Greater than 2 minutes, my friend!
A Manifesto for Professional Marketing Translation Why Some Companies Decide to Translate their Content Internally (by non-translators)
“Sorry, all our translations are done internally by our employees”. This was the nth call I was making to a prospective company and this was the answer I was getting the most. I thought I had made my homework right: those were small or medium-sized companies located in the UK, with an English-only website, planning to open an office in France or openly looking to expand in France on their social media accounts or blog posts… So what was the deal?
I have been working for the past 7 years as an English to French translator and over the years through my work with agency clients I specialized in websites and mobile apps localization, e-commerce and marketing translation and tourism translation. So when we see the trends of mobile shopping and the numerous articles on the Millenial generation, the future looks bright for translators who work in these fields.
So like I said, I do my homework: I spend hours researching companies who I know will eventually need to have their marketing content translated and when I say translated, I mean professionally. So after countless calls in various industries: from start-ups and high tech to foreign tourism boards, to online shops, I have a question: is it me or is marketing-related translation not thought of as a serious specialty? Is it me or is marketing translation not considered a value-added service?
I first thought, maybe it’s my language pair, after all most French people working in high-tech fields today can speak English so no wonder why they would feel confident translating from English. Then I thought, maybe it’s my specialty fields: start-ups and new tech companies even in France use a lot of English lingo and tourism companies employ bilingual people. So that would explain why they don’t think they need professional translators. But since I do not know many translators working in different language pairs than mine, I am curious: has the same happened to you? Do you have to justify the importance of your service to prospects?
There’s something else I noticed and, if not responsible for the fact that translation is often done in-house, it reinforces the idea that language issues are not a big deal when exporting or expanding internationally. As part of prospection and to stay up to date with my specialty fields, I try to attend industry-specific tradeshows in Lyon, where I live. When I look at the program and before registering, I always search for panel discussions, conferences, anything that highlights the linguistic obstacles companies face when going abroad. And more often than not, there is going to be a panel on currency issues and exchange rates, another panel on legal issues, another one on insurance, another one on risks of fraud and other issues. But where is the panel on how to effectively communicate with end users who do not speak your language? Isn’t that an obstacle as well that deserves to be mentioned?
While global brands all see the value in getting their marketing content translated, there is a huge potential for translators to work with SMBs who are exporting for the first time. Since those SMBs are most likely to get in touch with their Chamber of Commerce or to attend International Business tradeshows locally, it is important that they learn only on, that linguistic issues are a big deal and can make or break their reputation. The more we reinforce that there is an actual risk of losing customers abroad with bad communication, the more SMBs will think of professional marketing translation as a value-added service, and will stop doing their translations in-house.
Photo credit: Bench accounting by Unsplash
Claudia Befu 
Ayman Saa'd 
Whenever I’m on a flight that’s long enough for me to read through the bilingual inflight magazine (provided it’s in my language combination), I have the immense desire to take a red pen to it and post the corrected text to the company together with my CV or business card… one day. One day.
Hi Sylvie,
Thanks for your message. I love the red pen idea for in-flight magazines and that’s also the first thing I do when I come across a bilingual magazine. With the amount of exposure they get, among all content, they should definitely be translated by professionals. I have used this technique for hotel websites before and tried to mention to people over the phone how the French page was not so well done… I feel like it’s a very delicate subject to talk about when it might have been that person you’re talking to who wrote it. I’d love to hear stories from other translators who used this technique to win a new client. How do you approach the whole “This translation is not well done” topic?
Stephanie
So true, Stephanie. I’ve had the same conversation with businesses local to me! Where I live is super-touristy, but hardly any businesses have foreign-language websites. I’ve even offered to be a presenter at local conferences so I can talk about the importance of having your content professionally translated (because otherwise they’d be happy with Google Translate) !
Very good article, Stephanie. Straight to the point!
That’s a great idea Natalie, to offer to talk at local conferences, and I can’t imagine why people would want to say no to that. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one facing this dilemma even if other language pairs.
Thank you for such a great manifesto, Stephanie! Unfortunately, I felt reflected in your words when you explain how you have struggled to make your way in with direct clients in the field of Marketing. I am afraid that the thing with “internal translators” will never really come to an end. But some fields seem to be more “flexible” more “approachable” than others, and while Marketing and Branding and Transcreation are all being looked with a fresh eye worldwide, because of digital Marketing and social media and globalization, etc., there’s still this daunting mindset among certain businesspeople that tells them that it doesn’t really matter if their website is translated only tolerably well into a foreign language: users will somehow get the gist and that’s what it’s all about, translation, isn’t it? Well, no, not really, of course.
Last week I was e-mail marketing to some tourist agencies and hotels and I must say my experience so far has been the same for the ES/EN-EN/ES language pair: either they don’t care to have their content translated or they have already had it translated by an internal “”””translator”””” (mark my commas). In a way, this is frustrating, but I think there are things we can do (and here I agree with previous comments on this post), such as give talks in association with Marketing Associations in order to raise awareness that we are not just marketing our own services in Marketing, but we are also a necessary resource (a means to an end that will benefit them and their earnings, as well as their reputation) to help these companies, hotels, agencies succeed as they expand their offering overseas.
Also, have you got a section in your professional website where you describe the advantages of hiring YOU to translate their content and WHY they should actually go for YOU (=professional translator providing top-notch translations) and not internal resources and/or Google Translate? I have a “Blog” section where I address potential clients in a manner that lets them know how hiring me could save them tons of headaches, time, money and lost users/consumers/guests, highlighting the pros of working with a human, trained, professional linguist who’s been waaay beyond a First Certificate in English level and does certainly keep learning and training herself to keep adding value to her business, her customers and her life. If we don’t come to our own rescue, then who will? =/
Well done, Stephanie, for bringing up this issue! Very well done! 🙂
Based on my looooong years’ experience I have learned that:
End-client-direct language services marketing done by a freelance translator would almost always have no result.
It might happen sometimes that the targeted client accepts the services of the freelance translator but this is very rarely and usually follows recommendations they get from either an in-house employee or any other person/colleague someone from the company just happens to know.
For translation agencies/companies it is much easier to market their services to new clients. Business-to-business!
Still, companies don’t translate. Translators do! Right?
This entire topic is however extremely wide and complicated to be addressed in a short post, anyway.
As to the issue stated above in Delfina’s excellent comment, namely:
“If we don’t come to our own rescue, then who will?”
And what are all those associations for?!
I personally am not a member of any of them. But IMHO these associations should do the ‘job’ of educating the businesses on why they need professional translation services.
Finally, my “two cents” on the ‘red pen’ 😉 🙂
Boy, have I seen awkward “translations” and mistakes where such must not exist!
The ones that really make me laugh at first and angry later are the ones I see on publicly displayed signs, plates, information boards, etc.
Just yesterday, visiting a famous touristic site, I witnessed it again!
And this is not the first time I see mistranslation or/and poor translation or/and spelling mistakes, etc., “proudly” displayed at tourist attractions, visited by thousands and thousands of people. Makes me wonder … What?! They don’t have enough budget to hire a professional translator to do the job properly????