With 2018 well and truly behind us, there is little time to look back and take stock of what happened last year. All of our attention is now firmly on 2019 and it is going to be an important year for business across the UK, EU and wider world.
With this in mind, today we are going to take a look at the most important language services for the year ahead – in what promises to be a defining 12 months in more ways than one.
Translation: The starting point for multilingual brands
Translation is always at the heart of multilingual projects, covering most of the language needs multilingual brands and organisations have. However, the nature of translation is constantly changing as technology makes it possible to handle larger projects in shorter spaces of time.
This is going to be particularly important in 2019 as the impact of Brexit becomes more apparent and businesses around the world continue to grapple with GDPR. New laws, regulations, trade deals, court rulings and official announcements mean the demand for translation services is higher than ever.
Localisation: Capturing the local nuances of language and culture
As we say, translation can normally cater for most of your language needs but it rarely takes care of all of them. For most projects, you are also going to need localisation to adapt your content local languages and expectations.
This can range from tweaking your translated content to better suit local interest, to coding your multilingual websites and apps in ways that make it easier to deliver translated content and add new languages in the future.
In the digital age, localisation not only improves your translated content for specific target audiences, but also helps you deliver it in the most effective way.
Transcreation: Finding the right words for things that cannot be translated
As a global language services provider, we know all too well that some things simply cannot be translated. This is especially true for highly creative and semantic expressions such as metaphors, plays on words, stereotypes and cultural references. The problem is we naturally use this language in all kinds of content – from journalistic feature articles to product descriptions – and entire marketing campaigns often revolve around them.
As a result, it is easy to find yourself dealing with an ad campaign that simply does not translate. It just will not work in foreign languages and, in many cases, will confuse or even insult your target audience.
This is why transcreation is so important in 2019, helping you find the right words in another language when simply translating your content does not make sense.
Interpretation: Keeping the most important conversations going
Interpretation is one of the oldest language services but it does not always get the same kind of attention as some of the newer additions to the industry. However, it continues to become more important every year as the number of international businesses, NGOs and other organisations operating between language barriers continues to rise.
Immigration is also steadily increasing in just about every part of the developed world, too – something that is not always reflected in the language abilities of people creating a new life in a different country. As the business and social worlds become increasingly multilingual. Interpretation keeps the most important conversations going to ensure everyone understands.
Transcription: Making important content accessible to everyone
Another classic language service that does not always get the recognition it deserves, transcription is still the most effective way to document, store (and/or translate) content for everyone who needs access to it.
This is absolutely crucial to some of the world’s most important industries but this is nothing new. What we are seeing change, is a major increase in demand of transcription services among SMEs that need to document a growing range of content (meeting notes, video and podcast transcriptions, etc.) and this increases even further for international companies that need their transcriptions translated into other languages.
Every year we see the demand for language services increase, as the business landscape becomes more global and multilingual then the previous. However, 2019 is not just going to see the global business environment expand; it is going to turn it on its head as the influence of Brexit, GDPR, economic slowdown and various other factors become more apparent.
To find out what global language services your business can benefit from, do not hesitate to get in touch with our team of dedicated professionals.