It is often said that domain knowledge is needed in Technical Translation.  Translators not only need to understand many technical terms such as 'endosmosis' and 'cytophagy'; they also have to know the meaning of multivocal words in a certain context.

There was a Singaporean company which engaged a translation agency to translate a brochure for its life science conference to attract Chinese companies to attend. The price was relatively cheaper among three vendors. Upon the return of the translation, the manager of the Singaporean company, who has a Chinese background, found that 'cell culture' was translated into 细胞文化.  'Cell culture media' was translated into 细胞文化媒体.

The word 'culture' alone in a general context can mean 'An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning' (文化).  'Media' in the communication domain may refer to newspaper, TV, radio. (媒体)

It is clear that the translation was done in a word-for-word fashion.  If the translator had specialized knowledge of biology, where 'culture media' means 'A liquid or gelatinous substance containing nutrients in which microorganisms or tissues are cultivated for scientific purposes', those mistakes would be avoided.

The correct translation should be
cell culture-细胞培养
cell culture media-细胞培养基.

A wrong translation will harm the conference organizer’s image in China when it delivers nonsensical and inaccurate Chinese publicity material to the public.  Fortunately, this Singaporean company had a manager who understood Chinese and was saved from the embarrassment.

What if you do not have in-house expert in Chinese? You may follow these steps:

1. Engage a reputable translation company.
2. Ensure that the translation company only allows translators to translate into their native languages.
3. Ensure that the translation company has a resource library where terminologies have been researched, verified by other translators and archived.  In that way, you can rest assured that terminology used in your translation is accurate and appropriate.

Patent Translation

A Patent Translation is not just a document that needs to be translated into English for the client requesting this kind of translation, but one that also needs to be formatted correctly in order to meet the standards for a properly translated patent and must contain the appropriate terminology to meet the expectations of the target audience.

The novelty of patents is what makes them especially difficult to translate and can also lead to embarrassment to both agencies and clients alike if improperly translated. Of course, any experienced Japanese-to-English Translator can grasp the gist of the translation; however, to anyone knowledgeable in the field of patent translations, only translating the gist of a document is inadequate and will not meet the clients’ expectations.

This is especially true in the case of Japanese patent specifications and claims that are to be translated into English; more attention is required due to the nature of both languages. As you may already know, the Japanese language is a product of harmony or group-identity, while the English language is straightforward in what is trying to be conveyed.  It is extremely important that translators know the nature of both languages in order to provide a high-quality translation. If this is not the case, then the meaning of the translated patent specifications and claims could possibly end up meaning something totally different from the original intention or concept of the inventor or inventors.

My purpose is to outline the seriousness of patent translations, which is usually (almost always) overlooked by service vendors and agencies alike; thus, resulting in a loss of their clientele. This loss in "return customers" also affects translators who have actually provided a so-called "adequate translation." Many times, this is unintentional on the part of the translator since he or she has not had the proper training and/or experience. Along with increasing your awareness of the grave importance of a properly translated patent, we would like to inform you that we apply this expertise to your patent translation and would like to offer our services to you in an attempt to provide you with an affordable translation.

translation4u has a team of qualified translators with legal, specifically patent experience.  We specialize in fast, accurate, and cost-efficient Japanese-English (as well as other languages) technical translations daily, and provide follow up explanations and/or clarification of any language issues.  (Example: Possible alternate interpretations of a sentence, included/excluded meanings based upon the original wording etc.)

Translators need a deep understanding of the source language. A Japanese-to-English translator needs to read Japanese on a native level. The only sure way to acquire that ability is to invest long years in study and in living with the language of the source text (Japanese for Japanese-to-English translation). The translator needs specialized field-specific knowledge. In technical or scientific translation, an understanding of the subject matter is not enough, but without it no amount of other skills will be able to compensate for lack of specialized knowledge.

Translators also need native-level writing skills in the target language. All the source language comprehension and field-specific knowledge in the world is not enough if the translator cannot write effective English. Sadly, even those people who have acquired Japanese level 1 proficiency (or English level 1 proficiency for Japanese natives) still cannot write the so-called one sentence claim correctly.

At translation4u, we only allow translators to translate into their native languages.  Our native Japanese translators have done many patent translations in a broad range of technical fields, including chemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, software, semiconductors, and optical devices and many others on a daily basis.  Many of our translators possess more than 10 years of experience.

If you feel we could be of service to your organization and if you have any questions that require clarification, please feel free to contact us.