Speaking is not the same as writing. Oral fluency in a language does not necessarily make a good translator. Even someone who is regularly doing business deals successfully, or who has spent time in the country where the target language is spoken, will not automatically have the ability to translate well and accurately. The translation is often recognised immediately as "foreign".

Translators are usually equipped with a good working knowledge of the source and target languages, as well as being good writers in the target language. They have a broad general knowledge of a wide range of professional fields as well as concern for details, and will have access to an excellent professional reference library (dictionaries, technical reference materials, encyclopedia, etc.). A translator is professionally trained and refined through considerable practical experience.

While some companies may employ teachers, students or academics to do the translation work for them, Insight uses professionally trained and qualified translators including NAATI accredited translators.

Have you ever had the experience of trying to make sense of "English" operating instructions or assembly instructions of imported products or appliances from overseas? Some of these literal translations keep you guessing for days what they really mean. A good understanding of, and writing skill in, the target language takes years of study through intensive reading, writing and use of the language.

All translation work by Insight is performed, thoroughly checked and refined by either native speakers or people with excellent feel of the target language. Senior translators are directly involved in the translation for final quality control of the work.

This is the case of trying to use a translator with engineering expertise to translate a medical research document. Every translator has their area of expertise backed up by either formal traincng or years of practical experience. In order to produce a high quality translation in a particular field, the translator has his/her own professional library, and the understanding of the subject matter, specialised terminology and writing style in that field. Taking the translator out of the field of their expertise will compromise the final quality of the translation product.

Insight has a professional team specialised in a wide range of technical, legal, medical, business and commerce.

During the translation process, the translator has many things to focus on. Not only does he/she need to be sure that the content is linguistically, grammatically and technically correct, the colloquial and the natural flow of the language is also part of the translation process. Final quality control of the process, where the work is thoroughly checked and refined, makes the translation flow better. This is also to ensure that there will be no omission or alteration of the original content.

While there are translation companies in the market who act merely as the middleman with the translation delivered directly to clients without any quality control or work input, all translation work by Insight is performed, thoroughly checked and refined by either native speakers or people with extensive years using the target language in the country where the language is spoken. Insight also has a pool of in-house translators as well as quality contracted professional translators in many languages.

The production time of a translation is often under-estimated by the buyer of the translation service. The tighter the time, the less time there is for checking, which allows the opportunity for errors, whether in omissions or the fluency of the final text. The translator needs to put aside the translation work for at least a couple of hours or, better, overnight. This is necessary to distance him/herself from the source language and tidy up any awkward wording at a later date or time.

Our project management teams will guide you through the whole process to advise you on the time frame required for a project. Where necessary, we call for additional translators to ensure that the quality of the final product is guaranteed and your needs are met.

Do you really want your clients to buy a water goat from you rather than your hydraulic ram? It is often the result of the raw machine translation, or the work of non-native speakers struggling away with a grammar book in one hand and a dictionary in the other. They are good for a laugh.

If the time is tight, and only the meaning of the original text is needed for personal use, machine translation may well be what you need. However, for external use, such as sales and marketing, publication and report, do-it-yourself translation is unlikely to give a satisfactory result. It may look very strange and may run the risk of generating a negative company image or even create misunderstanding.

In the translation business, it is pretty much you get what you pay for. The risks of accepting a quotation below the "market price" can also mean low accuracy, less attention to detail, failure to meet deadlines etc. A low price could well mean the translator is inexperienced, has limited professional resources, does it as a hobby for pocket money and cannot get work any other way. Only the buyer of the translation can decide if it is worth the risk.