Category Archives: Corporate Translation

2012 Top Translation Companies: Who Will They Be?

0
Posted by Tomedes Translation Expert on January 11, 2012 – 3:57 pm
Filed under Corporate Translation, Resume Translation, Translation Companies, Translation News, Translation Services

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


A Review of the Top Translation Companies, 2005-2011

In the middle of last year, I published a blog topic about the top translation companies of 2011. This information was based upon research by the Common Sense Advisory - which, if you work in the translation industry, you probably know that they release an annual report of the top translation companies. It started out as the top 20, then grew to 25, then 30, then 35 and most recently, they published a list of the top 50 translation companies.

 

They make a fair bit of money from releasing such reports, because it’s a pretty penny to purchase the entire 50+ page report, which contains these annual top translation company lists, as well as a breakdown of regional findings, methodologies, analytical comparisons, and so forth.

 

Well, this year I thought I would beat them to the punch, so to speak. No, I am not going to provide a list for the 2012 top translation companies. Even if I wanted to, I don’t have the resources, but more importantly, my job isn’t to do extensive industry research - I just blog about it.

 

However, I thought it would be an interesting task to compare the top 10 translation companies to the top overall growing industries for 2012. We may be able to make a few projections based upon these other facts.

 

Just to provide a starting point for comparison, the charts below give us an idea of how the top translation companies have shifted, dropped, risen and switched ranks throughout the past several years, with each annual top translation company   list. Figures are below for the past 6 years of ranked top translation companies, 1 - 10. 

sources: CommonSense Advisory

2005 - published in 2006 2006 - published in 2007
1. Lionbridge Technologies 1. L-3 Communications
2. Titan (L-3)Communications 2. Lionbridge Technologies
3. SDL International 3. SDL International
4. Transperfect/Translations 4. Language Line Holdings
5. RWS Group 5. Transperfect/Translations
6. SDI Media Group 6. SDI Media Group
7. Xerox Global Services 7. RWS Holdings Group
8. euroscript s.e.r.l. 8. Xerox Global Services
9. STAR AG 9. euroscript International S.A.
10. CLS Communications 10. Moravia Worldwide

 

 

2007 - published in 2008 2008 - published in 2009
1 L-3 Communications 1. Global Linguist Solutions LLC*
2 Lionbridge Technologies 2. Lionbridge
3. SDL International 3. L-3 Communications
4. Language Line Holdings 4. SDL International
5. STAR Group 5. Language Line Holdings
6. Transperfect/Translations 6. Transperfect/Translations.com
7. euroscript International 7. STAR Group
8. SDI Media Group 8. SDI Media Group
9. Xerox Global Services 9. Purple Communications, Inc.
10. RWS Group 10. euroscript International S.A.

 

 

2009 - published in 2010 2010 - published in 2011
1. HP ACG 1. Mission Essential Personnel
2. McNeil Technologies 2. HP ACG
3. Lionbridge Technologies 3. Global Linguist Solutions
4. Language Line Holdings 4. Lionbridge Technologies
5. SDL International 5. Transperfect/Translations.com
6. Transperfect Translations 6. SDL International
7. L-3 Linguist Operations & Technical Support 7. L-3 Linguist Operations & Tech Support
8. Manpower 8. STAR Group
9. SOS International Ltd 9 euroscript International S.A.
10. euroscript International S.A. 10. ManpowerGroup

 

 

2011 data to be released later this year …

 

 

Now, if we take a look at the industries that have the most growth, this is what we have:

 Top Growth Industries for 2012

source: IBISWorld.com

1. Environmental Consulting  
2. Real Estate Appraisal  
3. Ecommerce & Online Auctions  
4. Debt Collection Agencies  
5. Advertising Agencies  
6. Job training & career counseling  

 

Projection of Growth Industries in Relation to Translation and Localization

It would be fair to assume that translation companies and agencies that receive a lot of work from these types of industries, will also climb up the charts as far as the top translation companies of 2012 are concerned.  While one may not affect the other visibly for even most of the translation companies, if we take a look at what Google rankings suggest, some of the top ranking translation companies seem to already be on top of steering toward the top growth industries.

