What do translation services mean for the products you use every day?
Look around. Which country made your phone, your watch, or the shirt you’re wearing now?
Where was it designed? Where were its components made? Where was it assembled? Where was it warehoused? How was it distributed? How did you come to know about it? Where did you buy it? How were you able to understand its quality and attributes? Where are its customer service centers and back-end operations located?
Goods and services are made and sold regardless of national boundaries.
The ability to make and sell ‘everywhere’ presents unprecedented opportunities for businesses seeking to expand their operations beyond their own borders. Taking business operations to foreign markets is exciting, but the task comes with its own set of challenges.
As they expand into new territories, multinational companies must deal with many languages, laws, and cultures. As they start serving a multilingual and multicultural clientele, their language challenges take on greater degrees of complexity, and the success or failure of a global business comes down to its efficiency in handling these difficulties.
A business must take advantage of the right tools to make the most of its international opportunities. Translation services for business can help companies tackle the challenges of making and selling ‘everywhere.’
Global manufacturing needs local language solutions
The laptop on which I am writing this post was made by an iconic American brand. It was designed in the US, but its design team probably included people from diverse nationalities. It was assembled in China, but its components were manufactured and sourced from numerous suppliers in places in the US, Europe, South America, and several nations in South and South-East Asia. It was warehoused and distributed from strategic centers in numerous continents. It is sold through outlets located around the globe and is advertised locally in countless countries. It came with instructions in 8 languages. It has offices and centers in multiple cities around the world.
If you looked closely, you would probably see a similar story unfolding for most of the goods you buy.
Of course, manufacturing is an extremely broad term. Simply speaking, it is the sector of the economy that creates finished goods for our consumption. Manufacturing can range from primary industries that make raw materials for other products to merchandise for end-customers. This catch-all term thus encompasses smaller, highly specialized sub-industries such as transportation (aircraft, automotive, shipbuilding), fast-moving consumer goods, electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paper and print-based enterprises, industrial equipment, construction materials, furnishings and fixtures, original components of other products, household appliances, craft-based goods, toys, sporting products, and so on. Each of these sub-industries is highly specialized and has its own technical know-how.
Most manufacturing enterprises engage with diverse populations and must familiarize themselves with the local laws and regulations of the countries in which they make or sell. A host of documents must be translated and localized to ensure that the production process does not encounter obstacles along the way. The spectrum of business translation needs can be incredibly wide: feasibility studies, technical manuals, training manuals, servicing manuals, product specifications, patents, health and safety guidelines, software, online content, and regulatory documents make up only a fraction of the content that needs professional document translation services.
Poor translations of technical documents can lead to the manufacture of faulty products. In certain high-risk industries such as aircraft manufacture, there is no margin for error and defective products can lead to the loss of market share, loss of reputation, loss of life, and class action lawsuits.
Therefore, all manufacturers should entrust translations to reputed language service providers who can certify the quality of their work. Certified translation services provide a guarantee of accuracy so businesses can focus on their operations without worry.
Market research must first understand the markets it wants to study
The mere production of goods does not guarantee the success or failure of a manufacturing business. Goods must be marketed and sold for tangible returns. Market research is a process that informs both the making and the selling of goods that are produced.
Businesses expanding into foreign markets are unlikely to have a firm grasp on local languages and cultures. The marketing and selling of products can become a particularly difficult endeavor because businesses must cater to the specific needs of every market they serve and show sensitivity to the local cultures. Market research helps bridge this gap by collecting and analyzing the requisite information about specific markets and provides businesses with the knowledge to exploit new opportunities in a profitable manner
Professional translation and interpretation services help businesses overcome the language barrier and to understand the needs and wants of specific groups of people. Expert and in-context linguists can help marketers survey sample populations, facilitate focus group discussions, and undertake deep-dive activities to gauge the demand for their goods and services in small segments. Locally oriented industry experts can explain the intricacies and sensitivities of local markets to help avoid expensive mistakes.
Consumer Goods and retail services must become more local to succeed
For consumer goods to be appealing to foreign markets, their features, packaging, and marketing must be contextualized in a manner that captivates the local population. Obviously, this mandates a detailed and native understanding of languages, idioms, cultures, traditions, fashions, tastes, and other local peculiarities. To build a brand in a foreign market, a provider of goods and services must provide appropriate language-related activities ranging from localizing websites and online platforms to aligning the after-sales servicing to the specific cultural context.
Professional document translation services can help consumer goods and retail service brands to consolidate in foreign markets by helping them understand and speak to their local consumers ‘in their own tongues.’
Protranslating guarantees the quality, security, and accuracy of your documents
Protranslating has accrued more than 45 years of experience in the language industry and its global network consists of over 5,000 vetted expert linguists and industry specialists. We have helped diverse industries localize their offerings through the most protected and secure language service platform in the current market. Our knowledge, machine learning techniques, and proprietary security-first workflow-driven software offer our clients the assurance of quality that is backed up by multiple ISO certifications and a SOC Type II report.
We guarantee the confidentiality and accuracy of our work by providing our clients with secure document translation services in over 200 languages to help them operate seamlessly across borders.
Please contact us to find our translation services for business can help your business achieve further success.
