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The Right Words – Translation Advice for E-Commerce Businesses
Setting up an online business – as with any commercial endeavor – is hard work. Of course, one goes into the process with the idea with hard work comes rich rewards. Most people try to stay true to this sort of mindset, but some business owners get it into their heads that great results can be achieved with minimal effort. Sure, this may be possible in some business, but, for the most part, this just isn’t the case. You can’t expect to apply that sort of reasoning across the board and achieve great commercial success.
For those looking to expand their business into foreign markets, the “hard work pays off” mantra is especially apt. If you’re seeking to capitalize on markets in other countries, then there are certain things you’ll want to avoid, and certain practices you’ll want to put into effect – you just need to know which ones are which. To help you with this, here are several examples and pieces of advice to help you avoid pitfalls and maximize opportunities.
One of the biggest areas where many businesses fall short, regarding language translation, is failing to hire a reputable, top-quality translation service. Some may feel that it requires too much of an investment of time and money, but, for what you’re getting, such an investment is great deal. Doubts about this investment are likely due to a lack of awareness of the impressive range of services a fully comprehensive language agency, like True Language, offers its clients.
Such services provide translations in dozens upon dozens of languages and dialects, focusing not only on the purely grammatical aspects of language, but also the cultures these languages represent. Translation agencies can provide you with crucial feedback and overall direction regarding how best to apply your foreign language marketing strategies and avoid awkward or offensive advertising. You’re not just relying on a single individual; you’re getting an entire team of experienced experts to create a full-fledged foreign outreach.
As previously mentioned, it’s easy for people to be drawn in by the notion of getting great results from a low-effort expansion process. When tackling foreign markets, this simply will not work. Even if you think your brand image is strong and your prices spot-on, if you don’t commit fully to your translation efforts, those efforts will inevitably bring in only a fraction of the revenue and exposure you could be enjoying.
Have all of your website’s navigation tabs translated, as well as product descriptions, special offers, and policy information, and also be sure to show prices in the target market’s native currency. If you have an advertising banner that shows advertisements from other companies, then be sure to show advertisements related to companies known to your target audience.
All of this makes it clear to your potential new clients that you’re serious about attracting their patronage, and that you have a strong, stable presence in their market. Having a fully translated website gives the impression that you’re here to stay – something that makes it far more likely that local buyers will invest in a long-term relationship with your company.
Social Media:
More and more businesses are recognizing the potential of social media as a tool for promoting their brand image, as well as attracting customers. Social media sites have the extraordinary ability to allow users to exchange information rapidly and across great distances, connecting people and creating special communities of like-minded people. Businesses can thus use such sites to interact with various social sets and cultural groups to create community relationships.
For a business easing into a foreign market, it would really pay to have a blog connected to its company’s website, and to maintain active accounts with social media sites like Twitter. Posts to such accounts should be translated into the native language of the users they’re attempting to connect with.
Even better would be to have a small staff on hand, or a group of freelancers, who can run such accounts and interact with consumers on a constant basis, so that the business comes to have an interactive involvement in the community. This creates a stronger sense of inclusion, and instills a sense in the community that you’re really a part of their sphere, and well worth buying from.
If you’re particularly trying to target a younger demographic, then social media sites allow you make use of current popular culture and create the right sort of image to attract more and more patrons to your site.
Social Media:
When it comes to translating content for business, you may not even consider all of nuances and idioms present in each language. Trying to translate content on your own, using freely available tools like Google Translate, inevitably ends up not only creating improper grammatical structures, but also puttings words and phrases together that don’t make sense or work together in a natural, native way.
Idioms that make sense in your own language , may turn out to be confusing or even offensive if translated literally into your target language. Entrusting the translations to a professional with full knowledge of the language, as well as the relevant culture, will ensure that content is both accurate and more relatable to the audience you’re trying to attract. This will also ensure that your content has natural and professional flow.
