Why Even Spaces and Line Breaks Matter in Translation

When you are getting a document translated, even one small error could cost you your reputation.

Translations of contracts, for example, and government documents, have to be 100 percent accurate, otherwise they will fail the translation test. Sometimes it’s possible to get away with using the cheapest translator or even machine translation software but not when a high degree of accuracy is critical.

It might be a bit of a surprise to be told that one of the worst mistakes made is not so much errors in the translation itself but mistakes with blank spaces.

When being totally accurate with a translation, words are not usually translated by translating one word into an equivalent single word meaning in the other language. This is most often the case with Japanese, when a few words in English could be up to a whole page in Japanese.

Many languages, such as German and Dutch, often replace whole phrases with a single word. When translating documents from English to Spanish, Thai, Portuguese or Polish, the amount of words used may shorten the translated text by 15% or more.

How to handle translation space issues

Spacing is important in translation so this is a good reason to use an experienced translation services in Australia so that you can guarantee a flawless return for your translation. Space is important and a translator has to have the expertise to know what can be re-worded or moved around or even omitted completely. Even any mistake in grammar, spelling, content or spacing could mean that the document fails to represent what it is designed to do. For example, in a translated contract it may not appear as it is supposed to because of simple mistakes or omissions.

A good translator will have the experience and knowledge to determine both language and spacing issues when it comes to translating official documents. A good translator will also know how such documents as patents, contracts and articles of incorporation should look like once the technical translation has been completed. A judge listening at a patent proceedings could reject a patent translation due to the breaks in any sentences not being in exactly the same place as the original document.

While working with key forms, text and graphics which have space limitations it is important that your translator can pick up important space and layout issues so that the translated document matches the original one perfectly.