese Translation Services professional says: “My spell checker can run all my words through a dictionary but it does not know whether I have used the correct words and it cannot craft powerful sentences to present the sense I want to express.” In terms of communication we can paraphrase it in such a way – Gadgets can’t think for you or communicate for you, and if you lack some essential skills, they can’t fill in the gaps.

The aforementioned certified translator does not deny, that communication technology undoubtedly has a number of advantages in an organization: it speeds the sending of information, improves organizational communication, influences the way people interact, supports open discussions, provides a voice for those who normally would not speak up in groups, and more. However, we should also mention that is quite expensive and definitely – not very safe and often it is a poor substitute for face-to-face communication.

Although you have been communicating more or less successfully all your life, business communication is often quite different from everyday communication in social or home environment.  Business communication nowadays increasingly requires a high level of skill and attention: the globalization of business necessitates interaction between individuals from different countries, languages and cultural attitudes. It has also resulted in the increase in workforce diversity, the higher value of business information, and the growing importance of teamwork.

The Globalization of Business and the Increase in Workforce Diversity
Business Communication is essential in the workplace; yet diversity in the workplace and in the workforce may make a challenge. Today’s businesses increasingly reach across international borders, branch into different parts of the world, forge relationships with cross-border partners, access consumer markets in new territories. And if in the 60s and 70s the term diversity usually meant employee differences based on race, sex, color, national origin and religion, today it also includes additional employee characteristics, mainly as a result of globalization and generation diversity. Successful companies increasingly realize that a diverse workforce can yield a significant competitive advantage. But, as The Marketing Analysts Translation Services professionals formulate it: they also realize that managing a diverse workforce calls for knowledge of differences and flexibility in communication.

The Higher Value of Business Information
Today we live in times of rapidly increasing value of business information. With the growth in global competition for talent, customers, and resources, the importance of information has gone up, too.  Even companies not traditionally associated with the so-called Information Age often seek to hire at all organizational levels, workers, employees who specialize in collecting, processing, and communicating information. And since the better you are able to understand, use, and communicate information to others, the more competitive you and your company will be, people with good communicative and language skills, able to provide for a professional translation and accurate communication of information in the proper style are required by man companies.

The Growing Importance of Teamwork
Specific types of organization structures present unique communication challenges. However, as Tom Quelbecson, a professional from a Portland Certified Translation Services company put it, no matter the company structure businesses can rely heavily on teamwork. Irrespective the field you work in, you will undoubtedly find yourself a part of dozens of teams throughout your career. Teams are widely used today, and yet, they’re not always successful. And a key reason for this is poor communication.

Communication flow within an organizational structure through a variety of pathways. Amanda McGreen, a business communication expert and an English to Italian translator, defines two types of organizational communication structure: informal and formal.

Formal communication is defined by the relationships between the various job positions in an organization. It takes place through the formal channels of organizational structure. Messages can flow upward (from a subordinate to a superior), downward (by the manager to the subordinates) and horizontally (between colleagues and peers at the same or similar levels).

Downward communication is best suited for organizations where the line of authority runs distinctly downward. Its main objectives include: to convey executive decisions and transmit work-related information that helps employees do their jobs. Upward communication provides a feedback on how well the organization is functioning as well as on how well the subordinates have understood the downward communication. The professionals from one of the leading Detroit Translation Services Agency believe that it is also an outlet for pent-up emotions – giving employees a chance to raise and speak dissatisfaction issues to their superiors. To summarize, we can say that upward communication provides insight into problems, opportunities, trends and performance- and thus allows executives to solve problems and make intelligent decisions. Horizontal communication facilitates communication between interdependent units and departments to help employees share information, coordinate tasks, and solve various organizational problems. It can also be used for resolving conflicts between departments or within the same department.

Every organization also has informal channels of business communication often referred to as the grapevine. It stretches in all directions irrespective of authority levels, practically encompassing all communication that takes place outside the formal network. Despite its disadvantages – since it contains unverified facts, rumor and unclear data it may harm, rather than help an organization. However, as translators with The Marketing Analysts Translation Services comment, efficient use of informal channels can fortify the formal communication network and every smart manager should make the best possible use of the grapevine.

As a translation services professional, communication skills will be essential to your success. In fact, if one of your priorities is to stand out from your competitors, improving your communication skills may turn out to be one of the most important steps you can take. As, Jamie Sutherland, a HR manager who is also working as a certified translator says, hiring managers often complain about the poor communication skills of the potential employees they interview – especially of recent college graduates who have no experience in a professional business environment. Considering you have learned at college how to write, listen and speak well, if you are also able to communicate effectively depending on the specific business situation, you’ll have a major advantage and you will be a step ahead of your competitors throughout your professional translator career.

Communication is the process of conveying information through an exchange of messages between a sender, an encoder, and a receiver – a decoder. This can be done by speech, visuals, writing, signals or behavior.  Effective communication occurs, when the receiver has completely understood the message of the sender, i.e. when he or she gets the exact information or idea that the sender has intended to convey. Effective communication benefits both the sender and the receiver and helps businesses in many ways. Some of these benefits are:

• Better decision making based on more complete and reliable information;
• Better time management – the faster problem solving takes up less time that can be used for creating solutions;
• Identifying potential problems at an earlier stage;
• Stronger professional images and closer business relationships;
• Higher employee engagement and lower employee turnover;
• Better financial results, and other.

As translators with The Marketing Analysts Translation Service in Houston explain, effective communication reinforces the connection between a business and all of its stakeholders, those people, groups or organizations that are affected or can be affected by the actions of the business as a whole: customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, creditors, investors, the community, and the government. On the other hand, bad communication breaks down trust, and the consequences can range from waste of time and efforts to failure. So, speaking of communication we always have to bear in mind, that it is a powerful “weapon” that can help you succeed at every stage of your career.

Within any modern day setting, the communications that you translate or interpret can be disrupted by a variety of communication barriers. Some common modern day barriers include sounds and environmental distractions, competing messages, filters, and channel breakdowns:

Sounds and Environmental Distractions. These types of distractions range from hold, cold or stuffy meeting rooms; to cluttered computer desktops with Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and chat messengers open and Microsoft Outlook reminders constantly going off. The common habit of multitasking, attempting more than one task at a time, is practically guaranteed to create communication distractions. Other distractions that Houston Portuguese to English translation workers have identified can be rather personal such as thoughts and emotions that inhibit the target audience members from receiving and processing the information that you deliver.

Competing messages. Getting the complete attention from all of the intended audience members is very challenging and usually impossible.  A skilled translator with The Marketing Analysts Translation Services company is ready to avert other messages that interfere with your message.  Cell phones, other audience members and even fellow certified translation workers maybe more captivating than the message you deliver and can divert attention.

Filters. Filters can be human or electronic and work to blocked or distort your message.  Certain filters, such as spam filters are sometimes unintentional.  Even if you are a veteran certified transcript and diploma translation worker, you are likely aware how a structure and culture of certain business clients deter the stream of critical job related details.

Channel breakdowns. There are moments when inherent weaknesses in the communication channel completely fail when delivering your message. A computer that you had planned to complete a translation and e-mail it to your client becomes infected by a virus or the server that you use to host your blog crashes and cuts off access.

As a professional translator, make a special effort to recognize barriers that can creep up and stop your communications from reaching their intended audiences.

