Spanish Translation

Spanish Translation

Global LTS is an established Spanish translation agency in the UK. We deliver high-quality Spanish translation, tailored to your needs.

Spanish and English are two of the five most spoken languages in the world. Translation between the two is incredibly important.

Across all industries, in almost every continent Spanish to English translation, and English to Spanish is necessary for educational materials, product specifications, instruction manuals, contracts marketing and more.

Spanish documents, products, services, websites and Spanish people living in the USA and the UK are all vital reasons for Spanish to English or English to Spanish translation. This opens up a whole new customer base for many businesses wishing to expand.

We find the right message, integrating the different linguistic and cultural nuances found in Spanish into your translation. Please contact us for further details to discuss your Spanish translation needs today.

Technical Spanish Translation Experts

Our Spanish translators are all fully qualified professional translators, who will be more than just native Spanish speakers- they will understand your business and have experience in your industry.

Global LTS’ Spanish translators use their years of expertise in translation across different industries to provide high quality, accurate translations.

Translation websites do not offer the same high quality of work you would receive from our dedicated professional Spanish translator network. Global LTS has a team of native linguists who can translate the following and more:

 

We also offer legal translations of documents that can be certified, sworn or notarised.

We will match you with the most suitable Spanish translator for your job. At the start of the project, we will ascertain whether you need a European, Central or South American Spanish translator, so your translated documents feel and sound natural to your target audience.

To ensure the most accurate and up to date translation services are provided, our Spanish translators keep abreast of the Spanish language. We have translators who live across the globe and can translate into their mother tongue. If you are looking for a concise, fast and accurate Spanish translation, please contact us at Global LTS. Our aim is to become your preferred Spanish translation agency.

Why investing in Spanish translation pays off?

Spanish is the official language of more than half a billion people in the world, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world. Spanning across continents, Spanish is spoken in over 40 countries as the official language. In addition, Spanish takes a prominent second place in the top 10 most spoken native languages

It is one of the six languages of the United Nations, as well as an official language of the European Union, and other key international organisations. After English and Chinese, it is the most popular language in the world, as well as being the third most commonly used language online.

For the tech industry, it is now one of the top 10 languages for mobile app localisation and has a growing gamer population. Specifically, in the video game world, Latin America has grown 20%, with a $4 billion revenue total.

Some may ask, why should companies look to marketing in Spanish? Why should we do business in Spanish? With half a billion people in the world who speak Spanish, research shows that people prefer to read and buy online in their own native language.

This opens up 40 million additional customers in the USA alone- with that number being the amount of bilingual English/Spanish speakers. It is expected to be the first language of half of the population of the USA within the next 50 years (Pew Research Centre). Currently, there are more Spanish speakers in the USA than in Spain!

In addition to Spain, Spanish is the official language of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Spanish is also an official language of Puerto Rico and commonly spoken in the US, Belize, Andorra and Gibraltar.

Spanish Translation Agency – What to Know

Given the opportunities Spanish language brings to businesses around the world, our Spanish translation services open up communications with millions of new potential customers. When buying English to Spanish translation services from Spanish translation agency, you should consider the following:

  • The differences between Spanish in Europe and Spanish in Latin America
  • What type of translations are used in Spain?
  • What is the requirement for official translations for the Spanish Embassy in the UK?
  • Dialect and Regional Spanish Language Translations
  • Nuances of Spanish Translation
  • The differences between Spanish and Portuguese

If you would like to discuss your Spanish translation needs, please do contact us here at Global LTS and one of our Spanish language experts would be happy to discuss your needs and how we can become your preferred Spanish translation agency.

The Differences Between Spanish in Europe and Spanish in Latin America

There are many differences between Spanish in Europe and Spanish in Central and South America. These have different degrees of importance, which depend on the reason for the translation. However, translators at Global LTS are experts in these types of translations.

