Companies spend millions of dollars managing their reputations online to reduce negative press and increase appeal to a global audience. While the costs of a poor reputation are immense, reputation management represents a big expense for companies. While paying to clean up a poor reputation whether true or false, some thought should also be placed on how to prevent reputation loss. For brands with global footprints which span over multiple languages, finding a quality translation service is one point where companies need to be vigilant. Proactive reputation management includes proper vetting of all vendors, but when you cannot read a vendor’s output in your own native language, reputation management can be even more complex.
Why Pay for Quality Translation?
If you sell products or services to a global market, explanations to customers who are not native English speakers must be offered. Translating your product descriptions, web pages, blog posts, or other assets is the easiest way to spread your message and increase your customer base. However, if there’s a mistake in your translation, it can reflect negatively on your business.
Your employees may have worked hard to penetrate a new market or polish a product description, or other digital asset. Unfortunately, when this is turned over to the translating team, you no longer have oversight over the message. If the translator misses something, or the quality of your original content is not upheld, it results in a loss of reputation — and potentially a loss of business. Other consequences for your firm can include a loss of prestige, a dip in consumer confidence, delays in closing deals, frustration on all sides, and loss of money.
The legal ramifications of poorly translated warnings alone warrant deep vetting of translation partners.
At G3 Translate we specialize in serving the insights industry. Market Researchers, Brand Managers and Insight Directors rely on accurate feedback from their well-honed surveys and focus group translations. When these surveys are not translated properly (including considerations for dialect, slang, cultural nuances and the like) the result can be incredibly unclear responses, which leads to inconclusive findings or worse, misdirected marketing actions.
Focus group translation can be especially tricky as conversation following open-ended discussion can be even more nuanced for personality, gender issues and other cultural norms. To get the most accurate reading of your respondents’ true feelings and feedback, proper translation is a must. Misunderstanding these findings can lead to gross missteps within a market which can have grave consequences on your brand reputation.
How to Find a Qualified Translator
When searching for and measuring translation quality, think beyond language. No matter what language, more is being translated than the direct words. The right translator will discuss your content, your target audience, and your message until you feel confident they understand what you are trying to achieve. Set your translator up for success by providing them with sufficient information about your goals for the project, so they can hit the mark for your project by creating accurate and clear messaging for the audience and culture
Look for a vendor who understands your industry and your target audience. Ask for references, then reach out to past customers rather than take the vendor’s word for their quality.
Some projects require much more literal translation, while others can be created for wider, more personalized translation possibilities. This kind of translation quality assurance should be fostered not only at the beginning of a project, but also when the responses are coming for back translation into the original language.
Reputations can be made or broken over who you choose as a translation vendor. It’s not enough to find someone who knows the language, you must look for someone who has the right skill set for the task and understands cultures as well. It can cost a lot to fix poorly translated documents and to fix your reputation in a new market. Taking the time to find the right translation service the first time around can result in big savings all the way around.
At G3 Translate, we have always handpicked our team of professional translators, editors, proofreaders, cultural consultants, and industry experts to uniquely work each project. If you want to work with the world’s finest translators and cultural experts, simply request a quote.
