I bought an office chair the other day. It came nicely packed in a little box that makes you wonder whether you bought a chair or a flat screen tv. Assembling it was like assembling anything – quite complicated. It didn’t take too long because, thankfully, I had instructions… in English. Which made me wonder: what if it was my grandfather who had bought the chair?
My battle with the chair made me question which industries could benefit from professional translation services. Well, all of them! But some more so than others. Take tourism, for example; is there any better way to make tourists feel welcome than to greet them in their own language? With increasingly cheaper flights, tourist places must provide their visitors with information in several languages so that businesses can be sure that their target audience is reached and that they can turn those foreign connections into customers.
Some people like places they’ve visited so much that they decide to stay. However, immigration isn’t always an easy process. Big law firms have translation companies working alongside them that they trust, because they understand the importance of good legal translation. If a foreign client approaches a big law firm, they must make sure that they understand all the specific details of the case. No client wants to see their case put on hold because the lawyer can’t find a suitable translator. They must have a translation company’s account manager on speed dial.
On our way to the lawyer to discuss our immigration case, we see the perfect land to build a house on. Luckily it is for sale at two real estate agencies. The difference is that one of them has a sign written in our language… Yes, the real estate industry. Good advertisement comes from good observation. If you take note of the linguistic demography of a big city and if you translate all your marketing into their native tongue, you’ll have an advantage over your competition (just make sure you choose native translators).
Even when it comes to the deed, it would be a delight to work with a real estate agency that can provide its customers with a translated deed or consecutive interpreting in person. This minimises effort and smooths the process, resulting in happy clients, which in turn produces more revenue.
So, we are going to buy a piece of land, but we need a loan. We would expect the bank to be able to point us in the direction of a good translation company, packed with finance and banking translators so that both of us can read the figures on the financial statements. If there is one thing that banks want from customers, it is trust, and distrust may stem from a bad translation or the lack of it. Everything that deals with large amounts of money requires professionalism and that’s why banks should rely on professional financial translation services.
We go ahead with it, it’s ours. We look online for an architectural firm to help us plan our dream house. Only a few have a website in our language. Much like the real estate industry, architecture also has a lot to gain from translation. Aim at the language of the people that buy proprieties in a certain place and invest in communication. Be careful, architectural translation can be very technical. Make sure to choose a translation company with qualified linguists so that you can explain to your client exactly what kind of materials you’re considering for their dream house.
Our architect recommends a building contractor and we give him a call. He doesn’t have a presentation ready in our language. We are unable to understand anything he says, from deadlines to materials. We opt for a different one. It’s more expensive, but we feel more secure.
When dealing with long-term, expensive assets like construction, clients don’t like to take risks and prefer to pay extra for a quality service. In this case, a quality service includes having translated information about materials, costs, deadlines, etc. These translations are usually technical and require technical translators. To ensure correct translations, sometimes companies create glossaries with the clients or even visit the site to look at the materials used. Some construction companies are already taking full advantage of translation.
Once our house is built, we come to the fun part: packing it full of technology. The tech industry still hasn’t harvested the full potential of translation. It’s the 21st century and smart fridges are a thing. Tech companies must ensure that their clients can interact with technology and make use of its full potential. If you’re a tech guy and you don’t live in an English speaking country, like myself, I’m sure you’ve come across a cool gadget or an app that you’d like to buy, but it was not available in your country. Big tech companies realised the importance of translation a long time ago and they are not afraid to invest in it. They even provide their translators with the tools to try the software before it’s released so they can be sure that it’s fully adapted to the target culture.
In our journey from tourist to local resident, we’ve talked about a few industries that could take leverage from the full potential of professional translation services. As for our house, it’s just a matter of installing furniture and we are settled.
Want to guess what we didn’t think of? Yes, a good office chair.