Engaging native transcribers is key to success in the legal industry. Sometimes, a word can mean something different in different locations within one country.
Native transcribers are professionals who turn video or audio content from one language to their native language. Different dialects and nuances in languages can completely transform the shape and meaning of a word, phrase, or sentence.
If you are working within a different language or country as a legal company, it is therefore very important that you hire the services of a professional legal transcription company that has access to native transcribers.
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We can say the same of any video or other work that requires transcribing for marketing to be consumed by people in a different language or location. That way, you can ensure that whatever it is you are transcribing and translating is accurate in any language, and that nuance and meaning are never missed or misinterpreted.
Many conversations and different notes and pieces of content are created in different languages across multiple industries and businesses throughout the world. For legal services, there could be cases worked on involving clients that might not speak English, or documents that are crucial to a case, but have been written in a different language or dialect.
Making Good Use of Native Translation
Native translation helps a wide range of businesses within the legal sector and associated businesses to provide accurate transcriptions of a whole host of document types.
This helps with the whole process of digitization of documents, helps to make videos accessible, and ensures that all dialects and translations are as accurate as can be.
The legal sector is probably the biggest area where transcription services are utilized, as there are so many documents that require transcribing for court documents and ongoing cases.
Within law enforcement too, police officers, lawyers, and those investigating crimes have a plethora of documents, statements both audio and visual to work through at all times.
English Language and Slang
Even within the English language itself, transcription is a requirement because of the many different dialects and slang words that can be seen and heard throughout the country.
When it comes to legal transcription services with the use of a native transcriptionist, this will make all the difference to having accurate written documents that convey the true meaning of an audio or video recording that might include slang or thick dialect.
Non-native speakers might struggle when they hear English phrases like ‘call it a day’, ‘think outside the box’, ‘hit it out of the park’, or many other phrases that won’t make sense to people who are not first-language English. They might hear some phrases and get confused, especially in a business context.
When it comes to the legal sector, transcribing audio and video recordings as a non-native speaker could lead to confusion and a lack of clarity in the final written document, if faced with such slang and idiom.
In terms of accents and local dialect, this can also cause confusion and problems for a transcriptionist who has English as a second language. There are hundreds of different accents on this tiny island, with tens of dialects to go with it.
This can be challenging for any person transcribing, but especially those not familiar with the UK and the very different accents and dialects that you can find within a few short miles of each other.
For a completely accurate transcription, one that understands colloquialisms, and doesn’t miss-out words due to pronunciation, there is a need to hire a legal transcriptionist with good in-depth knowledge of English beyond the standard, one that delves deeper into regionalization and dialect.
Famous Mistranslations
The need for a good transcription service becomes clear when you consider some of the big brands that have failed with marketing attempts in countries and regions other than their own.
Directly translating into another language just doesn’t always work culturally or logically like the examples below:
- Think of KFC translating their famous ‘finger lickin’ good’ into Mandarin and ending up with ‘eat your fingers off’ as the translated version.
- Another English mistranslation in China was when Pepsi launched their slogan ‘Pepsi brings you back to life’, which translated as ‘Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave’.
- A misunderstanding of politics and culture came with the launch of Orange in 1994, where they were forced into a different advertising strategy in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK, due to the implications of the Orange Order, a symbol of Protestantism in Ireland. This would cause problems in Northern Ireland at a time when the Troubles were still ongoing.
Finally, on Why Native Transcribers are Pivotal to Success Within the Legal Industry
Whether you are looking to cover all aspects of a marketing campaign to reach potential consumers in a different country, language, culture, or even dialect.
Or you require the use of a professional and specialist legal transcriptionist to help make sense of documents and add clarity and transparency. It is important to use the services of a professional company that you trust implicitly.
Having access to a native transcriptionist will change the game for your business, no matter what the intended end result is for the content being transcribed.