Translation Services – 5 Things Businesses Get Wrong

There is no question about translation services playing a significant role in helping businesses grow their footprint in the world. More and more businesses start using translation each day, exploring the impact it can have on their bottom line and how it can help attract wider audiences for their services or products. For those who are just beginning their translation journey, here is an explanation of the most common misconceptions about translation services:

1. Free online tools provide an adequate solution. Online translation tools have come a long way and are getting better every day. They will never replace human translators, though, and here is why: translation is a creative activity of an educated mind that takes into account not only the meaning of individual words but also the context in which they occur. Online translation engines work based on statistical methods without much regard for anything else. While they might be adequate for a postcard to a friend in Italy, they are by far not adequate for business.
2. There is no need for translation services. Everyone in the world speaks English. Many people around the world do, in fact, speak English. However, psychologically, they are much more likely to buy a product or service if they can read about it in their native language. It makes every business sense to take a step toward the customer and translate marketing and product literature for them.
3. It is cheaper to use bilingual employees. Employees who speak other languages are frequently the first ones asked to translate. Translators are people who are not just bilingual but also are educated and/or experienced in the art of translation. Being bilingual is simply not enough. Asking employees to translate produces low quality, unreliable results. Moreover, at standard hourly rates of administrative staff the effort is sure to cost more than hiring a professional translation service.
4. Translation companies have translators available at their office at a moment’s notice. While some translation companies will have translators on staff for the most frequently used languages, most of them work with a network of freelancers. This ensures that the linguists live in the country where the target language is spoken and that they keep in touch with their language. Translators are matched with projects based on their language combination but also based on their background and skills such as business, legal, financial, medical, etc. It would be a physical impossibility to have all resources on hand at all times.
5. Translation is just replacing words. This could not be any further from the truth! The translation process includes the creative work of a translator, but also editor and proofreader. Oftentimes, desktop publishing as well as additional services such as file pre-processing and post-processing or engineering are also involved.

Don’t forget that we are here to help with any questions or concerns that you might have about translation services, either the TLC way, or in general.