We live in the age of content, where the majority of interactions between people and brands (and, increasingly, other people) take place between digital content. Today’s international companies have to produce vast amounts of content to keep these interactions alive and translating all of this for multilingual audiences is a big task.
In this article, we look at six reasons why you will want to hire professional translation services from an agency with proven experience in managing multilingual content strategies.
#1: Professional translation gets your message across – as you want it
Controlling the message is one of the most important features of professional translation, ensuring the message is received by each audience as you intend it. For some types of content, the message is fairly two-dimensional and converting the content from one language to another with accuracy and clarity might be just enough – for example, when it comes to translating instruction manuals and research papers.
However, some projects require language experts to be more creative in their translations. For example, content that includes conversational language or figurative devices often loses relevance through direct translation. In these cases, businesses and brands need to adapt some of their messages to restore relevancy for each language audience.
#2: Quality content translation avoids embarrassing mistakes (or worse)
The key measure of quality translation should be that language audiences never notice the content has been translated for them. So it should feel native to every reader, viewer or listener.
Translation mistakes can be embarrassing, but some are more damaging than others.
Unfortunate translation mistakes can often be observed in marketing content because this type of content usually requires a more creative approach to translation. Google’s gaffe at its own Google I/O 2022 event where it displayed incorrect text for almost every non-Latin or Cyrillic script translation example (as it announced 24 more languages for Google Translate – including Tibetan and Balinese) is one instance. This is one example of harmless translation error but when it comes to the medical industry for example, such unfortunate incidents should not happen.
There is nothing funny about translation mistakes in the medical field where clarity is vital in every communication. Even if a given content isn’t in the business of saving lives, the information companies and brands provide should be equally reliable across every language because discrepancies can also lead to legal ramifications – e.g. when marketing content inadvertently makes false claims or when translated T&Cs are too ambiguous in certain languages.
#3: Hiring translators with relevant industry/subject knowledge
We have already touched on a few industry-specific translation services in this article including legal, marketing and medical. Producing quality content in these fields requires specialist subject knowledge. Therefore, working with specialist translators with experience within your industry is very important, as they will ensure this knowledge is carried through to the final versions in each language.
Here are some other common industries that require specialist translation services:
- Automotive
- Construction
- Consumer electronics
- Engineering
- Financial
- Food & beverage & FMCG
- Gaming
- IT & telecoms
- Life sciences
- Manufacturing
- Market research
- Media & publishing
- Oil, gas & energy
- Public sector
- Retail
- Transport & logistics
- Travel & tourism
Companies in these sectors need translation experts with subject knowledge and experience on similar projects – and many companies need multiple specialist services. For example, international manufacturing companies will also typically require a mix of financial, legal, marketing and several other translation services.
#4: Language agencies provide the most efficient translation process
By working with an experienced language agency, companies can take advantage of efficient translation processes that have been built and refined to maximise efficiency across all content deliverables. For example, at translate plus, we have built and currently use a mix of custom translation technologies (e.g. i plus) to deliver content to our customers faster and to increase consistency on projects no matter their scale:
- Translation management system (e.g. i plus)
- Machine translation (e.g. AI plus, MT plus)
- Translation memory & online review solutions
- Terminology management
- Database internationalisation
Some of these have been developed by drawing upon the latest advances in AI technology and automation, to create the most efficient translation process for all of our customers.
#5: Translation experts deliver consistent quality
We already talked about consistency in the previous point and this is one of the most important qualities of professional translation services in the modern world.
The more content businesses and leading brands need to translate, the more challenging consistency is to maintain – especially when translating a large volume of content over an extended period of time. This is true for most international companies that are required to produce a constant supply of translated content across multiple channels.
For on-going projects of this nature, working with a variety of translators and other language experts is very much recommended.
#6: Professional translation services get results
Professional translation is all about getting results from your content in every target language. It is not simply filling pages with words but it is about crafting meaningful messages that make a true impact on target audiences, inspiring them to think, feel or do something – ideally all three.
These results can only be achieved when using a language supplier that provides a professional translation service that sets clear targets, aligns with your given goals and generates a measurable return on investment (ROI).
If you require professional translation services to translate your content, you can speak to our team by calling us on +44 (0)20 7324 0950 or filling out the form on our contact page.