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Don’t Let Your Message Get Lost in Translation – Key Insights on Localization

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Successful communication between people is a delicate and quite complex process. Not only does it require some charisma, but a balanced level of empathy as well. What do I mean exactly when saying “successful communication?” In terms of marketing, it really boils down to one key point: to encourage the recipient of your message to answer positively to it, e.g.buy the product you’re offering them. Getting a positive response from consumers from your own language and cultural background may be relatively easy, but what about going global?

How will you present your offer to potential clients from other countries in an appealing way? After you’ve created the foundation – e.g. the product plus the marketing content – and you want to expand your business’ market range, there are a number of points you want to check on your list. That’s where the localization team comes in.

No, I’m Not a Construction Worker

(though being a crane operator would be kind of cool.)

crane

When asked about my job, I always follow the same pattern. First, I say that I work in a localization team, and then I wait for one of the two usual questions: 1. “What does that mean?”; and 2. “So you work onsite?” The answer to the latter is “No”, and the former leads to another question: “I’m dealing with translations and manage the translation process” – “So you’re a translator?” Another “No” (at least in this context).

In the beginning I found it difficult to explain to those not familiar with the term “localization” what it is I actually do. The simplest definition I can come up with is: “to convey given content in a given language/cultural background, bearing in mind what kind of medium the content will appear in.” Still kind of confusing… let’s take a website as an example. You own a business and come up with a website describing what you do. After a while you decide it’s time to reach out to a broader audience, which usually involves the translation of the website content into different languages. So, you have to look for a translation agency and send a link to your website or all of the texts you display on it to them – and that’s it?

how about no

If you wish for your business to be successful (who doesn’t?), there are a couple of rules you have to keep in mind before deciding to “go for it,” and leaving it to specialists in the field of localization is a good idea.

Rule 1: Know the Values and Goals of the Company

Rarely, if ever, does a person or a company come right up with a clear-cut definition of what they are all about. However, in order for a linguist to convey your message properly, they have to be provided with an overall description of what you do (your business field) and how your customers will profit from cooperation with you. Sure, perhaps you have those ideas in your mind and linguists may be able to pick them up while working on the text, but – for your own peace of mind – have it input plainly within a style guide.

What points should a style guide include?

1. Business description (as explained above) – both for your coworkers and linguists

2. General language usage guidelines for your coworkers (so the texts they create in the future is consistent with the existing copy), e.g.:

  • examples of the types of texts you’re producing (marketing copy for your website, email marketing copy, notifications, legal, etc.),
  • style and tone of voice to be used in a given type of text,
  • requirements for numerals, how to present currencies, what punctuation rules to make use of, etc. – those might seem petty, but they do influence the overall image of your business;

3. General language usage guidelines for linguists – as above, though the linguists will have to adopt the style, tone, and restrictions to their own language and cultural background.

A simple PDF document will suffice, one could easily be created using free software, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Having done that, you can expect that anyone involved in your business will be able to conform to the requirements you presented them with, no matter if they are your long-term business partners or newbies. And you can do even more: while coming up with a style guide, the terms that are of significant value for your business can be fished out, which leads us to the next rule.

Rule 2: Give Straightforward Directions

directions

We may not like the general idea of labelling, but it does pay off when it comes to localization. That’s why there are two main “labelling lists” on the translation menu:

  • do-not-translate lists – terms, e.g. proper names, which are to be left in the source language (i.e. in the original language you used when coming up with them),
  • glossaries – terms that cannot be left in the source language, though they have to be translated consistently,

both of which can be created in Libre Office Calc Spreadsheet.

“But it’s so time-consuming!”, you might say. Sure it is, but guess what: if you neglect this step from the beginning, you’ll have to spend much more time deciding which of the translations is more to the point (which involves acquiring the opinion of an expert in a given language) and changing it EVERYWHERE. Taking into consideration all of the contexts a given word/phrase is present on your website, and all of the ways it’s been implemented on the website (from the IT point of view). Conclusion: the sooner the better, end of story. And after you’ve done that, it’s time for part 3.

