How many times have you heard the term KISS ? It means, Keep It Simple, Stupid! It is directed against people who are windy in both their writing and speaking. How many times have you attended a meeting where the speaker puts you to sleep? How many times have you read a thirteen page resume? In each case, the speaker or writer has turned you off.
In order to win in this present day competitive marketplace, the one thing you do not want to do is lose your audience. A speaker or writer will invariably violate the cardinal rule of any presentation — keep it brief!
According to a recent Associated Press survey, Americans are running out of patience. We can’t stand to wait more than five minutes on the phone. We start fuming in long grocery lines. You must acknowledge this reality in your talks, e-mails, phone calls, or presentations. Get to the point fast.
How do we get to the point? Here is how we do it.
Former GE Chief Executive Jack Welch demanded simplicity from his managers. Welch would ask them to prepare one-page answers to strategic questions. I’ve seen longer memos between individuals planning lunch. Business with Welch was simple. If you were a windy writer or speaker, Welch would advise you to clean your desk and be out the door in five minutes. No need to make things complicated, according to Jack Welch.
Great leaders keep their conversations no longer than necessary. They expect the same from others. Sybase CEO John Chen once said the mark of a leader is the ability to articulate a message that is passionate, clear, and concise.
Remember that famous battle report from World War II. It read “Sighted sub. Sank same.”
Here are seven suggestions for you for effective writing. There are many more than just these seven ideas, but these should get you started.
1. Avoid using passive voice. It is anemic and lacks punch. With such ineffective writing, your readership will lose interest and fall asleep. It suggests to your audience that you are a sheepish follower rather than a strong leader.
2. Avoid using long sentences. These will send your audience into dreamland very quickly. Do not overwork connectors such as “and” or “but.” If you are describing a list, use bullets or item numbers.
3. Avoid using cliches or jargon. You may understand what they mean, but your audience may not comprehend what you are trying to say.
4. Make sure your spelling and grammar are correct. If your audience suspects that you are an illiterate fool, seeing your writing will erase all doubts.
5. Break your text into paragraphs. Each paragraph should have a theme or topic. You should say what you want to say, then move on to the next topic. If your article covers a wide range of topics, use an outline. Your audience will immediately recognize if you are well-organized or if your presentation is windy.
6. Get to the point of your presentation immediately. Do not expect your readers to go through fifteen pages of text before they reach your main idea. You will lose them after Page Three.
7. Keep your presentation interesting and avoid repetitive sentence structures. Imagine reading something like this:
John bought Mary a dog for Christmas. Sam bought Susan a dog for Christmas. Susan bought Eric a dog for Christmas.
Your readers are not in first grade.
Mastering good writing skills is not difficult. You have to work at it almost every day to achieve proficiency. You will find that as your written and verbal communication skills increase, so will your earnings.
Bob Carper is a veteran information systems consultant specializing in verbal and written communication. He holds a BS and an MBA degree. If you are interested in getting your friends together to improve their writing skills, please visit http://www.secure-webconference.citymax.com
Donald Trump didn’t get where he is today without confidence. He’s unapologetic and straight forward. He knows what he wants and he knows what he doesn’t. And whether you love or loath “The Donald,” you have to respect the clarity that he operates from as a leader; and make no mistake, he absolutely oozes confidence.
Trump’s confidence is a by-product of his relentless pursuit of his goals. He’s not here to further anyone else’s agenda-he puts Trump first. It is exactly this personality trait that causes some people to think of Trump as an arrogant, self-centered jerk, while other’s see him as a powerful, confident leader. So which side do you come down on?
The “Trump Test” (patent pending:-)
You can tell a lot about a person by their opinion of Trump. In a nutshell, people with lower confidence tend to see “Trump the jerk,” and people with higher confidence tend to see “Trump the powerful leader. It’s a very simple gauge to be sure, but the “Trump test” has proven accurate about 90% of the time in my experience.
And it’s not just Trump. People with lower confidence have a tendency to see all confident people as “jerks” to some degree. Sadly, this state of mind does not produce confidence in their own life. In fact, it’s as simple as this: “you will never be confident as long as you have a low opinion of people who are confident.”
