Translation affects every aspect of our lives in business and personally and literally makes the world go round. Every letter and phrase needs to be converted precisely to perfectly match not only the language but also the culture.
In The book, Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World, authors Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsche write of translation errors that are not only costly but also dangerous. HSBC was forced to launch a $10 million rebranding campaign to repair the mistranslated slogan, “Assume Nothing,” which was translated to “Do Nothing” in various countries.
WTCGP trade specialists counsel client companies to connect with a professional translation service company before entering a new market.
Member company, MTM Linguasoft, a full-service translation company provides a wide range of services to help companies avoid translation landmines.
The idea to start MTM LinguaSoft came to Myriam Siftar in 2002, while working at a business incubator helping French businesses expand into the United States market.
“I saw firsthand that even if you have the best products or services, the opportunity for overseas growth is limited if you don’t speak the language of your prospective customers. And with the rise of online presence, it was obvious that global businesses would need international websites with multilingual content. From the start, I wanted the company to focus on the intersection of technology, language, and culture,” says Myriam Siftar, President
MTM offers business translation services to support global companies with international trade in all sectors, including legal and medical translations. MTM also support global marketing and sales campaigns in the form of multilingual websites, landing pages and content for trade shows and catalogs.
“It’s a digital world, so the demand for translated websites, mobile apps, and e-learning has been growing steadily, and that shouldn’t surprise anyone,” adds Siftar
“We worked with a mobile app developer to create translated versions of their flagship apps for eight new language markets: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. We also translated and localized their website for these languages. We helped with international search optimization to make sure the localized websites and apps were found by search engines in the target markets. Within three months, our client saw an average 30% increase in sales in these markets.
There is also increased demand for digital video.
“The most dramatic increase we’ve seen over the past few years has been in demand for multilingual voiceovers for digital video. Product demonstrations and e-learning modules are more effective with voiceovers because translated subtitles distract from the visual content. Digital voice recording is more flexible and affordable than it used to be, and clients are taking advantage of that,” says Siftar
MTM clients understand the critical importance of using professional translation services. For those who believe Google Translate or an in-country bi-lingual employee can handle it check out this interesting list provided by MTM “Top Ten Misconceptions About Translation.”
So what’s the most important reason to use professional translation services?
“Revenues,” says Siftar. “There’s a quote from a former German chancellor: “If I’m selling to you, I speak your language. If I’m buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen!” Regardless of how well they speak English, clients prefer information in their own language, and plenty of your competitors are willing to comply. This wasn’t always the case: twenty years ago, about 80% of the Internet was in English. Today, only 25% of the Internet is in English.”
