Translations and Global Business
Whilst it was once only big companies with big budgets that could operate on a global scale, the advent of the internet era now means the smallest of home-based businesses can trade internationally - with nothing more than a networked computer and a touch of marketing savvy.
First thing's first though. Before you advance into international territory, you must first establish what countries you are going to target. This will very much depend on your line of business – you will have to research where there is a genuine demand for your product or service abroad.
To do this, it'll pay to look at the competition. If there are a number of other similar companies in operation, then that's a good sign as it shows demand. However, be wary of too much competition as a saturated marketplace can be difficult to penetrate.
Once you've established the best country to target, you can begin the localization process…this means adapting your English communications for the target market, considering the local language and practices.
Given that the internet is the only thing that matters in many modern day industries, your website should be the first thing to be adapted. A translation company with experience of website localization processes and strategies will not only be able to translate the content, but they will ensure that local cultures are addressed and no offence is caused with any of your online material.
Points to keep in mind
If you have any doubts as to the prudence of localizing your website, consider the following facts.
- 75% of the world's population speak no English at all.
- Web users are 4 times as likely to engage with a website that's written in their native language.
- Over 40% of the world's internet users are based in Asia.
- China alone has 30% more internet users than the US…and this figure is growing.
- Over 50% of all online searches are made in languages other than English.
So there is a wealth of untapped potential out there for businesses of all sizes to exploit. But to go global, you must think LOCAL. There is a myriad of cultural and linguistic complexities that stand in the way of you and the international community.
Dialectal Differences
Even within languages, dialects can cause problems for international marketers. For example, the Spanish in Spain and the Spanish in Latin American countries have some key differences in the vocabulary and the grammar: 'computer' is computadaro in most Latin American countries, but ordenador in Spain.
Similarly, there are some key dialectal differences between Latin American Spanish countries too, such as the word chifa, which is a Chinese restaurant in Chile and Peru, but is pretty much unheard of in any other Spanish-speaking countries.
The same applies to French. In Canadian French, 'email' is courriel, but in France it is simply 'email'. And 'weekend' is fin de semaine in Canada, whilst it is le weekend in European French.
There are many such examples that help to highlight the importance of using the correct language form for each market.
Number Separation
 This may seem like a rather trivial point, but it is crucial to get your number structures correct for your target markets.
In the US and the UK, commas are conventionally used as thousands separators, with a 'dot' used as the decimal separator (e.g. 1,000,000.00).
But in many parts of the world, this is reversed, with the likes of Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Italy writing it as: 1.000.000,00. Some countries such as France, Croatia and Poland don't use a thousands separator at all: 1 000 000.00.
This helps to highlight the importance of properly localizing your communications, as failing to do so can cause confusion within your target market and, ultimately, lose you business.
Additional Resources:
Multilingual Website Design
Multilingual Search Engine Optimization
Free Online Translation Tool
About Lingo24
Lingo24 is a global translation company that also specializes in website localization. It has over 100 employees based in the UK, Panama, Romania, China and New Zealand and a network of over 4000 translators worldwide.
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