Beth Worthy
6/30/2020
HSBC’s 2009 “Assume Nothing” campaign, which got translated into “Do Nothing,” is remembered as a major translation error costing the company 10 million dollars. Many global brands make similar mistakes. People don’t realize the implications of bad translation. However, a translation services provider can save your business from such damage.
Here are the industries that can benefit from translation services the most, and why they need them:
Lawyers and law firms need translation services for various reasons. For example, in litigations concerning businesses from different countries, original documents might be in different languages. Contracts, case reports, judgments, witness statements, etc. need accurate translations depending on the situation. Companies providing legal document translation services need experts with a working knowledge of the law and local customs. Translations of documents like visas, work permits, and licenses must be accurate to avoid any major legal problems.
Accurately translated education programs enhance the students’ understanding and retention of concepts. Students of various linguistic backgrounds benefit from translations of text and study materials. Educational websites with multilingual content improve their education experience despite language barriers.
Global businesses need to conduct international financial transactions with large sums of money across the world while adhering to complicated business and financial terms. This includes documentation, contracts, local and international legal compliances and regulations, etc. They require plenty of back and forth translations.
A great translation service company can help, as the translators here need an excellent knowledge of finance, laws, etc., to provide the correct business license translations without any misinterpretations and miscommunications. Also, translation work in the finance industry needs to adhere to specific deadlines.
With manufacturing processes being global, product descriptions, and information along with marketing materials like advertisements, brochures, manuals, user guides, installation instructions, safety norms, etc. require multilingual translations. Legal or government documents like tax forms, compliance forms, licenses, and patents may need translation due to different laws and regulations in each country.
Internal documentation and communication within the companies, including sales, purchase and inventory reports, emails, and interdepartmental communications, also require proper translation. The translation team must ensure accurate conversions to avoid the risk of litigation, miscommunication, and any significant business losses.
E-commerce is evolving into a mobile platform with more customers preferring mobile devices for browsing and shopping. Most retail giants have websites available in several languages to cater to customers who speak different languages. Contents of such sites mostly include product names, descriptions, and reviews. Instead of translation software, companies need teams of manual translators to handle the constantly changing content of e-commerce platforms.
The entertainment industry generates huge amounts of audio-visual content that needs to be translated for dubbing or subtitles, without diluting the content to ensure its appeal to a global audience. Video translation services are useful here. TV and streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have fresh weekly episodes needing large amounts of precise translations into multiple languages.
Shows like Game of Thrones, Money Heist, etc. enjoyed international success due to their availability in several languages. Audio translation services are used by streaming companies to target varied audiences in such cases. Video games and apps commonly need localization services. Games like Assassin's Creed and apps like Pokemon Go are popular worldwide due to their translation and native localization.
With no-frills airlines, more relaxed visa norms, cheaper accommodations, and multiple travel sites, travel to global destinations has increased. Most travel sites have their content available in multiple languages, including information like details of the package, accommodation options, local attractions, etc. Travel agency websites provide printed materials like brochures because prospective travelers need their content in local languages. These also need translations into the appropriate foreign languages depending on which tourists the location caters to.
Scientists from all over the world often team up to conduct research. They may have different regional, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. Any scientific finding must be translated into different languages for the global audience to read, learn, and understand the benefits of that research. Translators must be familiar with scientific language, the structure of scientific papers, and the subject in general. They must be equally proficient in both the source and the target language.
Excellent human resource communication empowers employees to deliver the firm’s business strategy, culture, behaviors, and belief systems that shape the company. It ensures that the employees speak positively to customers, therefore enhancing the company’s brand and reputation. Communication like this generally takes place between company leaders, management, employees, and other stakeholders. If done wisely, it improves productivity, collaboration, and performance of the firm.
Market research is significant for effectively marketing a product or service. To cater to customers of multiple languages and cultures, companies should acknowledge that global customers’ response to the brand message may be different from the local market consumers. Market research targeting individual locations is needed for the cross-regional success of brands. Research companies spend high amounts of dollars on professional translation service providers to convert their questionnaires/surveys and the collected data into multiple languages. Business translation services provide language-focused services to decode the gathered data to achieve huge data collection results.
There are many translation service companies providing translation services worldwide. However, the best translation company for a business would be the one that provides accurate and consistent translated content.
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