When you have a successful product or service, you want to be able to market it and promote your brand internationally. However, it’s not just as simple as throwing together a survey to gauge global interest and sending it over social media. You could do that, of course, but you’re not going to get the results you’re hoping for.
You’ll need to translate the survey into the languages your target audiences speak. That’s where the task starts to get challenging. Subcontracting survey translation into several languages is complicated. Learn more about why finding the best subcontractor to translate for you is essential to avoid common pitfalls.
Native Speakers — In the USA
As you compose your questionnaire, some of your verbiage may contain colloquialisms or regionalisms that may only be understood by your origin market. As you endeavor to get the survey translated, you’ll need an expert who understands cultural nuance. For instance, if your product relates to the automotive industry you might refer to a car as a “lemon”. You would then want a translator who knows that you’re talking about a defective vehicle, not the fruit. Your language expert should understand that the translation of survey text is not a word-for-word endeavor, but rather it’s a rendition true to the intended meaning of the survey writer, but written to speak to the target audience in a natural and fluid way.
Native Speakers — in the Target Audience
Culture and slang can change relatively quickly. It’s not enough to simply have a native language speaker translate your survey. You need eyes on your survey that are up to date about the current events in the country or new pop slang that locals are using. If your translator has been in the US for several years, he or she may be unaware of subtle nuances that could change the interpretation of your survey.
Proofreaders
Just as you would for any other document or presentation, y
ou’ll need proofreaders to ensure that your translated surveys are error free. Punctuation, grammar, and context are all considerations and prove different for multiple languages. You should never distribute a survey that hasn’t passed through an expert proofreader
from a translation agency.
Multiple Languages
It’s fairly easy to find an expert for one language. However, the tough part is identifying a service that is adept at handling the conversion for multiple languages on one project. At
G3 Translate, we specialize in superior translation, which employs a translator, editor, and proofreader. With this
three-step approach and prompt, personalized service, we provide highly accurate, culturally relevant translations that respect both content and context.
Market Research Focus
Keep in mind that your survey is not a document that benefits from pure translation. Because it is a market research document, translators with a market research focus can make a huge impact on your project. They are aware of trends/requirements for your targeted cultures. Your approach for French survey takers is considerably different than it would be for German or Chinese consumers. French customers may respond to more liberal messages, while Chinese consumers are more conservative. Germans are much less concerned with sounding “sexy” and are attracted to the utilitarian usage of a product instead.