Just a few years back, business communication was usually discussed in the context of publishing or broadcasting. This was most frequently done by a company producing carefully worded communications that were targeted to a mass audience that usually had only one or two ways to react to the message. In the same manner, the intended consumers usually had limited and no means to interact among themselves, solve problems, raise doubts and offer assistance to other consumers with similar concerns.

In more recent times, an assortment of solutions have been introduced that have successfully worked to improve the business communication. Unlike the way of thinking previously mentioned, this fresh approach that uses a social media style is collaborative, dynamic, conversational, multilingual and culturally sensitive. As translators with The Marketing Analysts Translation Service explain, classic methods of publishing communications using fixed, ordered and primarily one-way channels are becoming extinct.” The intended consumer has stopped being an inactive receiver of information. Instead, the intended consumer is now a dynamic and engaged member in the discussion. In the same way social media represents the latest advancements for the internet, Social Business Communication is a good terms used to describe this new style of business communication.

While the new style of communication might seem to some as a few simple tools (ex. blogs and wikis), the new style is greatly transforming the way business communication is conducted. For instance, previously business messages were carefully worded and tested by advertising agencies and professional writers and the sent to a translation company and then sent to sometimes targeted or untargeted passive audiences. Using the social business communication style, the principles have been radically transformed; no presumptions should be assumed.

Obviously, no organization, regardless of how passionately it adopts the Social Business Communication mentality, will allow itself to operate in a way that gives everyone a voice to be heard. Rather, a business will more likely employ the conventional approach for certain communications (ex. marketing plans, product strategies and other documents) and use the Social Business Communication approach for other types of communications such as instructional and support communications. Throughout the next set of blog entries, we will include a variety of discussions that concern the new style of social business communication and how it influences certified translators, consumers and stakeholders.

When students leave the classroom and enter the professional workplace, they often feel overwhelmed by the demands on them to write. Even though they have written assignments, term papers, and essay exams for years, they find that the writing they excelled in at school is not the writing that wins them accolades on the job.

As one Spanish Translator suggested, school writing tends to focus on learning how to expand ideas and words and rewards fulfilling specific assignments. Thus clarity and accuracy may not be valued so highly as citing sources correctly or using what students term as “flowery” words. Furthermore, school writing usually prescribes a particular subject, scope, length, method, and essay format.  Audience considerations, beyond worrying  about what the professor likes or wants, are never in doubt, since students ought to know that their professors already know more about their topics than they do.  Although students may or may not be engaged in their writing projects but nevertheless believe that anything they produce is important, their  writing is actually useful only for securing a grade or determining a grade.   It cannot be reused or repurposed on most campuses without compromising academic integrity.   It does not provide content that the reader needs.  Instead, It shows what the writer knows—or disguises what he does not know.

In contrast, a French translator in New York believes says that professional writing comes with the job.  It has utility:  it serves uses that are indispensable in today’s world.   It may provide directions, preserve history, attempt a sale, lay out common understandings and procedures, or become a legal document.  It may be used many times and in many ways.  It is the property of the employer, who may alter it or use it as written.

Instead of focusing on what the writer wants to say, it requires the writer to assess the audience to determine who that audience—or multiple audiences—might be, what the audience needs and wants, how much that audience already knows about the subject, what level of language to use, and how to present the information in a format that is psychologically appealing.  And it requires logical organization, clear expression, accuracy in all details, and correct grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.  As if this were not enough, the writing must also be so clear that every reader understands it in the same way and so concise that the readers do not waste their time plowing through unnecessary words or confusing sentences.   It must be clear, concise, direct—and easy to use.  It is determined not by the writer’s preferences but by the reader’s needs and expectations.

Once you have performed some background research and produced a comprehensive account of your competencies, aptitudes, concerns, and needs and wants, start learning about your career choices. In order to know how to respond to job trends, Detroit Chinese translation workers suggest that you start your hunt early. Make an effort by paying attention to these recommendations:

1. Starting in your sophomore year, start browsing the local and online job boards: many local newspapers still publish Help Wanted sections in their Sunday editions. Listed here will be job descriptions, wages, and requirements for many work opportunities.

2. Talk to a librarian and ask her to recommend occupational outlooks, industry or trade publications, websites, and magazines or journals in your discipline.

3. Go to your university’s career and placement office; job postings are listed there, interviews are planned, and advisers can offer useful tips regarding job hunting.

4. Contact individuals in your line of business to get an inside view and some useful guidance.

5. Register in your career and placement office for job interviews with business representatives who have announced campus visits.

6. Request the recommendations of professors who do professional consulting or who have worked in business, industry, or government.

7. Be on the lookout for an internship in your discipline; this experience may count more than your education.

8. Develop connections; avoid being scared to ask for guidance. Write down names, titles, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and addresses of individuals ready to assist you.

9. A lot of professional organizations offer student memberships at reduced fees. These types of organizations can produce outstanding contacts and look good on your resume. If you do join a professional organization, try to attend meetings of the local chapter.

By following these recommendations before you graduate and begin your job search, you might discover particular classes cause you to be more valuable to prospective employers. In numerous jobs, for instance such as in the professional certified translation field, a solid understanding of layout and design applications is attractive, particular human resources positions call for counseling experience, and so on. Master as many skills as possible and customize your last semester to these mastering these demands (enrolling in a few layout and design application classes, taking a few counseling classes and performing volunteer work for a non-government agency (NGO).

If you happen to be transitioning from one job to another or one career to another, prospective hiring managers will be more intrigued in what you’ve done in your years since graduation. Be ready to present the way your experience is applicable to the new German translator job. Take advantage of the contacts you have built over time.

As an aspiring language translator who is beginning their job search, you should begin by evaluating your talents and aptitudes. The following questions were developed by a certified translation company in Houston, Texas. By answering these questions, you will more fully understand the value you offer to prospective employers.

1. What are the skills have I learned through my education?
2. What expertise have I gained as a result of holding my part-time and full-time jobs?
3. What knowledge have I attained from my pastimes and other passions?

At this stage in your self-assessment, most hiring authorities in German translation agencies recommend that you not leave out any talent you possess, irrespective of how insignificant it might seem as it corresponds to the position you are seeking. As soon as you have documented all your abilities, focus on your genuine skills and abilities):

1. What do I get pleasure in doing?
2. What classes did I like most in college? Why?
3. Which courses came easiest to me? Why?
4. Do I possess leadership skills? What evidence can I present?
5. Do I perform effectively in teams and when working with other people?
6. Do I have strong skills in analyzing problems that include breaking down situations into smaller components and evaluating interrelationships?
7. Am I particularly strong at identifying connections and interrelationships among ideas)?
8. Am I ambitious and self-motivated to achieve results?
9. How well do I speak other languages other than English?
10. Do I play an instrument?
11. Am I artistic and creative with skills in drawing and painting?
12. Can I read in other languages with strong understanding?
13. Do I write and speak fluently in other languages?
14. Am I a good listener?
15. Am I a creative problem solver and do people turn to me regularly for ideas?
16. Do I work effectively with other people?
17. Am I able to decipher data correctly?
18. How strong am I in locating and using primary data sources for research?
19. Do I interact well with other people and appear receptive to their ideas?
20. What extracurricular functions have I been particularly strong in doing?
21. What additional skills do I offer that will benefit a prospective employer?

Besides helping you concentrate on finding the right career, these questions will be helpful when you compose your resume and get ready for interviews.  For more information, please visit the translation resources page at Indiana University.