What Google Results Suggest About Translation Companies and the Top Growth Industries

A search for “ecommerce translation” (because ecommerce & online auctions are #3 above) produces results that rank the STAR Group as one of the top companies. This same thing is true for at least one translation query of the above industries, and at least one to several of the top 20 translation companies - which rank in top search results for those queries.  In addition to the STAR Group, CSOFT International, which holds spot 32 on the most recent top LSP list, also ranks on the first page of search results for “ecommerce localization.”  These companies obviously do their homework early, and consequently take immediate steps to ensure they rank well for top industry translation queries.

 

The Manpower Group is a huge corporation that consists of many different daughter companies, not only within translation and localization, but within, guess what? Job placement and employment. Coincidence? Perhaps, but the fact that a top 2012 industry is directly tied to a top translation company, certainly can’t harm its ROI figures.

 

It is probably also not coincidental that the amount of resume translation services has also risen for many translation companies, due to the rise of the job and career training industry. Recently, the Huffington Post published an article on this very trend in the translation industry, reporting that for some translation companies, resume translation projects have more than tripled. With job training and career counseling being one of the top 2012 industries, it is not surprising. Translation companies that currently rank high in Google search results for “resume translation,” may see a boost in sales in this area, if they haven’t already. Top search results for the query “career documents translation,” produce both Pacific Interpreters and Transperfect: two companies consistently ranking within the top 30 of annual top translation company lists. 

 

Real estate translation and real estate appraisal translation has certainly been high here at Tomedes. We recently published a recent translation article about providing real estate translation service for the city of Astana. Because of the current real estate market, foreign real estate sale and investment may be attracting investors and sellers who are not having luck on their home turf. However, for the city of Astana, real estate has done well recently, despite the economic status for most of the world. Either way, real estate translations are on the rise, and will probably continue to boost sales for 2012 top translation companies.

 

Debt collection is most likely going to be covered by legal translators, so this may be the one top 2012 industry that does not have as much impact - companies who specialize in legal translation service will perhaps see a slight increase in debt collection document translation. However, it is quite possible that telephone interpreting agencies receive a boost in revenue due to an increase in debt collection phone call translation services.

 

 What 2012 Holds for Translation Companies

While this is all pure speculation, and I am no translation industry research specialist, initial findings do support the idea that the top 2012 translation companies - or at least some of the them - have already begun to step up their visibility within the aforementioned industries. While it is unreasonable to make any specific predictions based upon fairly general information, it will not be surprising if one or two companies close on the heels of the previous year’s top translation companies, which also specialize in one or more of the above industries, finds its way into the top 50 translation companies of 2012 this time. That remains to be seen.

 

As an aside F.Y.I - Tomedes Translation Company ranks 3rd on Google for “environmental translation.”.. let’s see if our ranking for that query produces a rise in environmental document translations for the upcoming next year.

Crappy Translation Can Kill You

2
Posted by Tomedes Translation Expert on December 31, 2011 – 4:08 pm
Filed under Blog Translation, Corporate Translation

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


 The title may sound like a dramatic hyperbole created simply to be a catchy headline - and yes, it is. But it’s also a dramatic catchy headline that happens to be true.

This week we’ve been covering a variety of topics regarding mistranslations, language service oversights and translation mistakes. Several articles were published within the last year which revealed a few of the most severe translation blunders, and some of the most public (and embarrassing) business translation mistakes made by international enterprises. Rather than just regurgitate yet another copycat list of translation bloopers, we’ll dig a little deeper; find out how or why the translation mistakes were made, and what the surrounding events were, as well as what resulted. You may be surprised at how reported circumstances were impacted so drastically, because of just two or three mistranslated words. Read on – the following may contain shocking (or not-so-shocking) content.

 

 Famously Funny Translation Mistakes

 While mistakes can occur when any language is translated, businesses should be especially vigilant about any type of Asian language translation. A disproportionate amount of translation errors, whether translated to or from English, are within Chinese, Japanese and Korean translation.  Due to English-speaker tourism in China, several mistranslated Chinese to English translations have gone viral, due to their unintended humor.  Small business owners trying to attract tourists probably think nothing of tasking themselves with a few words of English translation - presumably even when their English skills are few to non-existent; the most famous example being the handicapped bathroom sign that read “deformed man toilet.”   These small mistakes don’t have much impact further than a tourist photograph and a good laugh, and in some ways, have even become an expected or entertaining factor of English-speaker tourism in China. But even Pepsi has flubbed up several translations, as well as localization processes, throughout the many years of international campaigning. One of the more recent ones, was regarding the slogan, “Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation.” Errant  English to Chinese translation resulted in “Pepsi Brings your Ancestors Back from the Dead.” Obviously this was false advertising – not a single dead Chinese ancestor was reunited with their relatives.

