Going Global and Finding the Best Translation Agency
Here are steps in getting the most out of the translation agency
To be global, a company must communicate with its clients in their own language. And given the current economic climate, it's important for a company to be bolder than ever, seeking opportunities in untapped, emerging foreign markets. Rather than creating an entirely new campaign for those markets, your company may simply need to translate existing ones. This may be just the right formula to save money and time in a weaken economy.
This can be accomplished by finding the best translation agency to fit your needs. Once you've selected a partner to translate, proof and assist in rewriting to tailor to your target audience, you will need to take some steps to prepare for the language translation process:
- Be clear about what you want. Put it in writing for the translation company. Write a brief explanation of the intent for the copy. In other words, the impact they will have on readers. If you're revising a clothing ad, for instance, you'll want to specify using colors that will resonate with the target audience. So while a bright orange sweater in an ad might raise eyebrows among U.S. teenage boys, the opposite is true in the Netherlands where the national color is orange and always in vogue.
- Be specific. Indicate your target audience. Should the translation sport a serious academia tone or a snappy, marketing tagline requiring cultural suaveness and native play on words? Remember words carry with them emotions and imageries. Take a simple word like dad, which is perceived as a relax form of father or patriarch.
- Determine if you need a literal translation, or one that has the same persuasive effect of the original copy but may not necessarily a verbatim translation. A good translation company should be able to discuss and help you determine what's best.
- Lastly, keep track of changes. Ideas will morph into something tangible. Meanwhile, file original copies and layouts in case you may need to reference them later.
Learn more about the benefits of using an agency that offers multilingual services.
