Throughout our lives we have at least once found a text in an other language that needed to be translated. If not a text, a song, if not a song, then we have at least one in our lives seen a movie in a foreign language. What did we do in order to understand the movie? We used subtitles.

It is also true that we sometimes use translation programs such as Google Translate, but they are not always reliable. For more accurate translations, we have to rely on either professional translators and natives. One question does come into mind. When should be use a professional non-native translator and when should be use a non-professional native?

Professional non-native translator

A professional non-native translator is a person who supposedly studied one or two foreign languages and has the necessary certifications and qualifications to translate a certain text.

One of the main advantages of hiring a professional non-native translator is the fact that he or she is familiar with the terminology specific to certain domains. For example, a professional non-native translator is more likely to be able to translate documents from fields ranging from Medicine to Geology and Sports. Meanwhile, non-professional native speaker might not be familiar with specific terminology.

Another aspect of choosing to hire a professional non-native translator is the fact that he or she may be able to legally translate documents. For example, if you are going to apply for a job in a different country, a professional translator will properly and legally translate your document for you. In that case you need a sworn translator.

One of the negative aspects of hiring a professional non-native translator is the fact that it might result in being costly. This however, depends on the length of your text. The more pages you have, the more it will cost to translate it. However, most of the time it is worth the financial effort.

Non-professional native

A non-professional native is simply a person who has a certain language as its first language. He or she does not have the necessary certifications and qualifications to translate a certain text. However, he or she has been speaking that language for all of his or her life.

A native is great for translating the idiomatic expressions. He or she is more familiar with the spoken language and, as a consequence he will know most idioms and phrases that you might not find in a dictionary. He or she will be more familiar with the slang and can also help you understand the context of things.

One of the negative aspects of hiring a non-professional native is that he or she does not have the ability to translate texts containing specific vocabulary from a certain field. This is where you should contact a professional translator to do the job.

So, I guess that now you know when you should hire a professional non-native translator and when to rely on a non-professional native.

I personally only translate to my native tongue: Spanish. I have proofread enough professional non-native translator texts to know they never look as natural as they should. So if you do not want to spend money in proofreading, you have only one choice: a professional native translator. But remember, they should be native in the language they are going to write, and not in the original language.