How to Determine Business Translation Needs

Business translation involves expressing the sense of a word or text in another language or form for commercial purposes. The concept is simple; its fulfillment is not. One would assume that the analysis of business translation needs is best left with the translators. However, management can't afford to entrust such important decisions to outsiders who don't share their strong interest for their company's growth. Three important things determine the business translation campaign of a company.

Choosing A Dialect

All major languages, including English, have various dialects. A dialect is a regional form of speech and a variety of language with a nonstandard vocabulary, pronunciation and/or grammar that's unique to a specific area. The negative impact that an unfamiliar dialect can have on comprehension by speakers of a different dialect, can prove fatal to a company's advertising campaign. The United Kingdom's famous 'fish and chips' is understood as 'fish and fries' by natives of the U.S.A. only because of the dish's widespread popularity and much travel between the two nations. Unfortunately, this is not the case with many words and phrases that will be needed in business translation. If a company is going to establish a presence in South America, Latin American Spanish instead of Castillian should be the dialect of choice.

The Targeted Audience

Most businesses cater to a targeted audience. Nurseries attract gardeners and landscapers. Fabric stores appeal to seamstresses, tailors, and those who do crafts. Even department and grocery stores target audiences. Wal-Mart attracts economical consumers; Yonkers appeals to customers with exclusive tastes and higher budgets. These business characteristics help determine business translations needs. Even within the same dialect, audiences will differ in vocabulary according to age and educational level. These are additional factors to take into account when assessing business translation requirements. Most teenagers around the world have their own jargon. Likewise, people who live in regions where it's common to be bilingual, such as in Quebec, Canada, often make use of words that are a cross between the two languages of the region. It's to the benefit of the company to know and meet their business translation needs.

Cultural Aspects

There's also the need to carefully consider culture. This point is of particular importance to native English speakers of the U.S.A. Often Americans who have learned Spanish seek employment in bilingual customer service. Many tend to reply to 'gracias' (thank you), with 'de nada' (you're welcome), after delivering service to a client. Such response reveals the lack of understanding of the importance of courtesy in Spanish. Real Spanish speakers often reply with phrases such as 'para servirle' (at your service), or some other phrase that appears so flowery to a native English speaker that it never occurs to him to adopt the language in its culture. Business translation needs will also be determined by cultural aspects.

Many more factors can be considered, but the aforementioned ones should always be included to ensure the company reaps benefit from business translation.

About the Author:
Armando Riquier has many years of experience as a writer and translator and works with Tectrad, a company specialized in translating finance, legal and corporate matters. Maintain an excellent image with your investors, shareholders and foreign customers through quality legal, financial and business translation services.