What should be the Priority for Legal Document Translation?

Legal firms that do business overseas usually find that they have to make use of legal document translation services quite often. Like many businesses, there is a constant push to reduce the cost of running the business, but there is that awareness that quality counts, too and there must be a trade-off between the accuracy of a translated document and how much it cost to produce it.

Software that can Translate Audio into Another Language

There is no end to the amount of research now being done into helping us speak more than one language. Microsoft has now developed software that can recognise speech, whether from an audio recording or from a person’s natural voice, and can translate it into a second language that sounds exactly like the original voice. This could be fantastic news when someone wants a document translation when conducting a presentation at a conference.

Has the Word Okay Become a Truly Universal Expression?

Most people if asked about the word “okay” or its shortened versions of “OK” and “O.K.” would probably think that its origin is the U.S. This may be at least partially correct, because it is certainly not a word or term that was in use in England before the second world war and it use in the English speaking world seems to have arisen from after contact with U.S. forces during that period in the nineteenth century and the arrival of U.S. T.V. shows and films.

But is “okay” actually an American expression originally and how much is it recognised around the world today? There are actually a number of competing possibilities for the origin of the word and probably no-one is absolutely sure. One story, probably the one that is most widely recognised, at least in North America that the word “okeh” is actually an Amerindian word (north American Indian) meaning in English “That’s right” or “Yes it is so”. Other possible origins are a Mande word from West Africa, “o-ke” which means more or less the same as we understand it to mean in English. Other West African languages, such as Wolof and Mantu have similar sounding words to “okay” like “waw-kay”.

Whatever the origin, the word certainly seems to have taken residence in many other parts of the world and has been adopted as part of the foreign language additions to many other languages. No-one that is involved with translation services worldwide has to worry about the translation of this particular idiomatic expression!

In English, “okay” has several different meanings and can be used as a stand-alone expression or a part of speech. For instance, it can be used as an adjective in such an expression as “It’s an okay day today”. It can be used as a single answer to a question like “How are you?” “O.K., Thanks!” or just “O.K.”

Its adoption elsewhere in the world hasn’t changed the basic meaning of the word and wherever you go, even in countries where English is rarely spoken, you can bet that some version of “O.K.” is understood. It may have become an accepted part of that language’s vocabulary and even when two people are speaking together in Hindi, Chinese, Spanish or Yoruba you can most likely hear the ubiquitous and useful little word spoken!

Tips for Translating a Successful Retail Website

If you are running a successful business in your home country then you are likely to already have a good website. It seems to be just one of those naturally important ingredients these days and an essential aspect of marketing. It is a whole new ball game when you start thinking of expanding overseas. Suddenly, your well crafted website and all your marketing strategy has to be adapted for a different audience.

It’s no good just using one of those translation websites that are so easily found on the internet these days. Your slick and professional website will just seem amateurish and clumsy. It’s worth investing in professional translation services to convert your website so it can reach out to the hearts and minds and pockets of your new overseas market(s). So, here are few tips that can be used when translating your already successful retail website.

Tip#1 Good multilingual SEO to boost your online presence

Especially if you are reaching out to a new market where you are unlikely to have any previous street credibility or presence as a high street retailer, you have to use the internet to attract customers. That means making use of successful SEO strategies to boost your search engine rankings. However, there is now an added twist to the way your SEO was crafted beforehand. It all has to be done in another, possibly more than one other, language. And it’s not just a question of translating perfectly all the slogans and information you used in your own native language. What is your intended market? What are their age, gender, cultural preferences and personalities? All this counts because it needs to be embedded in the use of key words and key phrases used in a successful SEO strategy.

Tip#2 First impressions count

New customers will judge the way your website looks and how it is translated into the language they understand best quite quickly so it is crucial that you use marketing translation services that have an understanding of the target culture and have sufficient in depth knowledge to avoid simple translation mistakes that put buyers off. You still won’t sell any of your products unless that is what the people browsing your website are looking for, but you certainly need to catch their interest before you reel them in.

Tip#3 Getting those product descriptions right

Good website localisation has to walk a fairly narrow path between, on the one hand, providing sufficient information about your product to interest potential buyers in their own language and at the same time attempting to avoid repetition and too many similar sounding descriptions that your competitors use. Search engines now make this a very unprofitable route to take.

Tip#4 Provide good back up support in the local language

Ongoing support for your products is important. Many potential buyers are keen on the idea that a company can provide a back up service and of course it has to be in their own language. This means that your relationship with the translation services company you choose to translate your website will be a long term one.

Website Translations Can Help Build Your Brand Globally

Website translation services are in high demand these days as businesses try to expose their products to untapped foreign markets. Even the smallest of businesses have a website as almost everyone looks for services or products using their smart phones whether it’s in their own locality or overseas. If you are Italian and you are searching for a set of golf clubs your search will return companies who are marketing their golf clubs to the Italian market and have translated their product descriptions into Italian.

It doesn’t matter where the golf club originates from as the customer will just pay by credit card and wait for the golf clubs to arrive. They could be coming from the USA, China or Taiwan. The fact that the Italian customer chose your product was because the website accessed was available in Italian and offered the product the customer was looking for.

If you are an Australian company marketing your product to Italians there are many translation services in Australia that have fluent bilingual writers who can offer a good translation of your website that will market your product.

Don’t jump in the deep end. Choose your languages carefully!

This means before you organise a translator to translate your website make sure you have worked out your global business strategy. Determine first of all what countries are likely to want your product if they knew about it. You then have to decide what language of your targeted market you are going to translate your website into.

For example, in China there are of course local dialects but there are also the two largest languages which are Cantonese and Mandarin. You will have to conduct some research into which language speakers will be attracted to your product if it’s marketed in their language.

Spanish has a number of different forms such as Latin American Spanish and European Spanish. They require different translators too. You will have to ensure the proofreaders accessed through proofreading services know which country’s Spanish to relate to when proofreading.

The tone of the language is important too. You have to think a bit about the educational level of your likely customers so that they will be able to readily understand what you are telling them.

When all the research has been conducted and you have made your language choices then you can watch your website grow your sales and put your business well and truly on the map.

The Top Five Marketing Translation Strategies

One of the best slogans for marketing is being open to new ideas. Marketing teams spend much time and money finding the perfect slogan and catch phrase. Every translation you have done and every marketplace you encounter might not necessarily suit your list of catch phrases and slogans. You have to ensure the words you use will fit your audience.

Make use of Style Guides

Most translators have a readymade style guide that will contain logo designs and other corporate language requirements. This is necessary for all the languages that the translation company is likely to encounter.  You will have to ensure the marketing translation services you use make use of the right style.

What is your Audience?

When you are marketing your products and services you have to know your audience well so that you can pitch your marketing strategy correctly. You can get researchers to help define your market.

Prioritize what is necessary 

It is not always necessary to focus on getting translated every marketing item you have got such as sales brochures, emails, posters, ads and Web sites but you should try to find out what your new market is likely to react to the most readily. High quality marketing translation services can be quite expensive so you should use your dollars where they will impact the most. Translating a poster that no one is likely to look at is a waste of money and will not have much of an impact on your sales.

Localize 

You should ensure that any marketing materials focus on the appropriate cultural context, even if it happens to be in English, as there are many colloquialisms that if used may attract more attention than you may have realized. You may miss out on important business openings if you can’t get the language just right.

Consistency is necessary  when marketing  but a translation service has to be a little bit more adaptable when translating product information into other languages so you as a business has to be a patient and  flexible until you get the translation that fits exactly your business requirements.