With marketing a key business activity enabling even the smallest companies to compete in the corporate world and on a global scale, many small manufacturing companies are willing to pay high fees for professional website and marketing translation. On the other hand these such companies are shifting focus away from their core activities which includes providing accurately technical translation in favour of using in-house translators in order to cut costs contributing heavily to the manufacturing sectors increasingly (one-sided) commitment to client side operations. This worrying trend in recent years is impacting negatively on their ability to achieve high quality technical translation and many within the translation industry have noted this to be a fatal error.
Compared to website or marketing translation, technical translation is a different breed altogether. Excellent website/marketing translation is often the difference between successful and unsuccessful marketing and consumer engagement which stands as the ‘face’ of the majority of all businesses and this is extremely important. However, good quality technical translation can have a major impact on customer satisfaction and if not conducted accordingly will impact negatively on a company’s brand which can lead to all kinds of problems business owners aim to avoid such as legal battles and bad publicity.
As many may have experienced when businesses conduct their activities properly this may often go unnoticed, however it is better to view things on the flipside: when mistakes are made people take notice and this applies heavily to technical translation. In services management It has been said that a customer who receives a good service will usually tell around 1-3 people whereas a customer who received a bad service will spread the message to around 10 people. Conducting in-house translation can be a money saving strategy for your business however what you must ask yourself is whether it is better to save money in the short term whilst depriving your company of the expertise a professional qualified and experienced technical translator can contribute to your business. The very best translation companies are aware of the multitude of skills genuine technical translators possess in terms of their expertise, communication in their native tongue as well as the target language and also aware of the technical jargon used in the industry. Pushing ahead with product manual, data sheet or trade instruction document translation – without utilising the skill of a real pro – will put your business at risk. Errors in marketing translation for example a poorly translated marketing article can be badly received by its audience and therefore the purpose of the marketing campaign rejected. However in technical translation, errors may be more damaging carrying more consequences such as technical faults, shipping failures and in the worst case scenarios safety concerns for the end user who is misled poorly translated product usage instructions. With risks this great it is more feasible for companies to use a well-established translation company.
Recent Comments