Thursday, September 19, 2013

How Professional Translation Helps

By Tom Bodidle


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".

Inexperienced translators often make this type of mistake, because they translate too literally from one language to the next one, when converting documents.

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.

Correct document translation is not an easy task. With soaring globalization, no doubt you're eager to grab your piece of the international pie. But, all your efforts to attract foreign markets will fizzle if your website content, Press Releases, brochures and adverts are translated into meaningless dribble.

Have you been tempted to try the machine translation services? This is a simple approach where you only have to copy and paste your information into your computer today. These translations lack the human touch, which could lead to problems.

Machines do not have the ability to differentiate subtle differences in the source document and only mechanically exchange one word for another. The quality document you labored over for a long time creating will lose its original meaning. The computer will wind up turning into meaningless dribble. You will waste money and time. Prospective clients will also be lost.

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 won't have a notion whether or not your international marketing efforts will pay off until significant time passes. Because you have no way to verify the translated document or website retained its distinctive meaning and context.

Would you walk through car traffic blindfolded?

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

By using professional translation services, you won't have to compromise quality. Trustworthy translation services will employ experienced, professional linguists. You will be paired with a translator who is proficient in the mother-tongue of your source document as well as the conversion language(s).

This translator will also understand your niche market and the terminology it includes. He will understand the buzzwords and important phrases to catch the attention of the clients or prospective clients, who speak another language. In addition, your translator will know the differences between the cultures.

Normally, professional translation services provide your end product quickly, especially anything with a rush deadline. These services will also assure you confidentiality and quality with your end results.

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.

By allocating a portion of your corporate budget to professional document translation, you will invite your non-English speaking client base to become passionate about your products and/or services. It will give your international clients the warm fuzzies to know that you are sensitive to excellence in consumer satisfaction.

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.

In addition, you must question if it is worth the gamble of losing all the money you have already invested in creating, making, and promoting your services or products. Will you accept the negative results, because your brochures, website content, press release, and other promotional materials is badly 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 want to avoid this, then you are ready to use a professional document translator for reliable translations of your promotional materials.




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