We often consider policy information as the small-print aspect of a company – the secondary stuff that we don’t really pay attention to. Businesses may feel that as long as they make their basic policy information available to customers online, then there’s no need for anything more
However, this information will be of little use if customers can’t understand it. When setting up business in a foreign country, all of your policy information needs to be accurately translated, and it’s essential to respond to customer queries and complaints in the customer’s own language.
Having a team available to handle this, ultimately saves time and ensures a higher level of customer satisfaction. If customers are relegated to resolving issues with someone who doesn’t speak their language, then confusion and aggravation will reign supreme, and your business will lose more valuable time in resolving the issue.
The worst area for your translation efforts to fall short would have to be your company’s legal documentation. Just to do business in foreign markets at all, you’ll need to have various documents and/or permits translated and filled out and various agreements signed and sealed by the right people. , These documents must properly and completely translated, to the letter.
The smallest mistake could mean the difference between a contractual relationship holding together or breaking apart, or could even result in legal action company. In such a sensitive area, where your documentation carries so much weight, it definitely pays to work with a professional translation service .
Content and Layout:
When translating information for a website, it’s important to remember that words don’t always translate precisely from language to language. One or two words in one language may become six or seven in another. Keep this in mind when designing the layout of your website, where real estate for text will have strict limits.
Decide on all of the essential information that must be presented, and key phrases that best enhance the brand image of your site, as well as the overall atmosphere you’re trying to create. Make the translation team aware in advance of any restrictions on text length or character count, so that your content fits where it needs to fit.
Here’s a tip: if you’re translating from English into other European languages, you can count on the translation being longer than the original by about a third. Shorten your text before translation, and you won’t have to worry about cutting down text in your new language.!
Everyone likes a fast turnaround, but it’s not always a viable option. Some things really do take time. Rushing translation work can ultimately lead to poor quality, and a translation agency with second thoughts about working with you again. If you have non-negotiable deadlines to meet, make them clearly known to all concerned from the start. Your translation service then has the opportunity to prioritize the project and expand the team accordinglyy.
Micromanaging your translation project can also lead to problems. When you engage a professional translation team, it’s in your best interest to trust in their expertise, reliability, and receptivity to your needs. Looking over their shoulders throughout the process is liable to be more of a hindrance than a help. Let the pros do their work for you!time intrying to resolvinge the issue.
Your company’s translation plan really starts with the research you do beforehand. It’s important to get as much of a feel as you can for the your target culture before you start communicating. Understand how you need to attract customers, how you need to interact with them, and the most effective way to present yourself and your business to them. Your translation service can help you make good decisions here, too.
It’s important that your translation team understands the image you wish to project, in particular, so that they can use their linguistic and cultural knowledge with to ensure that your goals in this matter are met successfully.
You also need to do your plenty ofown research on the translation service you work with, as you would for any potential vendor or business partner. You don’t want to simply hire someone with a nice website it’s important to ensure that the translation professionals you hire are fully credentialed, have a record of proven success, and are a good fit for your company.
Once your content has been translated, and your website is up and running, don’t think of this as the end of the road. The big part of the trip is finished, certainly, but, after some time has passed, it’s important to reassess your content and decide how well the translation is working.
Is the content really conveying the proper tone? Is your brand image coming across as you had desired? Are your customers able to access and navigate your site with ease?
One of the best ways to ascertain the success of your translated site is to have customers complete surveys or provide feedback through social media. Your customers are the greatest source for feedback regarding how well everything functions on your site.
Pay attention to common issues that many people seem to be talking about. Even if it’s something that’s accurate and which fulfills a certain task, it may be worth reevaluating or removing it if customers don’t relate to it, or find it awkward. Taking the time to look back over content, and tweak bits and pieces, gives you the opportunity to impress upon customers that your business is dynamic and open to change, and that you listen to them and take their needs into consideration. Following this suggestion, along with the other presented here, will ensure that your business avoids as many bumps as possible on the road to foreign expansion.