 

Pepsi also made a bad judgment call in a commercial which broadcast in India, in 2004. Several news sources reported Pepsi was filed against in a litigation suit by the Hyderabad city court, for glorification of child labor in their locally aired commercial. The Pepsi commercial featured India’s cricket team in a huddle, when a child emerges from an underground tunnel and serves them Pepsi. The court also sued several other companies in relation to this particular commercial. While no actual document translation was the culprit here, it’s a lack of common sense not to ensure localized knowledge of culture in any marketing translation venture.

 

 This is not just a matter of advising against machine or automated translation, but even more so against so-called translators who are not up for the job. Just because an agency or individual can speak a particular language, does make them qualified for translation. There are many, many elements of language translation that involve much more than simply knowing vocabulary and grammar of a language. Localization and cultural knowledge is a huge part, even with basic document translations.

 

 In June of 2010, CBS News reported a speech made by the Swedish Chairman of BP Oil. Whether he wrote the speech himself, or had it written for him, his knowledge of English was clearly not enough to guarantee proper cultural translation. In reference to those affected by the enormous oil spill off the Gulf Coast last year, he said, “We care about the small people. I hear comments sometimes that oil companies, or greedy companies, don’t care. But that is not the case in BP, we care about the small people.” Obviously, referring to all those gravely affected by the oil spill as “small people,” probably offended just about everyone relevant, and the chairman of the company made himself appear cavalier and extremely condescending.

 

 Again, it is not simply the words and vocabulary itself that need to be translated from language to language. In the above case, cultural linguistics had everything to do with why the chairman’s word choice was a very poor one. Sometimes a company gets the words right, but doesn’t take care to proofread for double entendres, slang meanings, or other inferences that play into a culture’s language. These things change with time, and are not a static element of language, which is why it is so important for a translator(s) to have long-term immersion within the culture of a given source language. A good illustration of what results when this is ignored by a  translation company or source, comes from another Swedish company, Electrolux vacuums. The Swedish to English translation of their slogan was, “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.” Because the company obviously was unaware of the slang inference, this slogan had a much different meaning to its target audience than the intended one.

 

When Translation Mistakes Turn Deadly…

 Most of the above events were just funny and/or inconsequential – at least compared to the next two. These two examples of European language translation mistakes led to severe and tragic events, and really make you wonder why those responsible for the translations weren’t more conscientious about the accuracy – especially with the knowledge that people would be directly affected in a serious way.

The first incident occurred at a Berlin hospital, where knee transplant devices were sent from US manufacturers. Two versions of the implant were used: cemented and non-cemented. The implants sent to the Berlin hospital were labeled, “non-modular cemented,” and also included an English to German translation of the instruction manual inside, in adherence to German law regarding medical products. Because they used a backdoor approach to medical translation and simply used hospital staff to translate the label, which was translated erroneously as “non-cemented,” (rather than non-modular: cemented), over 40 patients suffered from improper knee implants and further injury, and the hospital underwent numerous costly claims.  Medical translation, especially involving surgery instructions for a device or implant, should never be compromised with whatever is most convenient or least in cost. When it directly involves the well-being of others, professional translation service should be just that – high quality, professional translation.

 

 The second example of mistranslation had even more devastating results, when a clinic in Epinal, France, was treating patients with prostate cancer. Medical software instructions for correct radiation dosage was in English, and the hospital carelessly decided to provide its own French to English translation.

Four patients died.  As a direct result of negligent translation, they were over-dosed with radiation by medical staff.  Others suffered severe illness due to radiation exposure. It’s shocking, and appalling that such negligence with proper medical and software translation services occurred, in a situation when patients’ lives were at stake - and when their health was critical to begin with.  These types of consequences - however infrequent - should never happen, simply because those in charge decide to forego proper translation procedures.

 

There are so many more examples translation bloopers made by high profile, wealthy corporations and companies, that they could fill 50 more pages. Time and time again, business websites still rely upon Google Translate to provide website translation, or some other garbage automated translation “tool” (parenthesis around “tool,” because “tool” implies that it is something useful, when it’s a lot more like translating what someone says when they have mouth full of peanut butter). It has been proven and demonstrated over and over that automated translation convolutes and distorts linguistic content. While it is up website owners whether they care or not if their web content is translated into gobbledy-gook nonsense, for more professional, diplomatic or influential content – the most convenient or cheapest method of translation should never, ever be the priority for deciding upon a language translation service or source. Doing so has not only caused public embarrassment for many companies, but it’s cost some people their health, and some, even their lives.