Rule 3: Make Everyone’s Life Easier

This rule concerns everyone around you. After the linguists have been provided with a style guide and a glossary, plus a do-not-translate list, you want the translation to be easy to upload to the website and easy to check after it appears on the page. That is why you have to squeeze the most out of your coworkers (content managers, IT, etc.) Why? The more information your linguists have, the fewer corrections will be necessary for your project to be successful. There’s one more thing: encourage those in your vicinity towork on the same software, if possible. Nowadays, there is plenty of software that supports the same file extensions, however it often happens that different programs have difficulties (ergo: you have difficulties) when working with or even opening those files. That is why I advise you to specify what kind of software your coworkers and subcontractors are to work with, be that software for website contents, newsletters, or digital product brochures. Speaking of extensions…

Rule 4: Cats Are Localization’s Best Friends

CATs collage

Not to be confused with the domestic cat or construction machinery! CATs (computer-assisted translation programs) are the most amazing softwarethat have ever appeared on the localization/translation market. In the past, one had to wait for nearly two months in order to have given content translated, reviewed, and tested. The texts for localization had to be either compiled and sent as packages (and I mean packages, literally) to linguists, or one had to employ translators and reviewers full-time in order to be sure everything is going smoothly. Nowadays, with the usage of CAT tools, the localization team can:

  • prepare almost all file extensions for translation,
  • be sure that the translation is consistent (thanks to technology used in CAT tools),
  • receive files that are ready-to-use by you and/or your team,
  • conduct tests or have the files proofread after the translation has been implemented.

Thanks to this advanced software one saves time, money, and effort, no matter if you’ve created an internal localization team or if you are outsourcing services.

Rule 5: Double- and Triple-Check

The better the quality of your work, the better the chances you’ll sell your product. That is why it is crucial to ensure the quality of the texts you are publishing. Having a given text reviewed by another linguist is one thing (so-called QA, quality assurance) – there is plenty of free software that makes a localization worker’s life easier, such as terminology management programswhich allow one to check the coherence of translated texts without knowing the language in question. Also, after implementing a given text to, say, a website, you want it to be checked in terms of layout, since each language abides by its own rules.

To Sum Up…

As you may see now, presenting your product to a broader audience in a successful way requires a considerable amount of effort, especially in the beginning of the process. It may seem daunting as first, but it does pay off tenfold in the long run. As a company owner or a specialist in a given field, you may not have enough time to manage the process of going global in terms of language. There are, thankfully, people who are passionate specialists in the field of localization – an area of expertise that incorporates both the beauty of humanities and the thoroughness of exact sciences – and who would be happy to take some weight off your shoulders. Now with the basic know-how about what to do and what to expect, your business may be presented on the foreign markets in the best way possible.

Original article published here: GetResponse

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How to identify any language at a glance

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Thanks to globalization, it’s very likely that at some point you’ve found yourself faced with a line of text written in a language you couldn’t quite identify. Maybe in the international section of a grocery store, or on Facebook, for example. “What the heck is this language?” you ask yourself.

To get the answer, often all it takes is a little character. One or two little characters, to be precise. Many languages written using the Latin alphabet have characters or combinations of characters that are unique only to that language. If you spot them, they can give you just the tip-off you need. Here are your lucky flags for some of the languages you’re most likely to encounter in print:

Ã, ã: When you see this sign of a nasalized A (as in São Paulo), you’re almost certainly looking at Portuguese, especially if the language looks a lot like Spanish.

Ă, ă: This A with a cup on the top is your surest way of knowing you’re looking at Romanian (unless you’re looking at Vietnamese, but read on for more about that). For further confirmation, look for Ț/ț and Ș/ș (that’s T and S with a comma beneath).

Ģ, ģ; Ķ, ķ; Ļ, ļ; Ņ, ņ: In case Romanian was feeling special about having that T and S with a comma, the Latvians have four letters with commas that no one else has.

Ő, ő; Ű, ű: These vowels that look like their hair is standing on end are the most unambiguous signs of Hungarian. The clever Hungarians just combined ó and ö to make a letter that means “long ö,” and did same withű.

Ř, ř: This is the classic distinctive Czech letter. It stands for a sound so difficult to learn, even Czech kids take years to get it right. Another character that only Czech has is Ů/ů. (Does that have a familiar ring? Don’t confuse it with å — see below.)

Ł, ł: If you see this letter (as in Łódź, and standing for a sound like “w”), you are very likely looking at Polish. For further confirmation, look for Ż/ż. (Polish also has many other accented characters, including ź — not the same as ż — but some other languages have these, too).

I, ı; İ, i: Of course, I and i are used everywhere, but in Turkish they’re not the same letter. I is capital ı (no dot) and i is small İ (dot), which is why Istanbul is really İstanbul in Turkish. In case you’re wondering, ı is said like the vowel in tick but much further back in the mouth. Only Turkic languages have this orthographic distinction, and Turkish is the only one of those you’re likely to see. Another good flag for Turkish is ğ, which is silent (as in Erdoğan).

