Translating business documents, whether promotional, legal or technical materials, is never a simple exercise in converting words from one language to another, because it inevitably involves and requires a thorough understanding of context, industry-specific jargon and the culture of the target audience. Unfortunately, while this is still difficult to convey in many companies, it means that the fact that an organization's executives may have an advanced proficiency in a foreign language is not automatically a guarantee that they also possess the skills and experience necessary to accurately and effectively translate, not only in content, but also in tone and intent, the message of the original document. This means that entrusting them with this task could lead to inaccuracies or loss in the original meaning of the text. We’ll explore in this article in more detail why it is extremely more advantageous to rely on professional translators for business translations.
Undoubtedly, at first glance, the idea of using multilingual executives to translate business documents appears to be much cheaper than the alternative: the executive already receives a salary, while the professional translator requires a fee that is outside the company's fixed expenses. But the matter changes, and by a great deal, as soon as one considers the opportunity cost associated with such a decision: the opportunity cost referring to the value of the best alternative use of the time or resources that are sacrificed, and that in this case of course is the executives' time. If executives do a translation, this implies that they cannot spend as much time on the tasks for which they are actually paid and in which they have significantly greater expertise, such as developing business strategies, managing projects, or training the team, activities that could generate greater value for the company in the long run. And if on the other hand the executives devote themselves to their tasks, as they should, they are obliged to procrastinate the translation work, which continues to be necessary.
Also, let us not forget that the hourly cost of an executive is generally higher than that of a professional translator. If we consider the cost in terms of time, then translations performed by executives might end up being paradoxically much more expensive for the company, while a professional translation agency, with its efficiency and speed, can provide high-quality translations in less time and at a lower cost.
The quality of a translation is never just a matter of grammatical and syntactical correctness, although these are certainly necessary characteristics. Translation actually requires a keen awareness of cultural nuances, appropriate tone and style, and the specific subject matter in the target language: an executive may know a foreign language well, even perfectly, and yet be unfamiliar with these subtle details (which, to be fair, are beyond the scope of his or her expertise), which will inevitably compromise the quality of the translation.
And a translation that is formally correct, but of low quality, can lead to misunderstandings and confusion, create obstacles in communication and even damage the company's reputation. Since this is obviously not acceptable, the solution at that point necessarily becomes one of correcting or even redoing the incorrect translation from scratch, thus increasing the overall cost of the translation process.
A professional translation agency, in contrast to what we have just described, offers numerous advantages to the companies that use it.
Professional translators are trained and specialized in specific areas, and work strictly in those areas: they are therefore able to handle technical or industry-specific documents with a precision that is certainly comparable to that of a general manager, and sometimes may even be higher for some details.
Translation agencies use advanced computer-aided translation software and terminology databases to ensure consistency and accuracy. These tools help to maintain uniform use of company- or industry-specific terms throughout all translations, thus ensuring that the company's message remains consistent across all languages. This is a detail of enormous value in corporate communication, and one that is often not one of the things that an executive who is asked to carry out a simple translation of a text spontaneously focuses his or her attention on.
Translation agencies regularly implement quality control procedures that are now codified and accepted throughout the industry, which include reviews and corrections by a second translator. This ensures that errors are detected and corrected before the final product is delivered, maintaining high quality standards that are impossible to guarantee by using only one person assigned to translations, especially on large volume jobs.
Finally, working with a professional translation agency can help save valuable time. These agencies manage the entire process, from translation to review, prevent the company from wasting executives' time, as we have seen above, and allow executives to focus on their core responsibilities, which are crucial to business performance.
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