What is Subject Matter Expertise in Localization?
Subject matter expertise in localization means that the translator has in-depth knowledge, skills, and experience about the written, verbal, or audio-visual content for which translation services are required.
All translators duly performing their duties are considered experts providing various services to translation & interpreting and language sectors. However, there is a distinction among translators when it comes to certain industries and subject matter expertise in localization comes to the forefront. As a matter of fact, certain topics such as technical, medical, legal, IT, construction, finance, economy, commercial, software, and website translations, etc. require subject matter knowledge and expert translator approach.
For instance, in case of legal documents required to be translated from Italian into Turkish, the translator is expected to have comprehensive knowledge in both Italian and Turkish legal systems. To give another example, in case of translation of a product information leaflet (PIL) for a medicinal product, the translator must know certain terminology in healthcare sector, which leaves no room for error as human health literally depends on it due to its sensitive nature, in addition to being a subject-matter expert. If the translator has no substantial knowledge about the target audience and the subject matter of the source text required to be translated, the translation activity falls short of the ultimate goal determined at the beginning of the translation process and thus fails to meet the expectations of the target audience.
Just like human beings, language is a living and changing social entity and each language has its own rules. In line with these rules, various idioms, formatting of facts and figures, symbols, jargons, colors, words, and viewpoints vary from one country to another and one culture to another. If the translator overlooks such cultural and linguistic differences during the translation activity, the resulting translation products may be inaccurate and/or incomplete. To this end, subject matter expertise in translation exists with an aim to eliminate such errors, avoid ambiguities, and provide consistent and quality translation services.
A translator with subject matter expertise ensures professional, complete, and accurate translations. An expert translator gets back to the customer as soon as possible thanks to comprehensive knowledge about the subject matter and because the translator does not need to spend much time to search for terminology related to the content as he or she already knows, to a great extent, which reference documents and information to use in advance.
Due to advancing and changing technology, certain data related to the industries mentioned above also change or their scope widens with the introduction of new data. In such cases, it is imperative for the translator to continuously follow the most recent developments, seminars, conferences, news, etc. on the relevant industries and sectors. This is due to the fact that the content of the texts required to be translated often change with such recent developments. Therefore, translation activities carried out without being aware of such changes may result in inaccurate translation products of poor quality.
In conclusion, the translation activity requires more than just mere translation of a message from one language to another when it comes to certain industries that require subject matter expertise. For this reason, if you would like the content of your text required to be translated to be comprehensible and effective for your target audience, it is advisable to take into consideration subject matter expertise in Translation approach in addition to comprehensive knowledge about the source and target languages when choosing a translation company to provide you with the required services. Working with a translation company, which is familiar with your content promoting your industry, specific terminology, products, style, expectations, ambitions, and other relevant promotional activities, allows you to open up to the world in a more reliable manner by standing out among your competitors. Always remember that the key to a quality translation product, above all, is a clear understanding of what you intend to say with your content to be translated.
