On this page we will provide an overview of the way our work is organised. We show how a translator prepares for his or her work, what is important in carrying out the work, what tools he or she uses and much more.

A new project - the first overview

Once the translator has received all the necessary information and tools from the project manager, the actual translation work begins. The translator reads the source text and draws an initial picture of the target text in his or her head. In doing so, he or she visualizes the purpose of the translation and the target group. It is clear that an advertising text for a broad audience must be formulated differently from technical communication among experts. At this point, the first considerations are made as to which technical terms should be used in the text.

Preparation for successful long-term work

To match the tone desired or implied by the customer, existing customer texts and previous translations are used as reference material. Recognising the company-specific characteristics and finding solutions as to how these can best be transferred and documenting this in such a way that subsequent projects can also be processed efficiently makes the difference between professional and hobby translators.

For this purpose, glossaries and style guides are created, which are used for each new translation. The clients with whom we work best make regular changes to these glossaries and guides. This allows new wording or preferred phrases or blacklists (terms that should be avoided) to be added.

Correct grammar and spelling are a given.

It goes without saying that the translators employed by IMASoL have a university degree in linguistics and feel called upon to work meticulously on wording, grammar and spelling  A professional translator is characterised by the ability to deliver good translations to a client over and over again and in the long term without having to clarify the same things over and over again.

A feeling for language and the ability to formulate appropriately

The translator's most important tool is therefore his or her linguistic ability, a clear understanding of the foreign-language source text and the ability to unambiguously translate the presented idea into the mother tongue.

The translation is produced in three stages: a draft, a thorough revision sentence by sentence and a final proofreading stage.

Depending on the translator's preferences, the research findings are incorporated in one of the first work cycles. The glossary and style guide are also created simultaneously.

At the same time, however, he also makes use of tools such as the above-mentioned accurately maintained, specific glossaries with the customer's own specialist terminology, which are integrated into special CAT tools (Computer Aided Translation).

These have nothing to do with machine translation. They store translations that have already been completed and offer them again for similar text passages in the future. They are therefore human translations that have already been written by humans in the same context. MT texts, on the other hand, are usually detached from the context and do not take previous translations for the same customer into account.

Further information on machine translation can be found here . 

Form and formats

A text almost never exists in a raw version but is always formatted for the reader. This formatting entails the problem of having to make changes to the format if the length of the text varies, in particular in web texts. Regardless of whether the customer delivers his original text in MS Word, in xml or xliff files as CMS exports or professional desktop publishing programs (DTP) such as Adobe InDesign: adjustments are almost always necessary before the final delivery. Word separations in another language? Spaces before question marks and exclamation marks or not? Professional translators are also familiar with form and formats and can save you headaches.

The advantage of a long-term partnership

The work of a translator therefore requires linguistic qualifications, specialist knowledge and excellent knowledge of the many technical aids available. Convince yourself of our experience and order your translations at IMASoL. Remember that in a long-term partnership, translations can be processed faster and faster and fewer queries need to be answered.

Make your request today!

Read on: The work of our proofreaders and editors  to ensure quality