As a translation services professional, your resume is an overview of your history, credentials, expertise and proficiencies. A resume generally offers background information to reinforce your application letter. Your application letter, therefore, highlights particular aspects of your resume and demonstrates the way your track record finely suited to the job opening.

Given the weak economy and the plethora of college graduates, the employment market is a buyer’s market, with countless numbers of candidates contending for a small handful of positions. The truth is that a lot of large corporations are sent over 400,000 resumes a year for as few as 1000 open position. No matter if you happen to be seeking your first job or changing careers, you must conduct an extremely successful promotional strategy. In order to be competitive and hold an advantage over thousands of other candidates, you need to promote your capabilities better than your competitors.

JOB PROSPECTING: THE PRELIMINARY STEPS

A university diploma is no guarantee that you will be given the position that you desire, the geographic area you want, or the income you believe you’re entitled to receive. With intelligent planning, however, prior to composing your resume and letter of application it is possible to strengthen your odds. One strategy that is being used by job candidates is having their college transcripts translated along with their resumes.  If you perform the task of seeking work methodically, you may make the act of “looking for” and “getting the” position you desire less like playing the lottery.

Why Assess Your Abilities?

Prior to starting your search for employment, assess your abilities, passions, aptitudes, and desires. According to Houston Chinese Translation workers, the primary reason for worker discontentment stems from people disliking their jobs. If you don’t plan cautiously, you might become another statistic, one more disappointed employee performing tasks that you dislike.

Formal reports offer solutions, answer questions and solve problems. The practice of data analysis entails the careful collection and evaluation of facts that you gather from various sources and use as evidence to formulate judgments and produce solutions. During the course of planning your report, Atlanta German translation workers suggest that you spend times thinking about which of these questions your analysis is meant to answer:

l. Will taking a specific action reach a specific objective?

2. Is solution A or solution B a better cure for a certain condition?

3. What causes a certain condition to occur?

4. Is a given solution useful in a particular scenario?

Shorten your strategy for answering a research question and recast it as a declarative sentence in your statement of purpose. Occasionally you will work with a combination of approaches.

Once the research problem or question is defined, the next step is to analyze the facts without bias so that legitimate conclusions are made. At every phase of the project, Portland Spanish translation workers suggest that researchers give special consideration regarding the type of information record, what to leave out, what to discard and what you need next.

While you sort through information and create your report, only use the most reputable and reliable resources, differentiate hard from soft facts, and avoid specious reasoning. Adhere to these techniques as you plan and write your report:

l. Keep these questions with you and refer back to them at numerous points in your study.

a. What am I specifically seeking?

b. How should I structure my research questions to acquire the data that I need?

c. What is the best approach to communicate my results to the target audience?

Stay adaptable enough to adjust your style as you progress in your study.

2. Create a thorough outline and produce your report from it.

a. In your introduction, describe the topic of the report, explain and identify the research problem or question, and summarize important historical information. Determine your target audience, and briefly go over the sources and reasons for excluding data. Include working definitions or include them in a glossary. If you create a glossary or appendices, discuss its existence. Lastly, mention all significant issues to be covered in your body.

b. In the body section of the report, separate your subject into major topics and related subtopics. As recommended by Milwaukee translation workers, you should continue to split up the topic as much as possible in order to keep the topic easy to understand. In every stage of division, specify the topic, mention your relevant results, and assess and decipher the findings.

c. In the conclusion, review the most significant results from the body section, clarify the meaning of your results, and make recommendations according to your findings.

Introduction. The introduction explains and states the problem or condition, and offers background information. Define the target audience and go over your sources of information, in addition to your purpose for not including particular information such as expert opinions and relevant data. Dallas Chinese translation workers recommend  that you state working definitions, except in cases where there are so many that a glossary is required. In case you use a glossary and appendices, refer to them in your introduction. Lastly, establish the scope of your report by detailing the important concepts covered in the body.

Body. The body separates an elaborate issue into connected topics and subtopics, positioned in order of their significance. Break up the subject into its key components and then the key components into into subparts. Several New York French translation workers suggest that authors continue to break up the subject matter in order to simplify it and make sense of the topic. For example, if your major topic is “Common Problems Reported In New Automobiles”, you might break this down into a number of subtopics:  “Engine troubles” and “Non Engine troubles”.  The second subtopic can be divided into a number of sub-subtopics including “broken interior components”, “non-working electrical issues” and perhaps even “after sales service”.  These divisions and subdivisions prevent the author from getting off track and assists readers in following the analysis.  It’s critical that based on your logic and analysis that your audience can draw conclusions that are the same as your own. Good research necessitates the inclusion of all feasible issues and reduces the focus from possible to certain causes. Sort, assess, and decipher information to attain a logical conclusion. The course of action could be outlined like the following:

1. Define and Assess all Feasible Factors, and Reject the Improbable Ones
2. Choose the Most Likely Reasons and Assess Them
3. Determine the specific (or Direct Causes)

Conclusion. The conclusion will likely be in the most interesting section for the majority of readers since it provides answers to the questions that the audience had initially. As a result, many reports these days offer the conclusion just after the introduction and body section.

Here you review, decipher, and suggest. Even though you have evaluated information at every stage of your research, your summary brings everything together in a wider understanding and recommends specific strategies. One Kansas City translation worker recommends that the final section be considered in three ways:

1. The summary must correctly mirror the body of the report.
2. The general meaning that you present needs to be congruent with the results reported in the summary.
3. The suggestion needs to be in line with the research purpose, the proof offered, and the explanation provided.

The summary and explanation needs to be intelligently linked to your suggestions.

You might outline before or after writing a first draft. In any case, the finished report depends on a good outline. Here is one outline that a San Jose Russian translation services specialist provided that can be adapted to most analytical reports:

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Definition, Explanation, and Background of the Research Question or Problem

B. Intentions of the Report and the Target Audience

C. Sources of Material

D. Glossary of terms

E. Limits of the Research

F. Scope of the Research including subject matter listed in order of importance

II. COMPILED DATA

A. Primary Issue Researched

l. Description and Explanation

2. Discoveries and Outcomes

3. Appraisal and summary of the collected data

4. Explanation and Analysis of findings

B. Next Issue Researched

l. First Subtopic

a. Description and Explanation

b. Discoveries and Outcomes

c. Appraisal and summary of the collected data

d. Explanation and Analysis of findings

2. Another subtopic

Ill. CONCLUSION

A. Summary of Findings

B. Complete Explanation of Findings

C. Recommendations and Proposals (as needed)

This outline is only tentative. Modify it if necessary

In order to ensure your report meets the objectives that you established from the beginning, it’s important that you adhere to a set of guidelines as you move from planning to writing the formal report.

Remain Flexible

While you are searching and locating sources useful in supporting your research objectives, new findings will lead you in different directions depending on what you find at each step in your investigation process.  Because you will be actively writing, updating and changing your report while investigating new potential sources of information, you will want guidelines to keep you focused on answering your research objective.  The following list is a set of questions that one French translator has compiled to help those working on research projects.  Throughout your project, you should look back and review these questions:

1. What type of information do I need and why do I need it?
2. How should I phrase my questions to ensure that right information is collected?
3. How should I structure my presentation to communicate my process of inquiry and my findings?

As a certified translation worker, you should review these questions regularly during your project and you should be aware that your answers to them may change over time.  At the offset, the first question is answered by the research purpose.  The second question will be phrased in each of your research questions and serve as the blueprint for your report.  The third question will be answered by your outline.  During the research process, a respected Seattle German translation worker suggests that you need allow enough flexibility to allow modifications to your plan in case of unanticipated discoveries.

