Technical Translation Services

There is no doubt that “technical translation is important, for technical and commercial translation does account for well over 90% of the world’s translation output” (Kingscott: 2002).

Unlike literary translation, technical translation requires a high level of consistency, especially as various buttons, menus, options and items are concerned. For example, to translate a “View” button as “Zobrazit” in one place and as “Prohlížet” a few lines later may confuse the reader. The consistency in terms and references is therefore highly desirable.

If the same term is translated in different ways in similar contexts, or if a translation of a reference is inconsistent with the target of the reference, such as different chapter titles, figure captions or page numbers, then the error is regarded as more severe.

Phrase inconsistency is judged less strictly. The same or similar construction in the source text translated in several different ways is judged as a less severe error. Obviously, if a text is stylistically diversified, not all such inconsistencies are errors.