by Michael Hundt In a recent tweet by Momentum Social Media, a UK-based social media marketing company, former German Chancellor, Willi Brandt, was quoted as saying, “If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying from you, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen.” What does this mean?
It means that, if you run a hotel or resort and want to attract more foreign guests, you will want to translate your website, your menus, your flyers and more, into other languages.
It means that, if you want to export your products or sell your product internationally on the internet, you will want to translate your website, your marketing materials, your user guides and even your correspondence with foreign clients and partners.
It means that, if you want to give foreign visitors to your facilities a tour or have a meaningful discussion with them, you will want to arrange for interpretation services. Similarly, if you want to host a webinar that also targets non-English participants, you will need interpretation services.
So, how do you go about deciding what you need and how to get there? First, what are the language services mentioned above?
Translation is the conversion of written material from one language to another. A subset of translation is transcreation which is the adaptation of marketing or advertising material for another market. For example, there is no point is simply translating a flyer that uses a lot of American football jargon for a market that doesn’t know anything about first downs or touchdowns.
Interpreting is the conversion of speech from one language to another. This is used in public settings like conferences or in private settings such as legal depositions, doctor-patient conversations or guided tours for individuals or small groups. Using suitable technology, it can also be implemented for webinars or other online chat services.
A further service is brand name analysis. It is very important to be sure that your product name is appropriate for use in another market. At worst, a product name could be offensive. At best, it could be humorous, like the example of the Chevy Nova that did not sell well in Latin American markets. “No va” in Spanish means “doesn’t go,” not really what you want people to think about your car.
It’s important to think about translation early in your development process, even while you are creating your English source information. Translated material is generally 20-25% longer than the original English text, potentially making it impossible to fit the translated text in the space available. If you include your language professional at this point in the process, they can help you to avoid this and many other pitfalls that can crop up when developing international material.
The bottom line is that, if you want to increase the number of potential customers many times over, translating your information is a relatively simple step to help achieve this. Get in touch with an agency to see how.
Michael Hundt has over 35 years of experience in the language services industry and is the founder of Green Mountain Language Services in Hubbardton, Vermont. He can be reached at [email protected].