 

 

A Business Epidemic: Neglect of Multilingual Website Translation

1
Posted by Tomedes Translation Expert on November 24, 2011 – 3:39 am
Filed under Corporate Translation, Online Translation, Translation Services, Web site Translation

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


An Internet Business Epidemic: Neglect of Proper Website Translation

Studies have made it an undeniable fact that consumers are much more likely to purchase from websites in their native language. If e-commerce and business enterprises continue to ignore the importance of accurate, quality website translation and localization, they will continue to pass up increased revenues and optimization of consumer base.

Despite ever-expanding translation service technology and industry providers, business enterprises are still reluctant to utilize the plethora of available translation and localization services, according to Forrester Research. While many are reluctant to employ professional language translation providers, or other LSP provisions, they are, it seems, inquiring about it regularly. So why all the buzz about language services if so few are utilizing the industry’s full potential?

 

Why Doesn’t Every Business and E-commerce Site Have Professional Translation?

One of the reasons may be due to Google’s new updates. Since March of this year, the Google Panda updates have changed search engine results to place much more importance upon original, useful content. Valuable content is now what drives much of website SERP, since the Panda I and II updates.   Because large company sites, e-commerce and industry leader websites usually have hundreds of pages of content, in addition to a steady flow of updated content, even if a tiny portion of this content was consistently translated for multilingual audiences, it would require a tremendous amount of translator manpower and staffing. Hence, the development of plug-ins, language service tools, APIs, and auotmated website translation uploads by many large LSP companies.  But c’mon - we all know by now that automated translation and translation APIs are worth absolutely no more than having no website translation at all.  No business or e-commerce site is going to close any sales using Google Translate.

Despite the reasons or the drawbacks of incorporating consistent web content translation and localization, what better way to draw a bigger audience, thicken traffic, build links, and establish higher search engine ranking and industry authority – than by harnessing the benefits of professional translation of any given company website that has something to sell - especially where economies of a young populous are thriving: BRIC. That is, Brazil, Russia, India and China - the top four economies driving global sales, web traffic and influence. The lesser group, whose acronym is CIVET, refers to Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt and Turkey, who are also considerable sources of economical influence. So in part, this answers the question as to where any enterprise should focus its global marketing and expansion. But if online translation services and technology aren’t being adopted into common use – then how are these groups being reached?

They aren’t. At least not through online or web content translation efforts, despite the fact that thousands of language translation agencies who provide any number of services in, Chinese translation, Portuguese translation, Turkish translation, or any other major language – are not hard to find or outsource. However, few of even actively expanding businesses are rushing to add them to their websites for added commercial strength. Why the hesitancy, at large? A few stigmas still apparently exist when it concerns LSP, whether human or not.

 

Fallacies About Professional Translation Services and Website Translation

 

  • It’s not secure enough.

Regardless of the NDA agreements signed by many a when they are given sensitive corporate content to translate, it doesn’t seem to be enough to make many global companies feel secure about letting their closely guarded information outside of their safety zones. The idea of some unknown translator holding millions of dollars worth of contracts, expansion plans, or even valuable research not yet released- doesn’t settle well with a lot of company executive heads.

  • It’s not good enough.

There is a Russian saying, “С лицами воды не пить”  - which, as an English equivalent, means “good looks aren’t everything,” but a more literal translation is “you don’t drink water with your face.”  However, SDL’s machine translation tool renders it as “with faces not to drink waters” and even Google Translate renders it as “with persons to not drink water.” Obviously automated translations provide a convoluted translation at best, when used from a website API or plug-in. Perhaps its the common use of, and common incompetence of automated translation tools and plug-ins – that have these companies convinced that they can not employ human professional translation services without a lot of the same problems - which, despite what research shows, is a very strange assumption to make.  Obviously there are just some things that computers can’t yet do better than people. 

It’s also a plausible reason that one or two poor translations have soured perspectives, or that many businesses and company heads simply do not trust that translation agencies and language service providers will deliver professional results.  After all, there is no real way to verify the quality of a translation by those who employ language services, without additional or secondary translation proofreading services.  Many translation companies, including Tomedes, offer translation proofreading services, and at rates significantly lower than a full translation or localization.