The differences are similar to the varying aspects of British English and American English. They’re both the same language, with slight differences, where some words might have different means in one country, compared to the other. Unlike in the case of the different types of English, spelling is the same in Spanish throughout Europe and Central and South America.

Writing style also differs. This significant difference is highlighted in marketing and advertising materials which are translated from English to Spanish. Much like regional disparities across the UK and the USA, the writing style will also vary between the different countries in Latin and South America.

With Spanish, the biggest differences are in the spoken word, which will be significant in interpretation.

We work with Spanish language experts- those who know the subtle differences of word meaning whether in Europe, Central or South America. We actually differentiate our translations between European Spanish and Latin American Spanish, to make sure you get the most accurate translation.

Contact us now to find out how we can help you with your Spanish translation.

What type of translations are used in Spain?

In Spain, the government requires official certified translations (as specified here). An official certified English to Spanish translation in Spain must be done certified Spanish translators approved by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This confirms they legally can translate from one foreign language into another, and certifies that their translation is an accurate representation of the original text.

Unless there is a legal exemption from that obligation, all foreign public documents must be translated and legalised in order to be valid in Spain. This is the same for all Spanish public documents to be valid abroad.

What is the requirement for official translations for the Spanish Embassy in the UK?

For foreign documents to be valid, these must be translated into Spanish. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation only allows translations if they are translated in Spain by a sworn translator, certified by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, or the Spanish Representation abroad.

Dialect and Regional Spanish Language Translations

Local Spanish dialect will vary from region to region, let alone from country to country. Most dialects are mutually understandable by Spanish speakers from across the world (except perhaps Catalan), but there are several differences with Global LTS has mastered with our trained team of native Spanish linguists.

These include:

  • Caribbean Spanish has different linguistic content compared to Mexican Spanish. Similarly, South American Spanish varies depending on the country. The Spanish refer to “Castilian” as a “neutral” Spanish, but “Catalan” is counted as its own language
  • Much like in English, pronunciation, slang, cultural contexts etc differ. When we undertake an English to Spanish translation, our translators fully consider the regional destination of the translated document to ensure we provide an accurate translation.
  • Catalan, Basque and Galician- Spanish is spoken by 99% of Spaniards in Spain as their first or second language. Catalan, Basque and Galician are all recognised languages in Spain, with many similarities to Spanish. Catalan is spoken by 19% of the population, Galician by 5%, and Basque by 2% (according to CIA.gov). Catalan and Galician are romance languages like Spanish, with Basque being an isolated case, and with Galician sharing many similar qualities with Portuguese.

Global LTS has translators who recognise these differences. Please contact us here if you are interested in discussing your regional translation needs.

Nuances of Spanish Translation

The Spanish language has many different nuances, which separates it greatly from English. This can pose problems for the amateur translator, but we use professional and experienced Spanish translators.

In addition, we use native English speakers for Spanish documents translated into English as these translators will understand the English language nuances best. This results in most appropriate text in Spanish to English translation.

We’ve highlighted below some of the key issues that can arise with Spanish translations:

Language length: Document format is vital for a successful translation, and here at Global LTS, we understand that. It’s important to remember that in certain translations, particularly from English to Spanish, customers will end up 15-30% more text than in the original document. For documents like marketing brochures and other design-specific projects this is key, and something our linguists are attuned to. 

This means that certain design aspects, such as borders, font sizes etc, might need to be revised ahead of the final document. If you want us to translate a PDF, we would discuss with you ahead of the translating who will be doing the formatting- whether it be Global LTS or the client. If you need us to format, just let us know and provide the original source file such as a word document. Our translators would be happy to discuss such needs with you.

For issues with longer text, that needs to be a specific size to fit in a certain document or poster, our translators are trained on hand to help you with this, who can help create shorter text, but not at the expense of your original theme or message.

For more information on how to manage InDesign files and how to set them up for translation please read our InDesign Translation Guide.