Å, å: This å looks like a seal balancing a ball on its head. It stands for a sound like the “o” in “or” and is the classic stereotypical Scandinavian letter, even though it normally appears only in Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish. How do you tell those languages apart? If it has å plus ø and æ it’s Norwegian or Danish (more information below); if it has ö and ä (with crowns, like Swedish royalty) it’s Swedish. To get from København (Copenhagen) in Denmark to Malmö in Sweden, you cross the Øresund if you’re Danish or the Öresund if you’re Swedish. If you thought Swedish uses ø, sorry — you get a zero.

ø, aa: Norwegian and Danish use ø, but so does Faroese, and all of them — along with Icelandic — also use æ. You can sometimes tell Danish from Norwegian because Danish sometimes uses aa (as in Kierkegaard) instead of å. You can identify Faroese and Icelandic with our next key letters.

Ð, ð; Þ, þ: These letters, which English also had a thousand years ago, stand for sounds we now spell with th (as in “this” and “thin”). They are the distinctive sign of Icelandic and Faroese — and, frankly, you’re unlikely to see the latter. If you do, you’ll know it by the fact it uses ø. Icelandic uses öinstead (as in jökull, which means “glacier”).

And if you see a language made up of short words, with most of its vowels having one or two accents each, so the cumulative effect is like looking at someone with a lot of piercings, you’re looking at Vietnamese. Here’s an example taken from Wikipedia: Hà Nội là thủ đô của nước Cộng hoà Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam và cũng là kinh đô của rất nhiều vương triều Việt cổ.

There are also many languages you’ll see using the Latin alphabet that don’t have a single character to give them away. Here are some ways to tell some of them apart:

French, Spanish, and Italian: Spanish is the only one of these three that has ñ (though other unrelated languages also use it). Italian has common words è (“is”) and e (“and”), which in French are est and et and in Spanish are es and y.

Dutch, German, and Afrikaans: Of these three close relations to English, only German uses Ä/ä, Ö/ö, and Ü/ü. Only Dutch frequently uses ij; Afrikaans uses y in the same places (e.g., Dutch mij and Afrikaans mymean “me”). German for “is” and “and” are ist and und, while in Dutch and Afrikaans they’re is and en.

Irish, Scots Gaelic, and Welsh: Welsh is actually quite different from the other two. It uses lots of ll and ff and it uses w as a vowel (e.g., cwm). The two Gaelics (Irish and Scots) are easily identified because both have lots ofbh, ch, dh, fh, gh, mh, ph, sh, and th (none of which are pronounced like you probably think they are), and both use accents on vowels, but only Scots uses grave (left-pointing) accents, like on à in Gàidhlig.

Finnish and Estonian: Finnish has long words and lots of double letters (as in moottoripyöräonnettomuus, which means “motorcycle accident”), making it look (and sound) like it’s speeding past you. Almost none of it looks related to words you could recognize. If you see a language that looks a lot like Finnish but has words ending in b or g and has the character õ, it’s Estonian.

Albanian and Xhosa: These two languages are completely unrelated, sound nothing alike, and are from different continents. But both use xh (as well as c and q) and if you don’t know either of them you may be stumped by looking at them. But Albanian uses a lot of ë (as in Tiranë, the capital of Albania). A lot. Xhosa does not. (On the other hand, Xhosa and Zulu look very similar, and if you’re not sure which you’re looking at, maybe just ask someone.)

Slavic languages: I’ve told you about Czech and Polish, which are the easy ones. Other languages that use the Latin alphabet include Croatian and Slovak, and really, you might as well give up and ask. The ones that use the Cyrillic alphabet (like русский) include Serbian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and of course Russian. Some Central Asian languages do, as well. Remember: Just because it uses the Cyrillic alphabet doesn’t mean it’s Russian. (Also, just because a language uses Arabic script doesn’t mean it’s Arabic. It could be Farsi or Urdu, for instance, neither of which are actually related to Arabic.)

Bonus: How can you tell Chinese and Japanese apart? There’s one special character that will give away Japanese every time, and it’s only fair to tell you. Japanese uses three writing systems, only one of which is the same as Chinese uses, but unless you know them, you’re out of luck. But Japanese makes frequent use of the character の, which is a grammatical particle and does not exist in Chinese (Chinese characters are never round).

Original article published here: TheWeek

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5 Tips for Taking your Business Global

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5 Tips for Taking your Business Global

By Anne Connor

Anne ConnorThe Coca-Cola Company is the leading beverage maker in China’s $69 billion soft drink market, but the story might have been quite different if it weren’t for some smart and localized brand management at the very beginning of its foray into the country. Protecting the company’s valuable trademark was a high priority when Coca-Cola began to expand outside the United States.