Let me repeat that last statement just to drive the point home: “you will never be confident as long as you have a low opinion of people who are confident.”
Think about this question: what is your opinion of Trump, or more importantly, of all confident people? Do you secretly feel that they’re “arrogant” or “self-centered?” Dig deep-really think about it.
If you discover a personal bias against confident people lurking somewhere in your psyche, you have found the root of your confidence issues. And believe it or not, that’s great news-because once you have isolated the source of the problem, you are well on your way to solving it. Maybe you’ve heard the old saying, “you can’t hit a target you can’t see.”
So there are two important truths to keep in mind here:
1. How you feel about others determines how you feel about yourself
2. Changing your opinion of other people automatically changes your opinion of yourself
Here’s a simple exercise to begin changing your opinion of confident people (and yourself). Think of someone you consider an arrogant, selfish jerk. It could be Trump or it could be your uncle Joe-it really doesn’t matter. Now, right now, as you read this, change your opinion of this person. In fact, see this person as a good and confident person with healthy self-esteem.
Keep faking it until you make it!
Are you having trouble with this exercise? Does it feel unnatural to see this person differently? If so, there are several ways of making the whole process easier and more effective.
A simple NLP-influenced trick is to begin associating this person with something you already love (expensive Norwegian chocolate works for me). You are in fact, “tying” these two things together mentally when you begin talking about them in the same sentence or seeing them in the same setting. You create a strong association between the two, so that the feelings you have for one of them (in my case, great chocolate, begins to “infect” the other. The more real you can make this connection, by visualizing it for example, the more effective it will be.
Also, don’t forget the importance of asking the right questions. Ask yourself, “what is great about this person?” As you begin seeking out the good qualities, you will certainly find them, and your opinion of this person, and all confident people will begin to change.
Feeling better about confident people will cause you to feel better about being confident. In effect, you will begin ‘giving yourself permission” to express the confident person that is already inside you, waiting to break free.
Insecurity comes from the deepest levels of our minds-and so does confidence. Feeling positive emotions about confident people is the easiest way of boosting your confidence from the inside out.
“Whatever we appreciate, we imitate.”
Jon Mercer is a personal development coach and the founder of UltraConfidence.com. Click here to learn Jon’s secret method of building confidence quickly!
We’ve all heard about “cocooning”, which sociologists have been monitoring very carefully since the explosion of the Web. Cocooning is the process of social isolation where a society withdraws from physical interaction with each other. This “hermit-like” behavior can lead to the decline of many cultural and social traditions. Cocooning also affects the way we interact with other when do finally leave the house and meet face to face.
The Internet has changed the way that humans communicate and interact. We can spend hours in chat rooms pretending to be beautiful, successful and brilliant when in fact we are average looking, overweight and unemployed. The person at the other end of the keyboard has no way of verifying our claims or disproving them.
Internet chat removes an essential aspect of communication: body language. Such things as posturing, fidgeting and eye contact all are unconscious transmitters of our true intentions. We learn as small children not to make eye contact when telling a lie and to cross our arms to distance ourselves from unpleasant people or situations. But the computer screen has no way of converting these communication skills into data that can be observed as overtones in the written text of a conversation.
Cocooning may impact the communication skills of future generations. While excelling at expressing themselves through the written word, our children may lack the skills to give a convincing speech in public or carry on a comfortable conversation while waiting in line at the grocery store. Some youth even use text messaging to communicate when they are in the same room … let’s not even get into the challenges with spelling and normal communication this is causing.
Some people argue that the growth of the home business industry is accelerating this trend. As more and more people work for themselves, from home, and communicate with colleagues over the Internet, face to face meetings and more traditional forms of meetings are dropping.
Add to this trend the fact that many parents are home schooling children, you can email your mother and fax your clients. You can even order a pizza, shop for a birthday gift and have your groceries delivered: all without any verbal communication.
As in everything in life, a balance is needed. If you email your mother today, call her tomorrow and visit her on the weekend. If you work from home, make time to visit the park. Join social groups rather that Internet message forums.
