Sep 27, 2013

Bad Business Translations Causes Problems

By Phil Booker


Document translation performed in an improper manner could cause big problems. An example of this is the American phrase of "finger-lickin' good" that is used in connection with Kentucky Fried Chicken. When this phrase is translated into the Chinese language it would turn into "eat off your fingers".

This mistake is commonly made by inexperienced translators, because they convert the documents from the original language to the target in a too literal fashion.

Whereas professional document translation services understand that they must maintain the integrity of the source document. Expert translators will tailor-make your content to include typical buzz words for your target market and match the style, tone and vocabulary of the original text.

It is not always that easy to perform document translation in the correct way. You are probably very driven though, with the increasing globalization, to attract a large portion of the international market. You efforts could all be for naught, if your brochures, website content, advertisements, press releases are inaccurately translated.

You may have looked into machine services for translation. Machine translators are void of human common sense and can compound a problem using incorrect sense, tone, or jargon.

Machines simply cannot comprehend subtle nuances of your original intent and as a result, they mechanically trade out words. The catchy document you spent hours composing will lose its unique meaning. All too often, your computer will spit out a bunch of jibber-jabber. You'll lose time, money and potential clients.

This means you should not be mislead by false claims of a machine translation being time and money saving for your business. Remember, this entails you trusting a machine with you precious business documents for translation from English to whatever language you cannot speak or read.

You will not even know if these translations will work until the intended group reads them. This is because there is no way that you can guarantee the translation of the website or document is correct in context and meaning.

Would you fly an airplane blindfolded?

The wise business owner will look into what the professional document translation services can do for him.

You will not compromise quality turning to these professional translation services. Reputable translation services only use professional, experienced linguists. The translator that works on your original document will be fluent not only in your language, but also in the language for conversion.

Your personal translator will be well-versed in your specific market and will research unfamiliar terminology. They know key phrases and buzz words to enlighten your client base who speaks a different language. Also, the linguist working on your behalf will have expertise in cultural differences and/or experiences.

Professional Translation Services will be able to complete the task quickly, especially when you have a pressing deadline. These services will provide you with guarantees of quality and confidentiality.

Do you see now that reputable professional translators will perform further than simple word replacement from your language to the other one? They will concentrate not only on the flow, grammar and vocabulary, but also on providing you with a translation that will convey accurately what you want to say to your international target market about your services or products.

If you want to one-up your competitors by seizing the lion's share of foreign clientele seeking similar products, it would be prudent to put an action plan in place. In many countries, prospective clients view quality translation as a standard customer service obligation. The idea is to nurture existing global clients and encourage prospective customers to buy what you are selling, not to drive them toward your competition via poorly translated marketing materials.

You encourage clients from all over the world to do business with you, when you budget in a certain amount of cash for professional document translation. Your foreign clients will feel that you understand all their needs, when you do this.

Yes, this does mean you will have to make a sizeable upfront investment in quality document translating. However, you will realize a return on this investment over the years, as with other investments, while your brand is globally competing for business.

Also, ask yourself if you can afford to lose the big money you've already invested in developing and marketing your products and/or services. Are you ready to accept the consequences when your press releases, brochures, websites etc. are incorrectly translated?

Do you want to follow the example of the Colonel? Will you be the next company to accidently tell a whole country to eat off their fingers or something equally as bad?

If you do not want to go that route, then you are ready for the professional document translator to do his high quality translations.




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