When the company turned its attention to China, it became clear that the trademark also needed to be transliterated. That’s easier said than done. Finding the nearest phonetic equivalent to “Coca-Cola” meant sifting through some 40,000 characters to locate a separate Chinese character for each of the four syllables – an enormous task in the pre-computer days of the 1920s.

Today Coca-Cola products are sold in all but two countries: Cuba and North Korea. This worldwide success was only possible because the company realized the importance of taking the reins of its own international branding through proactive translation and localization.

No matter what size your business is, you can learn a thing or two from this story and Coca-Cola’s success. For one thing, don’t underestimate the localization process. But it goes well beyond that.

Here are five tips to help you take your business global.

1) Do Your Homework: One thing we have today that Coca-Cola didn’t in the 1920s is instant access to an Internet of information, where you can find tons of support for marketing products or services overseas. Check out the Small Business Administration’s online guidelines for doing business abroad. Then search the Census Bureau’s website for U.S. Exports of Goods by End-Use Category and Commodity, Services by Major Category, and the Top U.S. Trading Partners as of December 2015. These resources will lead you to plenty more so you can determine your potential in international markets.

2) Know Your Target Markets: Once you’ve assessed your potential and zeroed in on some markets, you need to understand your target market so you can tailor your business to it. For example, will the names of your products and services be accepted or do you need to have them translated or transliterated? A good place to start, especially for small and medium-sized business, is your local or national translators association. Professional translators are much more than linguistic experts; they also possess an intimate understanding of the business culture in the target markets in which they specialize. Most associations have searchable directories online, where you can find a professional who translates from English into the language of your target market. By taking a proactive approach to your branding before entering the market, you’ll avoid any potential mishaps.

3) Localize: Once you’ve taken a hard look at your brand, it’s time to localize your entire storefront. And like your brand, this means finding professionals to translate and localize your website and marketing materials. A small team of translation professionals can likely help if your company is relatively small and only targeting a few markets, but you’ll want to consider contracting a language company if you’re looking at more than three or four. The professionals who helped you understand your target market are a great place to start. Avoid the temptation to add one of those plug-ins that automatically translate web pages and blog posts, because you’re asking for trouble. Hiring professionals to handle the translation and localization will ensure that your foreign-language website really reaches and resonates with consumers.

4) Know What You Say and Sign: Speaking your customers’ language will likely go beyond your website and marketing materials and include communication supplies and/or local agents. Even if you’ve hired a local representative who both speaks English and understands the current laws for doing business, it’s still wise to have all important documents translated into English by a legal translation professional for you and your attorney to review. Taking a hard look at contracts before you sign them will save time, money and aggravation in the long run. Moreover, contracting a professional translator and communicating with customers in their own language does wonders for relations and retention, not to mention helping to avoid any cultural misunderstandings. And the expense shouldn’t be prohibitive. If you really want to up your international sales potential, hire an interpreter and follow up some of those emails with a personal phone call to your target customers.

5) Get Paid. No matter how well you manage your brand, localization and communication, you’ll need to ensure that you get paid and that getting paid doesn’t cost you too much. International transactions can be an expensive enterprise, so proper preparation should be part of your expansion plan. Do you need to adjust your prices in the respective markets to account for international wire transfer or online payment portal fees? PayPal, for example, charges a standard 2.9 percent fee plus a cross-border fee of 1 percent, both of which are deducted in the foreign currency payment amount before the exchange rate is applied and entered into your PayPal account in U.S. dollars. For large shipments or amounts, it may be best to request that your customer open up a Letter of Credit in your favor for an amount in U.S. dollars. Be sure to check with your bank or other international financial consultant to make sure you choose the payment options best for you.

Your business may not have the means to expand into foreign markets like one of the world’s leading beverage makers, but you do have the means to emulate how seriously Coca-Cola took the process. Before your first foray into the global market, consider the cultural and linguistic needs of your potential customers You’ll be miles ahead of the competition if you take the time to get closer to them and speak their language – and your company’s products, services or slogan won’t become the next Facebook meme to mock clueless foreigners. Do your homework and you’ll be well on your way to going global and achieving international success.

Anne Connor holds a BBA in Business Law from Temple University in Philadelphia and is an active member of the American Translators Association. The American Translators Association represents over 10,000 translators and interpreters across 91 countries. Along with advancing the translation and interpreting professions, ATA promotes the education and development of language services providers and consumers alike. For more information on ATA or translation and interpreting professionals, please visit www.atanet.org.

Original article published here: Article Weekly

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