For your children, limit the amount of time that your children use the Internet and cell phone for text messaging. Encourage teens to take a speech or debate class along with that computer programming class when signing up for college courses. They may not like speaking in public (after all it is one of the top fears) but it will go a long way in helping expand their communications skills … which are vital for future business success.
Social interaction has another valuable role for the home based business owner … it extends your network and builds a support net for you. Find outlets where you can talk, share and interact with others in person. It gets you away from the screen, and out into the world. It can also help spark creativity and a drive to keep going when the going gets tough.
Jennifer Lavoie is a home-based business coach. Using Robert Kiyosaki’s teaching, she helping others to build passive income businesses and retire early and free. http://www.retirefree.ws
People have been telling stories since the dawn of time, drawing upon their voice to convey their messages to others in their circle of influence. Over the centuries, the art of communicating with other people about a given purpose and the transmission of the spoken word, the most powerful, persuasive, and distinctly human tool in any marketers arsenal, has evolved to the degree that you don’t have to be in the same room to get a message across, even the same country for that matter. Geographic locations and time zones afford little to no obstacle for communicating with others in a meaningful and cohesive way.
With all of the advantages this new world and new media bestows, it is very important that a message received is a message that is understood, believed and acted upon. Much of this depends on the copy writing and voice over skills of the messengers, which brings us to five different characters if you will that will help you get your message across in a direct and effective way.
1. Instructor (formal, didactic voice over)
2. Real Person (informal voice over)
3. Spokesperson (advocate, authoritative voice over)
4. Narrator (omniscient storyteller)
5. Announcer (sets the stage and calls for action)
Let’s explore these types of character roles in detail.
1. Instructor
When teaching someone on what to do, for example, a corporate training video or children’s game, the voice over best suited for this kind of project is a straightforward, didactic and educated voice. The role of this particular voice talent is to instruct or provide information to fulfill a specific goal or purpose.
2. Real Person
Projects requiring a more casual approach often benefit from relatable, genuine voice overs. These voice overs are referred to as “Real Person” voice overs, commonly known as the “regular guy” or the “girl next door”. The character is homegrown, sensible, and friendly with a touch of familiarity and provides a more intimate interpretation that instills trust.
3. Spokesperson
A spokesperson can be on camera or off camera depending on the medium you are using. The role of a spokesperson is generally played by a confident, charismatic person able to promote a cause, product, or service with ease and authority. A voice over of this nature needs to be driven, optimistic and assured.
4. Narrator
Storytelling is where the narrator is most at home. Omniscient, courteous and honest, a narrator’s job is to provide an audio landscape for a listener, briefing them on background information, posing questions, and providing solutions as they guide their audience through a program or documentary. Narrators can be male or female, and the most important factors are that they can communicate clearly and engagingly.
5. Announcer
The announcer, often heard live at events, on commercials, promos or introducing segments for podcasts, is a product of the broadcast age, most celebrated at its height in the Golden Era of Radio and early television broadcasts. Announcers can introduce an idea and assertively make a call for action at the conclusion of a commercial advertisement or short video. One common misconception is that an announcer has to sound like an announcer from decades ago, however modern announcers act more like narrators, and in many cases, adopt the Real Person approach.
Now that you’ve met the different kinds of people or characters that can help to make your production a success, the next question is where do you find voice talents?
If you are reading this article, you are already on your way to locating a voice talent to record for your project.
Using the Internet to find a voice will streamline all of your efforts, saving you a significant amount of time and financial expense. You can search for, listen to and hire professional voice talents to record your voice over within your budget range. Posting a job at a voice marketplace to find the appropriate candidate to record for your project is not only convenient, it is also a desirable option, providing you with the opportunity to choose the voice that will best represent your company and deliver on your vision.
Professional voice over talents can take your script from concept to completion and quickly become an integral part of your creative production team. Breathing life into the written word is what they do for a living, so you can rest assured that your project is in a good hands with a profesional voice talent.
Stephanie Ciccarelli is the VP of Marketing with Voices.com, the voice over marketplace hosting more than 10,000 professional voice talents. Stephanie is also the author of The Definitive Guide To Voice-Over Success.
The majority of office employees use software applications from the Microsoft Office suite. Although they use such programs as Excel, Word and PowerPoint regularly it is common to find that they will have undertaken no formal training in their use. Due to the differing nature of each individual business, the way in which these applications are used may have become very company specific.
