Blog
Welcome to the Word+Style Blog on the art and business of translation.
This is where language meets strategy. Through articles, insights, and practical tips, we explore how expert translation can shape communication, support business goals, and preserve meaning across cultures.
Whether you're a business owner, communicator, or language enthusiast, you'll find valuable perspectives on both the creative craft and the commercial side of translation.
Machine-translation post-editing: Are you settling for “good enough”?
Ever been tempted to draft a translation using a translation engine such as Google Translate or DeepL? Let’s break down why that’s not a good idea if you want a text that resonates with your target audience.
A Translator’s Skillset: 5 Skills You Didn’t Know You Needed
A translator often wears many hats, which makes us our clients’ partner when it comes to communication. Our goal is to make communication easy for our clients, whether it means communicating across cultures or simply harnessing the power of words.
Solving a Client’s Pain Points: From translator to translation project manager
When making the transition from translator to translation project manager, a translator must learn how to solve their clients’ pain points if they want to provide them with the best possible service. If your client is serious about providing quality bilingual content, following the six tips in this article will make you an indispensable part of their team.
Machine Versus Human: The Drawbacks of neural machine translation in marketing
Despite all of the benefits of neural machine translation, there is still a human working behind the scenes for every good translation. Find out why a good translation is always produced by a real live human being.
The Drawbacks of Relying on Machine Translation for Branding
While machine translation is convenient and cheap (or even free), it can pose significant risks to a brand’s integrity and the effectiveness of its marketing content. Let’s break down the reasons why.
Machine Translation: A tool for professional translators
By integrating human expertise with machine translation technology, translators can produce high-quality translations that are both accurate and fluent, meeting the needs and expectations of clients more effectively. But in the end, a human is always behind a quality translation.
Bilingualism in New Brunswick: The role of translation in a bilingual province
In New Brunswick, translation is often viewed as a burden. Here is why it should instead be seen as key to accessing opportunities and promoting economic growth.
The Cost of Translation
As with any product or service, there is a range in quality when it comes to translation that generally corresponds to its price. Here is everything that needs to be taken into account when considering how much translation services cost.
The Funny Thing About Translation Quality
Buyers of translation services count on translators to render their content faithfully in another language. But there is a hiccup: most clients are unable to judge the quality of the translations they receive. Here’s how you can be sure that you are getting quality service.
Translators Versus Interpreters: What’s the difference?
Have you ever contacted a translation agency looking for an interpreter, only to find out that the company does not provide interpretation services? Read on to find out the differences between translators and interpreters.
How Word+Style Translations Improved its Quality Assurance Using the ISO Standard for Translation Services
ISO 17100 defines requirements for a quality management system for translation services. While getting ISO-certified is too expensive for most small translation agencies, they can forego the formal certification process and simply use the standard as a guideline to improve their services.
No Translation Too Short: Why you should always consult a professional translator
When you’re a buyer of translation services and don’t speak the target language, it can be very difficult, if not impossible to judge the quality of the translation provided to you. However, by calling on an experienced translator with the credentials to prove it, you’re guaranteed to get the quality content you’re looking for.
Promoting Sustainable Building Through Translation
Green building and materials certifications are on the rise as the demand for greener products continues to increase. When it comes to translation, this means that knowing the steps in the certification process and the related terminology is critical in helping clients obtain the certifications they’re seeking.
Top Ten Reasons Why Experience Matters in Translation
Over the years, I have learned that translation is no exception to Malcolm Gladwell’s rule in his 2008 book Outliers: The Story of Success: it takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills. There is much more to being a translator than simply knowing two languages fluently.
The Word+Style Brand Story
Word+Style celebrated 10 years in business in 2022. Read about how Natalie Pavey grew her company over a decade, transitioning from working as a freelance translator to providing comprehensive French-English translation services to an array of clients across the world.