The following are some examples:

1. Just as you think your research report is nearly finished, you discover new variables that had not been identified in your statement of purpose.  As a result, you now need to adjust your statement of research purpose to include the new variables.
2. You decide that certain issues that hadn’t been included in you should now be included or learn that critical information on one of research questions is unavailable. As a result, your research plan needs to be reworked.
3. While composing your initial draft, you determine that the organization is very poor and needs to be restructured. As a result, you come up with a new outline.

Keep in mind that your finished report will be the summation of many decisions and revisions.  Always remain flexible and be prepared to revise and reshuffle as often as necessary.

Specious reasoning is misleading since it seems correct at first, but fails to standup to careful analysis.  Thoughts grounded on non-authoritative judgments and random guessing are often considered specious.  Inferences that were developed speciously flop when carefully scrutinized.

Assume, for example, you are Portuguese Translation Manager at a global manufacturing company.  The president of your company has directed you to evaluate the reliability of pre-employment evaluation testing of workers in Portugal and Brazil as a measure of intellect and as an indicator of future employee success. Going over the evidence that you gathered, you discover a strong positive correlation between below average pre-employment evaluation scores and low achievers. After doing so, you substantiate your findings by evaluating and analyzing a solid cross section of trustworthy information sources. Once you substantiate your findings, you determine that you are prepared to conclude that pre-employment evaluation tests are reliable measures of intelligence and predict future employee performance. Unfortunately, your analysis would be misleading unless you could show that:

1. Only candidates for jobs having a high potential for promotion were given pre-employment tests
2. Candidates in Portugal and Brazil had later been exposed to the exact same training curriculum at a similar pace.

It’s important for translation services workers to understand that even hard facts are sometimes used to support faulty reasoning.  The data that is gathered must be interpreted correctly, objectively, and within a context that accounts for unforeseen variables.

The process of researching your subject matter is only a small portion of your task. As you organize information that you collect, you need to be able to assess the trustworthiness of your information along with deciphering it. An data that you use outside of the material that it was used to substantiate, can be viewed in a variety of ways, however, translation services workers are expected to use the most reliable information in the most honest method possible. To guarantee the trustworthiness of your analysis, always use the most credible sources, separate the most credible findings from those that are somewhat less credible, and steer clear of any misleading information even if it seems like it could have some truth.

Choose Reliable Sources

Ensure that all of the sources you use are reliable, trustworthy, unbiased, and well-respected. As a certified Houston Translation worker who is hired by a local petroleum exploration and drilling company, think about how a specific Russian manufacturer of offshore rig equipment would best meet your company’s needs. You might expect reviews in a reputable online forum that focuses on oil platforms to be reliable. However, you might scrutinize statements stated in sales collateral or by representatives promoting the Russian manufacturer.

Your report should be limited to interviews with people who have had extensive experience with the manufacturer you are considering.

Certain issues are always debatable, and won’t be resolved. Despite the fact that we can easily get verifiable sources and spokespeople who can seemingly make a good case, no volume of reasoning by any expert and no  statistical analysis report will do anything to close a controversial subject. A person’s dissertation that the more government spending will turn around the unemployment problem in America and solve its long-term financial problems cannot be proved. Similarly, one could only argue (more or less effectively), not prove, that more government spending would drive up inflation and lead to a weaker long-term us economy that would after a time be on the verge of collapse. A number of issues are more unsolvable and improvable than others, no matter how reliable the sources.

Granted with these challenges, legal translation services workers should fight the temptation to unsubstantiated results. In fact, it’s considered intelligent to not include any findings than to include potentially misleading findings.

Distinguish Hard from Soft Evidence

Hard evidence is composed of visible facts. The findings can be confirmed from other sources or retested. Soft evidence is made up of uninformed or baseless and ungrounded opinion.

Fully Interpreted Data

Explain the significance of your data. Interpretation is the heart of the analytical report. You might, for example, interpret the training information data this way:

Our customer service staff in India frequently works with people with heavy Southeastern and New England accents, consequently they the customer service staff has a difficult time communicating with clients and clients have a challenging time deciphering what the customer service staff is expressing.  This means that training focused on becoming familiar with accents should be our first requirement in a training program. Despite its effectiveness in other companies, the training we are reviewing may not meet our needs.

By saying “This means … ” you engage in analysis- not simple information gathering. Simply listing your findings is not enough. Spell out the meaning.

Valid Conclusions and Recommendations

A useful conclusion may appeal secondarily to emotion (“You will love this translation company”), but it always appeals primarily to reason (“This translation company will best serve our needs”). When analyzing a controversial topic, try to remain impartial.

Say you work as a Certified Dallas Translation Service and have been asked to study this question: Is the Government of Peru likely to build or expand shipping ports near Lima? Do justice to this topic by making sure your data are complete, your interpretations are not biased by prior opinion, and your conclusions and recommendation are based on the facts.

When you do reach definite conclusions, state them with assurance and authority. Avoid noncommittal statements (“It would seem that . . . “or “It looks as if … “). Be direct (“Without improved and ongoing random testing of NYC translation services workers, risk for errors and poor translations is extremely high”). If, on the other hand, your analysis does not yield a definite conclusion, do not force a simplistic one on your material.

Clear and Careful Reasoning

Report writing is not simply a mechanical process of collecting and recording information. If it were, machines could be programmed for the job. Each step of your analysis requires decisions about what to record, what to exclude, and where to go next. Like a skilled Portuguese translator in Washington, D.C, you should evaluate your data (Is this reliable and important?), interpret your evidence (What does it mean?), and make recommendations based on your conclusions (What action is needed?), you might have to adjust your original plan. You cannot know what you will find until you have searched. Remain flexible enough to revise your plan in the light of new evidence.

Clearly Identified Problem or Question
Fully understand what you’re seeking. If shipment to china that was scheduled to be delivered last Tuesday and it is now Friday, you might want to check if the order ever left the warehouse facility before you call the representative of the shipping company that your firm uses into your office. You should take a logical, step-by-step approach to the development of your report too.

Earlier, a hypothetical employer posed this question: “Will on the job pronounciation and pronunciation language training for our customer service staff in India help reduce compliants among our clients?” The research question obviously requires answers to three other questions: What are the real benefits that companies have reported by instituting on the job pronounciation and pronunciation language training? Are the reports by these companies valid? Will language training offered by Miami German translation companies work in our situation? How pronounciation and pronunciation language training got started, how prevalent is it, who uses it, and other such questions aren’t pertinent to this problem, although some background might be useful in the report’s introduction. As Always, writers and language consultants with French translation services in Houston  recommend that you begin by defining clearly the central questions and thinking through any subordinate questions they may imply. Only then can you determine the data or evidence you need.

Having formalized the core set of questions, the writer of the report can formulate her statement of purpose:
This report examines some of the claims about pronounciation and pronunciation language training benefits made by practitioners of pronounciation and pronunciation language training.
The writer might have mistakenly begun instead with this statement:
This report examines pronounciation and pronunciation language training.

Notice how the first version sharpens the focus by expressing the precise subject: pronounciation and pronunciation language training (a huge topic), but the alleged benefits of pronounciation and pronunciation language training.
As a rule, Seattle German Translation Services suggest that you define the purpose by condensing your approach to a basic question: Does pronounciation and pronunciation language training have therapeutic benefits? or, Why have our sales dropped steadily for three months? Then restate the question as a declarative sentence in your purpose statement.

