One of the benefits of translating documents into the country’s native language is that it shows respect for its culture. And, as we saw with our exploration of high-context cultures, that can make a huge difference in terms of gaining the person’s loyalty, interest and, ultimately, business. It can also increase understanding and communication.
However, key messages can be lost in translation. Translating is about more than replacing a set of words in one language with a set of words in another. Documents convey a message to the reader, and a document created for one audience is not necessarily appropriate for another. Also, translating can be costly, especially if more than one language is needed.
Furthermore, not all materials need to be translated. The decision should be based on the nature of the audience. A technical manual, for example, is more likely to be understandable in English because most technical personnel have been trained in English. However, if you’re targeting a Spanish woman who does the cooking for the home, then materials should be available in Spanish.
When deciding whether to translate a document, ask yourself the following questions:
- Which countries will you be operating in? (Translation needs can be prioritized by country.)
- What are your future expansion plans? (If future needs will overlap, that can bring the expected cost down.)
- What types of material are you working with? (Technical material lends itself to the application of translation memory and other cost-reducing technologies, but marketing material less so.)
- What is your budget? (The translation schedule can be tailored to your budget, with higher-impact materials given higher priority.)
Sources:
http://www.hablamosjuntos.org/sm/default.to_translate.asp
http://www.cheskin.com/blog/blog/archives/000474.html
http://www.elanex.com/EN/articles_whytranslate.aspx
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