  • It’s too expensive.

Regardless of the many independent and/or smaller translation companies out there (ahem, such as Tomedes) who offer extremely low translation rates, companies still believe they’ll pay 30 cents or more per word. Most companies restrict human translation to only extremely high value content, and even then, only in English to French and . So, the stigma of human translation services being much to expensive persists, unfortunately – at least enough not to employ on a regular or consistent basis.

  • It’s not fast enough.

Forrester did not cite this as a reason, but this is a frequent and common reason behind resistance or apprehension to use of professional translation services. Business websites often want translation to be available on demand (such as with browser applications) or they want entire website translation on demand and instantaneously - like automated ”tools,” or, at the very least, delivered within an hour at most – the latter of which is often feasible. Both large LSP corporations and independent translation agencies like Tomedes Translation Service, make it a point to emphasize urgent or rush-order services.

  • It won’t be able to handle the level of technical knowledge and terminology required

One of the biggest demands from translation companies and agencies is industry-specific translations.   Some of the most common types of translation are those that are highly technical, and require a certain kind of experience, knowledge and skill.  True:  A run-of-the-mill, general translator could not aptly translate a mechanical engineering report on design and tolerance grades for a new cylinderical grinding machine.  One of the chief major concerns of many new clients who hire professional translation services for the first time, is that their translators will be under-educated or lack the skills, knowledge and experience to handle highly technical language and industry jargon.  Yet what they do not know is that at least half of all translators specialize in specific industry translation and localization, in addition to the fact that translators have research tools and resources just like any other professional that uses reference and research materials.

  • It’s too confusing to know where to begin or where to get it from

As lame as this excuse sounds,  according to Common Sense Advisory, 46% of survey respondents who’d never used professional translation services said they simply don’t know where to start.  I am not sure how to go about correcting such a simple-minded fallacy except to say, well, gee, why not start with a Google search..? Just a thought.  After that, check some industry review sites, search for specific translation services and compare rates (almost all online translation companies offer free instant quotes) ask your social network, check out companies on LinkedIn, and read some LSP blogs.  It’s really not that scary, people.

 

What Companies and Brands are Passing Up Without Professional Website Translation

While studies have shown that global enterprises are still hesitant to utilize the developments and services within the language service industry, consumer studies have shown again and again that language is important to conversion rates. Figures from numerous studies on this range anywhere from 63% to 75%, for consumers who agree that they are much more likely to purchase a product or service from a website offered in their language, and over 70% said they frequently encounter e-commerce sites not available in their native language.

Studies and surveys performed by large language service enterprises such as SDL and TransPerfect have found an important dichotomy between consumer and brand/company perspectives and responses about website translation and localization. In general, brands and companies seem to believe that any level or quality of translation will do, including attached language APIs or plug-ins like Google Translate, or browser-based website translation. However, consumers have made it clear that both professional translation and localization, and other cultural accuracies, have a direct impact upon purchasing decisions. Whether websites are translated without regard to localization or cultural considerations, or simply left up to the consumer to translate website content, most consumers get frustrated and terminate the shopping process.

For truly optimized online and/or website conversion rates, companies and brands must employ professional language translation and localization services. As long as business and corporate websites continue to downplay the importance of accurate, human website translation and localization services, they will continue to pass up a huge opportunity to optimize their consumer base, conversion rates and annual revenues.

 

 

sources used: Forrester Research, Common Sense Advisory, Mygengo.com

The Top Translation Companies of 2011

1
Posted by Tomedes Translation Expert on July 1, 2011 – 2:50 pm
Filed under Corporate Translation, Language Translation Advice, Language Translators, Online Translation, Translation Companies, Translation Languages, Translation Services, Translation Site, Translation Tools

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


A few weeks ago, the Common Sense Advisory, which is the leading company for LSP market research, released a long research report on the LSP market for 2011. Part of that report included a 9 page section on the top 50 language service providers. The list included their names, country, yearly revenue, number of employees and number of offices. The list was 50 providers deep - which is significantly more than previous years – but a total of 912 translation companies were surveyed for the Common Advisory research and top 50 list.

Surprisingly there were quite a few companies in the top 50 language service providers of the world that had less than 50 employees, and 5 or fewer offices. Språkservice Sverige AB in Sweden has only 40 employees and 2 offices, and it comes in at number 23. The Concorde Group in the Netherlands has 75 employees and 2 offices, and makes the list at 38, and Japan’s Chizai Corporation has 75 employees and 3 offices at number 48. It just goes to show that by comparison with the top of the list, smaller regional translation companies can still make a big impact. It will be interesting to see if these smaller LSP companies move up the list in 2012.

