Whether you’re a corporate translation company looking to sharpen your translations or someone looking for an effective corporate translation for your business, there are a lot of aspects that make up a good corporate translation.
From cultural sensitivity to accuracy, whilst these things may seem obvious, they’re harder to master than you think. Here are the five things you need to know about getting corporate translations right.
1. Have an efficient system
If you’re a company that handles corporate translations, then you need to have an efficient translation management system in place to ensure that your work flows smoothly and all bases are covered. This includes:
- First translation
- Rounds of edits and reviews
- Localization considerations
- Accuracy checks
When your team knows who is responsible for what part of the translation, then things will run a lot more smoothly and you will end up with an accurate, well written translation.
2. They’re culturally appropriate
Translations need to be culturally appropriate. This is by far the most important factor when it comes to creating an effective corporate translation, because it needs to make sense to the reader. This includes containing the correct expressions, spellings and culturally specific language.
This is particularly important if the content being translated is going to be distributed to a large audience in your target market, and spending time perfecting the cultural appropriateness of your translation can help to avoid any embarrassment or mistakes on your company’s part.
3. They are written by an expert in the field
It’s one thing translating something into another language, but detailed industry knowledge is almost like a language of its own. That’s why sometimes it isn’t enough to simply have someone translate content into a language they are fluent in.
The best and most effective corporate translations are written by experts in both the translation language and the industry being written about. There are intricate details, vocabulary and knowledge that an industry expert will bring to the translation that can make all the difference.
4. They are accurate
This is an obvious, but vital aspect of any translation, and that is accuracy. The best way to make sure that your corporate translation is flawless is to have it go through multiple rounds of edits. Even with a careful proofreading, there’s bound to be some small mistakes that fall through the cracks. But with multiple pairs of eyes looking at it, those mistakes will get picked up eventually, leaving you with a flawless translation, ready for consumption.
5. They consider localization
Localization is a hugely important factor in making your corporate translation as effective as possible. It’s one thing getting the country right, but there are many dialects, customs and language differences from region to region to master.
So, if the translation is for a specific audience in a specific area, it’s worth considering localization to make sure your translation caters to the readers to save any misunderstandings and avoid causing accidental offence. This can have a huge impact on company reputation, which affects more than just the service you provide.