Formality: Spanish also has a certain level of formality that English doesn’t have. In Spanish, the formal pronoun for “you” is “usted” instead of the less formal “tu”, which is reserved as a mark of respect for teachers, or in a more formal setting. However, this again depends on the region, as Spain uses “vosotros”, which isn’t used outside of Europe.

Syntax: Spanish uses the same equation for constructing a sentence as English- subject-verb-object. For example, Bill threw the ball. However, Spanish grammar rules have more fluidity than English with sentence structure. If we wanted to emphasise that it was Andrew who threw the ball, and not Bill, in Spanish the translation would read “threw the ball Andrew”.

Adjectives: Typically, adjectives are located after the noun in Spanish, making sentence structure challenging for English speakers. For example, instead of saying “the red ball”, the Spanish translation of that sentence would be “the ball red”, “la pelota roja”.

Negatives: The translation for negative sentences isn’t the exact same compared to English. For example, Spanish uses double negatives. If we were to say, “he doesn’t have anything”, in Spanish this would be “El no tiene nada”. This translates directly as “he doesn’t have nothing”, which does not mean the same in English.

Gender: Spanish has two genders, like most European languages. This means that some nouns are given male or female genders. As a rule, objects that end in -a are feminine, -o are masculine. However, there are exceptions to this rule, such as the Spanish word for “day”, being “el dia”.

Verbs and articles: Each verb tense in Spanish has six different verb tense, depending on the subject. However, verbs in English are changed by suffixes, depending on the tense. So, when translating verbs, each verb conjugation has six different possibilities because of I, you, he/she/it, we, they.

This leads on to the use, or lack of, of articles. In Spanish, there is little need to use “it”, “they”, “I”, etc., as the verb tense changes with the subject. It is therefore obvious who is being referred to in a sentence. In English, removing pronouns does not work, given English verbs are not conjugated in the same way as Spanish verbs.

Subjunctive and Indicative Mood: Verbs can be moods or tenses, and Spanish uses the subjunctive mood a lot to express a feeling or doubt, it shows an attitude towards a verb. The most common mood is the indicative mood, which states facts, and what is real. This is sometimes challenging for English speakers to understand, as English rarely uses the subjunctive mood.

For example, the sentence “Juego con la pelota” (I am playing with the ball), is in the indicative mood. This is stating a true fact.

In the sentence “ojalá que este feliz” (I hope he is happy) is in the subjunctive. The second verb in this case, “este”, is in the subjunctive. This is important because it shows the attitude of the speaker, their feeling towards a verb, and does not show complete certainty.

A popular example of the subjunctive mood in English would be “long live the King”, which isn’t thought of by many as being in the subjunctive, but is expressing a feeling.

Inverted Punctuation- Proper Spanish punctuation includes inverted question marks (¿) and exclamation points “¡”. This aspect of grammar is unique to Spanish, as other romance languages such as French and Portuguese do not invert their punctuation.

The inverted question mark and exclamation point is standard for Spanish, with its use lying in the fact that it is alerting the reader that they will be reading a sentence with a question, or as an exclamation, before they begin to read it. It’s very much like starting a sentence with the word “do”, in English.

Spelling: Unlike English and its neighbouring romance languages of French and Italian, there is a strong correlation between the sound and spelling of a word in Spanish. Spanish words are spelled almost exactly as they are spoken.

Although there aren’t specific rules relating to double letters, in English where there are words with double letters, they only require one for a Spanish translation. It also makes it easier as in Spanish, there are only three sets of double letters- cc, rr and ll. In English, there are a myriad more.

English and Spanish words can look the same: English and Spanish have different roots. Spanish is a romance language like Portuguese and Italian, stemming from Latin. English on the other hand, is a Germanic language, however with some influence from Latin. This is why English and Spanish do actually share many words with Latin bases. However, these definitions have evolved over time, and can be called “false friends”.

