Scale Up Your Business Faster with These Three Document Translation Tips
A solid way to scale up your business is to expand into other markets that speak different languages. Whether you’re expanding into a whole new region or targeting a local demographic with a different cultural background, you can achieve business growth by tapping into additional customers who speak another language. To keep the process smooth and fast, find the most professional document translation services on the market. Below we’ll cover some tips on how to keep your document translation fast, easy and organized.
Organize Materials in Line with Document Translation Specialities
Specialities are an important part of document translation services. A speciality means that a translator tends to specialise in working on a certain type of document. A few of the main specialities as they relate to business include:
- Legal translation: this handles contracts, immigration forms and court proceeding paperwork, to name a few examples
- Technical translation: this deals with documents like patents, product specifications, user guides and the like
- Business translation: this handles internal business communications such as presentations, annual reports, financial statements, memos, emails and more
- Marketing translation: often listed under business translation, this can include ads, brochure copy, catalogues, promotional social media posts or blog posts related to content marketing
- Medical translation: instrumental for medical businesses, this speciality handles documents like patient instructions, drug data sheets, medical records and the like
By understanding the different specialities, you can better organise which documents need to go out to document translation services and what kind of translators you will need for them. There may even be documents on the lists above that you didn’t know needed translation or could be translated. An easy way to work with this information is to get everything together that you might need translated and put the documents in separate files based on translation specialities.
Another type of translation to keep in mind is certified translation. How do I translate a document officially? This varies from country to country. In the UK, you can ask for a certificate of translation to accompany your translated documents. This states that the translation is accurate and complete. Certified translation is often required by agencies like immigration services or customs.
Write Your Materials with Document Translation in Mind
An instant way to scale up your business faster using document translation is to keep language simple and straightforward and be aware that you are writing for an international audience who don’t necessarily share the same cultural understanding as you. Keeping this in mind can make it easier for the translator to work with your copy and thus help the document translation process progress much faster.
When language or references become very rooted in the local culture, it can be harder to translate them. An example might be if you reference local politics or sports events in a blog post.
Other examples include when people write using complex figurative language, like idioms, metaphors, similes or wordplay. Often, this type of writing does not have direct translations in another language, requiring the translator to get creative – and to spend more time on the translation.
You don’t have to completely change the way you communicate. However, if you know a message is going to a global audience, it can help to keep language more straightforward, avoid local references and keep global traditions in mind.
Understanding How Document Translation Works
In 2020, there were an estimated six million private-sector businesses in the UK. If you’re one of them and looking to scale up your business fast, having a basic understanding of how document translation works can help. This will enable you to quickly and productively communicate with document translation services and help you build turnaround times into your production schedule more easily.
The process starts when you submit your document to the service. At this point, a good agency will ask you to specify any themes, terminology or tones that should stay the same. Then the text undergoes a line-by-line translation, often while the translator references notes and term glossaries. Companies differ at how they handle this part of the process, but often translators and editors take multiple passes over the document to make sure it flows well. Editors look at the layout, as well as the wording.
It’s important to ask any document translation agency you are thinking of working with what their turnaround times are. Also, the main takeaway is that a good translation company will have multiple stages of review to ensure quality, so be sure to ask the translator or agency what their review process is like. A smooth and accurate translation process is key to fast business growth.
Between 2018 and 2019, there was a private sector business increase of 3.5%. To keep up with the competition and make the most of business growth opportunities, use the above tips to make sure your document translation goes smoothly.