What is not so surprising is the total market revenue percentage from the top 50, versus the percentage of the total LSP market they represent. The large, multi-million dollar LSP companies are not common – the top 50 make up less than one-fifth of 1% of the total LSP market. Out of a total of 25,256 providers worldwide, the 912 who were interviewed account for 3.6% of the total LSP market – and 17% of its total revenue. It’s pretty typical for the top-earning minority in any industry to hold a much larger proportion of market revenues. The remaining 24,344 companies who were not surveyed, or 96.4% of the total market, all contribute much tinier individual revenue percentages. Most language service providers worldwide are small private companies with yearly revenues under $1M – when all combined, make up an immensely splintered market.

What I found to be two of the most noteworthy characteristics about the top 50 providers:
1. Many, or even most, are not direct competitors, because
2. Most of the top LSP guys specialize in one or two services in one of the 3 major branches of language services: localization, interpretation or translation.
Some offer services mainly in technology localization, others specialize in only telephone interpretation, and some offer technical translation within a certain industry - but very few market themselves as a provider of general language services.
To cite some specific examples, Verztec Consulting PTE Ltd of Singapore specializes in business management solutions like conference interpretation, multilingual staffing, multilingual web content management, and other language services for business management type stuff. CSOFT International, which headquarters in China, focuses on multilingual software development and application testing, terminology management and language service technologies. RWS Holdings PLC , based in the UK, focuses almost entirely on patent translation, searches and and databases. Before finding this out, I would never have guessed that an LSP company could be a multi-million dollar giant, just by searching and translating patents.

Which begs the question (or questions, actually): just how many different specialized services can any given LSP company offer? And, secondly: What specialized services seemed to be the most popular and/or the most in demand? So after a little bit of research, here’s what I found:
For the most part, it’s more common for North American LSP to offer general language services across or 1 or all 3 subcategories. Although to be fair, a large proportion of top 50 LSP companies in North America provide services to government entities, like the military, D.O.D.,public welfare and other departments – and, as you can imagine, it accounts for huge chunks of their equally chunky annual revenues.

It’s also much more common for the little LSP guys to offer general translation services, except for in Asian and South Pacific regions. Emphasis on general technical translation is more common around those areas, but even a lot of smaller companies offer specialized services. For instance, some specialize in legal documents, another in automotive, manufacturing and electronics. Technical manual translation specialty services are provided by several Chinese and Japanese LSP companies. MCL Corporation is a Japanese LSP who provides not just specialized services for pharmaceuticals, drug development research and medical articles/books, but they also specialize in primarily Japanese language translations for those documents. So you have companies that narrow their services not only according to industry or document types, but also by language pairs. This is found a lot in Western European companies, too.

LSP in Europe is pretty diverse, but there were quite a few agencies specializing in law and finance. Specialized technical and technological language services seem to be the big thing, though – anything from software to medical tech to desktop publishing, and even laser technology. One of the most unique LSP agencies is one in the UK by the name of Balthasar Ltd, which offers language services almost exclusively for the HVAC industry: heating/cooling, air conditioning and ventilation – kind of like a blue-collar LSP for VoTech. Pretty cool, actually.

So what’s the point of all this, besides a lot of numbers, percentages and annual revenue figures that don’t have squat to do with your next translation project? By looking at this research we can see what services are growing and which services seem to be the most in demand, as well as what market trends made significant ROI. The research provided a projected annual market growth of 7.41% - this gives every company at least a starting point by which to set company goals. However, Common Advisory does note that companies who set out with the specific goal to increase annual revenue aggressively, usually have much higher growth rates. There are growth rates according to regional market contributions as well, meaning that LSPs in Istanbul will have different growth rate averages than they do in Florida. If nothing else, companies who wish to grow in size, revenue and overall market contribution have 50 LSP companies to look to as exemplary case studies. Its not a new idea for those who wish to be successful to study those who already are.

But the overall theme here is that there is plenty of room for all language service providers: from the top 50 giant companies, to the highly specialized, and of course, the guys with small companies and general services – which are not to be ignored or overlooked. On the contrary, the small companies make up over 95% of the market, and offer more affordable translation rates for individuals and businesses wanting to increase bottom line revenue. If you are looking to cut costs for your business, would you hire services from a giant, multi-million dollar company whose translation rates reflect their size – or a small, modest translation company with very affordable rates and the same competent services? The answer is obvious.

