Certified Translation for Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese Documents in Singapore
If there is ever a country that needs translation services badly, it has to be Singapore.
First of all, Singapore is a multi-racial country that started with at least four major races all speaking different languages.
After Singapore evolved into a financial hub, with more and more foreign investors and workers moving onto our island, the need for translation grew exponentially.
The FTA signed on January 26, 2022 with the Pacific Alliance is an addition to the many others that have been signed since the early 2000s. This, is why we exist.
Get your text translated accurately to and from Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese with us!
Languages we work with include
- european Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese,
- european Spanish and latin american Spanish, and
- simplified and traditional Chinese.
Our translations are accepted by ICA, MOM, the Traffic Police & other local government bodies, local ambassies and consulates.
Why Translation?
Translation is the link to effective communication between people around the world.
The level of interconnectivity in our multicultural and multilingual world today demands clear and efficient communication between languages and people groups.
However, for a job well-done, the translator is required to possess substantial language skills, be intelligent, curious and open-minded.
Well-trained professional translators are like carriers that transmit knowledge and protectors of cultural heritage - essential to the development of this global economy.
We have highly skilled people trained just to handle such tasks.
Is Professional Translation Really Needed?
As our world intertwines and interconnects more and more, language also becomes a greater hurdle. The amount of contact with foreign languages increases on a daily basis and in number of the variety, more than any point in history.
Take product labels and manuals, for instance, it is not uncommon to see them in Korean, in Chinese, in Arabic, and in all sorts of European languages.
Videos from Japan or China going viral in the Americas and vice versa is also a common sight, so are virtual classes held from different continents. Also, the number of immigrant marriages has also been consistently on the rise for decades.
Consequently, many consumer-level translation technology exists to enable, handle and facilitate millions of day-to-day interactions happening globally. However, this is where the confusion between this technology and what trained translators can do begins.
A Case In Point
Here's an interesting headline in an article on ScienceAlert.com dated 19 January 2024. It was written by Clare Watson:
We've Been Misreading a Major Law of Physics For The Last 300 Years.When Isaac Newton inscribed onto parchment his now-famed laws of motion in 1687, he could have only hoped we'd be discussing them three centuries later. Writing in Latin, Newton outlined three universal principles describing how the motion of objects is governed in our Universe, which have been translated, transcribed, discussed and debated at length.
She continued,
But according to what Clare found out, philosopher of language and mathematics, Daniel Hoek, discovered what he describes as a "clumsy mistranslation" in the original 1729 English translation of Newton's Latin Principia.
The original latin text was Corpus omne perseverare in statu suo quiescendi vel movendi uniformiter in directum, nisi quatenus a viribus impressis cogitur statum illum mutare.
The error were the Latin words inis quatenus. Newton's use of the Latin for “except insofar” (nisi quatenus) was meant not to specify that the law referred only to such bodies, he said, but to point out that motion only changes insofar as a force compels it to. In other words, Hoek wrote, a better paraphrase would refer to all bodies: “Every change in a body’s state of motion is due to impressed forces.”
For a more detailed description of what this is all about, visit Scientific American's publication entitled Mistranslation of Newton's First Law.
The point of bringing this up is just to highlight the common error of translating word for word without considering the original intent or how the intended reader might understand it.
Only professionals can avoid or correct such an error.
Is Google Translate Sufficient?
It depends. One doesn't need sophisticated language skills to greet someone, but what about getting them to talk about aspects of a complex legal case? The degree of knowledge of a language thus varies for different tasks.
True enough, machine learning translation apps like Google Translate have been useful for fundamental cross-language interactions, but they are still hugely insufficient for sophisticated health, legal and business dealings. Translation machines (TM) have yet to conquer hurdles like scanned texts, handwriting and acronyms. AI also cannot be made responsible for a piece of translation, say, for civil or legal purposes. This is where we come in.
To date, AI is capable of producing literal translations that often fail to convey real meaning, worst still, the renderings are at times laughable or disastrous.
More Than Word Replacement
You see, skilled accurate translation is really more than word replacement.
Not too long ago, in 2019, to validate the progress of Google Translate's years of neural machine translation learning, a test was run in an academic medical setting. Google Translate managed to get 92% of the sentences correct. Sounds good, except that a 8% of the mistranslations could lead to serious consequences (imagine yourself on the receiving end). That test was done with the more common English-Spanish pair. Won't the outcome be far worse for less common language pairs?
Supposing we could get 100% accuracy with machines translation (word for word), the result may still be dubious. Why? Because language, is more nuanced than we typically realize - even in day-to-day exchanges.
Being able to relate is crucial if the message is to be translated accurately, precisely why speechwriters, therapists, and copywriters invest considerable time perfecting word choice and tones and then develop speech patterns that is akin to their goals.
Machines have yet to be able to adapt to evolutions in languages and syntax shifts to better fit an audience. Add to that, slang, memes, humor and emotional context that are typical in the marketing messages. Machines are not ready for these – not yet.
Thus, translation apps or machines are neither capable of replacing the medical or legal translator nor possess the personality to recalibrate an emotional pitch for a new cultural context.
To avoid misinterpretations, it is still best to let professional translators do it for you.
Established since 2004
We are here to bridge and connect you linguistically.
BRIDGE SA Pte Ltd has been translating documents for our many clients in Asia, the Americas, Europe and Africa.
Documents we translate
Need to translate a driving license? A diploma? A certificate? A health report? A technical manual? A proposal? A recipe or a book? Some marketing materials?
The above are just some of the documents we translate regularly. Over the years, we have also translated many notarial certificates, international trade agreements, court documents, deeds, website content, etc.
Truly Specialised
We differentiate ourselves from most others in the industry. Not just because we only specialise in languages we ourselves know, we do things unconventionally.
We understand that specialising in a few languages means limiting potential businesses but we believe it is a cost worth paying for delivering the best experience to our clients.
Why Our Clients chose Us
We know, there are many such companies out there, why choose us?
Among many other reasons, our clients come back to us because:
- ❱ We are genuine.
- ❱ We charge fairly.
- ❱ We make it hassle-free for them.
What else? As far as possible, we do all we can to make the experience a pleasant one.
What some of our clients say of our service:
High quality translation / quick response.
- Ms Ong, Olam Singapore
Quick and convenient.
- Ms Aung, CityNeon Singapore
We are delighted with the translation. My request was dealt with quickly and efficiently. I was kept up-to-date every step of the way
- Ms. J Taylor, Singapore
In one word, 'Perfect!'
- Marco, Brazil
Thanks for your prompt attention and quick delivery.
- Ms. Wang, China
Why wait?