An increasing number of training companies offer consultancy services in addition to training courses based on the topics of standard course syllabus outlines. There are a number of pros and cons to these alternative approaches which need to be considered when identifying which type of Microsoft training is right for you.
Training Course Pros
Attending a training course offers an inexpensive solution to providing training. A training course provided by an authorised Microsoft training company provides a structured approach and ensures all the main elements of a particular program are adequately covered. The courses are easy to organise with fully networked, modern specification IT being provided by the training company.
Training can be undertaken on a public schedule course or on-site at your offices, with leading Microsoft training companies in the UK offering daily public schedule courses for popular programs such as Microsoft Excel. This means there is ample scope for employees to attend a training course at a time and location that is convenient for them without necessarily removing all users from the work environment at the same time.
Training Course Cons
As a training course provides a set syllabus to a number of trainees who may have vastly differing previous knowledge of the application, time may not be used efficiently with some delegates being taught techniques they are already familiar with or that do not apply to their situation.
The dates for such courses will not be as flexible as those available with consultancy, however, with many Microsoft training companies offering courses on each program as often as twice a week, finding a suitable date is unlikely to be a significant issue.
Consultancy Pros
Bringing in a consultant means that specific problem areas can be targeted without the feeling that time is being wasted going over unnecessary ground. It also allows company specific procedures to be adequately addressed and perhaps also updated and improved. This type of approach is ideal if the main requirement is to build onto an existing application e.g. spreadsheet redesign or development.
Consultancy Cons
If those employees being trained have very limited experience with the application then employing a consultant is likely to be a more expensive solution to provide the basic training than attendance at a standard training course.
Conclusions
Which of the two options provides the best solution to a company’s training needs varies depending on specific circumstances. If very standard, basic knowledge is required across the board then training courses are likely to provide the best solution. If more specific requirements or problems exist using consultancy services may be more appropriate.
In many situations it may be that a combination of the two provides the most effective solution. Employees can develop the basic skills through training courses and then use a consultancy agreement to build on these skills and deal with company specific issues and requirements.
Author is a trainer with a Microsoft training company, the market leader in its industry. For more information on training courses and consultancy, visit www.microsofttraining.net
I recently read a book by noted business and financial gurus who talk about winning environments … environments where you need to be exceptionally talented, driven and tenacious to succeed.
Sometimes the fastest way to change and improve yourself is to change your environment.
For many years, I have been active in community groups, networking organizations and am constantly investing in my education through courses, night school and even online training. Through these groups and education, I have consistently expanded my context and allowed my reality to expand beyond my up bringing.
I was raised in a middle class family. I was taught to value my university education, strive for a good job that would look after me into my retirement at 65.
From a very early stage in my career, I had other ideas but I was uncertain how to go about it. Everyone around me were in traditional careers and roles so ideas I bounced off people sank like a lead balloon!
How did I change things?
I kept talking to people and networking. Eventually, I started connecting with people who, like me, believed that the old 9-5 sucked. More than that, they wanted early retirement and more time freedom to enjoy while they were young enough to have fun.
What’s the message?
For me, persistence is the key. Not talking “you can’t do that” for an answer and rather constantly look for the how to do something. Many people will think you are nuts but who cares … they’ll still be working for someone else while you are enjoying the good life. Looking back, who was really nuts … certainly not you!
From the book, here are some ideas to create powerful environments:
* for your intelligence to grow, go to a library, bookstore or school
* for your health to grow, go to the gym, ride a bike, walk or play more
* for your spirit to grow, find a quiet spot to meditate or go to church
* for your wealth to grow, go places where people are getting rich (real estate office, stockbrokers’ office, join an investment group and meet new friends who want to be rich as well
* for your world to expand, visit new places and do things you’ve never done.
To quote Robert Kiyosaki: “… sometimes the fastest way to change and improve yourself is simply to change your environment.”
Make a change. Your success and the success of your business is worth it.
