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6 Benefits of Hiring Native Speaker Translators

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6 Benefits of Hiring Native Speaker Translators

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If there’s one thing that translation agencies frequently highlight, then that’s definitely their access to native-speaking translators of the target language. In fact, that’s one potential sign of a reliable and trustworthy translation agency.

In the translation realm, the source is the language you’re translating from, whereas the target is the language you’re translating into. For accurate and compelling translations, you ought to choose a native speaker of the target language in particular. Perfect use and understanding of the source language is nonessential, so long as the translator possesses native-like fluency.

So, while a Spanish native can accurately translate your English content into Spanish and produce a native-sounding result, the same translator wouldn’t be an ideal fit for Spanish-to-English translation. You should hire an English native translator for that. In either case, however, industry expertise is a must.

But what does being a native speaker actually entail? And why are they so important for the successful completion of your translation projects? Let’s explore some of the benefits.

What is a native speaker?

There are few differences of opinion about what constitutes a native speaker. The term is mostly used to refer to someone that acquired the language when they were little, as opposed to having learned it later in life. As they’ve had ample opportunity for exposure to their native language from an early age, they’ve likely achieved full command of the language in question.

However, other factors come into play, including where they’ve spent most of their life in, their level of familiarity with local cultural references, and their knowledge of language or even dialect-specific idioms and slang.

For example, a native speaker of Canadian English wouldn’t qualify as a native over in England, despite their ability to communicate in perfect English. That’s because the Canadian speaker would most likely be unfamiliar with local British English idioms and cultural references.

1. Native translators create more engaging translations

A native translator is intimately familiar with the language they were brought up speaking, so they naturally possess a wider and far richer vocabulary than your average speaker. That level of vocabulary helps them know just the word for anything, resulting in more varied translations that keep your readers engaged for longer. On the other hand, excessive repetition of the same words throughout the text leads to monotonous and flavorless translations.
They also have an excellent grip of all writing conventions of the given language, including spelling, punctuation, and syntax. A native-speaking translator won’t think twice before they choose the perfect sentence structure, reducing the potential occurrence of confusing sentences that lack a natural flow and confuse the reader.
The goal of translation is to produce the highest quality and most native-sounding final product possible, as that’s how your content will truly shine with your native audience. Even the most extraordinarily fluent non-natives might fail to reach this objective, as they typically lack the same rigor.

2. Native translators produce locally relatable translations

Native translators know their culture like a book, provided they’ve resided in their country for a long enough time and from an early age. In-depth cultural knowledge and expertise lessens the possible risk for locally unrelatable translations that don’t quite hit the mark.
A sound grasp of the specific locale’s beliefs and values gives the translator the necessary know-how for properly addressing your audience. They’ll know which style (e.g., casual, playful, formal, etc.), words or idioms to use and in what context, most of which are highly culturally-specific.
For instance, French speakers have a peculiar idiom for describing kids that are well-behaved that’s “Être sage comme une image” translating to “To be reasonable like an image”. This idiom captures the idea that calm children sit still like an image. A native French translator will be adequately equipped to know and use this phrase when the context calls for it.
This type of specific cultural knowledge, from the stage of translation all the way to localization, instantly enhances the quality of your translations.

3. Native translators boost your content’s credibility

It’s scientifically shown that native speakers doubt the accuracy of statements they have a difficult time processing. That’s because the brain prefers stimuli that are easier to process, thus making more complicated or grammatically incorrect sentences less believable.
Therefore, you could be unintentionally damaging the credibility of your content, if it’s not expertly translated and, thus, native-sounding.
Most internet users these days surf the web in their native language, according to statistics. Therefore, having a native speaker translate your content could certainly enhance its believability and make you sound more credible.

4. Native translators add a creative touch

It goes without question that creativity is an essential component of impactful translation, given it’s an art form in of itself.
Translators need to adopt a creative approach since they are sometimes required to bridge gaps where translation from one language to another isn’t quite straightforward.
That’s because certain languages have unique quirks that make them challenging to translate into. For example, some logographic languages have an astonishingly large number of characters requiring translation (e.g., Mandarin Chinese has over 80,000), a few have words that convey a variety of different meanings depending on the context (e.g., a single Arabic word has 3 meanings and up to 12 interpretations, on average), while others contain words and phrases that are found nowhere else (e.g., German has numerous untranslatable words).
A native speaking translator can tactfully handle these complex translation issues that non-native speakers might have trouble with. The result? Translations that sound both creative and original.

5. Native translators speed up project delivery

As these translators are well-versed in their native language, they can think on their feet and produce quality translation at a faster rate. They won’t need to take frequent detours to ensure they’re following all correct punctuation or grammatical guidelines that can easily slow down the entire translation process.
Project delivery delays can be painful and costly, and saving time is amongst the top priorities for any business. Hiring native translators can speed up translation delivery, helping you stay on top of all other project deliverables.

6. Native translators ward you from legal issues

If you’re working in the legal, finance, medical, or other highly regulated industries, precautions must be taken so as to avoid mistranslation errors that could get you into legal trouble. For example, a medical service could face legal disputes due to incorrectly translated medical device documentation. That’s because falsely translated instructions can lead to grave medical errors, potentially placing individuals’ lives at stake.
In these cases, translators need to be both natives of the target language as well as professionally trained in that sector. This level of expertise guarantees you’ll get accurate translations and stay compliant with all rules and regulations of your target locale.

Get access to native speaker translators and industry experts

A surefire way to guarantee the highest quality translations possible is by hiring a native-speaking translator that’s also an expert in your industry. These professionals are perfectly equipped to deal with even the most complex translation projects and do so at top speed.

If you’re hungry to deliver a meaningful experience to your audience quickly and with style, you’re at the right place. Pangea Global’s almighty team of professional translators are native speakers of over 75 languages and experts in each and every industry they translate for.

We deliver custom-made, locally relevant translations that make you sound like a native and an expert all at the same time. And if you’re in need for same delivery translations, we got you covered too!
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