New Year's (Re)solution

A couple of weeks ago, we all returned to work - full of renewed vigour and wishing every colleague and client who crossed our path the customary "good New Year". Yet how many of us went a step further and offered constructive advice about how to ensure 2006 actually is a "good year"? Perhaps not quite so many! So with this in mind, Lingo24 would like to wish you a prosperous New Year and at the same time suggest a corporate New Year's resolution guaranteed to help drive forward your export campaigns in 2006.

Localisation...

...internationalisation, globalisation, transcreation and even that old chestnut "translation"! Yes, the "-ation" words have all become part and parcel of everyday commercial parlance and are bandied about regularly, especially in Internet marketing circles and in the media in general. Understandably for those not directly involved in this high-growth sector, the plethora of terms can be confusing, though in fact they're all intrinsically linked. Predictions from industry experts suggest that 2006 is destined to be "the year of localisation", so let's focus on this term, since it's probably the most relevant for the majority of companies who already have a single-language website and would like to make it more accessible to a foreign language target audience. Localisation involves many different elements, including translation and cultural adaptation (sometimes jointly referred to as "transcreation"); it also requires the continual updating of multi-lingual content, plus the fine-tuning of your website to ensure that it is recognised by foreign language search engines and that it offers visitors full functionality. Official figures show that a properly localised website is more likely to be picked up by foreign language search engines, and that visitors to a site written in their native language spend more time there, reading about your company and its services. So how can you get started?

In-house or outsourcing?

There's no doubt that translating your company website into your potential customers' language(s) is an excellent first step en route to the global marketplace - providing you entrust the translation to a first-class translation service provider, of course! For unless you are in the fortunate position of having a professional translator on your staff, then the most economic and effective way of getting your message across is, without doubt, outsourcing the project to a translation and localisation specialist. Using one of your own staff who happens to have language skills may at first seem to make economic sense; however, as many companies have found out through bitter experience, this can be flawed logic... The fact that someone is fluent (even bilingual!) in another language in no way guarantees that he or she will produce a competent translation. Indeed relying on the efforts of a well-meaning colleague often costs more money in the long-term, because all too frequently it results in the whole job having to be re-done or at least heavily edited.

Translation is a highly skilled profession and it takes many years of study and training to reach the necessary level of prowess. Fortunately the experienced translators used by reputable agencies are masters of their art and are in most cases approved by a professional body. Consequently they offer not only in-depth language knowledge, but also a firm grasp of the specialist areas in which they work. For translation can cover a wide range of subjects - and professional translation companies will select different translators for each project according to the particular technical, legal or creative challenges of the individual text. Expecting a member of your company's general staff to be able to handle every foreign language text which crops up in the course of business, regardless of the type of text involved, is unrealistic, not to mention risky. The results of using a non-specialist are often seen on instructions for imported products e.g. "You can now load your envelopes front-side down and well fanned. In general, it does not matter whether you load your envelopes with the flap in front or reverse. However, if it occurs during labeling that the flaps are moved upwards you should place these envelopes with the flap in front. In case that the envelopes are not stacked one upon the other, but inside the flaps, you should reverse them so that the flap is at the rear."

The words are all in English, but the ambiguity and poor phrasing mean that you've to read them a couple of times before you can actually take in what's being said. Your customer - keen to put your product into action - is likely to be pretty frustrated, and whilst he's already bought your product on this occasion, it gives a negative perception of your company and is unlikely to encourage repeat business.

Localisation: more than just translation

Many major players bit the multilingual bullet several years ago and had at least part of their website professionally translated into the languages of their major export markets. A number of them have now gone one stage further and had their whole website localised. It's vital to remember that when potential clients are searching on the Internet, your website will be the first impression they have of your company. If they perceive your site to be amateur and of poor quality, they may well assume that these characteristics apply to you and products or services too. Worse still, just one unfortunate turn of phrase or an ill-conceived slogan can mean that you actually insult the very people you're hoping to do business with. Professional website localisation has proven time and time again that it offers a good return on investment, and there's little doubt that when you're targeting new foreign markets, a well-localised website dramatically increases your chances of a bull's eye! So when you're mulling over your marketing strategy - be it to take over Europe (soon to account for 40% of all online users), the world (over 60% of the global online population are non-English speakers) or even a single foreign niche market, make localising your website a top priority for 2006. It may well be the best New Year's resolution you've ever made!