Top misconceptions in language translation for business

Translation of your business messages into foreign languages looks easy these days with the Internet at your fingertips and bilingual friends on call. 

However, often these friends will translate your messages into the foreign language quite literally.  They will take your words and pose the exact referenceable words against them.  They will not rephrase them to make them more readable, nor check the grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary and expressions that might be local to a particular market.

When you write for a country or region of the world, you must localise the meanings and intents of metaphors and statements and make your words natural to the reader in order to be taken seriously as a real business constituent.

When you think about it, translating an important business message using the wrong tools could frankly be very dangerous.  For example, Julia Gillard’s Chinese version of Australia in the Asian Century contained broken sentences, grammar and syntax errors, inappropriate vocabulary and incomprehensible expressions, leading many to question how it was prepared.

The Australian newspaper reported that "It is reasonable to suspect that the person who translated this white paper relied heavily on Google Translate, not their Asian language skills."

Further to this, modern day machine translation systems (MT) have become much more advanced than the capabilities offered online, and can recognise common linguistic differences in a way that Internet systems cannot.

Today, we break down some myths and mysteries to explain what you really should know when considering translation for business purposes.

1. There is a lot more involved in high quality translation than you think

You may think that you just need a translator but in essence, to guarantee high quality materials, you will need a lot more. International campaigns, documents, collateral and websites will not only involve translation, but localisation, checking, revision, editing as well as desktop publishing and file handling.

Think about how long it took you to create that English brochure? Materials created for a foreign audience will require a little more care in their preparation. You will often need a second pair of eyes, an industry expert to verify terminology, and an editor for final publication. Also, you will often need project management to handle your file formats, connection to your content management system and your internal systems.

2. Bilingual friends or colleagues could do more harm than good

Translating business documents or marketing materials through bilingual colleagues or friends can be dangerous, as they might not be familiar with the subject area or could be from another region of the country you are translating for. Or, they might be native speakers, but do not have an excellent command of the language, or they might know enough about the subject matter, but their feedback might not be relevant or helpful.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a very useful place for these bilingual contacts, but they need to be given clear and precise instructions when translating business and marketing documents. Questions like "Is the message getting across?", "Does the translation use the right language for the target market?",  "Could messages be misinterpreted?" –  instead of just “ What’s your opinion?” – should be asked.

3. Machine Translation is more than Google Translate

You may think that Machine Translation (MT) systems are just a version of Google Translate, but in fact, the term refers to professionally programmed IT translation engines, trained for a specific technical subject, trained with millions of approved TMs (translation memories) and fed with a high volume of technical data to be able to produce a fast and pertinent output against a source text that has been written specifically for MT purposes.

The translated text is then still revised by human “post editors”. The use of the tool enables people to be more efficient on repetitive tasks that can be automated, and to use the skills of high quality translation professionals for more complicated translations.

MT is not to be confused with Translation Management Systems. These handle complicated file formats and can hold translation memories of entire segments of translated text in a database. They assist the translator to achieve consistency when similar terms and contexts come up again in future translation and can often save you, the client, money when many repetitions occur in high volume texts.

4. A back translation will not give you the full message

An ad agency was recently outraged when they used back translation to have a German translation translated back into English, and read that someone was "going to eat a broom"!  You see… pigs fly in the English language, but Germans will eat a broom if they don’t believe something will happen. It is because of these nuances that back translations should not be used to measure quality. Back translation should only be used in rare circumstances and done by a language professional who knows how to interpret the results. Independent checkers, focus group testing, community feedback and industry editors are a much more efficient way to ensure quality of the intended message.

5. High quality input gives high quality output

You may be committed to getting high quality translation, but if your own message is not clear from the start, it is difficult for the translator to guess what you mean and transmit it.  For best quality, a clear source text must be provided and translators should be equipped with as much information as possible such as background, style guides, related articles, links, glossary lists, anything you have to ensure the translator fully understands your subject and your message.

6. Don’t mix and match your translators

Translators become familiar with your style, terminology and subject area. So, if you have a good one, stick with them and train them to your needs. Even if you have glossaries and style guides, consistency is best achieved by continuing to work with those who are familiar with your content.

Using various different providers can result in mixed messaging and less efficiency in your translations. Very often, changes in translations are a matter of personal preference or ignorance on background knowledge, and you may find yourself spending a lot of time just redoing the versions, when it was often only matter of opinion.

As you can see there are many considerations in getting the quality right when translating for business. With translation, it can sometimes be a bit like picking up your car from the garage and wondering… what did the mechanic really do? But of course, there are varying degrees of services that can be applied for different types of outputs required. A high quality provider can show you the options and guide you through the process to ensure that your message hits the mark with your target audience.

