Assessing Business Translation Needs

Business translation is the expression of the meaning of a word or text in a foreign language for communication in commerce. The concept is elementary but the fulfillment can be complex. Some people figure that the analysis of business translation needs should be decided by the translators. Nevertheless, managers can't afford to leave such important decision making to people who don't share their strong concern for their company's prosperity. There are three main factors that determine a company's business translation campaign.

Choice Of Dialect

All influential languages, English included, have a variety of dialects. A dialect is a geographical way of speech and variety of language with non-standardized vocabulary, pronunciation and/or specific grammar that's unique to the region. The unfavorable impact that a little known dialect may have on comprehension by those who speak a different dialect, can be fatal to a company's marketing campaign. England's famous 'fish and chips' is known as 'fish and fries' by natives of America, only because of the dish's popularity and frequent travel between the two nations. Unfortunately, things are not so clear with many words and phrases that will be required in business translation. If a company has planned to create a presence in Spain, Castillian, over Latin American Spanish, should be the chosen dialect.

Targeting An Audience

Most businesses serve a targeted audience. Nurseries serve those who garden and do landscaping. Fabric stores attract dressmakers, tailors, and people who are into crafts. Even department stores and supermarkets target audiences. Wal-Mart appeals to price conscious consumers; Yonkers attracts customers with a taste for expensive merchandise. These commercial characteristics help to determine business translation needs. Even among speakers of the same dialect, people will be diverse in vocabulary depending on age and level of education. These are additional considerations to keep in mind when looking at business translation requirements. Most teens around the globe make use of their own slang vocabulary. In the same manner, people who live in regions where bilingualism is common place, such as in Quebec, Canada, often use words that are a cross between two languages of the area. It's advantageous for the company to know and respond to their business translation needs.

Cultural Considerations

There also exists the need to cautiously consider cultural customs. This point is particularly important to native English speakers from the United States. Often, Americans who have learned to speak Spanish, seek out jobs in bilingual customer services. Many of them usually reply to 'gracias' (thank you), with 'de nada' (you are welcome), after serving a client. Such a reply unveils ignorance of just how important courtesy is in Spanish. Native Spanish speakers often answer with phrases such as 'para servirle' (at your service), or similar phrases that seem so flowery to the English speaker's ear that it never occurs to him to 'pick up' the language in its culture. Cultural considerations also determine business translation needs.

There are even more factors to keep in mind, but the ones mentioned in this article should always be included to guarantee that the company reaps a return from business translation.

Armando Riquier is a freelance expert translator and writer and a member of the Tectrad control team. Tectrad is a business translation service agency that specializes in translations between English and French of all types of legal, financial and business documents.