Tag Archives: translation

How Centralizing Your Translations can Help Your Business

The process of centralizing translations involves the localization of large amounts of content to one part of the company. Once you have put all your content in one section of the business, you will find that it is far easier to manage the content and translate it as per requirements. The purpose of changing the language is so that you can allow people from other parts of the world to access your online content easily. Translation companies have to focus on many different projects simultaneously so that this can be achieved.

When you are presenting something on a website, especially when you are trying to market goods and services this way, you will find that you have to allow the end reader to be comfortable. These readers will be your consumers in case your content is business oriented. Also, for the purpose of giving instructions on how to use a certain product, instructions in different languages save many service and other issues relating to ease of use. This in turn guarantees customer satisfaction and repurchase.

Importance of Choosing a Suitable LSP

Language Service Providers, or LSPs in short, refer to those organizations that help provide the translation and localization services. Some of these LSPs however have a drawback that they cannot process large volumes of data at once. Instead, they specialize in single projects. This means that a company will have to tie up with many different LSPs at the same time in order to process all the information that is to be translated and later put on the Internet.

Companies therefore must be careful while they choose the right LSP. If there are such LSPs which manage bulk data then they are the best kind to go for, provided quality standards are maintained. Otherwise, you will have to manage many different and simultaneous tie ups. While this may be slightly difficult, it is necessary.

How does Centralization Work?

Centralization is a process in which you are localizing every project or body of the organization to one single managerial unit. This helps because individual teams get caught up in the work that they are assigned and do not focus on accumulation and delivery of any other project. A business can only run if every single unit is fully functional and is managing to meet all client deadlines.

Putting up content on the Internet can become a messy task because of the large amount of information that has to reach different destinations. This is especially true in the case of translation companies because their main area of expertise is handling data and processing it so that it is of good quality in the eyes of the end reader.

Advantages of Centralizing Your Translations

The reason that most companies prefer centralization when compared to multiple LSP units is because the process saves about fifteen percent of the overall payments that have to be made otherwise. It is quite an efficient system because it uses just a single LSP in the form of a multi-language vendor, or MLV, so that all the localization and translation that the translation company does is done on one platform with different units.

Not only does the process of centralization save companies money, they also cut down a lot on the time taken for the completion of related projects. They manage to do this by simplifying the procedure developed by LSPs and unify the whole thing. While one LSP is complex enough, the use of multiple LSPs is completely unnecessary now that most translation companies are shifting to centralization. The advantages are numerous, which is the reason behind the success of this structure.

Translation in Business Communications

In today’s global business environment, businesses can either operate in multiple countries and geographical/linguistic areas, or operate out of one country or linguistic region while providing services to clients in other regions. As a result, there is a market for various types of translation such as technical, financial, and legal translation. The market for this activity is growing rapidly as newer translation requirements are emerging.

How Translation Has Evolved

Translation is, roughly speaking, the process of converting written or spoken words from one language to another. Globalization paved the way to a number of companies to expand their business to other countries, creating an opportunity to profit on the demand for their products and services. It may also be that businesses can find a resource they need at a much cheaper rate in another region than their own.

In any case, businesses are faced with the barrier of ignorance of a foreign language when they take the step to operate outside of their own countries or regions. To address this, many businesses necessarily hire translators to translate communications, whether with governments, other businesses or consumers, or with literary translations, technical, commercial, or any other type of translation. Due to this, the translation industry is a rapidly growing one.

Business Translations across Cultures

It is rarely easy to translate a communication between different languages. Translation is not as simple a task as referring a dictionary or using the internet. Even if language can be translated without a hitch, there may be several cultural differences that the translator needs to be aware of in order to effectively translate it or there may be a risk the message gets lost in translation, often to a humorous degree.

As an example, a message intended to mean “2nd Expo of Social Service Businesses” (“2ième Salon des Entreprises d’Économie Sociale”) was translated from French to German meaning “Two Living Rooms from Business Economy Companies.” Examples of translations from native languages to English gone awry include a message at an Asian dry cleaner that reads “Drop your trousers here for best results.”

