Have you ever thought: “Why should I hire a specialized translator? Translators just deal with words, don’t they?”

Well, not exactly. For example, my field of specialization—financial and economic translation—requires a great degree of understanding. Within the world of finance there are many complex terms and concepts. They require niche expertise, because in essence it is about delivering regulated content. Getting lost in translation might be costly for fintech companies, especially when it comes to legal liability and protecting company reputation.

If you are looking for quality work, which will accurately project the image of your brand, then it is important to hire a specialized translator who can deal effectively with the content.  In one of my previous roles, I used to work on testing a risk reporting system in a bank. I entered derivatives test data—options, futures and swaps—into the Risk Exposure Management system (RXM).  This and my other roles in financial software houses allow me to quickly navigate the specialized jargon of portfolio or market performance reports and other financial translations. 

But don’t just take my word for it. What really matters is what our clients say.

I have asked 3 colleagues, professional translators, to each share a case study which demonstrates how their specialized knowledge proved crucial to solve their clients’ problems.

Case 1. The Power of Transcreation – marketing copy that sounds like an original

Elzbieta pointed out how important the correct terminology is for a translation—in many of my projects, readability is an absolute must. I often get hired by companies or agencies to fix a bad marketing or sales translation the client wasn’t happy with. Not because it was wrong but because it sounded like a translation and not an original flowing and easy-to-read German text.

My most recent case is a SaaS start-up providing software solutions for car dealers. They weren’t happy with their current German translations of their landing pages and blog posts. Their German sales guy Robert was the one having to deal with it, and he spent hours improving and fixing the German copy. But that wasn’t his main job!

Transcreation to the rescue.

We decided to work on a trial piece together to see if my writing style hit their tone of voice, which it did. I also hopped on a call with Robert to understand their industry and clients better. It turns out that the German copy needs a stronger sense of urgency and be less vague than the English one. Transcreation is not a 1:1 translation, but a very creative adaptation of the source text specifically targeted for a specific audience, in this case, car dealers. Being in direct contact with the German salesperson is crucial for me because he knows his prospects, customers, and pain points better than anyone else. Ultimately, my job is to make my clients’ lives easier.

When you have to outsource marketing translations, it’s wise to not only work with a translator specializing in that industry, but also with someone who can write well and adapt the translation to the client’s required tone of voice and their audience. Hiring a transcreator means hiring peace of mind.

Case 2. Combining sustainability and legal expertise

I recently translated a letter of intent written by a group of European regions. In this letter, they stated why and how they intended to form an agreement to create a task force for developing sustainable energy strategies together. The client needed to have the letter of intent translated into each region’s language, including French.

As a French legal and sustainability translator, this is the kind of project that’s right up my alley.

The client needed to hire a specialized translator who was familiar with the letter’s content and concepts: sustainable energy, and more specifically hydrogen. They also needed someone who had knowledge of the specific legal terminology and the structure of this kind of official document.

Translating a legal document leaves no margin for error. Accuracy is everything, even in the smallest details. In 2018, a misplaced comma forced a US company to settle in court for $5 million! Just imagine what a case like this could do to your business! Next time you have to translate a contract, get in touch with a professional translator. Someone who knows which exact words to use in each context and where to look for reliable information… and who actually enjoys spending time researching the most accurate terminology for your document.

Case 3. Don’t spoil the customer experience by not knowing your onions

Cycling is my biggest passion. When I’m not busy doing admin work for our local cycling club, I spend every minute on the road with my trusty Bianchi XR3 training for my next epic cycling challenge. And I could swap out a headset and fix bar tape in my sleep! It is this passion, deep interest, and knowledge I bring to my German translation clients in the cycling industry.

High-end bike manufacturers and bike component manufacturers risk their reputation with poorly translated descriptions for their products. They hire me because I’m part of their tribe. I understand their customers like no one else because I’m one of them, and I know their products inside out. I recently worked on a project for a bike distributor translating a brochure about the brands exclusive to them. These brands included bags, cleaning products, drinking systems and much more. One of the listed companies produces tyres, and this is a minefield for translators with little or no knowledge of cycling because a tyre isn’t simply a tyre.

Imagine the customer’s surprise after ordering a tubeless tyre, he opens his package to find he’s been sent tubs instead. I mean, there are only a few letters difference but a completely separate tyre technology!! An inexperienced translator won’t recognize the difference, but knowing you need entirely different rims (wheels) for tubs means these are not synonyms.

Conclusion

If you hire a specialized translator, they will help you eliminate unpleasant surprises and create an excellent customer experience in a foreign market. There’s nothing better than turning a first-time customer into a loyal fan of your brand.

You will also be able to focus on your core business—on the activities that generate revenue for your company or organization—rather than worry about incorrect translations and re-working them to make them acceptable.

Has your translator ever asked you: “Do you have a style guide?”

And you wonder: What is a translation style guide? Why do I need it?

If you are building an international marketing strategy to expand your customer base, you need to communicate your unique brand identity to connect with potential consumers in new markets.

A successful international campaign means the consistency of your message across all channels. This in turn means the same tone of voice in any other language as your source language and local markets.

A translation style guide is a set of guidelines which outline your company’s preferred tone, register, and style to be used in translation. It is important because your translated content should match the way your company presents itself textually, but also visually. A professional translator should discuss your preferences with you at the start of the project as this is part of their essential research and preparation that you pay for. (You can read more about what the translation service includes here.)

Let’s see what a style guide includes and what the benefits are.

What do you need to include in a style guide?