Jennifer Lavoie is a home-based business coach. Using Robert Kiyosaki’s teaching, she helping others to build passive income businesses and retire early and free. http://www.retirefree.ws
When you are trying to grow your business during those first few years, the ability to turn prospects into customers and to keep customers satisfied with your products and services is MISSION CRITICAL.
However, some entreprenurs and small business owners may have a common misconception thinking their inside sales professionals and the customer service staffs also possess the same abilities and desires in keeping the business running and growing
Every sales trainer has heard the: “not in the budget” “we are not big enough for training and coaching” and “I am the sales manager-trainer” answers before and that type of response only makes me more committed to help them see the importance of investing some monetary resources into turning their operation into a successful and cohesive sales and service organization.
I have first-hand experience not thinking it was a necessary investment. As a result of a major business crisis for my sales organization in the mid-90s, I became convinced that sales and customer service training was needed to save the company. After finding that I needed to retool and retrain my staffs in order to weather the storm of losing our largest vendor, I had no alternative but to make a necessary monetary investment in trying to recover from this loss. In looking back at the results before and after the training, I see that I had made a HUGE mistake and probably lost significant revenues by not taking that step 5-8 years earlier.
The sales training that I chose was not appropriate for my team of “inside sales” account managers, but it was all I could find at the time. Without the convenience of the internet and websites, I had to rely on a referral from a business associate who gave me the name of the trainer and the program. The trainer tried to modify the program to address the needs of my company and ultimately it did help me to retool the entire sales and customer service team.
It was at that time that I decided that there was a lack of assessment and training programs that were targeted to the small inside sales team and small customer service staff — but these companies need that type of process training and coaching more than the Fortune 100 organizations.
As a small business owner, investigate the overview of training and coaching systems. Make sure they meet your appropriate needs and offer the following services: A comprehensive Assessment and Sales Training System for smaller inside sales organizations (2 - 20 Inside Sales Executives), an Assessment and Training for Inside Sales Managers and a complimentary coaching system for Customer Service Departments (3-10 CSRs).
Several training organizations have developed programs like these and they can be the best investment you make in your own company.
Some of the most well-known training programs demand months of training and high-ticket pricing. That is overkill for most businesses. The training should have elements of onsite training, follow up, and offer teleclass and teleseminars on an ongoing basis for brush up and advanced skills. Any program you choose should be able to assess if the sales and service teams to assure they are well-suited for their jobs. If they are - the training will be completed in less than 3 months with a minimum of disruption in the company.
Results are almost immediate. Proper assessment, training and ongoing coaching provide a way to set goals, develop a process, overcome fear of cold calling, a method of improving their vocal skill to make a greater first impression on those critical calls. Training organizatins should have additional modules as needed for more advanced training. The basis of successful programs are very simple: If you have a passion for sales, or the emotional empathy to be a great customer service representative, then any program you choose must provide the training and coaching to make your employees excel. For Business Owners, it is an opportunity to insure results and growth in revenue and satisfaction with customer service and support.
Melissa Vokoun - From 1983 to 2005 she was COO and VP of Sales and Marketing for a telecom distributor. Her passion for recruiting, training and managing these staffs was instrumental to the company. To learn more about the NuVo Partners Programs please visit the website at: http://www.nuvopartners.com or call 847-392-6886.
You would probably have heard of VoIP, unless you’ve been living on some other planet. Even if you’ve never really understood what the hype was all about, VoIP (which by the way, stands for Voice over Internet Protocol) will change the way you think about long distance telephone calls.
VoIP actually means that all that sounds you hear on the regular telephone (analog audio signals) are turned into a digital signal, which is then transmitted through the Internet.
So again you ask, why is this VoIP changing the industry? It means that you can totally go around your telephone company and start making long distance calls at no charge. All you have to do is get some of the free software that’s available all over the Internet right now.
And here’s the best part: this new technology can revolutionize the telephone system in the whole world. You might have seen the tv commercials from one of the forerunners of VoIP called Vonage. Vonage calls itself the ‘broadband telephone company’ and provides attractive services to its customers. These include low-cost 800 numbers and very low international rates. Fees from the US to Canada are also waived.
However, Vonage isn’t the only company who is the game. AT&T is providing VoIP calling in some places in the US. There are also other major companies, including Skype, which is going all out with its viral advertising.
