Why a native speaker guarantees better translations

The average person will not claim rashly that he or she can translate to Polish or Czech effortlessly – this goes without saying. With more common and popular languages, however, the situation is a little bit different. Can’t everyone translate to, let’s say, English? Nothing could be further from the truth. Only a native speaker, or a translator translating to his mother tongue, can guarantee top quality. Below you can find the reasons why.

The native speaker principle

In translation circles the native speaker principle is an often-heard and well-respected rule. It means that translating to another language should only be done by native speakers of that language. If, for example, Dutch is your mother tongue you should not be allowed to translate to French. The other way around – from French to Dutch – is obviously no problem.

Native speakers are always one step ahead 

Why should you entrust your translations to native speakers only? Here are a couple of sound reasons why:

• Native speakers possess a more extensive vocabulary, resulting in texts with a higher degree of variety and less repetitions. 
• They are better at picking up and interpreting even the tiniest stylistic details and nuances. This guarantees that the original message is translated correctly and it prevents misunderstandings.
• They can play with words effortlessly and feel so at ease in the language that they can use it in a creative manner – this obviously results in very eloquent texts. 
• They are fully aware of, and can take into account, the customs and sensitive language of their country.
• They are often up to date regarding the latest developments in their country, which means that the content of their translations will also be updated. 

A certified translation agency means certainty

ElaN Languages has a worldwide network of 1,800 native speakers. Each of them with their own specializations, so even the most technical or intrinsic jargon poses no problem. For example, our translators feel perfectly comfortable when dealing with legal, technical, financial or medical texts. Information leaflets, safety procedures for a construction company, you name it and they will translate it to their native language. 

On top of that, we add an extra safety level: our internal proofreaders (also native speakers) use all their linguistic and stylistic skills to check every translation. This ensures a correct and high-quality translation, regardless of the source or target language.  

Tailored quote

In need of a translation? Contact our project managers: translations@elanlanguages.com - +32 (0)11 49 04 68. They will be pleased to help you!