Dragoman Transcreation

Never begin a sentence with a numeral. There is one exception: a numeral that identifies a calendar year. When translating press releases or annual reports, we occasionally come across situations where we have to place the percentage at the beginning of the sentence. E.g.: Twenty-eight percent of the participants passed the test last year. Although this sentence is correct, it looks odd. Where pos...

The difference between continual and continuous can be hard to notice. The Oxford English Dictionary defines continual and continuous as follows: Continual:      Forming a sequence in which the same action or event is repeated frequently. Continuous:  Forming an unbroken whole; without interruption. Interruption of time is key to understanding the difference between these two words. And one other...

Transcreation or translating creative copy is one of Dragoman’s strong suits. We occasionally translate brochures, promotions, campaigns, slogans, hotel websites, and so on. Alliteration, or the use of several words together that begin with the same sound or letter in order to make a special effect, especially in poetry, is a literary device that comes handy when translating creative copy. Drive Y...

When multiple adjectives each do not modify a noun separately, they are cumulative. Do not use a comma to seperate cumulative adjectives in English. This rule may be different in your mother tongue but when translating into English, we should all follow the rules & conventions of English language. E.g.: The company is planning to open five new mid-sized stores by May next year. Incorrect: The comp...

Wikipedia defines a compound modifier (also called a compound adjective, phrasal adjective, or adjectival phrase) as a compound of two or more attributive words: that is, two or more words that collectively modify a noun. We frequently come across compound modifiers like “çevre dostu bina,” “kullanıcı dostu arayüz” and so on. What we should keep in mind is that we are not supposed to hyphenate the...

The Free Dictionary defines nominalization as the creation of a noun from a verb or adjective. Although they sound fancy and sophisticated, their overuse will actually create weak and pretentious sentences. Dragoman prefers avoiding nominalizations wherever possible. Weak:        We will have to make a decision by 10 p.m. tomorrow. Stronger:  We will have to decide by 10 p.m. tomorrow. Weak:     ...

We occasionally translate company milestones contained under “About Us” pages of corporate websites. Translating milestones from Turkish into English requires management of verb tenses. Here is why. Although companies almost always prefer the simple past tense to describe these important dates in Turkish, Dragoman prefers the simple present tense to make these dates enticing to the reader.  This i...

We translate a lot of press releases, agreements, websites, and disclosures that are filled with words like board of directors, company, general manager. Capitalizing these words should be an exception rather than the rule. Unless an agreement or a contract contains a clause that reads “hereinafter to be referred to as “The Company” or “Company,” we need not capitalize the word “company,” or any o...

Author: Benjamin Browett As with any writing, it’s important when translating to remember who your audience is. A good translation should be true to the message of the source text, yet read naturally to a native speaker of the target language. If the reader detects they are reading a translation, they will be distracted from the message of the text. The goal is to create an end product which is un...

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This piece was originally published in November 2009 A Language The interpreter‘s native language (or another language strictly equivalent to a native language), into which the interpreter works from all her or his other languages in both modes of interpretation, simultaneous and consecutive. B Language A language other than the interpreter‘s native language, of which she or he has a perfect comma...

This article was originally published in November 2009  Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training is a systematically corrected, enhanced and updated avatar of a book (1995) which is widely used in T&I training programmes worldwide and widely quoted in the international Translation Studies community. It provides readers...

Machine translation (MT) is not an automated process and will not deliver business grade translation. However, it is very practical for large volume content if you only need a convenient translation. We can give you readable and understandable “edited” machine translation up to 10 times faster compared to regular human translation. News, articles, user comments and blogs are best suited for this t...

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Notes from the Editor – December 2015 How to deal with quotations When the text you are translating into English contains a quotation, and it is from a world-renowned figure, a well-known book, an article in an international newspaper or magazine, and so on, then you will likely find the original quotation in English. It’s that simple. You should translate the quote if, and only if, you are unable...

Consecutive interpreting is a must to have to facilitate multilingual communication during bilateral meetings, site & factory visits, investor meetings and device / equipment training. Some people assume that consecutive interpreting is easier than simultaneous interpreting only because they have experienced this when they entertained foreign visitors in their company. In professional settings, co...

  About This knowledgebase was created by Benjamin Browett. He served as an in-house copy-editor at Dragoman between 2014 and 2016. In addition to editing, it was also his task to try and improve the way we work at Dragoman; to address the needs of the translators and editors. Why this resource? There has been no central resource at Dragoman for our translators and editors to refer to when working...

Notes from the Editor – May 2016 Branch to the right English is a subject–verb–object language. And it is considered a right-branching language. In right-branching sentences, the subject is described first, and is followed by modifiers that provide additional information about the subject. The prince raised the sword, clutching the hilt in both hands, grinning with madness. In left-branching sente...

Notes from the Editor – April 2016 Using the singular “they” for gender neutrality English does not have a generic third-person pronoun, unlike, for instance, Turkish. This poses a problem when the person we refer to can be a male or a female. In the past, it was common to use pronouns he, him, and his when referring to persons of either sex. But “he” is no longer accepted as a generic pronoun; on...

When you first apply for a copy-editing position at Dragoman, you might assume your job will be limited with surface errors; it will be done after correcting spelling, prepositions and some connecting phrases. And when you realize that you are expected to change sentence structures, deal with proper usage and remove ambiguities, you may be struggling to figure out your limits. How far can I edit,...

Dragoman Gold refers to translation + editing + proofreading as specified in international translation quality standards. But so does Dragoman Plus. So what is the difference of Gold and Plus? And also what exactly is Dragoman Standard? The biggest difference of Gold Translation Level is full review; Standard or Plus does not include full copy-editor review. Standard translation includes translati...

Which one is correct? Industry is smaller, more focused, single business area. Sector is broader. A group of industries form a sector. In Turkish to English translations, authors mainly talk about industries and they use the word “sektör” in Turkish. As a rule, use industry in your translations and not sector, except for “public or private sector.”   Examples: healthcare industry              heal...

This is a quick reminder for writing in style for the following copy types: Titles of Films, TV Series, TV Episodes, Albums, CDs, Songs, Videos, Visual Media, Works of Art, Sculptures, Paintings, Exhibitions, Advertising Slogans and Radio/TV Spots, Projects, and Clinical or Case Studies or Clinical Trials Follow these general rules: 1. Use initial capitalization and quotation marks. Put the year i...

Follow U.S. capitalization and punctuation rules. Do not use U.K. style. For “quotation marks” follow these rules: 1. Commas and periods always go within the quotation marks for all copy. [wc_fa icon=”check” margin_left=”” margin_right=””][/wc_fa] GarantiBank received the EU Award for the “Best Bank in Turkey.” [wc_fa icon=”times” margin_left=”” margin_right=””][/wc_fa] GarantiBank received the EU...

1. Spell out figures followed by the numerals in parentheses. 2. Do not round off the figures when writing the numerals.     Examples:     five thousand six hundred dollars ($5,600)     ten million five hundred forty-five thousand six hundred fifty Turkish lira (10,545,650 TL)     twenty million nine hundred thousand two hundred fifty-two dollars ($20,900,252)     thirty (30) days, two (2) weeks,...