Why Your Business Should Use a Language Service Provider

By Patrick Donoghue

Let’s say your business is doing well in your local market, but you think that the company could really thrive if it was able to reach a larger audience. So, you decide that it’s time to go global and bring your business to new clients in every corner of the world, enabling the organization to reach its full potential. But don’t book that flight and pack your bags just yet.

Before taking the plunge, you’re going to have to translate all of your products, documents, advertisements, websites, and any other content that the business needs to operate into the languages of your new global customers. Without taking this key step in the process of international growth, your target audience won’t understand the messages that you’re trying to get across to them. Research shows that consumers are twice as likely to complete a transaction if they are engaged in their native language. Simply put, people won’t buy from you if they can’t understand you.

With this newfound knowledge in hand, you take all the company’s content, dump it into an online translation tool, choose the language you want to translate into, and press the magical translate button. Done, right? Not so fast. Online translation tools may be useful for translating a few words when you need a quick translation, but they do not provide the quality and accuracy that businesses require to compete in global markets. For an organization, the typical translation project involves much more than just translating words, which is why a Language Service Provider (LSP) becomes a necessity.

Why Use an LSP?

Organizations have enough to worry about when they’re in the process of global expansion and often don’t have the time or resources to focus their efforts on translating. Thankfully, language service providers work with businesses to create a unique strategy that meets each company’s specific translation needs. Helping organizations understand which markets to target, what languages to complete, and which materials to localize are just a few of the benefits offered by LSPs. Everything from product functionality testing to the publishing presentation that best reflects the caliber of your business can be smoothly processed by your language service provider.

Localization

Language service providers do more than just translate; they localize. Localization is the translation and adaptation of material for global audiences. It goes beyond translating by creating a linguistic equivalent instead of a literal translation, which is done by a native speaker of the target language who is located in their target market. The process also includes assessing the word choice and tone of the translation for cultural implications, as well as altering telephone numbers, dates, and times to coincide with the target audience’s counting system. Testing to ensure that a product works in the target market is also an integral component of localization because international clients won’t buy merchandise or services that are unusable in their native country. Successful localization customizes your offering for the consumer’s cultural and linguistic background while still maintaining its original meaning and staying true to your brand.

Professional Translators

LSPs employ professional translators, who are linguists with an advanced degree in linguistics, translation studies or other similar fields, to ensure a high-quality translation. These language experts have extensive knowledge of the industry tools and understand how to utilize them properly to maximize speed and efficiency while reducing inaccuracies. Many professional translators also have expertise in specific areas such as legal, medical, or technology, giving them an advantage when working with these types of businesses. Numerous LSPs require that their translators reside in-country to gain a better understanding of the target culture and learn the current terminology of the target language, so the translation is never outdated.

Tools and Resources

Language service providers possess a wide range of resources, allowing them to scale a translation project up or down as necessary to meet an organization’s fluctuating volume demands. They also have access to the many tools of the language services industry, such as translation memory (TM). This intelligent machine retains translated terms and context to use for future content submissions, ultimately reducing the number of words that need translating and decreasing costs and turnaround time.

By allowing an LSP to handle your businesses’ translations, you can focus on the day-to-day operations while building a program that will:

• Improve the quality of your translated content

• Increase your presence in global markets

• Save you time and money