The Role Played by a Translator

In business, the translator performs as a liaison between a business and the target audience. The accuracy of his/her translations can impact the expected result of the communication to a great extent and so, it is important for a translator to be well versed with the literal language and with the nuances unique to its spoken counterpart, slang, and dialects. Wrong translations, regardless of their industry, can have unintended consequences from embarrassing a business to causing it large scale losses.

The Goal of Translation

A business translator’s goal is to faithfully reproduce the intention of the business’s communication in the language into which he/she is translating it. Often, the translator may have to deal with a lack of one to one equivalents between elements of a message in the source language to that in the target language. The purpose of the message is to be assessed by the translator and use his/her creative skills to make a message in the target language that can bring about the same effect in the source language.

Maintaining Quality and Avoiding Mistakes

Avoiding translational embarrassments in technical translations is the key to keep a business afloat in a foreign market and possibly avoid disastrous consequences arising out of misinterpreted laws or mistranslated directions for the usage of a product. Businesses hire translators and have the translated messages re-translated into the original language by other translators to verify the accuracy of the translation, though this process may not always work, especially for messages making use of puns, catch phrases, and idioms unique to a culture.

The need for translation is inevitable in today’s world where it is increasingly common to see countries and businesses looking outside their home borders to expand their economic potential and increase their coffers. In such a world, translators—whether handling medical translations, technical translations, or computer translations—could be considered as ambassadors facilitating the exchange between cultures, bringing the world closer with every translated line.

Best Practices for Translation

Any business catering to a global audience needs to be multilingual. It is a well-known fact that a large percentage of global population speaks English, but since it is not their first language, some of them face issues related to written communication in English. By making communication multilingual, you can create goodwill and open up your business to new audiences. You can become multilingual by resorting to the aid of bilingual employees or by hiring a translation company.

Reasons Why You Should Hire Professional Translation Services

Using bilingual employees to translate communication is cheap but not the best route. A bilingual employee may have excellent verbal skills but generally not a satisfactory written skill. This may lead to inaccuracies in communication, which can be harmful especially with regard to legal documents.

There are multiple benefits in engaging a translation company. The first one is that a translation company will have translators for multiple languages and, therefore, you will get all your work done through one source. Second, translation companies must be aware of cultural sensitivity in terms of language and are able to prevent messy missteps. Third, your employees stay focused on the tasks for which you hired them.

The Essential Best Practices to Be Followed for Translation

Whether bilingual employees or a translation company is handling your multilingual efforts, there are some practices you should follow:

1. Do not choose an employee or translation company at random. Scrutinize their work, their policies and past quality before making your choice.
2. Do not just choose random languages. Make language additions that will benefit your business.
3. Standardize vital documents to ensure consistency over multiple channels.
4. Appoint a coordinator, set a budget and plan the translation process. A coordinator ensures someone is responsible for achieving your goals and ensures that you do not exceed your budget. Documentation reduces redundancy and ensures a smoother process in case of future additions.

The Importance of Writing and Designing Documents Appropriately

The purpose of any document is to communicate a concept or knowledge to the end client, in order to invoke an action or a thought process. Using language that requires a PHD to understand will only cause setbacks. Follow the KISS principle (Keep it Short and Simple) when writing and design documents. Ensuring that information is easy to read and understand reduces the need for additional personal contact with the customer. It will even make documents easier to translate. In case of documents requiring certain wording for legal purposes, keep the language simple and crisp.

Increasing the Overall Quality and Consistency of Your Documents

Transforming an operation from single language to a multilingual process does not change your business or your goals or values. Every document needs to carry the same essence or tone, irrespective of the language. The best way to ensure consistency is to create style guides and glossaries. A style guide lets translators know your linguistic and stylistic preferences. A glossary contains important terms with your preferred translations. These guides and glossaries do not affect costs nor increase timelines. They just ensure that translation companies use languages that best suit your business. Multilingual communication will help increase the overall quality and consistency of your documents.

