Marketing your product or brand in another country is exciting — and risky. Relying on others to translate your verbatim message and your intended subtext can have a serious impact on your reputation once it’s sent out. A quality translation will make you look great, while the opposite could have dismal effects.
So, what should you look for in proper translation of insights? How do you know, without being a language expert yourself, that your translation service provider is reliable?
Experience
As you’re looking for a translation partner, take note of the amount of time they’ve been working in the industry. Our translation team at G3 Translate has been an industry leader for the past 12 years, and our leadership partners have worked in the industry for over 20 years! We have a strong portfolio of clients that include various types of translation projects. If your translation agency doesn’t have the expertise in the particular area of research you need, they may not have the proficiency to help you get the exact results you’re looking for.
Insights
When you need documents translated for another market, you’re not looking for a perfect, verbatim translation. Your conversion needs to include adjustments for cultural differences, emotional connections, humor, sarcasm and more.
As an example, Coors, an American beer producer, decided to take its “Turn It Loose” campaign to Spain. The brand later found out that when translated into Spanish, the tagline was read as “Suffer From Diarrhea.” That wasn’t exactly the message they were going for! This example and many other brand mistranslations explain how disastrous even the smallest translation mistake can be!
Language and culture fit together so differently, and what something may mean in our country could deliver a taboo or negative message in another. As you select your translation partner, make sure its process includes steps that take cultural nuance and local slang into account!
Several Steps in the Process
Again, because your translation is not a word-for-word conversion, an agency should put your message through several steps to deliver a final product. At G3 Translate, our translation team of experts take our client’s documents through three phases:
- A translator from your target audience translates your message, both for language and insights.
- An editor oversees it, ensuring that the insights are conveyed in the newly translated version.
- Proofreaders edit for grammar and punctuation, making sure all T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted.
Translation Reputation
Because we value our reputation as a leader in our industry, we want to do our very best job for each and every one of our clients. We base our reputation on the products we deliver to clients and their effectiveness in the field. Just as we are always striving to protect our own industry standards, we ensure that your reputation is intact, too!
