An Assessment of Online Translation: A Case of Business Discourse

Abstract

The success of economic development in any society to a large extent depends on the availability of information related to business opportunities and infrastructural avenues. In the current digital generation, business activities have transformed from commodity exchange to include different services among them information which is an integral pillar for development. Clients’ consumption of information as a pre-requisite to real business planning is a phenomenon that continues to grow by the day. Knowledge and information as anchored in languages of different communities of the world highly depends on translation as a bridge of transmission into the global arena. Today, globalization of information has been made simpler and faster through online translation. Vivid information about raw materials, markets for goods, services, business opportunities and interactions largely depend on the accurate and clear translation of source text into the target text. This article argues that, if a translator produces a translation of business discourses devoid of equivalence, then the knowledge of occurrences in the business world will be shaky. This is likely to negate the efforts of building business relations that are imperative in the achievement of meaningful economic development that the human race is desperately craving for today.