AAA Translation - We'll Take You Global

A new blog monthly articles series from AAA Translation’s Susanne Evens, My Neighbor Next Door is from… aims to expand multi-cultural knowledge and break down divides by letting readers get to know immigrants from various countries…one neighbor, friend and/or business colleague at a time.

The ultimate success (or failure) of a company’s global expansion rests on various factors, from economics to regulation to competition, but the ones that typically trip companies up the most are those related to cultural and language differences. Even large U.S. companies, like Best Buy and Groupon, have fumbled overseas due to a lack of understanding of their new markets.
Despite the challenges, the potential reward for expanding globally is significant. The International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that more than 70 percent of global purchasing power is outside the U.S.

Avoid these mistakes as you expand globally to help ensure your success:

1. Don’t underestimate differences, even in the same language.

Even when you’re expanding to another country that speaks the same language (such as the U.S. to the U.K. or vice versa), it pays to localize your messaging and marketing. Names for common products and services are often different. In the U.K., for example, free shipping is known as "free delivery.” And if you send an email to a U.K. customer telling them to buy some pants for their mom for Mother’s Day, don’t be surprised at your lack of sales (“moms” are mums and “pants” are undergarments in the U.K.). Going the other way across the pond, it’s important to Americanize words as well. The U.K. fashion retailer Karen Millen increased conversion rates in the U.S. by 25%, for example, simply by Americanizing their spelling and removing Anglophone terms such as “autumn.”

With this many differences, even in the same language, imagine how many missteps you can make in a foreign language. Nuances are important, and it’s critical to work with professionals who understand the culture and language of your new market.

2. Steer clear of cheap, automated solutions.

You only get one chance to make a first impression…so make sure that yours is a good one in any new global market. Be prepared to invest in hiring qualified professionals to help with localizing your company's website and marketing materials. It’s better to wait or not expand at all than to do it wrong -- the risk of offending potential new customers with poor, embarrassing and/or insulting translations from cheap, automated solutions is too great.

3) Don’t be insensitive to cultural traditions.

In the U.S., much can be overlooked if you have the right product or service at the right price. This isn’t the case in many other countries, where you can kill deals (depending on the area) by a culture faux pas such as bringing up business too quickly, handling a business card too casually, politely refusing a second drink, using chopsticks incorrectly, crossing your legs the wrong way or shaking someone's hand. Do your research on cultural differences ahead of time.

4. Don't assume that customers are going to be the same.

Beyond language and cultural differences, you must look even deeper at your new market’s consumer psyche. Do not assume that your customers are going to be the same or that your products or services will have the same value proposition. In the U.K., for example, they tend to place smaller orders more frequently, rather than stocking up. In India, consumers spend a larger portion of their income for basic necessities, including food, than Americans do, leaving them with less disposable income to spend on other items. Go into any new overseas market with your eyes wide open to the fact that you'll need to figure out these types of differences and adjust your strategies and tactics accordingly.

Need help as you expand globally? Contact us at toll-free at 844.293.3519 or learn more at www.aaatranslation.com.

Multilingual Content Marketing: Don't Be One of the 60% without a Strategy

60% of global marketers have no strategy for multilingual content marketing, according to a 2013 survey by Cloudworks. Rather than plan ahead, most delay thinking about translation and localization until after their content is produced. This approach, unfortunately, can create a painful, slow and expensive process that increases your chances of missing out on opportunities in emerging markets.

For those tasked with a company's content marketing, it's a challenge to produce and deliver all the content required in ONE language...let alone translating blogs, reports, collateral, websites and more into multiple languages. But those who do -- and approach multilingual content marketing with forward thinking and planning -- have a distinct advantage in the global marketplace, which is expected to grow significantly over the next ten years.

By 2025, the number of global consumers in emerging economies is expected to reach 4.2 billion, with consumption reaching $30 trillion (McKinsey & Company). And these consumers will want and need information in their own language that also reflects their culture.

Read Our 6 Tips for Success...

by Susanne Evens

My daughter began college exactly 10 years after we moved to America from Germany. When we first moved here, she still spoke fluent German and had a summer to learn English before school started in the fall. Ten years, apparently, was enough time to completely forget almost every bit of German she learned at such an early age.

Not realizing just how much of her native tongue she no longer knew, I tried to pressure her into taking another language in college so that she could gain valuable knowledge of other cultures and languages. She decided to take German instead of following my advice.

During the second semester of her freshman year, I received a frantic phone call.

“Mom”! I need your help! My final paper is due tomorrow for German, and I don’t think it’s saying what I want it to say. Are you really busy? Can I e-mail it to you to take a look?”

Of course I said yes.

Five minutes later, her paper was in my inbox ready to be proofread. Little did I realize how much she had forgotten…

I called my daughter back, and I asked her one simple question, “Have you forgotten everything of your German?”

To my horror (not only as a mother but also as the CEO of a translation company), I hear my daughter say, “I used an online translator for the words I didn’t know.”