You Can Play a Role Too in the Translation Process

Once you have hired a translation company, decided on the processes and created style guides and glossaries, you can step back and wait for the results or you can be proactive. Get the most out of translation companies by taking part of the process, which does not mean hovering until the work is done. Just be available to answer any questions or queries the translation company may ask. Join organizations to be aware of any changes in laws, so that changes can be implemented across all languages simultaneously. These processes will help you reach new markets, so, make sure to make the most of them.

Increasing globalization has made multilingual communication necessary for any business seeking to capture new audiences and markets. The best way to go from single language communication to multilingual communication is with the aid of a good translation company. Choose a translation company carefully and ensure that the best practices of translation are followed.

Successful Translation Using LQA

LQA or linguistic quality assurance is a vital step for the success of any language translation assignment, whether it is a document translation or a website translation. There are quite a few ways to measure the quality of translation. But we need to know what can cause client dissatisfaction in translation projects.

A translation work that contains linguistic errors may have a negative impact on the client’s confidence about the integrity of the project and the professionalism of the service provider. Even if the translation error is small or insignificant, chances are that the target audience considers it as a major mistake. It will lead to criticism from the client, who will be dissatisfied with the work. If these errors are repeated many times, they will result in termination of contract by the client since the client has consistently been receiving service that is below his level of expectation.

Purpose of LQA

The purpose of LQA is to detect errors in the translated document and correct them. It also helps to review the translation work when it is already done. This is to ensure that the linguistic phrasing in the document, such as local terms, cultural accuracy, terminology, and idiomatic expressions are properly used. Reviewing is important to make sure that the final translated document is a perfect rendition in the targeted region or locale. The translated document should sound natural to the audience in these regions, just like it does to the audience of the original document.

During another phase in the linguistic quality assurance process, the translated content is checked for compliance with industry standards. This will vary and depend on what industry the translation is meant for, such as food and beverage, lodging and hospitality, tourism, technology, or health. This is done to ensure that the jargon or terminology used, in relation to the corresponding industry, is consistent throughout the translated document. A person who is involved in the LQA process is also responsible for making sure that the translated content does not sound awkward.

Members of the LQA team

Some important members of the linguistic team are the linguistic editor and the proofreader, who are linguists who work on correction editing and the quality assurance procedure. This team should not include any members from the team that worked on translating the original website or document. This is because it is difficult for the translator himself to proofread or copy-edit the document. He will not be able to accurately spot the mistakes in a document he has worked on by merely reading and running a spell checker. Fresh eyes are necessary for maximum error detection and correction. This will also be helpful in ensuring that the final deliverable translation, which has to be sent to the client, has the highest quality.

Conducting a successful LQA

There are a few key points that you need to keep in mind which will help you in the process of conducting a successful linguistic quality assurance for a translated document. Doing so will assure the client that the translation work done is consistent and appropriate to the context. It will also ensure that the stylistic requirements and the terminology used are correct and appropriate. All your clients will be happy and satisfied if the translation documents are perfect and meet the client’s requirements. The agency that provides the language translation service will be highly appreciated in professional circles and will not hear any more complaints from their clients. They will be congratulated because of the professional and high-quality service they have provided. This will also promote the agency and they will get more referrals through their existing clients.

The Importance of Certified Translations

Certified translations refer to document translations from one language to another, by professional translators, along with the assurances that:

– The professional knows both languages equally well, and is able to translate the content.
– The translation is accurate and complete.

This process of certified translation creates legally binding records that are accepted by US academic institutions, courts, and government officials. Immigrants coming to the US or any other country, usually have to deal with a very complex web of the country’s immigration officials, customs, state departments, and other legal procedures. In every step of this process, your document’s accuracy is gauged by almost all the organizations that you are working with. You cannot afford to have any mishaps during this phase as these may result in unusual waits, which can extend up to 2 years, in some cases. Having a certified translation service provider can ensure that you avoid disruptions or challenges in the process.