Written by Tea C. Dietterich, Director of 2M Language Services. 
P: +61 7 3367 8722
W: 2m.com.au
E: multimedia@2m.com.au

Messaging to Multicultural Australia

Author: Tea C. Dietterich 
Director of 2M Language Services
2m.com.au
Ph: +61 7 3367 8722
E: multimedia@2m.com.au




One in four Australians were born overseas, and there are more than 22 million people in our country who all contribute different ideas, religions, languages and customs. The diversity of these people makes Australia a unique place to live and creates multiple and versatile markets for our products and services.

I often talk about international marketing and how to reach your global markets. But we should not forget that LOTE (Languages other than English) speakers have strong purchasing and decision power in Australia, too, and any business would want to get the right messages across to them.

Nelson Mandela said: “If you speak to a man in a language he understands – it goes to his head. If you speak to him in his own language – it goes to his heart.” 

The same applies for our multicultural Australian audience. Although the majority do speak English, it is ideal to talk directly to your customers in their own language.

Whether you are a private or public institution – the aim is to get the right message across to your key audience.

Here are some basic facts on Australia's diversity:

• Since 1945, more than seven million migrants have made Australia their home.
• Around 45 percent of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was born overseas.
• People from more than 200 countries make up the Australian community.
• The top ten countries of birth in Australia are: Australia, the U.K., New Zealand, China, India, Italy, Vietnam, Philippines, South Africa and Malaysia.
• Australians practice more than 100 religions including Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.
• More than 300 languages are spoken in Australian homes; the most common apart from English are Mandarin, Italian, Arabic, Cantonese, Greek, Vietnamese, Tagalog/Filipino, Spanish and Hindi.

The changing mix of origins of Australians is always a topic of interest in every Census. We often quote the above statistic that a quarter of the population was born overseas. That figure hasn’t changed much over the years; however what has changed is how that quarter is made up. See details in the below migration chart which shows that the largest increase has come from India and China.

 

Translating for multicultural Australia
When you are translating for multicultural Australia, you are reaching out to Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Communities. But before you begin, it is imperative to identify your readership.

Are you a City Council with information for retirees? A Health Department with a brochure for mentally ill? An Internet Service Provider with a website for all age groups? A manufacturer with a product suitable for the Asian Australians? The answers to these questions will help you to frame your messaging and your tone.

How long have they been here?
One example segment could be Italians who have lived in Australia for 50 years. Their terminology and key word usage is very different to Italians in their native country. Their home is Australia, and they are Australian – so, your messaging cannot be compared to what it would be if you were addressing their compatriots in their birth country. A competent translator in the origin country might do an outstanding job translating the text, but will still not give the right message to the Australian multicultural reader, because it is not using their language. Locally known keywords, names or government programs will often stay in English, because that is how they are known - whereas for overseas markets, the translation approach would differ.

What is their age group?
Closely related to above point, the age group will determine the type of language to be used. Tone of language has to be adjusted. This applies to translation in general and is particularly important, as the language of older migrants may not have evolved naturally due to their distance from their birth country.

What is there education level? 
The tone of the translation should be dependent on your target audience, whether it is plain and simple, sophisticated or somewhere in between. The demography and geography of your target audience should also be noted. Convoluted sentences that are often found in lengthy government documents may be a challenge. Essential messages should be portrayed in the right terms for the audience, so that they completely understand.

Consider their health
CALD communities are an important target audience for health departments in government levels as well as for health device manufacturers. The language to be used will differ considerably here as well, depending on the target group. For example, is your health brochure for the mentally ill, or directed at people prone to sports injuries, or at the wide variety of CALD public groups?

What should be left in English?
Often, the question of where and when to use English in key phrases, is a matter of personal preference. For this reason, it is important to establish a style guide from the beginning to determine which terms are left in English and which are to be translated or explained. This can differ from language to language. In German for example, English terms are frequently used and accepted without an explanation. This is contrary to Arabic, where often everything will be translated, numbering included.

However, it is important to note that it is logical to leave the English words in for many instances. This is so the LOTE speaker knows which words to use when they come across that situation in their Australian daily life. It applies in everything from health programs to transport options and everything in between.

Language specific differences
There can also be many subtle differences within a language group. Just to name one example: Serbian can be written in Latin (Roman) or Cyrillic script. Which one should you use?

This proves that you need to check your target audience closely and don’t assume anything.

As you can see, there are many differentiators when translating for CALD communities, and this also includes the design aspect (i.e. which images and symbols to use). It is important to remember that Australia contains a very large multicultural audience that needs to be communicated with in the right way.

In return, we can harness this vital part of our community to share information and knowledge, and to market our products and services.