If you’re a business owner you probably always look for opportunities to fuel further growth of your business. There are many ways in which this can be achieved, but there is one way in particular that has gained a lot of interest over the years. Due to globalisation it is now more easier than ever to go international with your business. Online stores can send orders within a few days all over the world. This ease makes it a very attractive way to grow your business. But, for it to be successful there is one crucial part that can’t be overlooked: the translation of your texts.
Why are translations so important?
But why are translations so crucial for international success? Well, most people only buy something from a business if they feel completely comfortable with the company. So let’s say you own an online store and you want to start selling your products in other countries. Even though English is an accepted en understood language in most countries, people prefer to buy things from online stores in their own language. This means that in order to be really successful in a foreign market, some translations have to be made. Below are some of the most important translations. We’ll also give you some tips, since it’s not just about translating a text.
Translate your website
An essential en pretty logical starting point would be to translate your website and all of its content. This includes the text on your homepage, information pages, categories and product pages. Even though almost everyone in the world understands English, there will always be a certain language barrier. We always feel more comfortable ordering something from an online store if it’s in our own language. So, by translating your website to the preferred language in that country you create a trustworthy feeling. And someone that trusts your website/company is way more likely to make a purchase.
A website translation should therefore be your top priority, since it is your company’s business card. What you do have to take into account is for who exactly you’re translating. Every business has a certain target group that’s interesting for them, and some products and services consist of more professionality and jargon than others. So analyse your target group thoroughly!
Now before you rush off to that one friend who sort of speaks the language or use Google Translate, to be truly successful you need a professional linguist. Someone who is a native speaker of the language and looks at sentence structure and grammar. Both of which the first two options don’t do, at least not with the quality of a professional translator. Another reason why you should contact a professional linguist is because people are very sensitive to language errors. It will come off as unreliable and will only chase them away.
Why you need convincing marketing texts
Another essential aspect is the translation of your marketing texts. The ‘job’ of a marketing text is to convince someone. And, to really convince someone in another language, a literal translation will not be sufficient. A certain degree of creativity is needed. Which is something that Google Translate or an unexperienced translator most of the time doesn’t possess.
Besides that, just like with the website translation, you have to take the target group into account. Not everyone gets triggered by the same words and visuals and marketing texts have to be adapted to these groups. Something we also shouldn’t forget are the cultural differences. A text that triggers people to buy your products in the UK will most likely not work for people in for example Germany. In every country people place value in different things. Professional linguist know this and will take all of this and many more into account when translating your marketing texts.
The importance of document & legal translations
Last but not least, the translations of your documents. Whether you’re going to sell a service or products in other countries, it is import to have your documents translated so people can consult them. Think about manuals, instructions, general terms and conditions, employee contracts, insurance policies and so on. Your company uses more documents than you would initially think. Which is why we advise you to make an inventory of all the documents that might come into place when placing an order and let those be translated by a professional translator.
But why are document translations and legal translations so important? Well, imagine the following situation. Someone https://www.translationagency-perfect.com/document-translationsorders your product and assembles it according to the manual. But, because of a wrong translation he or she puts a part in the wrong place which causes a short circuit. The user is left with permanent damage to his or hers hand. You can image what type of legal consequences this could have if he or she proceeds to sue you. This is just an example of the many things that could go wrong with incorrect translations of (legal) documents.
So, if you’re going to expand your business to different countries, make sure you hire a professional linguist to take care of all your translations. Who knows, with your products you might even become the new market leader in that country.