A Report with No Bias
Interpret evidence impartially. Stay on track by beginning with an unbiased title. Consider these two title versions:
THE ACCURACY OF AUTOMATED TRANSLATION APPLICATIONS IN LAW
AN ANALYSIS OF THE ACCURACY OF AUTOMATED TRANSLATION APPICATIONS IN LAW
The first version suggests the report simply will discuss the the accuracy of automated translation software. Here, the application’s accuracy is a foregone conclusion. In contrast, the second version signals readers that the report will analyze whether the automated translation software is in fact accurate.

Accurate and Adequate Data
Never alter original data by refusing to take into account important opinions and observations. Imagine that you’re asked to recommend the production equipments for a manufacturer. After inviting several manufacturer’s representatives, you stumble upon a cases study:

Of the six manufacturers that you are considering, only two had had client approval ratings above 80%. In addition, the same company had the fastest equipment installation times and lowest cost of maintenance. If you cite these data, present both points, not simply the first. Reserve personal comments or judgments for your conclusion. As space permits, include the full text of interviews or questionnaires in appendices

.

Language translators may be asked to become involved in a number of phases of analytical research project.  While most frequently, translation works will only be asked to complete the translation of questionnaires, they could also take on more substantial roles.  In this blog post, we review the types of research problems that you could be trying to solve.

The objective of an analytical report is to reveal the method that you used to reach your conclusions. The method you use is determined by your topic area, your intentions, and your audience’s requirements. Listed below are some common analytical problems:

“Can Method A Be Applied to Solve Problem B?”
Research can be used to solve real world problems. Imagine that you are Seattle translation services and that your client is worried about the results of emotional stress on employees in their distribution facility in Portugal. Your client may ask you to investigate the claim that transcendental meditation has therapeutic benefits-with an eye toward a TM program for employees. You would design your analysis to answer this question: “Does TM have therapeutic benefits?”  The analysis would follow a questions-answers-conclusions structure. Because the report might lead to action, you would probably include recommendations based on your conclusions.

“Is X or Y Better for a Specific Purpose?
Analysis is essential in comparisons of machines, processes, business locations, computer systems, or the like. Assume, for example, you manage a ski lodge and you need to answer this question: Which of the two most popular types of ski binding is best for our rental skis? In a comparative analysis of the Salamon 555 and the Americana bindings, you might assess the strengths and weaknesses of each in a point-by-point comparison: toe release, heel release, ease of adjustment, friction, weight, and cost.

Or you might use an item-by item comparison, discussing all the features of the first binding, and then all the features of the next. The comparative analysis follows a questions-answers-conclusions structure and is designed to help the reader make a choice.

“Why Does X Happen?”
The problem-solving analysis is designed to answer questions like this: Why do New York City translation services businesses have a high failure rate? (See the sample report later in this chapter.) This kind of analysis follows a variation of the questions-answers-conclusions structure: namely, problem-causes-solution.

Such an analysis has the following steps:
l. identifying the problem
2. examining possible and probable causes and isolating definite ones
3. proposing solutions

An analysis of why some executives refuse to have computers at their desks would follow the same structure. Another kind of problem-solving analysis is done to predict an effect:
“What are the consequences of putting production workers on a four-day work week?” Here, the structure is proposed action-probable effects-conclusions and recommendations.

“Is X Practical in a Given Situation?”
The feasibility analysis assesses the practicality of an idea or plan: Will the consumers of Hicksville support a microcomputer store? In a variation of the question-answers-conclusions structure, a feasibility analysis uses reasons for-reasons against, with both sides supported by evidence. Businesses often use this kind of analysis.

Visit this Resources For Global Managers, Translators and Bilingual Students today!

As a language translator, you might be tasked with working on research project for a client that involves applying analytical skills to problems, proposals, and planning for a client. A surgeon, for instance, studies medical records and prescriptions taken by patients in order to determine the safest treatment and procedures to use when sedating, recommending healing times.  Prior to buying investment property, a smart investor will analyze traffic patterns, accessibility, property taxes, growth trends and other market conditions. A fire inspector will build an arson case on the analysis and logical reconstruction of events, interviews of potential neighbors and background information of the owners in a case.

A French translation Services company in Washington D.C., was once asked to document and translate a number of job procedures on an offshore oil platform for a team of investors from Mexico.  The project involved numerous interviews with technicians, supervisors and other specialists to precisely determine and document the correct steps involved in each of the jobs.  In other examples, the same translation company was asked to identify product adoption rates of rechargeable battery operated scooters in China.  Other translators have been asked to listen to audio recordings of acts of violence and based on personal judgment identify what events actually transpired and who committed the actual attack.   In more busness oriented examples, translators with The Marketing Analysts Translation Services Company have been hired to assess the feasibility of a proposal for company expansion or investment in various regions of the world. The list is endless, but the process is basically the same: (l) making a plan, (2) finding the facts, (3) interpreting the findings, and (4) drawing conclusions and making recommendations.

Formal reports are reports that answer tough questions or solve challenging problems.  Investigation is essential to thinking, and because of this any document you have ever written and translated required some sort of analysis. Consider a simple summary that you may have written, it required a thorough investigation of a larger file to identify important points.  An e-mail marketing message might demand a comprehensive review of the intended recipient’s list and the optimal message and offer to use. With a formal report, your analysis might influence a major decision. For instance, a Portuguese translator in Miami received the following assignment from a large Non-Government Agency (NGO): Identify and locate information from African trade journals concerning the expansion of new agricultural techniques being successfully implemented in Angola.

Obviously, the completion of this job is going to require much more than a simple trip to the branch of your local library.  Because large funding initiatives and strategies will be based on your results, you will need to locate, translate and interpret all data essential in making the optimal recommendations. This is where a translator must apply the research activity discussed in and where you face your greatest reporting challenge.

In the next several blog posts, we will be examining the role of conducting research by translation professionals.

In 21^st-century global communication, the expectations of the audience are high–too high to be ignored or lightly disregarded.  Clearly then, attention to context and purpose does shape the quality and establish the parameters of “good writing.”  Writing can be judged only as it satisfies or fails to satisfy the needs of the intended audience while also achieving the writer’s goals.  Thus both context and purpose are essential elements: the writing must provide what the reader needs and expects as to subject matter, information provided, format, and style. At the same time it must also achieve the writer’s purpose.

Just as important, however, it should also be clear, correct, and efficient–easy to read, easy to understand, easy to locate whatever the reader wants, appealing to the eye, and, above all, accurate.  Thus, as one San Diego translator states, it must be organized logically, have sections and visuals labeled accurately and clearly, contain no errors of language use of content matter.  It must not waste the reader’s time and patience with excess words, cloudy ideas, and illogical sequence.  It must respect the reader’s integrity, knowledge, interests, and time.

For San Francisco translation services workers, the task may appear formidable, for they must know their own language and its standard conventions, as well as the subject matter they address.  They must respect the power of well-chosen words and the appeal of well-crafted phrases.  They must honor language itself as the means to create perceptions with power to ennoble or to destroy. They must understand that whatever the text, it represents in tangible form the organization and the individual writer that create it.  It shows how the organization regards its customers, clients, or associates.  It warrants careful, thoughtful crafting that anticipates readers’ reactions, weighs words wisely for their logical and psychological effect, and exercises judicious selection of content.