At the moment, most VoIP service providers offer plans somewhat similar to cell phone companies called ‘minute-rate’ plans for as low as $30 a month. And just like the cell phone plans, you can also opt for unlimited plans for around $79 a month. Without ever having to pay for long distance charges, unregulated charges and all the free services that come standard with your VoIP service, you can save a great amount of money.
Previously, you might be paying for services such as call waiting, three way calling, call forwarding, caller ID, repeat dial and last call return. With VoIP, you no longer need to pay as these come standard with your service. Plus, there are some advanced features that would make VoIP worth looking into. With some providers, you can opt for call filtering options and even have control over how calls are handled according to their numbers. For example, you could forward your call to a certain number, send the call to voicemail, give a busy signal, play a ‘not in service’ message, or even send the caller to a funny rejection hotline.
Some VoIP services also allow you to check your voicemail on the Internet or even attach messages to an email that is sent to you. Remember though, not all plans and features are the same for all VoIP providers. You should look around for one that best suits your needs.
The other benefit that makes VoIP a very attractive alternative for home and business users is its flexibility. With VoIP, you can make calls from any location that you can get broadband connectivity. As ATAs (Analog Telephone Adaptor) and IP phones transmit information over the Internet, they can be done by any provider. For travelers on business trips, this means that they never miss a home phone call, since they can take their ATA with them wherever their destination might be. Also, by using a ’softphone’ or a software which enables you to load your VoIP service onto your laptop or even desktop, you can easily make calls anywhere, provided you have broadband services, a headset and a microphone.
IP telephony is the way of the future. It makes sense in terms of ROI, from both the infrastructure and economic point of view. It will not be overnight, but in time all of the current circuit switched networks in place today will be taken over by packet switching technology, in other word, VoIP. A majority of businesses are already using VoIP, and as the technology makes a presence into our lives, it will become more popular. Forrester Research predicts that by the end of 2006, nearly 5 million US households will have VoIP phone service.
In a nutshell, VoIP is just a better phone service, but it’s one that’s here to stay.
Juzaily Ramli is the owner of VoIP Tutorial website that discusses on benefits of VoIP and business VoIP. Find out why you should switch to VoIP at http://www.voip-revolution-info-site.com
Kadin Hastaliklari Ltd, the Turkish import/export medical devise company has suffered in the past as a result of poor translations.
A few years ago the company attempted to import from the Czech Republic but had trouble reaching anyone through the details listed on the Czech company’s web site.
With no contacts in the Czech Republic and no knowledge of the language, it was impossible to know whether the company even existed.
Meral Goksel, a sales manager for Kadin Hastaliklari has subsequently learned how to source, purchase and verify professional translations services. This in turn has opened up new global sales opportunities.
What had previously been an impediment to trade is now a competitive advantage as Meral buys in translators as part of her team.
What is it that Meral learned, and why is the purchasing of translation services so misunderstood UK firms? The following 10 steps will help you plan for your next translations project.
1. Buy translation services professionally
If your firm needs the services of a translations firm on a regular basis, it makes sense to negotiate volume discounts for higher levels of commitment. Too many firms leave the decision to the last minute and buy one-offs from whichever translations company they can find at the time.
I recommend you agree a central purchasing arrangement across your organisation and nominate a lead buyer to do the negotiation. This also allows you to put in place a quality control system to ensure accuracy and timeliness.
2. ‘Mother-tongue’ translators avoid gaffs
Forget the notion that English is the international language of business. It is rarely spoken in the rapidly expanding markets of South-East Asia, East Asia, Latin America and Russia.
I was struck by the low numbers of English-speaking Chinese in Beijing when I visited this year. To avoid embarrassing and costly mistakes in any translations, use a native speaker of the country concerned, someone familiar with custom, idioms and current trends. If you want to be taken seriously this is crucial.
As I walked around Beijing I come across monuments etched in quaint English, translated by competent professionals but inaccurate in style and meaning. There is simply no substitute for using a mother-tongue translator.
