Written materials, regardless of their type, involve many costs and the final price, which is, most of time, not small at all. In case of contracts, accounting documents or correspondence with institutions, you call on lawyers, accountants or consultants from different areas. For promotional materials, things get more complex: for a simple booklet, you need at least a text editor, a photographer or a graphic designer, a desktop publisher and a project coordinator. You bear all of these expenses to ensure that your business does not have problems and that the activities and projects carried out will have the desired results. You know that any mistake can affect business relationships or, even worse, destroy your reputation and, many times, an error may be the beginning of the end.
Everything is relatively simple as long as you are doing business in your country. However, we are living in a period where globalization has become something usual and you equally want to enjoy the benefits of the world market. You cannot resist the temptation to sell your products or services in any country…
The problem is that, when crossing borders, you will not only have to deal with another language, but also with different cultures and mentalities. To overcome the barriers, all the written materials you need must reproduce in a clear and accurate manner the content of the original. Any difference can lead to failure.
Starting from the content of contracts, which confers you credibility before your partners, up to the introduction and promotional materials addressed to customers, everything has to be transposed as to deliver the desired message, without distorting it. Whether we are talking about the simple conversion of measurement units from technical materials or the reproduction of advertising messages, we need an algorithm of mathematical precision, standards and procedures well known and undertaken by all of the persons involved. Ignoring any detail can cause not only the unjustified increase in costs, but even significant losses, with serious repercussions on the company’s interests. That is why the role of those who are in charge with the management of translation agencies appears as clearly as possible in this context. They must manage very carefully the selection of the specialists and make sure, through periodic testing, that they fully correspond to the role they play in developing the final product.
Another problem is the flexibility of thinking of those involved in the “food chain” of the translation development. In the process, they may occur interruptions, random factors, and new requirements from the beneficiary, etc… In order to respond correctly to such situations, we need open-minded people, because nothing can cost more than inflexible rigidity or the fear of changing targets on the go, even only partial, from a material. After all, the specialists involved, irrespective of the stage they are at, must “avoid the project stillness like a pest house”. The market itself, being in a constantly accelerated evolution, requires all impact factors to be managed on the go.
FINALLY, it is of utmost importance the capacity to anticipate decision makers, the only that can entail the proactive attitude which is so necessary in a business environment that seems (and may even be) disorienting. CHAOS MANAGEMENT is the key to success, and the good translation of the materials makes the difference.