Organizations that require certified translations

The following organizations in the US require certified translations of documents:

 Immigration: The US immigration asks for certified translations of various important documents like marriage licenses, birth certificates, or divorce certificates. This is for customs, immigration, and visa purposes.
 Other government agencies: Some other agencies such as State Licensing Departments, Passport Authorities, County clerks, and the Motor Vehicles Department may ask for certified translations.
 Academic institutions: You will need to show the certified translations of various transcripts or diplomas that you have received, during an institution’s admission process.
 Lawyers: You may be required to show sworn translation or certified translation of some documents that are to be used by government agencies and US courts. Certified translations are necessary in determining the accuracy of the translations.
 Corporations and businesses: Having certified translations of documents helps in validating an organization’s financial reports, business agreements, and other legal documents to assist the stakeholders.

Need for certified translations

The different organizations aforementioned need certified translations for a variety of reasons. Some of the primary reasons are:

 Validity: Having a third party translate the documents, helps in ensuring that the said documents have not been forged or tampered with. Individuals trying to get into the country use illegal documents rampantly and the immigration services have to constantly be on the lookout for such documents. Professional translation service providers help in reassuring the officials as they are inadvertently backed by the translating firm’s reputation as well.
 Efficiency: Having a document translated into the native language of the reviewer helps in cutting down the administrative time, ensures faster processing, and puts the reviewer at ease.

Translating documents by yourself

You can always try to translate all your documents into another language. Doing this, however, is not advisable due to the reasons explained below:

 Validity: More often than not, government organizations and officials will be very less assured if you translate the documents yourself, without the backing of a professional service provider. The complexity and the importance of the whole immigration process in itself should be reason enough to desire a higher validity of the translated documents.
 Accuracy: A slight mistranslation can potentially cost you the citizenship of a country. When a translator is not proficient in both of the languages, there is a very high risk of making mistakes in translation.
 Time: The increased risk of rejection of self-translated documents can result in wasted time and delay in complex processes.

Hiring a professional translation company will ensure that you do not suffer from rejection, by giving you legitimate and certified translation of documents. Certified translations may not look like a necessity to you, but will help you in the long run, to get over different hassles in complicated legal and non-legal processes.

Translations in Global Business

Translation has a big role in the global business scenario. It helps in enhancing communication by correctly converting any information from one language to some other one in various parts of the world. Translators generally work with written communications and there are many different fields where translation is usually required. Some of the major ones are the following.

Medical translation: Medical translation is tasked with translating hospital brochures and patient journals into the patients’ own language. As such, medical translators need to be well versed in both medical knowledge and the languages they are translating to and from. In addition, they need to know how a patient receives the given information.

Localization: The primary aim of localization is to completely re-fashion a product so that it can cater to different cultures and languages. Translators working in a localization project need to have a very high degree of knowledge about the local consumers of a product. The goal here is adapting the product in such a way as if it were manufactured originally in the region where it is going to be supported and sold.

Business translations: There are specialist translators for different business fields like marketing, economics, finance, and so on. These translators need to have comprehensive knowledge about respective markets and businesses, and the current events in the field also. For instance, there is a service for specialized translation in various financial markets. In this type of translation service, documents like regulatory reports and statements, reports on mutual funds, finance statements, and so on, are to be translated to the end user’s language.

Translation tips

Translation assists in communications transcending cultures and language barriers by converting any written data to a different language. As such, it is intrinsic to global business structures. Here are a few translation tips for global businesses:



Connecting with the globe

Translations of inter-office materials on intranet can bring the employees at different global offices together. This empowers those employees who may not be fluent in the language spoken in the headquarters. In addition, effectively translating items can positively extend the reach of the organization.



Translation provider

The aim of translation is to accurately translate the message into any foreign language. Doing this helps in keeping the business expectations same for the native-language speakers in other countries as well. Translating by yourself is risky, as poor translation can result in inappropriate or downright wrong content. You can enlist the services of a professional translation agency or translation company to effectively communicate your message.