Regardless of your translation needs, The Marketing Analysts Translation Services Company is ready to assist you.  Call us today to learn more about our services and expertise.

Every language has its own organizational patterns that may or may not be altered.  Sometimes to express specific meanings or to signify special meanings, the expected sequence is interrupted.  As explained by Jane Bailey, a Seattle translation services worker, in English the normal pattern is subject, verb, completer(s).  When we vary this sequence, we draw attention to the out-of-place component.  In addition, the most important idea always appears in the main clause, never in a subordinate clause.  These commonplaces of structure signal the writer’s meanings to the reader, as well as instructions for reading and interpreting the text.

And every language has multiple words with the same meanings, but these meanings usually are not the same.  They may express shades of an idea or only one aspect of it, be appropriate only in a specific context, apply only to one thing or idea, suggest a specific connotation, or by their  history and etymology create own tone and associations.  Very few words are truly equal in meaning.

In advertising, inventive playing with varying meanings and associations attracts attention and sells products.  In contrast, in report writing, the word with the precise meaning in the context of the rest of the writing and the work environment is necessary to assure that all readers understand the writer’s message and intent and that all readers interpret the message in the same way.

The Marketing Analysts is a leading provider of immigration and diploma and transcript translation services in the United States.  With our own notary services, we can prepare your documents for all of your overseas travel and immigration needs.

The mechanical issues of grammar, punctuation, and spelling are more important in a global economy than they have ever before been, perhaps with the exception of the work of an early Christian epistle writer or medieval scribe who believed he was committing the Word of God to velum, papyrus, paper or other medium.  Today, however, because our world is so inter-dependent, some people trust an electronic application for their professional translation services needs and for quick communication.

These applications require standard spelling, grammar, and punctuation to translate meaning and structure from one language to another.  Text with illogical sentence structure, incorrect grammar and /or spelling, and absent, misplaced, or incorrect punctuation cannot convey sense, accuracy, or logic to the reader of the electronic translation.

Thus, for all practical purposes, the electronic translation is useless at best and dangerous at worst.  If useless, the skills of a competent human certified translator are required.  If time is critical and a competent human translator is not available, a sale may be lost, a diplomatic mission stymied, or a strategic meeting missed.

As is the case in all writing, good writing depends on the writer’s knowledge and skill–including expertise in grammar, punctuation, and spelling–not on the reader’s imagination or genius to unravel the meaning of a translation from a flawed source.

What is a good translation in today’s global business world?  How much do grammar, punctuation, and spelling affect it?  And do sentence structure and vocabulary matter?  Does quality depend on context and purpose?  Does a generally accepted concept of a “good translation” even exist?  And who cares anyway in a culture of tweets, texting and Internet messaging?

These are important issues in today’s world when international business transactions, government decisions, medical procedures, legal judgments–to name a few areas–rely on words, their meanings, interpretations, sequence, and presentation..  So, of course, a good translation is critical in a global economy.  As one Houston Spanish translation services worker expresses, “It is the medium and the means for many personal and public interactions and transactions, from crafting a trade contract and conducting diplomacy with friendly and unfriendly governments and factions to keeping a boss apprised of the progress of a project or ordering materials from a foreign supplier.”

It is inescapable and essential in today’s global business world.  James Taylor, a provider of Dallas Translation Services believes that translation work establishes history in an organization validates and records decisions and actions, records progress in research towards a discovery or invention, provides evidence of innocence or guilt in legal cases, and conveys an organization’s goals, vision, and mission.  It is an organization’s–or an individual’s–identity?  It demonstrates competence, knowledge, effectiveness, and self-awareness.  It is more powerful, more far-reaching, longer lasting, and more real than the spoken word.  For these reasons, translators in today’s global economy must practice and produce “good translations.”  They must address the questions posed at the beginning of this piece.

While the use of technical and specialized terminology in documents and presentations that are geared at audiences who are unfamiliar with the terminology causes problems, it is even worse to use pseudo-technical terms when other terms are just as efficient and widely understood.

According to James Hildebrand, a translators with a Houston translation services company, pseudo-technical language is created by a writer or speaker who needlessly substitutes unfamiliar multisyllable words for good, every day, familiar words.  Corporate language in general is riven with this sort of nonsense, usually termed ‘management-speak’.  One example is the use of the term “above-board” which is used in statements such as, “I don’t think you are being completely above board with me.”  Another term that Human Resources professionals use is “Onboarding”, which they sometimes use to refer to the training that new employees receive.  You might also be familiar with the use of nouns as action verbs such as the term “offices” as used in the following sentence, “Tom offices from home.” What the person is really saying is that Tom works from his house.  This kind of language is difficult for native speakers of English to understand. You can imagine how difficult it is for the people who translate these documents and for nonnative speakers who hear it.

We can all think of someone in our office that is always trying to use this sort of language.  Often it seems like the only reason they use these terms is because they think it makes them look like an intellectual and demeans people.  In addition, people who try to use big and unfamiliar words seldom stop at single words. As a few Seattle German translation workers have learned, many of the people who use pseudo-technical terms will often go on to combine several words to make hard-to-understand and sometimes even meaningless phrases and sentences. Instead of communicating meaning, all they end up doing is producing noise that disrupts communication.

This is why Claudio Garcia of Miami certified translation company suggests that when people have the choice of using these types of terms or a synonym that is more familiar to broad audiences; they should stick with the synonyms that are most commonly used.  Simply put, pseudo-technical language creates communication barriers with people who aren’t up on the latest lingo. It also makes the translation of these terms into other languages difficult.

An important problem that both global business executives and language translators recognize is that confusion is caused when technical language is used in documents and presentations.  While technical language is needed in many cases for legal purposes, precision and conciseness, many prefer not to use it during discussions with their co-workers and others in the same line of business.

Because technical language is often unknown to broad audiences, it frequently confuses audiences and creates difficulty when translating documents.  Therefore, San Francisco Translation workers recommend that extreme care be exercised when writing or speaking about technical concepts.  Here are two suggestions that will help you when you are writing or translating material that concerns technical concepts.

• Always define technical terms using synonyms or words that the audience will understand.
• Avoid using pseudo-technical language

There will always be times when you will need to include technical terms or translate technical terms in your writings.  Many times, these terms will be unfamiliar to your intended audience.  For instance, liver specialists have an extensive specialized vocabulary such as cirrhosis and primary biliary cholangitis to discuss certain conditions of the liver related to advanced stages of hepatitis.

Define Unfamiliar Words and Use Synonyms

As numerous Chicago French translators point out, the irony of using technical terminology is that offers a convenient way to describe terms and conditions to other experts, it tends to prevent understanding and cause confusion for non-experts.  Therefore, a liver specialist needs to use specialized terminology among his peers and be able to define these terms to his patients who are unfamiliar with those terms.

Over the past three decades, a great amount of research has been conducted by Washington D.C. translation services workers, interpreters and professors of linguistics to uncover strategies that make writing more readable and oral presentations more understandable.  Among the topics researched most heavily are those that involve clarity and conciseness.  The major implications drawn from the research typically suggested that sentences should be short and writers should use words that are familiar to the target audience.   By following this advice, the content will be more easily understood by non-native speakers and it will also be easier to translate into foreign languages.  In the next few blog entries, St. Louis Spanish translation workers will focus on these recommendation that include limiting the length of sentences, making use of terminology that is widely known, cutting out unnecessary terms and incorporating action into sentences.

