Culture gives rise to language, which means it is intimately connected with translating. This indicates that both the source of text and the target language are greatly affected by cultural context, more so in the field of business. Therefore, it is vital to include cultural context during the process of translating or transcription, especially when meaning is crucial.
Translation services or transcription services is not easy job. As a translator like Albanian translation service, it is essential to understand the aspects of the target language, like cultural phrases or words, for you to meet the exact meaning and avoid mistranslation.
So why should translators be culturally aware of foreign languages? This article will explain why it is essential to be culturally aware if you are a translator.
Why Translators Should Be Culturally Aware of Foreign Languages
Cultural Taboos and Values in the Community
People around the globe are anatomically and physiologically the same. What makes them different is their cultural beliefs and their values.
To a particular culture, their deeply held taboos might not mean anything to other cultures. Whatever one culture values might not have much meaning to another culture. Such occasions are what make people different.
To find the exact meaning in the target language, whether it is audio transcription or simply translating, you should sensitize the moral, spiritual values associated with words and symbols.
The essential part you should pay more attention to is the value of words. The exact words passing from one culture to another may acquire slight or radical differences in meaning. The difference may seem to have little relevance, but it represents a tremendous or small value that is important to translate.
The Literal and Contextual Meaning of Words
As you translate any sentence, you should be able to understand the importance of its cultural context. Be in a position to get the actual meaning of the phrase and relay that meaning in a way that makes sense to both the target language and the context of the target culture.
Cultures vary in so many ways, like practices and beliefs. Some practices exist in one community and don’t exist in the other. Even in views, commitments to truth are different from one culture to another.
These variations have a deep connection to words with meaning in one language and a different sense in the other language. A good translator should be aware of such unique features to translate from the source language to the target language perfectly.
Marketing or Advertising
The genesis of translating and transcribing is the field of business. Because of translation, entrepreneurs can relate to local cultures and market their services and products without cultural barriers. Therefore, translating is an essential aspect of promoting a product or service appropriately.
When advertising a product or service, if you are translating, your audience should fully understand you. Your advertising copy should not be offensive or harmful to your customers since it can turn them away from your products or services.
To advertise your business to a new audience, you should be aware of their culture. It would be best to make the new customers patronize your product by understanding and considering their cultural beliefs. Otherwise, you may end up hurting your business due to poor translation.
Informed Decision
In today’s world, translators play a very vital role. Their responsibility is to ensure the efficient delivery of the source’s message. In business, proper communication between two different cultures can be achieved through translators.
For successful proper communication, the translator should be well conversant with the two cultures, beliefs, and values. This ensures the customers make the right decision when purchasing something for an instant.
Additionally, as a business person, you need to understand your customer by understanding their traditions and value systems. This is only possible if you have the services of a good translator with deep knowledge of the target language and culture.
Builds Strong Relationships
Translators study language and how people make meaning from what they read or hear. As a translator, you need to build relationships with your new audience by personalizing your messages for each of them in a way that feels personally relevant to their language and culture.
You cannot build a relationship with your audience without understanding their culture and value systems. Therefore, it will be best to study their culture for the above reason.
Conclusion
Why Should Translators Be Culturally Aware of Foreign Languages? A translator should be aware of the culture to understand the cultural taboos and values to avoid misinterpretation.
As a translator, you have to consider culture in the process of translating. You should identify the source, the target culture, and the audience to figure out the appropriate way to translate the culture. For this reason, cultural awareness is essential to the process of translating.