I went silent. My own flesh and blood...

“Mom? Are you still there?”

Oh, I was there. I was there trying not to scream at her about how ridiculous it was to use an online translation service to turn in a final paper that determined her final grade in the class, which could have caused her to fail.

I got my wits about me and in my professional, calm voice explained to her why using an online translation service that has no clue about native slang, innuendo, homonyms, heteronyms, etc. is an absolutely terrible idea. After a few minutes of my speech, she cut me off and simply asked me to help her.

The story of my daughter’s near misfortune with a failing paper is, unfortunately, something I often see when a company does not invest the time and money into quality translators with native language ability, educational credentials, etc. The “machine translator,” as it’s dubbed in the translators’ inner circle, is just purely that: a machine. It doesn’t understand common native sayings such as, “I love this!” If that were to be translated into German, the literal translation would be, “I love it!” This looks the same; however, Germans don’t use the words “love” and “it” in the same sentence. EVER. The word love in German is really only used when talking about an actual being. A native speaker would know this and would quickly be able to distinguish between the English meaning and translate it into the German version of saying that same statement.

Successful, globalized companies spend a lot of time and resources ensuring that their message is being clearly and correctly stated because, again, what means one thing in English doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing in Mandarin Chinese, German or Spanish. An example from history is JFK’s faux pas of saying, “Ich bin ein Berliner!,” which literally means, “I’m a jelly donut!” not I’m a citizen of the city of Berlin (quotation from a June 26, 1963 speech by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in West Berlin, Germany).

Correct translations go a long way when trying to take your company global. Consumers worldwide are becoming more sophisticated, and they want everything in their own language. Employees do as well. From product packaging to websites to human resource documents, everything must be translated. And it must be done right. A computer program simply can’t do that for you.

About Susanne Evens
Susanne Evens is the founder and CEO of the St. Louis-based AAA Translation company (celebrating its 20th anniversary this year), the president of the St. Louis-Stuttgart Sister Cities, an executive board member for the World Trade Center St. Louis and a member of the Business Week Alliance/Market Advisory Board. Her advice regarding global business development and communications has been featured by national and international media outlets that include BusinessWeek, National Public Radio (NPR), International Enterprise Singapore, BrandChannel.com and more. Under her leadership, AAA Translation has grown to serve business clients the world over, working in 150+ languages. Learn more at www.aaatranslation.com.

We’ve all heard the saying, “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, try hiring an amateur,” and most of us can tell stories about how, in our personal or professional lives, this has rung true. Yet, in the foreign language translation and interpretation field, we see professional organizations working with amateurs all the time and how “little” translation mistakes can lead to big blunders.

Think about this: in our native language, organizations hire professional copywriters and editors to create their marketing and product materials and often spend weeks and months fine-tuning the words to get the message just right. If you need a professional to work within your own language, why would you trust your foreign language translation or interpretation needs to your neighbor, brother-in-law, college student or office mate? They may speak two languages, but are they trained experts in translation nuances, grammar, customs and other important factors that make ALL the difference? Language is more than just words. It takes years of studies and total immersion to know the nuances to create truly accurate translations.

Here are a few examples of “small” interpretation and translation mistakes made by amateurs that had SIGNIFICANT results.

1. THE SEVENTY-ONE-MILLION-DOLLAR WORD
This example comes from an article written by linguist and author Akira Okrent. In 1980, Willie Ramirez was admitted to a Florida hospital in a comatose state. His family, thinking he had food poisoning, tried to describe his condition, but they only spoke Spanish. Translation was provided by a bilingual staff member who translated "intoxicado" as "intoxicated." A professional interpreter would have known that "intoxicado" is closer to "poisoned.” The doctors proceeded as if he were suffering from an intentional drug overdose, which can lead to some of the symptoms he displayed. Because of the delay in treatment, Ramirez was left quadriplegic. He received a malpractice settlement of $71 million.

2. YOUR LUSTS FOR THE FUTURE
Another example from Okrent: When President Carter traveled to Poland in 1977, a Russian interpreter was hired who knew Polish but was not used to interpreting professionally in that language. Through the interpreter, Carter ended up saying things in Polish like "when I abandoned the United States" (for "when I left the United States") and "your lusts for the future" (for "your desires for the future").

3. ACCIDENTAL BROTHEL AD
The Max Planck Institute is one of Germany’s top scientific institutions. For a special issue on research in China, published in December 2008, it printed what it thought was a “classical poem” on the cover (a text that certainly looks Chinese to the non-Chinese speaker). The editing team didn’t realize that the text they chose was a handbill for a Macau strip club, and it said “hot housewives in action,” “enchanting and coquettish performance.”

4. JUST DO IT
Nike aired a commercial in the United States that showed multiple people from various countries repeating the company’s “Just Do It” slogan. They failed to verify that the words were actually adequate translations, and it was discovered that the Samburu tribesman was actually saying: “I don’t want these, give me big shoes.”

Click here to read more examples.