For example, “embarazada” sounds much like the English word “embarrassed”. This actually is Spanish for “pregnant”! There are many words like this, which could leave you feeling “embarrassed” in a business meeting, or when providing something for a client. At Global LTS, our bilingual translators are fluent in both English and Spanish, so won’t trip up on these “false friends”.

Many of the subtle differences list above require a true native to pick these up naturally. Global LTS can fulfil this no problem. Global LTS can provide certified, notarised document translation services for Spanish to English or English to Spanish. Please contact us more for information.

Spanish and Portuguese

Spanish and Portuguese have many similarities, but are two very different languages. Much like the similarities between English and German, certain words are recognisable to speakers of both, but a true knowledge of one will not help for accurate translations. This could result in an embarrassing or offensive mistake that would be detrimental during a business meeting.

If you have Spanish or Portuguese translation needs, please do not hesitate to contact Global LTS for further information and a confidential discussion.

Case studies for English to Spanish translation

Category: Marketing Translation
Description: Written Translation & Multilingual Typesetting
Client: Smith Communication Partners

Size of project: Newsletter with 1,000 words

Smith Communication Partners are a management consulting firm that specializes in employee, marketing and corporate communication services.

This particular project required English to Japanese translation and English to Spanish translation. The source documents were in InDesign format, which required pre-translation preparation (extracting the text so translators can work on the copy) and post-translation typesetting. We have used our professional English to Spanish marketing translators in order to create accurate rendition of these newsletters.

Category: Medical Translation, Pharmaceutical Translation
Description: Written Translation
Client: TVF Communications

Size of project: eLearning with 110,000 words

TVF Communications are a healthcare communications agency.

This project required translation of text for an eLearning tool within the pharmaceutical industry. We have provided English to Spanish translation, English to German translation, English to French translation and English to Italian translation.

Category: Medical Translation 
Description: Written Translation
Client: Flexicare

Size of project: User guide manual with 7,500 words

Flexicare are a world class medical device company with over 40 years of experience in design, development, and manufacture.

This project required translation of text for a user guide manual for one of their products. The text included technical information relating to working of a respiratory humidifier, so the chosen English to Spanish translator had experience and knowledge of how these devices look and work.

AT Cross

Category: Marketing Translation 
Description: Written Translation
Client: A.T. Cross

Size of project: Weekly marketing emails

The A. T. Cross Company is a major international manufacturer of fine writing instruments, timepieces, and personal accessories.

This project required English to Spanish translation of their weekly marketing emails. These marketing emails included a technical description of pens as well as text designed to entice the purchase. So the chosen English to Spanish translator had to be precise with their language and at the same time create a marketing copy.

Case studies for Spanish to English translation

Category: Medical Translation, Legal Translation
Description: Written Translation
Client: Interact Medical

Size of project: Ongoing – tens of projects per week

Interact Medical are one of the leading medical locum agencies. They specialise fulfilment of doctor jobs, nursing agency jobs and all other healthcare locums.

As part of their process Interact Medical require translation of Medical Certificates, legal letters and other documents. Most of the required languages are European with Spanish to English translation done on weekly basis. The Spanish documents translated into English are provided with the Certificate of Accuracy.

FAQs:

Are there different versions of Spanish language?

Yes, Spanish has several variations depending on where in the world it is used. Therefore, translation into Spanish needs to be done for the right audience. Translation agencies need to know what is your target audience in order to pick the best suited translators for the English to Spanish translation projects.

Is the Spanish language using more words than English?

Yes. Translation from English into Spanish results in there being 15 to 30 per cent more words in the final target document. This is important for design files and designers should allow for this growth in volume if their documents are to be translated into Spanish.

How many people speak Spanish?

Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world. Over half a billion people use Spanish as the official language.

What is Certified Spanish translation?

In the UK translation agencies can provide Certificate of Accuracy confirming the translation was performed by a professional Spanish translator. This certificate is required by government bodies when you submit translated documents. In other European countries, sworn translators can provide certified Spanish translation.

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