Restricting the Length of Sentences

When writing instructors and Baltimore French translation workers discuss sentence efficiency, they are evaluating sentences to determine if they convey a thought in the least amount of words possible.  In other words, they want to know if a 40-word sentence can be reduced to as little as 12 words.  Consider these two sentences:

1. The power cord connected to the new computer isn’t long enough to reach the outlet.
2. The new computer’s power cord is too short to reach the outlet.

Both sentences are short.  The first sentence contains 16 words and the second sentence contains 13 words. However, the second sentence conveys the same meaning with 3 fewer words.  Only 13 words are needed to communicate the information to the reader.

Examine the following sentence:

The magazine writers reported that the 2 door Honda Accord sedan provided a smooth ride.

This sentence contains 15 words, but can the same idea be conveyed using fewer words?

• The 2-door Honda Accord offered a smooth ride to the magazine writers.
• The 2-door Accord offered a smooth ride

While there are probably better ways to rewrite the original sentence, the two alternatives contain fewer words and provided the same information.  The alternatives were far better in communicating the thought.

So when is a sentence too long?  Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question.  The answer really depends on how well the sentence is composed, received and understood by the intended audience.

Holidays and Events

Many new Miami translation workers frequently make the mistake of not indicating the date when discussing a particular holiday.  As a result, there can be confusion when discussing holidays that are observed in various countries, share a common name, but take part on different dates.  A few common examples include Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, Labor Day and Memorial Day.

Numbers in Thousands

Similar to the use of a decimal, large numbers are also written differently across the world.  For example, a comma is used in the United States to separate the hundreds from the thousands place.  However, other countries either make use of a period or a comma.

Geographic Place Names

In nearly all cases, experienced Washington D.C. French translation workers should avoid the use of names that refer to places.  While most Americans know that “Sin City” refers to Las Vegas and that “The Big Apple” refers to New York, relatively few know that “Athens of the North” refers to Edinburgh or that “The Granite City” refers to Aberdeen, Scotland.  In the same respect, many people in the Middle East don’t know that Miami is often called “The Magic City” or “Little Cuba”.

Metric and Imperial Units of Measure

For the most part, the two main measurement systems include the Imperial and the Metric.  The United States is the last major economy that still makes wide us of the Imperial system.  For most translations, it is a wise idea to convert all measurements to the system used in the country of the target audience.  If the translation will be used in multiple countries where both systems are used, it is advisable to provide both measurements.  For instance, a manufacturer of hardware components might state the dimension of a screw as 5-inches (12.7 centimeters).

Seasons

When it is summer in the North America, it is winter in South America.  Because the seasons differ in timing based on location, the months of the year should always be used in place of the name of a season.

Although you might think that rules for articulating data such as weights, measurements, time, dates, and locations would be rather important, they are frequently stated with limited commonality across borders and cultures and often lead to uncertainty and disbelief. People from other places will try to influence and shape your style of writing and speaking. Your understanding of various rules and measurements, and your desire to adjust to foreign cultures will enable you to diminish their endeavors. As a Chinese Houston translation worker, your employer might have specific rules concerning the way that data should be presented internationally. In the event it your company has specific rules, looking at currency symbols, dates and other items that are detailed in future blog posts might be advantageous in your own thinking about how to communicate with readers and listeners of cultures different from your own.

Currency Symbols

Types of currency range from the Angolan New Kwanza (AON) to the Zambian Kwacha (ZMK).  One San Francisco translation worker indicated that when you need to express a type of currency, you should always specify the type.  The place where you put the currency symbol, before the value or after the value, is also important because it can be different based on the country.

Dates

The recommended way to list dates is to spell it out instead of using a numerical equivalent because the ordering for the numeric format often varies throughout the world.  For example, in the United States, the date is generally expressed month, day year and in Japan, the date is expressed in a year, month and day format.

Decimals

The treatment of decimal places also varies by country and most spreadsheet applications are designed to accommodate the differences.  However, you need to check on the format that is familiar to your audience.  In the United States, it is customary to use a period to represent a decimal whereas most parts of Europe and South America used commas.

When companies enter into foreign markets they discover that they must produce communications that can be understood or easily translated into a variety of languages.  Even companies that only operate domestically are under pressure to adopt ethnically, culturally, and linguistically to satisfy the needs of their workforce.  The president of The Marketing Analysts Translations Company agrees and indicates that this is particularly true when you factor in that nearly 10 million U.S. immigrants were granted citizenship during the 1900’s.  In 2008, more than one million people were naturalized as U.S. citizens.  Of these immigrants, close to 20-percent were offered priority worker visas because they had exceptional abilities and skills strongly demanded by U.S. corporations.  A large portion of these immigrants had limited English speaking and writing skills and came from cultural backgrounds significantly different than those of the United States.

Similar migration patterns of people from Africa, India, Central America and Eastern Europe and the growth of global corporations have created similar situations in other parts of the world.  As a business executive, you will encounter situations when you must communicate with people of diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds too.  According to one Portuguese to English translator, a good translation agency will assist executives in developing presentations, manuals, brochures and other forms of communication that are globally oriented.  Globally oriented communications signify works that are culturally neutral.  This means that your documents will be prepared in a local language, and be understood by members of other cultures who have some grasp of the local language but have a different first language.  By developing neutral communication works, these documents can be readily translated into a variety of other languages.

While the task of producing neutral communications may sound simple to some, it is actually quite a challenging process for those who only know one language and one culture.  The process of creating neutral communication can also be a great challenge to those who are bilingual but have adopted strong linguistic and cultural practices.

A scientific argument draws on findings from research and observations to persuade or convince a group of people that a particular course of action is either right or wrong.   As a English to French translator in San Francisco , you should be cognizant of when the use of scientific argument is the nest course for persuading an audience.  Probably the best way to explain this is through an illustration of a management problem.

As a Houston Chinese translation worker, you have been hired by Procter & Gamble to work on a research team composed of their in-house marketing research professionals.  The purpose of the team is to determine whether or not it is feasible to open a new distribution facility in shanghai to handle its Pamper line of disposable diapers and baby wipes.  The leader of the research team has tasked you with gathering and analyzing data concerning about costs, expected delivery times to major customers, anticipated sales growth rates, new market entrants and so forth.  You write your report that summarizes a number of secondary Chinese publications and are careful not to allow any personal biasness to guide the interpretation of your findings and recommendations.  In your report, you cautiously and without emotion state  the data and findings that led to your conclusion that Procter & Gamble would benefit from a new distribution facility despite some new competitive threats that are emerging.  In your report, you spend an adequate amount of time addressing the pros and cons and supply details.  You are completely open with your team and the director because it isn’t your job to convince them to decide for or against a decision.  Any emotional bias or pressure at such a time might confuse the issue and lead to a bad decision.

Read the following description of the Asics GT-2160 shoe taken from the Athletic Footing Equipment, Inc., website:

Asics GT-2160 shoe features a mesh and synthetic leather upper that will wrap your foot in a soothing embrace, asymmetrical lace up front, soft inside lining creating a snug fit, ComforDry sockliner for a drier healthier environment, rubber outsole, and the Asics Gel Cushioning System that will absorb shock and help protect from harmful forces while running.