How a Marketing Department can Embarrass Themselves by Not Using Professional Translation Service?

0
Posted by Tomedes Translation Expert on June 6, 2010 – 3:05 am
Filed under Marketing Translation, Spanish Translation

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


While most businesses realize the importance and value of expanding marketing campaigns to foreign markets, it can be a risky business without the proper professional marketing translation service. Accurate marketing campaign translation and localization is essential; not only within the language it is translated to, but it must also be accurate within the foreign cultural context.

Thousands of marketing campaigns have embarrassed their company because they did not do their homework thoroughly when it came to marketing translation. For example, Pepsi showed us that even multi-billion dollar corporate giants can offend foreign markets when they do not use professional advertising localization. They were sued by an Indian city court in 2004, for advertising a commercial which to the local Indian market, portrayed glorified child labor. Whether it was improper < translation from English to Hindi, or just negligent advertisement localization, the lawsuit – and the loss of the entire Indian market – could have been avoided by employing experienced Hindi translation services and translators.

Even advertisementtranslation from English to Irish was botched by a telecom company marketing campaign to the Northern Ireland market. In the mid-90’s, a telecom company called “Orange,” had a famous winning slogan: “The future is bright…. the future is Orange.” When “Orange” took their telecom marketing slogan and campaign to Northern Ireland – without any regional ad campaign localization - it did not go over well with the Irish Catholic population. For them, reference to “Orange” in such a context refers to the “Orange Order,” or Protestant Loyalists. So to the Irish Catholic, the slogan read, “The future is Orange, the future is Protestant Loyalist.” You can imagine the offense taken by what seemed like a very slanted, bipartisan telecom ad. A business can never be too careful – even when the languages are mutually intelligible.

Yet another example of a botched marketing campaign was from an old American computer company called “Wang,” when they tried to market their slogan “Wang Cares” in the UK market. To the company’s confusion, UK affiliates refused to air or print the slogan “Wang Cares.” You can guess why. If even American to British marketing can be occasionally botched, all the more reason to use a for localized marketing campaigns directed at foreign language markets.

Spanish advertising translations have recently been on the news many times. As available and prevalent as English to Spanish translation is, you would think marketing campaigns would go the extra mile and use professional Spanish marketing translation. It is obvious that when the “Got milk?” ad campaign asked the Latin American market “Are you lactating?” that they did not hire any kind of professional translation service. If it was the translation rates they were worried about, it’s unlikely they were aware that Tomedes has the lowest translation rates available from any top translation company. What excuse does any marketing division have now?

Machine translation for organizations with enormous requirements

1
Posted by Faisal Kalim on October 5, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Corporate Translation, Language Translation Advice

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


The exponential growth of enterprise content, driven by and coupled with increasing numbers of businesses opening up in overseas markets is creating overwhelming amounts of information that needs to be translated in various languages. Recently Common Sense Advisory organized a market research over the requirement for machine translation which included interviews with over 30 decision-makers at various business organizations and government agencies.

According to research findings, the interviewees said that they chose machine translation because of the extremely high amounts of content that was required to be translated  and also because many such documents were required in the shortest possible time. There is a prevalent belief that machine translation is free, but it is not completely true because organizations that use it require to spend both time and money in configuring and training a machine translation engine. Furthermore, human input is required in the form of form of post-editing work because machine translation systems are yet to reach the stage where they can readily deliver language translations that are of acceptable quality.

It is important for companies to base their translation decisions on the overall picture to get a balanced idea of how much time and money they are actually saving by relying on machine translation compared to human translation.

The Necessity of Specialization in Translation IV – Business Translation

1
Posted by Faisal Kalim on July 2, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Corporate Translation, Translation Services, Web site Translation

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


The requirement for corporate translations is increasing as more companies spread their businesses to foreign countries. The Internet has made it relatively easy for even small companies to reach out to, attract and communicate with overseas customers. Day-to-day business activities can be smoothly carried out through web sites and emails.

However, the difference in languages spoken in various countries can be a stumbling block in the way of clear communication. So if your business is based in London and has a potentially lucrative market in Spain you would have to take your business to Spain, in the language of the Spaniards for it to be successful.

