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Interpreting and Translating FAQs
Why do I need to contract a professional language interpreter or translation service?
A trained and qualified interpreter is there to help you provide your service and to ensure that you and your organization meet your quality standards and legal responsibilities. Also, an untrained interpreter can have a critical impact on your communication. If your organization receives federal financial assistance of any kind, you may be legally obligated by the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to provide professional interpreters.
What languages do you provide?
For in-person interpretation*, we provide the following languages at the time of writing: Af-May, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Bosnian, Burmese, Cantonese, Czech, Slovak, Dari, Farsi, Japanese, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Karen, Polish, Portuguese, Korean, Mandarin, Oromo, Somali, Swahili, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Romanian, Spanish, Thai, Tigrinya, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese. The list is growing daily, so if you don’t see the language you need on the list, you should still contact us.
* For translation services we are capable of working in almost any language you need. Our project manager has access to translation specialists from around the country.
* For telephonic interpreting, we have professionally trained telephonic interpreters in 150+ languages.
What is the difference between interpretation and translation?
Interpretation is the conversion of a spoken message from one language to another. Translation is the conversion of written text from one language to another.
What are the skills of a good translator vs. the skills of a good interpreter?
The skill sets are similar but not identical. Of course, both interpreters and translators must be fully bilingual. Being familiar with the intricacies of both languages, they are able to convert the message, preserving all of its nuances, idiomatic expressions, and colloquialisms. However, bilingualism is not enough. Interpreters and translators must be familiar with the culture of the source and target language speakers as well. This also includes general and specialized vocabulary.
Interpreters must be “people persons.” They must have good “people skills,” but they must also be able to think quickly and have strong memory skills. They must be well-spoken, well-dressed and well-mannered -Interpreters should look and act as professional as their clients’ senior executives act. Language Services strives to match the perfect interpreter for your particular setting, considering the interpreters technical language knowledge, cultural background, and experience in the field.
A good translator, on the other hand, must be a good writer. A translator must transfer the original written message into a text that reads well in the target language, with equivalent style and terminology. They must have a library of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, encyclopedias, and the Internet as well as knowing how to use these reference materials. As in interpreting, Language Services strives to match the perfect translator with the subject matter of the document translation. We consider the translator’s technical knowledge of the field and cultural background, as well as his or her related experience and expertise.
Do you certify your translations?
Language Services will supply notarized certificates of accuracy for all translations we produce, at your request. These notarizations confirm our confidence in the quality of our work and will satisfy the requirements of U.S. government offices and courts.