Budgeting

Globalizing your work will affect the budget for translation. So discuss your specific translation needs with the translation service provider first, as it may have an impact the final budget. For instance, the word count of the final document may be different from the original one. In addition, translations for highly-specialized subjects can increase the turnaround cost and time.



Timescales

Companies sometimes give last-minute orders for translations, which result in hurried work. Even data that may need more intensive work, in order to be adapted to the foreign language, will be done in a hurry. So, try to consult a translation service provider before placing the order to establish timelines and restrict the costs.



Preparation

Think on a global scale when creating the original content. This will help you in streamlining the costs and time of the translation service. Translational experts can help in localizing the content, ensuring that the content is acceptable in the country of the intended audience.

Translation, when done right, can open the doors to new businesses and audiences for your service or product, and helps in increasing your reach beyond the local boundaries. Please visit our website to find out how Terralíngua can help you expand your business beyond the borders.

Legal Translation and the Challenges Associated with It

When you are dealing with a lawsuit involving people and incidents from different countries, the authorities of the two (and in some cases more than two) countries have to collaborate with each other to resolve the issue. In some countries, languages other than English are used as the language of court, cases in which translators play a vital role in the lawsuit. As you might know, a court exclusively deals with documented proof. This implies that the legal translators, also known as sworn translators, will have to translate every document produced to and by the court to ensure that it is understandable to all parties involved in the lawsuit.

The Need for Certified Legal Translators

We have talked about how important it is for translators who work on technical documents to be familiar with the nuances of technology. Legal translation is also similar, except that the translators will have to be familiar with legal terms, statutes, constitutional rights, government rules, etc. As you can see, the job calls for people who are highly trained in these aspects. Also, the translation companies cannot afford to take a risk in hiring professionals who provide sub-standard services.

The legal documents are a matter of national importance in cases involving people from multiple countries. In case the documents cause any misunderstanding, it will be considered as obstruction of justice by the court and the relevant party can be penalized or even imprisoned. This is the reason why legal translators or sworn translators have to be certified to ensure that they offer quality services.

Legal Guidance Imperative at Every Step

To ensure that the legal documents that are translated are accurate, legal experts are hired, who are explained the meaning of the translated documents by another translator. The experts will listen to this feedback and give their opinion on the accuracy of the documents. This is done to ensure that the translated documents do not cause any issues while they are officially used in the court.

Challenges Involved in Legal Translation

While knowledge of the target language is the first criterion for any legal translator, that is only the basic eligibility criterion. The translators should be as knowledgeable as the lawyers. There are examples of people with a dual law and language degree who have taken up the career of a legal translator.

Also, the legal translator should be aware of all the frequently used legal terms in the language that he/she specializes in. This is not something that you can learn in a short span of time. Lawyers are aware of these terms in their respective countries, as they are required to study the law in their native language. So, the legal translators should be both language and legal experts.

There have been cases where translators have been called to come and testify in the court about the legality and the authenticity of the documents. Sometimes, the court will need the services of an expert interpreter if laws of multiple countries have to be considered before handing out a verdict. Since the translator will be considered as an expert, he/she should be ready to testify and vouch for his statement, something that not many people would be willing to do.

Legal Translation Is a Very Specialized Job

The bottom line is that unless you have a very specific skill set, you cannot become a legal translator. That is the reason why high-quality sworn translators are very few in number and hard to find as well. If you find a good legal translator for your needs, make money your secondary consideration as quality is what you should be looking for in these cases.

Challenges Involved in Translating Technical Terms

When you think about translation, the immediate idea you get is that of replacing every word with a suitable word from the language you are translating the content into. That is, however, a common misconception that constitutes a layman’s perception of what translation is. Translation, in truth, involves understanding the content that is presented in the original language and reproducing an equivalent content in the target language, without altering the meaning or context in anyway.