For example, Real Madrid aspires to be the greatest football club in the world but it cannot be taken seriously in England, the home of football, when its website declares of David Beckham:
“His speciality are the central shots from the wing, called ‘bananas’, and free kicks, two types of plays where he displays a shooting technique which is unique in the world of football”. Really?
Some examples of bad translation by marketing giants are now so familiar that it is hard to know whether they are apocryphal or not.
Kentucky Fried Chicken may sell “finger-lickin’ good” chicken in the west, but the story has it that the Chinese were told to “eat their fingers off.”
Pepsi allegedly didn’t do much better. You may “come alive with the Pepsi Generation,” but in Taiwan the slogan was translated as “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From The Dead.” Crickey!
3. You get what you pay for
As a customer buying translation services, by definition, you can’t understand what you are buying otherwise there would be no need to buy it in the first place.
Your document could have been translated into Japanese by an eminent professor of Tokyo University or one of their first year undergraduates; would you be able to tell the difference?
Don’t be tempted to buy the cheapest service on offer. If you assume that, given a particular document, translator ‘A’ will translate the document in exactly the same way as translator ‘B’ and the only difference between A and B will be the price you are asked to pay for it, you will be wrong.
The internet hasn’t helped either. There are people offering translations who frankly shouldn’t be doing so. They have no qualifications and no experience. Would you rather have someone that’s “trained as a doctor” or someone who has been “on a train with a doctor” to help you during a crisis?
The difference in the phrases is small but can have a huge impact on results. When it comes to any translation work, it is important that things get done right the first time.
4. Chose professionals
Translators who hold a Diploma in Translation (DipTrans) or a Languages Degree with substantial translation components are likely to produce better results than those who do not. However, don’t rule out those with many years experience, especially if they come highly recommended.
Translators can join several well-respected industry bodies and will be vetted before entry. Ask your translator whether they have a professional membership:
* Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI)
* Institute of Linguistics (IoL)
* Societe francaise des traducteurs (SFT)
* Institute of Linguistics American Translators Associations (ATA)
* US National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (AIIC)
My own firm in the UK is a member of the Association of Translation Companies (ATC) and adheres to its professional code of conduct. Look out for the ATC logo when doing your research.
5. Shop around.
Prices vary, and so does quality. Get several quotations and make sure you specify parameters such as number of words in the source document, the deadline, the complexity and document format and the language ‘pair’.
It is much cheaper to translate a French document into English than a Japanese document into English; even more expensive to translate from Korean into Dutch as the number of people capable of doing this is much smaller.
6. Garbage in, Garbage out
If you submit a badly structured document which does not make sense for translation, you will get a piece of work back which is less than excellent.
Most translation firms will point out if the quality of the original document is not great and will attempt to work out what the author intended to say. But at the end of the day, as the barber said to the balding man in his chair: “Sir, I can only do my best with what little you have given me to work with”. So, try to make sure your text is of a high enough standard to warrant translation.
7. Machine translations have their place.
Just because machines can’t compete on quality does not, in my opinion, mean they don’t have a place. For example, imagine you are sent a 100 page document which must be translated from Chinese to English, today, in order to assess the threat from a competitor.
Assuming there are 500 Chinese characters per page, this means the document is around 50,000 characters in length. It would take a single translator approximately 1 month to translate it and could cost over 10,000 USD.
Even a team of translators working together would not be able to complete the work today. A machine would tackle the text by lunchtime at a fraction of the price. The quality wouldn’t be great but it may be good enough for your immediate purposes.
We only use machine translation software under extreme circumstances such as the above and after prior consultation with clients. The important thing to remember when placing an order is to check that you know what you are paying for. Be careful you are not paying good money for a professional translation only to receive a translation undertaken by an unqualified amateur, or worse still, a machine translation passed off as the work of an expert.
8. Get a recommendation
As in all purchases of professional services, use a translations company recommended by others in business. People like to be asked for their opinion and are often prepared to supply the name and contact number of a trusted firm. You probably have something
you can help them with in future!
9. Plan ahead
I can’t stress enough how commercially beneficial it is to coordinate and purchase these services centrally. So get together with senior management, consider your future needs and enter into a longer term arrangement with a reputable translations firm.
Peter Bennett is founder and CEO of London translations Limited, one of London’s fastest growing business translation and interpreting agencies.
