Have you ever thought about expanding your current business via website translation or document translation?

This may sound like a strange idea at first, but please be patient as we explain why there are many different ways document translation can help your business grow.

• Localisation of information, context and services

While it is undeniable that English is the main language of communication, it is also true that in many parts of the world, especially Asia, expressing your content in the lingua franca can bring more business by reaching out to the local audience.

It may be really difficult to transmit some concepts fully via the English language due to cultural and linguistic differences. Avoiding cultural insensitivity can also be critical.

For example, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea are known as the 4 Asian Tigers in English, but the Chinese term is “4 Asian Dragons’ due to the negative image of the Tiger in some contexts.

• Leveraging on Social Media Outreach

Every modern business will try to connect with its current and potential clients through social media like online advertisements, instant messaging and other means.

Thus, if you are thinking of doing a promotion for your services and products, translating these documents will be an excellent choice.

This helps you connect to those who prefer to view content in their local languages and also sets you apart from your competitors.

• SEO Optimisation

You may be surprised to find out that many clients do not search for services in English only.

They may also do so in other languages.

Therefore, translating your website and documents into other languages will certainly improve your SEO ranking when potential clients search for the services that you provide.

• Building trust and branding with your clients

Most people are more comfortable communicating and thinking in their native language, and therefore the messages that you convey will leave a deeper impression in their minds when you translate your documents.

All your marketing material need to undergo localisation services in which content must be localised and adapted to the local market, in order to resonate with the audience.

According to some surveys done, up to 90% of online shoppers claim that they spend most of their time browsing websites in their native language, so you need to translate your website and documents if you intend to capture a piece of this huge market.

When it comes to slogans or taglines, one must be careful to translate in context.

They must be translated tastefully, in style, be accurate and yet still be impactful.

There is the famous example of the Ford Pinto model being launched in Brazil without a name change.

In English, there is nothing wrong with the name.

However, the word ‘pinto’ means ‘tiny male genitals’ in Brazilian slang, so that became a major marketing disaster.

Good examples of name translations include coca-cola into 可口可乐 and pepsi-cola into 百事可乐 for the Chinese market.

These names include both transliteration (similar sound) and translation (they both have meaning in Chinese), so they are often cited as excellent names. Of course, you can imagine the complexity of such tasks.

• What about machine translation?

At first sight, translation software and applications sound like a cheap, fast and easy way to translate your required documents into other languages.

However, there are major pitfalls with this approach.

While translation technology has indeed improved over the past few years, it is still a far cry from the quality that professional translators can achieve.

These translators have honed their craft and skills with numerous years of experience and can tailor and hone your messages in ways that software cannot.

Many of them even have acquired sector-specific knowledge like legal, medical and engineering technical terms and expressions, as compared to word-for-word translations done by most computer assisted translation software today.

Alternatively, do check out more from our Youtube video which we especially produced to let you know more about the different ways document translation can help to grow your business.