English to Spanish Proofreading and Translation

Tomedes provides a wide range of language services, in response to a whole host of client needs. For some clients, translation alone is all that’s required. Others use our localization and interpretation services. In the case of one recent client, it was our Spanish proofreading service that was required and, as the job evolved, our English to Spanish translation expertise as well.

Professional Proofreading Services

The Tomedes team had previously undertaken marketing translation work for this particular client, so when she found herself in need of a proofreader for the Spanish translation of her children’s theatre production, she got in touch to find out if we could help. We were most happy to do so.

The client explained that she had a Spanish translation of her English play but needed a proofreader to check the quality. With access to a network of language professionals spread around the globe, including qualified proofreaders and editors, Tomedes is able to provide proofreading services for a wide range of languages.

In the case of this client, our proofreader was ready to get to work straight away. However, as soon as he scanned the document, he flagged up the fact that it might be a machine-translated text. We sought confirmation of this suspicion from other Tomedes Spanish translators and they all agreed. As such, we went back to the client and advised that a retranslation would be more appropriate than proofreading, given the poor quality of the machine translation. The client agreed and so our Spanish translation work began.

Accurate Spanish Translation

A Romance language with Latin origins, Spanish is a phonetic tongue that is one of the easiest languages in the world for English-speakers to learn. According to the Foreign Service Institute, it is a category 1 language, meaning the average learner takes around 575-600 hours of study in order to become fluent (at the other end of the scale, category 5 languages such as Arabic and Korean take around 2,200 hours to learn).

Of course, those who don’t have 600 spare hours in which to learn Spanish can always rely on professional Spanish translation services! With 400 million native speakers spread around the world, Spanish has more native speakers than any language other than Mandarin. That means there are plenty of Spanish translators out there, so Spanish translation tends to be extremely cost effective.

The wide availability of Spanish translators also means that Tomedes has been able to connect with native speakers from a range of countries over the years. In the case of this client, that meant Latin American Spanish – no problem at all for the Tomedes team!

Literary Translation for Global Clients

Over the past decade and more, Tomedes has worked on a wide range of literary translations, from short poems to entire novels. Our team is committed to the value of literary translation in bridging cultural gaps around the world. Immersion in a novel or play can provide incredible glimpses into other cultures, making literary translation uniquely important. You can read a further example of a literary translation by clicking the link below.

It’s a lesson that readers in the UK have taken on board in recent years. Research undertaken by the Man Booker International prize found that translated fiction sales rose by 5.5% in 2018, the highest level since tracking the rate began in 2001, with readers particularly keen to absorb European fiction.

In the US, where one in five people doesn’t speak English as their first language, literary translation is a way to connect with domestic readers as well as those abroad. In the case of this client, her play was being opened up to Spanish-speaking audiences as a result of the translation process. That meant she had the potential to connect directly with the US’s 41 million native Spanish speakers (and further 11.6 million bilingual Spanish speakers).

It is this ability to connect across linguistic and cultural boundaries that makes the quality of literary translation so important. In this instance, the quality of the client’s machine translation was simply too low to do the play justice. That’s why our Spanish translation service stepped in to save the day!

Read more: German to English Literary Translation

Meeting Global Translation Needs

Tomedes has worked with over 50,000 business customers since its establishment in 2007, providing everything from translation and localization services to proofreading, editing and multilingual content writing services. We also cover interpreting, desktop publishing and outsourced customer service, so that we can meet all of your language-related needs swiftly and efficiently.

If you would like to connect with customers in another language, then why not speak to Tomedes? Our expert linguists can help you to move towards your business aims and objectives, no matter which language they are in! To find out more, simply email, phone or live chat with us. There’s also a handy instant quote function on our website. Why not give it a try today?