You might not actually want to set shop in Spain, and settle down for attracting your Spanish customers through your web site. In that case you would require English to Spanish web site translation to ensure that you attract the maximum number of Spanish users. In fact it has been concluded from researches that even non-native English speakers who are fluent in the language prefer transacting with web sites that are in their own language.

So much for web site translation, business translation includes a good number of other translation requirements as well. These are –

  • Marketing document translation
  • Advertising/Brochure/Catalog Translation
  • Legal document translation
  • Financial translation
  • Email translation

There are many more types of translation that are required by corporate organizations and the above only represents a broad sample. Most of these business translation documents are highly specialized in nature and require specialized translators to ensure accurate and high quality job. Take for example the case of legal or financial document translation, a translator who does not have any idea of legal or financial terms and concepts can never assure accurate translations. Apart from having their own set of fundamentals and unique terminology, these documents also adhere to a particular style and structure which needs to be maintained in the translation. All this makes specialized translators necessary for various business translation needs.

Making Marketing Translations work

0
Posted by Faisal Kalim on June 6, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Language Translation Advice, Marketing Translation

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


Marketing translations can be tricky to deal with and if not worked upon by a professional translator with a high degree of expertise in the area can frequently result in translation errors ranging from embarrassing to disastrous.

Marketing translations have long been the object of debate and discussions in the translation industry. Opinions vary from whether marketing materials should be translated or the source material needs to be recreated in the target language.

In my experience of working in the area of marketing translations I have come to understand that marketing materials can certainly be translated but with a somewhat different approach. That is one need not be completely faithful to the original content and rather work on adapting it for the intended effect in the target language. Some people might find that unethical, but then that’s the best way to process marketing translations. One can however come across marketing materials which need to be worked upon from the scratch in the target language.

Translation buyers can play a significant role in the success of marketing translations by cooperating with their translation providers in adapting marketing materials for the target language. They should be ready to discuss areas of the original document which might contain puns, local idioms or be tied to the local culture and trends so intimately that translating them would not be feasible. In such cases the translation buyer should provide inputs to the provider and help him her create perfect alternatives in the target language.

Legal translation – Its growing importance

0
Posted by Faisal Kalim on June 5, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Corporate Translation, Legal Translation

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


Legal translation requirements have been on an increasing trend since the winds of globalization started spreading rapidly  across the world. Globalization has also resulted in a significant increase in cross-cultural exchanges. Many activities - commercial and otherwise fostered by globalization require legal intervention and support. All this creates heavy requirements for legal translation.

However legal document translation is a very complex undertaking, legal documents apart from their sensitive nature use a unique style and terminology. Any deviations from the style and meaning of legal terms used in the source document while translating can result in errors with serious consequences, financial and otherwise.

Taking the above into account, legal translation should only be assigned to professional translation providers who specialize in the area of legal document translation and have the required qualifications and experience. Legal translation buyers should also make use of proofreading and quality assurance options offered by their translation services providers to absolutely ensure the accuracy of their translation projects.

Business translation basics

0
Posted by Faisal Kalim on June 4, 2009 – 10:00 am
Filed under Corporate Translation, Marketing Translation

Hot deal welcomes 2010 - 10% Discount on any translation order.
Use the coupon code "Tomedes10" !


Business translation requirements have grown exponentially with increasing number of companies opening their branches in foreign countries. Various companies have different motivations for working in foreign countries. Some would like to attract potential customers from new markets to increase their customer base and profitability; some outsource selected operations like customer support or manufacturing to countries offering friendly business policies and cheaper labor.

Moving business operations to a company where a different language is spoken creates requirements for document translation. For example, a company based in the United States opening a branch in France would require many documents to be translated from English to French to facilitate smooth operations, as well as to connect with French customers who are not conversant in the English Language.

The kind of business related content that most frequently require language translation services are technical and legal documents, manuals and policies, advertising and publicity materials and even websites.

All of the above content, though related to business would require variously specialized translators, if one requires high quality translations. For example a professional translator who works well on legal and technical translation would most probably not be able to do a good job in publicity materials translation. This is because both kinds of document have different styles and personalities. Technical and legal documents are filled with jargon, hard facts and figures, while publicity materials can be quite creative and tied to a specific culture, language and temperament. Hence both the types of documents require different skills other expertise in a given pair of languages.

Taking the above facts into account it is recommended that you should always take the services of a professional translation provider for your business translation requirements.