How To Speak Japanese

If you’ve been putting off taking your website global, think of the income you are missing; Untapped markets await your business. The concept of multiple languages on your website is daunting at first, I know. But thankfully, new technology allows an easy transition to many languages and global accessibility.

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Some businesses focus overwhelmingly on the bottom line; they make expansion a low priority. But if not now, when? If expanding your website is a far off hope, consider making a plan. Set a goal date for when you want to go global. After you find out how easy it is, you may bump up that date.

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It comes down to hiring a professional translation c ompany. The best translation companies use highly advanced software and skilled professionals. Investing in a translation company (rather than using do-it-yourself tools) may be one of the best choices you ever made.

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Make sure the company you choose uses translation software such as a localization tool , which analyzes the dialects of the country to which you aim. Localization is the term for customizing a language to fit specific cultural, legal and technical requirements of a targeted market. For instance, if you geared your business to attract punk rockers in Thailand, you would want a hip, slang-driven linguistic style, totally different from the reverent, spiritual style preferred by elderly Thai.

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Difficulty with localization is one of the leading reasons that businesses give up on taking their product global. But the solution is simple: Hire a professional translation team to take care of it for you.

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Since I assume you do not speak the 14 or so languages that you feature on your website, you’ll have to trust the translation company. This can be the hardest part. To see your website and not have absolute understanding of what it says can be scary, and off-putting. That’s why you need to be sure that the translation company is verified by several big and small businesses. Not only do you want to see that they work with big businesses, but you want evidence of smaller projects, too. If your project is small, ask whom you will be working with, and what specific websites they have translated. Remember, even if the translation company has done big business, it doesn’t mean the translation team they give you has worked on the same big businesses. You’ll want to be sure that even if your project is small, that you’ll be working with experienced professional translators who are familiar with all the best translation software.

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Besides having current software, ask the translation company about individual backgrounds of the translators. What is their level of proficiency in each language? If one of the team is a japanese translator, is he Japanese? If not, how did he come to be fluent in Japanese?

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A key thing to remember is fluency. Non-native speakers, no matter what they claim, rarely attain fluency. It is a fact that most Americans who speak a foreign language overrate their skills. They may say they are fluent, but actually be at a barely conversational level. However, a professional translation company knows this and is usually careful to hire only native speakers or highly talented linguists.

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You will have many questions for the translation company. After you verify their credibility, and the backgrounds of the individual translators you will work with, you’ve got to let them do their thing and trust that it will end well. In the process, don’t be afraid to ask “stupid” questions. After all, you can’t understand all these languages, and you shouldn’t be expected to. So if something looks odd to you, speak your mind.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 8:49 am and is filed under International Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.