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Don’t shoot the messenger!
If you have essential business material that must pass official checks – such as patent applications or registration with a foreign organisation – it must be accurate and that’s where an experienced translator makes a real difference.
Even in your native tongue poor spelling, punctuation and grammar can have a negative effect – and when you’re operating in a foreign language this gets much more complex. It’s not just a case of translating one language to another, it’s being able to convert colloquialisms into a recognisable equivalent in the target language.
Of course, if you stick to ‘standard’ language, you’re safer – but then your business material comes over as dry, pompous and hard-going for the reader. It’s the descriptive language that puts life and energy into it – and that doesn’t always translate easily – unless you’re in the hands of an expert.