Download his free report, Translation without tears, from:
http://www.london-translations.co.uk
Having been immensley popular, the emergence of VoIP has proved to be a great new communication tool with many advantages over traditional phone calling. The rapid expansion of this new technology has also inevitably led to various associated problems, some of which have been answered here!
How does VoIP work?
Computers take samples of sounds via microphones at a very high rate (8,000 times per second or more). These recorded samples are not stored locally, but are sent over the network to another computer and played there, so that the receiver can hear them.
Computers often compress the sound samples so as to occupy less space. Limited frequency ranges are used. CODEC’s (compressor/ de-compressor) are algorithms that enable audio to be compressed. A huge variety of CODEC’s exist for all sorts of applications (e.g. sound recordings or movies). VoIP CODEC’s are fine tuned to work well for compressing voice. Bandwidths only include those sound frequencies associated with human voices.
So, when the sounds are recorded in the computer, then compressed to tiny samples, these are then aggregated into larger chunks/ collections and placed into data packets (known as ‘packetization’). Data packets are able to be transmitted all over the IP network. Typically, single IP packets have 10,000 milliseconds+ of audio.
Sometimes packets get lost. In this case packet-loss concealment (PLC) can take place. PLC involves filling in the sound gaps with noise acceptable to the human ear. Forward-error connection (FEC) fills in the gaps with then mathematically modified neighboring past packets. A kind of rough packet reconstruction.
Occasionally packets are delayed, especially bad when using VoIP since packets that are too old are discarded. PLC tends to smooth the audio out in such circumstances.
Variation in packet delay is called ‘jitter’. Jitter makes voices sound glitchy, it is combated with specific jitter buffer algorithms. What effectively happens here is packets are queued to reduce the number discarded, late or delayed.
An agreed protocol exists to allow computers to find each other and exchange information. Agreed contents formats (termed ‘payload format’) exist for the packets.
Is a computer necessary in order to use VoIP?
A computer isn’t required when using VoIP services centered around mobile phones. Adapters, which are often supplied by mobile phone VoIP providers, connect phones to the high-speed connections of the internet. Computers are able to be used to allow improved management of various features available from the provider, although this is not necessary.
What is the relation of computer software use in conjunction with VoIP?
Computer-to-computer calls are the easiest and cheapest of the VoIP calling methods. Calling plans are not required since this type of call is totally free. All that is required is the free software from the internet, a reasonable connection with the internet, speakers, a microphone and a sound card. Apart from the bill for the use of the monthly internet service no other call charges exist, regardless of call number.
Is it possible to mix hardware from different VoIP providers?
Typically the major providers of VoIP (AT&T, Verizon Voicewing and Vonage) “lock” their hardware, ensuring it only works with their own particular services. In some deals the service providers end up leasing the equipment to you and are able to refund a certain degree or all of, the set-up fee when you decide to terminate the service with them. Alternatively, you can buy all the hardware required from a retail store, which can then be used on any VoIP service.
Services that promote VoIP for running on your computer, e.g. Yahoo Messenger and Skype, don’t need any specific hardware. Many of these VoIP services can be run from the exact same machine, albeit not at the same moment in time.
I have ADSL. What should my internet connection speed be to allow VoIP?
Generally you should have a 512/128 connection speed or higher.
What are the advantages to using VoIP over conventional phone calling?
By far and away the greatest benefit to using VoIP services is that they tend to be cheaper than traditional phone services. In some circumstances they are even free. Additionally, not too much equipment is required and upgrades that are eventually necessary are typically done with no new physical equipment, only simple and easy to use software downloads. Many more features tend to be possible for VoIP, this being due to the ease with which information is transported about via the internet.
What is the quality of VoIP calls like?
In most instances the quality appears to be very good. Small problems sometimes occur then there is an excess of incoming and outgoing internet traffic along the phone lines. Poor quality on the phone lines can be improved through paying to increase the connection speed or prioritizing phone traffic through your network via setting up the ‘Quality of Service’ option.
If you want to know how to save money with VoIP go to http://www.voipinternetphonecenter.com/Voice-Over-IP-Saving-Money.php .