Specialized types of translation (Part 1)

Any type of written text can be a candidate for translation, however, the translation industry is often categorized by a number of areas of specialization. Each specialization has its own challenges and difficulties. An incomplete list of these specialized types of translation includes:

Administrative translation -

The translation of administrative texts.

Commercial translation -

The translation of commercial (business) texts. This category may include marketing and promotional materials directed to consumers.

Computer translation -

The translation of computer programs and related documents (manuals, help files, web sites.)

The notion of localization, that is the adaptation of the translation to the target language and culture, is gaining prevalence in this area of specialization. (Note that the term "computer translation" is sometimes used to refer to the practice of machine translation, using computers to automatically translate texts.)

General translation -

The translation of "general" texts. In practice, few texts are really "general"; most fall into a specialization but are not seen as such.

Legal translation -

The translation of legal documents (laws, contracts, treaties, etc.) A skilled legal translator is normally as adept at the law (often with in-depth legal training) as with translation, since inaccuracies in legal translations can have serious results. Sometimes, to prevent such problems, one language will be declared authoritative, with the translations not being considered legally binding, although in many cases this is not possible, as one party does not want to be seen as subservient to the other.