Pitfalls of Utilizing Your Bilingual Coworker for Translation

You are a successful business owner or partner, and you decide it is time to start doing business abroad. Or maybe, you are a physician with your own practice and need forms translated for your patients, or an interpreter to communicate with a limited English speaking patient. It is so tempting to use a bilingual coworker on staff for your translation and interpreting needs. It would save money, right? Cut expenses?

Wrong! Before you go adding workload to your bilingual coworker, read these points on how this will slash profits and put your business at risk in the long run.

Fooled by Price

Yes, using your bilingual employee seems like it would save money because you would not have to hire a professional translation service. If your employee says they are bilingual, they must be an expert at that language, right? This misconception is common. Your employee may have grown up using that language or studied it for a few semesters in school, but that is far from being an expert. Technical terms can be difficult to translate for the everyday speaker of the language. And, if they are not familiar with the cultural context of the subject, a simple mistake can change the desired message completely. Plus, professional translation frequently costs less than your employee’s time – and it will be done right.

The Risk of Losing Your Reputation

Think about the risks of having an inaccurate translation or interpretation. In business, if you advertise the wrong message, you will lose business. In the late 1980s, KFC made a horrible mistake in their translation when they expanded to China. Their slogan “Finger-lickin’ good” was mistranslated to “Eat your fingers off.” The Chinese did NOT find this appetizing and KFC had to quickly fix this embarrassing mistake. There are hard costs involved – such as the cost of re-translation and re-printing ads, billboards, promotional materials, etc. But there are also soft costs – such as loss of image or damaged reputation. You cannot put a price tag on those and it may be very difficult to recover from such hits.

The Devastating Financial Risk

An interpreting mistake in 1980 cost a South Florida hospital $71 million in a lawsuit when Cuban patient Willie Ramirez ended up quadriplegic from a misdiagnosis. The physician mistakenly understood the Spanish word “intoxicado” as “intoxicated” in English. “Intoxicado” actually means feeling sick from something ingested, like poisoned. That is an expensive and devastating mistake.

Protect yourself and your company by hiring a professional translation service. It will save you money in the long run.

The Meaning of Professional Translation & Interpreting

Hiring a company that provides quality business translation services, AKA a language service provider, is a guarantee that the translation will be accurate, thorough, and will be worked on by experts in that language. Professional linguists spend years studying their chosen languages and are experts in interpreting & applying cultural context to translation.

Professional interpreters are also experts in their field, and many specialize in different industries like business, legal, manufacturing, and medical. With advances in technology, there are now platforms that language service providers use for convenient over the phone interpreting and video interpreting. These platforms make it easy to schedule an interpreter for a business meeting, negotiation, client meeting, doctor’s appointment, or any interpreting situation by using a smart phone, tablet, or PC.

Pick the Right Translation Partner for You

Ditch the bilingual employee approach and hire the right language services provider for your company. Whether you need business translation services for website localization, document translation, user manual translations, marketing materials translation, or business interpreting, it is important to partner with a company that fits all of your needs. Maybe you need medical, legal, manufacturing, or educational translation & interpreting. You can find the right professional translation service that delivers quality & accuracy at the highest level.

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