The following two columns list the features and benefits of the description:

Read the description with the benefits removed:

Asics GT-2160 shoe features a mesh and synthetic leather upper, asymmetrical lace up front, inside lining, sockliner, rubber outsole, and Gel Cushioning

Athletes and even some casual runners who are familiar with athletic shoes could even state their own benefits for each of the features concerning this shoe. However, Chicago Chinese translation workers who have less knowledge about Asics shows might fail to understand the benefits that each of these product features represent. In some cases, even professional athletes and experienced shoe sales representatives might require some explanation and the benefits will help to persuade them to buy or sell.

Persuasive writings such as the type presented in this example aren’t only used by manufacturers and marketing firms.  According to one NYC French Translation professional, they have come to be an important part of reports, e-mail messages, and other presentations.  Being able to explain the features as product benefits is where your value as a translator rests.

After reading this blog post, we encourage all certified translation providers to review their previous translations and other writings and conduct an analysis to determine if they have clearly defined the implications and conclusions.  If you didn’t then you may have failed to communicate your message effectively.  Keep in mind that sometimes, it’s important where you position them and in what order.  When the implications are cautions or when they are considered good news, you should make every attempt to state them early.  However, bad news implications should probably be placed later in document.

As content creators, writers and translators who are trying to include persuasion in our works, it’s important to keep in mind that the people who will be reading the material can be classified into groups.  They include those who have been persuaded, those who can be persuaded and those who cannot be persuaded.  Therefore, Washington D.C. Legal Translation providers suggest that we should be cautious about how we use persuasion to sway the group that can be persuaded and be delicate in how we address those who are already persuaded.  You will never be able to change the mindset of those who cannot be persuaded.  As far as those who are already persuaded, it might be enough to demonstrate why you are a reliable source of information and then make your emotional appeal.  For those who can be persuaded, you need to present proof and data to support your position.

In a commercial sales presentation, one sales representative might state a negative claim against the competition to persuade the key decision makers that the product they offer is inferior.  A Portuguese Miami translator  translator suggests that the back and forth debate might sound something like this:

• Brand X’s product lacks the software scalability to address your needs in six months.

• Brand Y’s product has one of the worst support teams in the world.

• Brand X’s product has a tendency to crash because it is new and hasn’t been adequately field tested.

On the other hand, a positive argument is one that reinforces the person making the claim with encouraging statements.

• The product line we represent has been field tested in thousands of installations.

• With the software that operates on our computers, you can expect efficiency gains of 20%.

It’s likely that there won’t be many members in your audience who will feel that you are trying to deceive them by offering incorrect data. More likely than not, Seattle French translation workers suggest that the facts won’t concern the audience as much as matters they relate to value, importance, and the possible fallout from making a bad decision. The largest part of your presentation should be devoted to clarifying the implications and meanings of the material you presented. In other words, as your audience takes in all of the information that you presented, they will want to know what it all means and why it is important to them.

Throughout all cultures, the one single aspect of persuasion that causes people to become most suspicious is persuasion.  Most of us have learned from past experience that those making use of overly emotional appeals are often trying to pull the wool over our eyes.  As a result, most people have come to discard emotional appeals and instead seek out quantitative facts, non-biased opinions and other more rational data to make a decision.  One English to Spanish translator in Houston provided the following example about a salesperson trying to sell your business a $250,000 computer system and his entire presentation is based on emotional appeals.  In this case, your company expects hard facts to rationalize a purchase decision.  The salesperson will undoubtedly fail in his attempts.  Many of the decision makers in your company would probably think that the sales person was making a weak attempt to make us act against our better judgment.

The way emotion should be used is by focusing on the benefits that a given solution will offer individual decision makers or departments.  Here’s an example of an emotional appeal that would have been better:  You will leave work each day feeling more relaxed knowing that the new computer system has technology that prevents the data corruption issues and miscalculations that you have cost your firm millions of dollars in lost productivity and cancelled orders.

Here is a powerful example offered by a certified diploma translation worker with The Marketing Analysts that demonstrates how persuasion can be used in advertising to promote woman’s fashion.   Notice the use emotion-laden words in this a for a man’s leather vest: Team this vest with a turtleneck sweater or a Michael Kors Medium Jet Set Pebbled Shoulder Tote, and you have the definitive response with sheik defiance to a fall chill.

The word sheik entertains the the reader’s sense of arrogance, definitive builds upon her authority, and fall chill reminds us of a feeling we wish to avoid while looking beautiful.

It’s good for legal translation services workers to keep in mind, emotional appeals can be used in a wide variety of applications.  In fact, many political and research reports concerning groundwater pollution during the fracking process describes the increased rate of cancer and other illnesses and provide various measurements.  In an environmental report, the researchers are likely to include a table or chart that indicates growth in contaminants before and during the fracking procedure along with measures of the increase in reported illnesses and cancer rates.  This sort of data will be persuasive when environmental engineers and scientists read the report. If you are assembling and very rigid scientific or analytical topic, you might need to steer away from the use of emotional appeals.  However, for many reports, it is acceptable to use emotional appeals as long as they are used with subtlety and discretion.

As a professional translator, your credibility is based on your ability to provide an accurate translation of your client’s material.  As you can imagine, factors such as spelling and grammar, organization and the quality of paper that your translation is printed on can all influence your credibility.  However, the quality of the source material that you translate for your client can also influence your credibility too.  If the document or presentation that you translated contains inaccurate and unreliable data then then client might have a negative perception about you and your professional credibility.  Therefore, in many professional situations, there can be an unlimited number of factors that you never even consider that can cause your credibility to tank.

Following our discussion on using persuasion, your credibility can be adversely affected on how you attempt to sway the attitudes, intentions and motivations of other people.  From both a personal and professional perspective, misrepresenting your legal translation skills and accomplishments can have a very damaging effect.  For this reason, it makes sense to clarify all of your experiences and include solid references in order to convince the hiring authorities that you are qualified and that you are who you say you are.  In the same way that you prove your competencies, your clients need to demonstrate that they are financially strong, technically competent, have better solutions and are the least risky. Perhaps most important of all, your readers and listeners must see you as a person of goodwill who has their interests at heart. You must have a “you attitude”; that is, you must consider your audience’s needs and viewpoints at all times. While this can be very challenging, you should try to find out what pleases them and what annoys them.

As Certified Translation professionals, we are frequently asked to translate highly persuasive marketing pieces, sales collateral and other material.  In our personal and professional lives, we also bombarded by the frequent display of persuasion on television, magazines and the radio.  The term persuasion means to sway beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, and behaviors.  Your neighbor, friend or family member might make use of persuasion when they attempt to get us to lend them money, help them move or loan them our truck for a day.  Even as we drive to work, we are exposed to hundreds of billboards that all contain persuasive advertisements and illustrations. It’s easily understandable how one language Chinese translator in Chicago once wrote an interesting article about how persuasion is our most frequent use of language.  Today, having the best solution to address a problem is only a small portion of what it requires to get what we want.  Getting what we want means having the ability to sway the beliefs; attitudes and behaviors of others into thinking our solution are optimal.

But to many people the term “persuasion” often connotes beliefs such as trickery and deception.  The reason that this term often manifests uneasiness in the minds of people is because we understand persuasion as a potent power that has perhaps more often than not has been used for malevolence rather than decency.  While the persuasive nature of President Ronald Reagan brought to parties together to create useful legislation that solved problems, murderers like Charles Manson used it to recruit followers who would kill innocent people.  As translators, we can only hope that the material we produce will be used ethically.  Yet because persuasion is so powerful, we have decided to devote a few blog entries on it.