Greek to English Translation of a Business Letter

Business Letter Translation from Greek to English

  

A business letter was submitted to us from one of our many British clients, in order to receive Greek to English translation.  The letter was from a property management company in Greece, and our client needed the British English translation in order to read and respond properly.

In most cases, this is a pretty straightforward, simple document translation.  The letter was a simple request for payment of property maintenance services and other fees, as well as a description of some minor changes in property management of the apartment complex belonging to the client.  A Greek  translation project manager assigned the document to the most suitable translator; one who had experience in the translation of business documents. 

What Makes a Good Business Translation?

Why is it important for a Greek translator to have business translation experience for a simple letter translation?

There are a few reasons.  While it's true that most letters are simple translations, there is an aspect to something like a business letter requesting payment that must handled carefully: tone.  The tone of the language must be translated accurately, in order to convey the professional, polite tone that was written in Greek.  This is especially important for British culture, where politeness and respect are important factors.  While a Greek-English translation of a request for payment could simply say "Please pay us X amount now" - it would not accurately communicate the polite and professional tone of the original letter document.  Tone is very important, and in this way, business translation experience helps to guide the translator's choice of words.

Currency conversion is another factor.  Because the letter translation required that an itemized list of charges be translated, the need for translation from Greek to English currency was also necessary.  This does not translate number for number, or "dollar for dollar," so to speak.  The translator must be aware of the ratios involved, and apply proper financial translation for the currency figures.

Beyond that, there was a request for urgency of the translation turnaround, so selecting a translator with the necessary experience also helped to speed the final delivery.  A translator without the skills described would have taken a good bit longer to render an accurate professional Greek translation.

Without proper translation of tone, cultural elements, numerical or financial characteristics, technical terms and terminology - the result would be a very poor document translation.  This is why we assign all of our professional translation services often with even more care than for this particular business letter translation.  Accuracy and efficiency are important, but there is so much more to a quality professional translation than what you may first think.  .