translation_tips

One of the key elements of writing well is to understand the use of relative clauses. For non-native speakers, and especially for my fellow Turkish colleagues, abuse of relative clauses is common and easy to overcome mistake. Please do not take me wrong, I am not suggesting that relative clauses are totally useless and therefore one must never use them. I am only trying to show you how to reduce them. Here is an example from Izmir Train – the IZBAN. […]

Use decimals and commas for English figures as follows: General Figures: 22,500 people, 1.5 million cars, 42.8 square meters Money figures: $4,564.54, $4.5 million, 5.67 billion Turkish lira Percents: 43.8 percent, 43.8% Note: Decimals and commas in Turkish figures are reversed; use the English format.   Source Dragoman Style Guide for Figures

1. Use figures for decades: the 1990s, the ’90s, the mid-1990s. 2. Use an apostrophe before the decade if abbreviated as in the ’80s, the turbulent ’60s. 3. Spell out the decade when used at the beginning of a sentence: Nineteen-eighties business models are no longer sufficient. 4. Follow the “less than 10” as in the fifth century, the 15th century, mid-eighth century, mid-12th century, ninth-century literature, 17th-century poets. 5. B.C. follows the year or century as in 88 B.C. […]

The legacy trusted corporate conferencing platform Webex finally unveils its interpreting addon. Starting from December 2020, Webex Legislate, a seperate Coscio product for parliaments, legislatures, courts and international organizations, began offering simultaneous interpreting capabilities. We met with Cisco product managers online and reviewed some of the available use cases. The current product is a very nice, secure package. It is highly customizable. Interpretation is performed in virtual booths (rooms). Sign language interpreting can also be provided. Interpreters video will be […]

According to the AP Stylebook and several other guides, when writing about people with disabilities; Avoid using terms such as “handicapped” or “cripple.” Clearly define the type of disability if you can. If this is not possible, you can use “people with disabilities” or “disabled people.” Example: Inappropriate: Services for the handicapped and their families Use: Services for people with disabilities and their families   Avoid language that suggests pity such as “suffer from”, “afflicted with,” “victim of,” or “stricken with.” […]

SYSTRAN & DRAGOMAN LANGUAGE SERVICES LAUNCH THE BEST ENGLISH-TURKISH MACHINE TRANSLATION MODEL EVER MADE Paris, July 1st, 2020: SYSTRAN, leader in advanced machine translation solutions, announces the release of the best English to Turkish neural machine translation model ever built. The model has been trained with data from a trusted translation company in Turkey: Dragoman Language solutions. With the launch of SYSTRAN Marketplace, SYSTRAN opened their proprietary translation technology developed over last 50 years to enable a community of worldwide […]

Online meetings and video conferences were less than 3% of the entire conference industry until only a few months ago. Starting from March and with the global lockdown measures, on-site interpreting was literally obliterated. We found ourselves in an almost 100% remote video format. It is impossible to know what the event industry look like once the pandemic is over, but it is safe to assume that the share of online meetings will not go back to 3%, it will […]

The following text is taken verbatim from the book, 300 Days of Better Writing: A daily handbook for improving your writing written by David Bowman (2010) “An introductory adverbial phrase is a phrase at the beginning of the sentence that tells something about the main verb, such as when it occurred, how, or to what degree. Consider this sentence. “After reading the newspaper, John felt relaxed.” The phrase “after reading the newspaper” tells when John felt relaxed. This phrase is an introductory […]

Zoom has become an essential part of our lives during the global lockdown. Families, friends, teachers, schools, government agencies and private corporations are using Zoom on a daily basis. For us, the interpreting agencies, Zoom offers another great possibility: remote language interpretation. If you have a paid Zoom account (minimum Pro account plus a webinar package), you can add simultaneous interpreting to your meetings in up to eight languages. Advanced settings of Zoom can be tricky and if you are […]

This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word as Alternatives because Explanation “As” is sometimes used to mean “because.” But do not use it if there is any chance of ambiguity. In the example below, “as” could mean “because” or “when.” Example Avoid “We […]

This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word while Alternatives although, whereas Explanation Avoid using “while” to mean “although” or “whereas” if there is any chance of ambiguity. In the example below, “while” could mean either “although” or “at the same time that.” Example […]

This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word since Alternatives because Explanation Do not use “since” to mean “because” if there is any chance of ambiguity. In the example below, “since” could mean “because” or “from the time that.” Example Avoid “Since we won […]

This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word actual Alternatives current, present. Explanation “Actual” is sometimes used to refer to something that is happening now. However, in English it means “real” or “existing”. Example Avoid “This appropriation is intended to cover basic salaries of […]

Are you as old as I am and therefore able to name the NBA team the legendary basketball player Clyde Drexler is most commonly associated with? If you are getting somewhat on in years and you also follow NBA basketball, then you would answer: Portland Trail Blazers. What I will focus on throughout the rest of my entry is the verb “to blaze a (new) trail.” If you set an example by being the first to do something, you blaze […]

This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word deepen Alternatives improve, increase, bolster, boost, develop. Explanation “Deepen” is a difficult word to use correctly. In addition to its literal meaning (e.g., deepen a well), it can also be used figuratively to mean “to increase,” […]

to empower If you empower someone, you give that person authority or power to do something (The Oxford English Dictionary). Here is an example sentence: The prime minister said, “We have to give more power to women to create a more equitable society.” The prime minister said, “We need to empower women to create a more equitable society.” Which sentence would you and, most importantly, your reader prefer? You’ve guessed it right if you have chosen the second one. Why […]

This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word aim (with the aim to) Alternatives with the aim of (doing something), with a view to (doing something, not do something). Explanation This expression actually takes of + the gerund. Example Avoid “List of specific recommendations […]

This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word allow (to), permit (to), enable (to) Alternatives make it possible to, allow us to, enable us to, allow (an assessment) of. Explanation When used to mean “make it possible to,” “allow to” cannot be used without […]

This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word concern, ­concerning, for what concerns Alternatives with regard to, in respect of, in terms of. Explanation We often find paragraphs in reports that begin with “concerning XYZ, the Court found that” instead of “with regard to.” […]

This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word important Alternatives large, substantial, significant. Explanation “Important” is often wrongly used to mean “big” (“the most important power station in France”); it actually means: “strongly affecting the course of events or the nature of things” or […]