With language translation apps and devices at our fingertips, we are starting to take our ability to communicate with people who do not speak the same language as us for granted.
Through knowledge and context, when listening to a foreign language you only need to understand about 70 percent to get the gist of the message. For example if a native Spanish speaker said ‘esposas’ you would know whether they meant ‘wives’ or ‘handcuffs’ - hopefully!
However, for written documents, not only must the translation be accurate, but it must also sound natural to a local speaker. Literal translations from the original language are rarely sufficient, ‘language adaptation’ is invariably required. Documents need to account for varying rules of structure or grammar, use accurate and appropriate terminology and avoid colloquialisms. Following translation documents, and websites, need to be adapted to prevent pagination problems caused by longer words or sentences. For example a paragraph of seventy words in English may need ninety words in German.
