Bubbles Translation Services Blog
Are Brits Really the World's Worst Tourists?
Can you believe it; we Brits have been ranked the world's worst tourists! According to a poll conducted by Skyscanner, which included responses from no less than 49 countries, the UK came first in four out of the five categories!
One of the categories we topped was 'not attempting to learn local language'. However, let's be fair these days there really is no excuse for believing that, when abroad, you can simply get away with pointing or speaking louder to make your message understood.
This has never been so true when you consider the enhancements in new technology. Yes, it really does appear that there's an 'App' for everything...including translation. Whilst they won't proclaim to transform you into a linguistic superstar, they will help you order that refreshing beer from the bar. Simply take your technological gadget abroad and it'll do the hard work for you by translating phrases to help you hold short and even animated conversations (although I suppose the latter depends on how many beers you have had!)
But be warned, as whilst online translation might, to an extent, be okay for personal use to get you by, it is definitely not the case when it comes to business. In this case the dangers of getting it wrong can be extremely serious when trying to make a good impression.
As I wrote in a previous blog, free machine generated translations like Bubbles Translation Service own service http://www.bubblestranslation.com/english/translator.html are at very best only 70% accurate and the accuracy level decreases rapidly for non-Western European languages. They're designed to get the gist, not provide word perfect translations.
Put simply there really is no substitute for translations produced by humans that are native-speaking, professional, qualified, experienced and specialist in their particular industry areas. For example, our 3500+ professional translators offer exceptional linguistic skills and accurate translation services spanning more than 280 languages.
As I've said many times before, translation is a combination of art and science – it takes a professional to translate text in such a way that not only is it accurate, but also conveys the same style and tone of the original text, something that a machine will never be able to achieve. The golden rule of translations is that a person reading the final translated material cannot tell that it is a translation – they believe that it has been written especially for them in their native language.
So, unless you just want to make polite conversation on your jollies, think twice about using machine-generated translations, especially for business.
Share this post:
