You don’t have to be a large multi-national corporation to have a global reach. The Internet and other technologies have not only obliterated barriers of distance, but these advances have also sped the realization of a truly global economy. A single freelancer can set up shop and cater to international clients as easily as he or she could for a company in their home town.
Going Local
For years, English had been considered to be the language of business. From an American perspective, the assumption had always been that those who speak other languages would adapt. As crazy as that notion may sound today, it was a paradigm that prevailed.
Insisting on doing business in English with business partners is one thing, but expecting international consumers to abide by that standard is a recipe for failure. Imagine a French company choosing to advertise in the United States only in French. How likely is it that their products or services would be readily adopted?
To have a local presence with consumers, businesses must speak the local language, and that is why the demand for translation services has grown along with the economic trend toward globalization.
Choosing the Right Words
Anyone who has studied a second language knows that something always seems to get lost in the translation. It’s inevitable. Phrases that make perfect sense in one language may be totally out of place when translated word-for-word. Skilled translators who are native in the translated language can translate the meaning behind the phrase, rather than parroting the phrase on a word-for-word basis, so that it makes sense to a local audience.
Anytime, Anywhere Customers
The most visible need for translation services for most businesses in today’s world economy can be found on company websites. Service businesses are affected, of course, but product businesses seem to be more at risk of losing potential sales if they fail to communicate with their customers in their native languages.
Making online purchases is easy. Consumers search for products at their leisure and when they find what they’re looking for, the location of the business matters far less than the product variables, like price and shipping costs. However, the language of the website does matter. I recently visited a website that sold custom gift boxes. The site offered several language options, but English was not one of them. They didn’t make the sale.
Google and other search engines and browser plug-ins have features that allow for translations on the fly, but it should not be up to the consumer to translate a business’s website, because many consumers simply won’t. There are always other options – carefully translated options from other vendors who recognize this important element of today’s world economy.