Business translation: Powering global growth

Business translation is adapting business content for the language to go global. This process is often called localization and contains under the hood the variety of tasks from the initial planning to the translation, implementation, and delivery to the end user.

Business content translation is a widely used strategy, and today, 41% of prominent brands support at least one additional local language because the correct words matter, and the target for specific geo content can engage 6 times more effectively than the original version.

As with any complex process, business translation can be viewed differently. In this article, we will examine the main types of business content, the challenges with its translation, and the solutions available in the market. Scroll down to learn more!

Types of business content. The main challenges

Translation or adaptation can require different efforts, time, and budgets depending on the business's content type. It is also worth including the industry's impact as specialized content translation, like medical, fintech, etc., is always more challenging and expensive than general business topics. But let's take a step back to the content types. We can highlight the following:

Main software content

This is the leading business content. It can be an application (mobile/web), website, game, or any other software type. It is the organization's "business card," something users will interact with and build their meaning about the product.

The quality translation for this data plays a vital role as it impacts user satisfaction. The main challenges for the business software translation are:

• Maintaining the tone of voice. It is essential to ensure users don't see "Dear Sir or Madam" and "Hey, dude" in different project parts. The example we provided is wildly exaggerated, but it clearly conveys how the different tones of voice can be experienced.
• Constant and in-time updates: Regarding business translations, it is vital to have in-time updates for all the language versions. Imagine you have 10 languages and want to release new features for all your users - that means you have to prepare the UI for 10 language versions as well as pages, descriptions, etc.
• Correct interlinking between the business content versions to avoid lost pages or crossing a few language versions.

Technical and support content

This is the second most important (sometimes even the first) content type for the users as it is responsible for convenience when working with the product. Moreover, the well-translated content reduces the load on the customer support teams and saves time when handling routine questions.

To provide instructions with clear steps for various languages, businesses need to cover the main challenge:

• 100% consistency. The wider your project is, the harder it is to keep all the translations uniform. When translating support content, ensure that terms within the main content (app, website, other software) and documentation are consistently translated, that the sequence of actions remains the same, and that the instructions are equally understandable for each language version.

Sometimes, as an option, companies also use chatbots, which can replace operators for trivial questions and connect humans to dialog when the question is complex and is over their database. Chatbot localization is an additional wide topic, but we want to emphasize that localization of such "helpers" is often a part of the support content.

Marketing and sales content;

This type of content is usually the first touch between the business and the user, which means it builds a first impression and is decision-making.

Unlike the other business content types, this one often requires transcreation instead of localization. Slogans, culture-related messages, etc., couldn't be directly translated and needed a creative approach.

Read more → Brand names and idioms - challenges in localization At the same time, all creativity must remain within the framework of a business tone of voice.

So, the main challenge during translation for marketing and sales content is understanding the audience and staying within the style guide's boundaries.

Internal documentation;

Internal manuals, style guides, and other documentation allow employees to build and scale processes across different regions and unite the business in its internal processes and external representation. They are the link that unites multilingual and multicultural teams.

Internal business documentation always concerns a significant volume of data, which should always be up-to-date to ensure correct onboarding, task processing, communication, handling legal questions, etc. Keeping this data current, especially when we talk about different regions, is a challenging process requiring much human effort and time.

Now that we have covered the main business content types and the pitfalls of translating them, let's examine how to handle these complicated tasks. First, you need to decide whether you want to use in-house performers or external agencies. Below, we have provided an overview of the pros and cons of each option.

Tips for choosing the provider for business translation.

When it comes to finding a business translation services, you have two main options:

• The business translation agency that will handle the tasks set.
• An in-house/freelance team to translate business content will be managed internally.

There are pros and cons to both approaches. For instance, with the agency, you don't have to handle the recruitment process for hiring translators and UX copywriters. However, you have less flexibility in communicating with the team and are limited to the agreed-upon resources and terms. The agency is an additional link between the team and you, with corresponding pros and cons.

Hiring a translation team is a much more flexible option, as you can easily focus on urgent tasks, change priorities, and manage each step and progress anytime. With in-house business translation services, the biggest challenge is creating a process that will accommodate all the participants and effectively cover the set tasks. Regardless of your choice, the best practice is to have a tool to collect all translated content, manage progress from your side, plan upfront, etc.

How can Lingohub TMS support business translation?

Lingohub is a translation management tool designed to facilitate the translation process. Its wide range of features makes it the best solution for customers who want to stay informed during their business translation, whether collaborating with an external agency or the in-house team.

Let's overview the main benefits of Lingohub if you decide to work with a business translation agency:

• XLIFF format support - which allows files back and forth without structure lost;
• Unlimited project number and comprehensive overview for each of them to track the progress and keep up-to-date;
• Security storage for all your translated content and localization documentation like a style guide, term base, and translation memory;
• A quality checks feature that allows, without manual efforts, the detection of issues with terms, duplications, extra spaces, etc.
• Glossary, where all essential terms usage is determined.
• Translation orders - to handle the urgent content translation or proofreading;

For users with the internal translation team, the pool of features described above also includes:

• Editor with the live updates for collaborative translation;

• Synchronization between Lingohub and repositories/apps provides smooth data exchange without manually importing/exporting files;

• CAT features (machine translation, pre-translation, labels, translation history, etc);

• The discussion tool to communicate about any part of the project without leaving Lingohub;

• Work and cost reports and logs for comprehensive control through the projects;

• Data security with two-factor authentication, SAML SSO, and custom roles to keep sensitive data safe.

Conclusion

Business translation is a complex process that depends on the industry and content type. In addition to the professional team, handling this process requires a robust tool that can reduce manual tasks and human errors and save time and budgets.

At Lingohub, we designed the solution to create a top-notch user experience. The picture is worth a thousand words—sign up for a 14-day free trial or schedule a demo call with our team to get more information.