Have you ever felt helpless because the information you needed was not available in your language? It may have been a menu, directions, or an instruction manual, but you were stuck. The only way to move forward was in blind faith, hoping everything would work out.
That’s exactly how I felt when we were completing a vehicle purchase shortly after moving to Quebec. Our high school French courses just hadn’t prepared us to decipher sales contracts in French. You guessed it… we got ripped off! Apparently we signed a paper authorizing a $600 car cleaning, and another document that committed us to $2,000 in unnecessary loan insurance. It’s no fun being the “foreigner”!
The other side of the coin soon became evident as we realized that very few French resources existed in our nonprofit network. It became crystal clear to me that this situation was unfair and unacceptable, and I made up my mind to do something about it. So I spent the next decade in university doing a B.A. and Masters in translation, then Ph.D. research to discover how an organization could obtain quality translations on a tight budget. Along the way, The King’s Translators team was born.
You see, I firmly believe that non-English speakers deserve to benefit from the valuable written resources that you and I enjoy. Translation is the bridge that gives them access, but if the translation is low quality, then the message gets lost.
So I’m on a mission to break down the barriers to quality translation by debunking 3 popular myths (click here to read about Myth #1, Myth #2, and Myth #3). I’ll also show you what DOES work to produce quality translations even if you’ve never had any formal translation training; and even if your organization has a limited budget for translation.
Whether you’re a translator, reviser, or translation coordinator, you will benefit from the valuable translation strategies in my weekly blog. All you have to do is CLICK HERE to sign up. You will also receive advance notice about training courses that are starting.
Now, in the Comments section below, it’s your turn to tell me about an uncomfortable experience you’ve had due to a language barrier.
Have a great day!
Liane 🙂