1. Target audience

Firstly, tell us who will be reading this content. Think about your audience and the type of users.  What are their interests, age, education level, lifestyle indicators? What is their purpose when they use your product or content?

Are they university professors, customers installing their websites on your hosting servers or gaming users?

Established law firms or tech start-ups?

Will your content be consumed in a corporate boardroom or a school classroom?

2. Tone of voice

Every brand has its own unique tone of voice corresponding to its values. This voice has to come across in your translated copy.

Facebook, for example, uses a straightforward, conversational tone in all of its writing. And if you publish on Facebook, you write in an informal, playful, and engaging tone of voice, and aim to be personable, friendly, and even humorous.

Note these things in the translation style guide and use plenty of examples from your existing publications:

• Do you want formal or informal language?
• Do you prefer active or passive voice?
• What about colloquial expressions, jargon or even slang?
• Do you use inclusive forms of language, such as choice of pronouns (they), or forms of address (Mr, Ms, Mx)?
• If the content is going to be published on social media, which ones? (see the comment above about Facebook)
• If the content is for your website, what forms do you use in your CTA buttons? The imperative form? (“Upload file”, “Contact us today”.) Or more descriptive infinitive form? (“To subscribe, click on X”.) Also bear in mind that the CTA buttons will be localised. For example: in the American culture they tend to be more direct that in the French culture, where “Contact me today!” style of button may be perceived as too aggressive.

3. Formatting preferences

The translation guide is the right place to share the preferred formatting or punctuation. You should include preferences about the use of:

• spelling locale (think US and British English)
• acronyms or abbreviations,
• capitalisation of bullet points,
• use of punctuation in bullet points and after units of measure,
• favourite fonts.

Specify units of measure, currencies, addresses, phone numbers, and any words that should not be translated. Typically, these will include website names, branded names, usernames or email addresses.

4. General brand style guides

If you have these, do not hesitate to share them with your translator. They provide us with essential and invaluable insight into your company’s personality, vision, and core values, and tell us how you wish to communicate them in your new language markets. Applying these guidelines in your multilingual content will avoid the fracturing of your brand’s message in any way.

Terminology glossaries

Consistent and clear terminology is a key factor in your public persona, or that of your clients. Terminology glossaries are databases of key terms that must be translated consistently or not at all. Choose terms that are business-critical words used by your industry and your own, company-specific ones (e.g., your copyrighted or trademarked terms that should not be translated). Also consider audience-specific words to ensure relevance and engagement. For example, vegans like to use slang words such as “Buddha bowl” and “flegg”. Gaming fans read about “RendeZook” or “scratch damage”.

If you do not yet have a single term base, the translator can help you with this task. Using professional tools such as SDL Trados Multiterm, we can import your existing file and consolidate, clean and manage the data for the future.

Should you use both glossaries and style guides?

Terminology glossaries are important tools for industry relevance and the consistency of terms and product names. Your localisation expert will use their linguistic skill, cultural awareness and your translation style guides as a reference point to decide how best to address your audience. As a result, your translated content will resonate with consumers the way you wanted it to.

Why should you invest in a translation style guide?

A true investment – saving your time and money

Style guides are often neglected because they are viewed as time-consuming. They need the business to be acutely aware of its own unique branding style.

They are, however, a real time-saver during any localisation project. The guidelines will immediately answer standard translation questions and eliminate the need for lengthy and repetitive calls or email chains. You can get on with your job, whilst linguists can set about their task with your brand context and preferences already in mind. The guides will also remove the risk of linguists attempting to “guess” what your brand voice is from the existing content. 

The main causes of high translation costs include countless rounds of corrections or re-translating previously translated material, completed by another service provider. A translation style guide will help you eliminate costly mistakes, frustration, and disappointment during the international marketing process.

In conclusion, consider translation style guides as an investment that offers a great return for your business, allowing your international marketing strategies to reach their full potential.

Why should a good translator ask you questions? From very generic ones before the project starts, such as asking you about the purpose and audience of your content, to more technical ones, such as preferred terminology or style, questions are a sign of a professional approach. This is the equivalent of the gathering of requirements in business analysis speak.

Have you ever sent a file to translate and you felt that it disappeared in a big black hole? This is indeed a dangerous situation. This may mean that your translation provider is making assumptions.

“Yes, but”, I hear some say, “you are asking your clients to do your job for you.”

“Isn’t searching for information part and parcel of translators’ or translation project managers’ job?”

Absolutely yes.

If reference material exists and is easily available, translators should refrain from sending the client every single question that might come to mind. They should also read the WHOLE text you sent before asking about that ambiguous term on page 1.

But if your software is still WiP and it only exists in a demo version, a manual, a specification or access to that demo will provide invaluable insight to your internal terminology.

 The questions that your translator asks can reveal errors or inconsistencies in your source files, and consequently help improve these documents.

Questions can save you legal issues in the target market. For instance, a translator may ask you whether you considered including relevant allergen information when they adapt a marketing copy for your food product.

Dealing with questions can be time-consuming. It can be frustrating, especially if you are swamped with them every hour. A good translator will batch them for you and communicate regularly.

Pertinent questions, transferred to a qualified person in your organisation, answered willingly, are crucial for a good end result. This communication flow will ensure that everyone gets the right information without wasting time and can meet the expected quality level.

 What is your experience? Have you been frustrated by lack of communication or, on the contrary, lack of autonomy of your translation provider?

Fellow translators, what pertinent questions have made a real difference to your client and their project? Have you solved their pain points?