When it comes to translating technical terms, there are many more challenges that come into picture. This article will highlight some of the top challenges associated with translating technical terms.

The Importance of Accurate Translations

Translation might seem like a trivial and monotonous activity at the outset. However, it is highly technical and can have implications beyond the realms we can imagine. The accuracy of translation is of paramount importance and should be spot-on with no compromises. If the translation is not accurate, the text in target language might become meaningless, and the company’s image might get severely damaged. The implications of mistakes in translations can be potentially fatal for the company’s prospects and might lead to liabilities that can bring a company down.

High Degree of Experience in Language Usage

If you are of the assumption that a person who is fluent in the target language can best judge the accuracy and quality of a translated technical document, you are wrong. Technical translation requires experts who are not only fluent in the target language but are also familiar with the technicalities involved in the document to be translated. Also, the translator must have experience in the sector to which the documents belong and in using those technical terms in the target language.

Consequences of an Inaccurately Translated Manual

The level of complexity involved in translation is so unique that the European Union has recognized it in the legislation itself. The EU states that most of the times, the operating manuals are rendered unclear for two reasons: language difficulties and inaccuracies in the translated version of the manual. As a result, there is a law that the EU has come up with stating that a technical product will be defined as incomplete without an accurate and fully functional manual. The interpretation of this law clearly suggests that a technical product which has an inaccurate technical manual can be classified as a defective product.

Specialized Vocabulary for Technical Translations

When it comes to translating technical documents, you need to have knowledge of the specific vocabulary each language has for technical terms. These terms are not commonly known and you might be surprised to know that people who have been speaking the same language from their childhood will not have knowledge of these terms. Also, the meaning of these terms and their variations has to be clearly understood. There is a high probability of these terms being misused while translating technical documents. This will lead to erroneous localized technical manuals that will render the goods ineffective.

Working as a Team

To ensure that the technical manuals are accurate to the T, the translators and technical experts work as a team. They will constantly compare notes and review each other’s work and its interpretation to ensure that the translated documents are 100% accurate. This is a difficult and time consuming task. Another challenge companies are faced with is that expert translators with knowledge of the specialized vocabulary and experience in the relevant sectors are hard to find. Quality is a factor that companies cannot compromise on, as highlighted in a few of the above points.

The aforementioned are only a few of the many challenges involved in translating technical terms and technical documents. It is one of the explicitly specialized fields involving only a select group of professionals.

Integrating Translation in Business Documents Development Process

Businesses that have operations in more than one country have to ensure the important business documents they use for communication should be understandable to all their employees and clients. If the locations are in countries where there are different local languages (for example USA and China, where the native languages are English and Chinese), the business documents have to be translated into the local languages to ensure effective communication. Most of the times, the companies draft the business documents in English and then worry about the translation part.

However, there are two ways in which you can go about translating the business documents into the local language. Either the documents can be drafted in English and then submitted to a translation company, or the translation process can be integrated into the development process of the business documents.

Why Translation Should Be a Part of the Document Development Process

Business documents have to be developed in such a way that they can be officially sent out to all the branch offices. They should not have any errors and should communicate the same message, irrespective of the language they are in. If you translate business documents later, you might run the risk of altering the meaning of the message that the document conveys. Also, the biggest factor to be considered is the time. Translation will take a certain amount of time, valuable time that you may not have at your disposal. Keeping all these factors in mind, we can conclude that it is a good option to include document translation as a part of the development process.

How to Include Translation Services in the Business Documents Development Process

To find the solution to this problem, you must actually analyze the process that your organization employs to develop business documents. By and large, most companies develop the documents during the course of the business meeting and finalize them after the meeting, or hand over the information to the documentation team after the business meeting is over for drafting.

If you choose the first method, it is always better to have someone who is fluent in English and the native language in which your company’s branch is located as a part of the meeting. If you use the second method of documentation, you can have the translation team and the original documentation team working in parallel to ensure that the documents in English and the other languages to be translated into are ready at the same time. Whichever way you choose, you save valuable time by integrating translation services into your business documents development process.

