Dragoman Transcreation

Notes from the Editor – July 2015 Style for acronyms Spell out the entire phrase the first time you use it and put the acronym in parenthesis. Even if the style of the source text is the other way around, use the spelled-out form first, followed by the acronym in parentheses. For example, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). After the first instance, use the acronym for the second and subsequent uses. Errors occur when translators use the […]

Notes from the Editor – June 2015 Get the job titles right Forget about translating job titles or using online dictionaries for that purpose! The ideal way to find a person’s professional title is to check the website of the company they are working at. We need to look for other reliable sources only when the company website is not comprehensive enough or when there is no English version of it. One of these reliable sources is LinkedIn. If you […]

At Dragoman we’ve simplified our review and editing process for translation and transcreation workflows. For localization and testing assignments or video subtitling & dubbing tasks please refer to specific guidelines. Background The thinking behind this is that it didn’t make sense to be spending the same amount of time on “Plus” projects as “Gold” projects. You’ll know which projects are which because they are labeled by the project coordinator (see below). This change is now possible because the

Simultaneous interpreting is our core competence, because we were founded in 2005 as an interpreting office. Written translation, business language school and technology divisions were all added in later years. Dragoman manages up to 2000 interpreter requests every year. Most of of them are onsite but our online interpreting services are growing exponentially. Turkish – English interpreting is always a good majority of our simultaneous interpreting portfolio, followed by Arabic, Russian, Chinese,

Do you need interpreting booth, microphones, headsets, sound system, speakers, powerpoint projector, presentation equipment or computer devices for your event? Thanks to our 20+ years experience in conferences we know some of the best interpreting equipment providers in Turkey, Europe and the US. We have tested all our partners in live events for hundreds if not thousands of times. We also provide mobile interpreting equipment for roadshows, meetings on the go or site visits. Our portable devices

If I was asked what one of the most commonly occurring mistakes I see in translations is, my answer would be the attempt to pluralize uncountable (mass) nouns. Uncountable nouns: Are seen as a mass and cannot be counted or separated (i.e., bread) Are not used with indefinite articles a / an Can be used with much / little / some / any (e.g., “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing“) Mistakes are understandable given that what is uncountable in one […]

Integration is now almost an elusive term embracing the whole issue of interoperability among softwares. Switching into a new system is a turning point in the life circle of an LSP, and it is very much required. Each product comes with certain promises varying from timesaving to cost-saving, and indeed they are quite successful. But it is only natural that each product has certain limitations as it specializes in certain features and may lack others. A growing LSP inevitably ends […]

The use of left-branching sentences is a common problem in translations. Yet many translators are unaware that they are even writing them. In most cases, right-branching sentences are more appropriate and easier to read. So what’s the difference? Left-branching sentences Left-branching sentences can resemble a magic trick. This is as they keep the reader in suspense by only revealing at the end of the sentence what it is that’s being discussed. This becomes particularly problematic (and infuriating