Some Tips to Facilitate Easy Translation

It is important that you work in a way such that the translation team will also find their job easier. After all, a company is all about team work and mutual support. If you follow some of the tips given below while developing business documents, you will make the job of the translation team easier.

Stay Away from Cultural References

Business and culture may not have much in common, but there could be certain situations where cultural references are used. Such references may not be relevant in another culture, and make no sense when translated into another language. To avoid that confusion, it is best to avoid cultural references altogether.

Stay Away

from Idioms

Idioms in English are very difficult to be translated into another language. So, it is always better that you avoid the usage of idioms in business documents. Use a simple tone with direct words rather than referenced idioms.

Employ Consistency in Style

Never change the style of the document between paragraphs as translators will find it difficult to achieve consistency in the translated document. A simple tip to avoid this is to allow one person to draft the entire document while the other feed him/her ideas.

Top Language Choices for Technical Publications

It is a very well-known fact that English is not the most widely spoken language in the world. Although it is considered as a global language, not everyone can speak it. People from countries with the largest economies of the world, like China, Japan, Germany, France and Brazil, prefer to use their native language as opposed to English. So if you decide to sell your products in areas where English is not the main language, you should provide user/technical manuals in those local languages. Then, you may wonder about the number of languages you need the manual in if your product is offered globally.

Target Areas

The truth is that you will not need the manual in so many languages. Before you make your choice on the preferred languages, you must first consider which areas you are trying to target. For example, if you are targeting only a few countries for your business, then consider only those regions’ languages. But if you want to make your publications available on a global scale, here are some of the top language choices.

Chinese

China has emerged from a developing economy to become one of powerhouses in the modern world. Yet, the majority of the Chinese population is not familiar with English. That is because Chinese government promotes education in its national language rather than in English.
If you translate your technical publications into Chinese, you can actually reach the largest population on earth while in terms of economic opportunity you can reach approximately 6.1% on a global scale.

Japanese

Japan has always been a country that is known for its technological development, despite the fact that the country is often affected by natural disasters. By translating your technical publications into Japanese, you can reach out to around 4.5% of the online population. But the economic opportunities or business opportunities that you can generate by translating your technical publications into Japanese is a decent 10.5% owing to the Japanese economic strength.

German

Only 1.4% of world population speaks German, but the economic opportunities that you can generate using the internet by translating your technical publications into German are as significant as 8.4%. Also, Germans have a reputation of being tech savvy and have a very small tolerance level to technical mistakes. So, make sure that the German version of your technical publications is of very high standards.

French

The percentage of global population that exclusively speaks French is only 1.5%. But if you have the technical publications of your products translated into French, you can actually target 6.2% in terms of business opportunities.

Brazilian Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese is spoken by the 190 million inhabitants of Brazil. The country offers immediate attractions to new market entrants, such as a consistent and stable economy, built on the development model of a policy adopted by the Brazilian government in the last years. The adopted measures made provision for constant growth with generation of formal employment, better income distribution and ability to absorb external and internal shocks.
Therefore, the market for technical translations in Brazil has become highly specialized since the 90’s due to a scenario of growing number of imports, increasing demand for translation of technical publications, the privatization of large enterprises and globalization.

Spanish

Around 7% of the world population speaks Spanish. So, that is the third most sought after language for technical manual translation needs. However, the economic opportunities that you can generate by making your technical manual available in Spanish are a decent 7.8%. Also, there are a few variations of the Spanish language that you should consider while having your website translated into Spanish. It is recommended that you discuss about these variations with your translation company before actually going ahead with the job.

Always Localize!

You can look at this scenario in many different ways, but the percentage of target audience who knows English is rapidly decreasing by the day, due to the growing market size. So, it is always a good idea to have your technical publications translated into more than a couple of languages, especially if you are planning to market the product on a global scale. Terralíngua has the technical and scientific expertise to help you translate your publications into several languages.