Being there – the importance of writing it as they read it

 

[Karmiel storefront*]

One of most important pieces of advice I received when I opened my business as a translator, which I regret I was slow to take, was the need to be where my customers are. In simple terms, it is impossible to attain customers if they don’t know you exist. This obvious fact is applicable to both freelancers and retailers for both services and goods. Potential customers need to be able to gather information about a business, taking into account, especially today, a short attention time. In the current market, this communication occurs far less through physical presence and speaking but instead mainly in online forums in written language.

It is specifically that mode of communication that poses a hidden challenge to businesses. It is true that there over one billion people that speak English as a first or second language. However, by contrast, only around 40% of those write and read English as a first language, with most of those concentrated in a few countries. This discrepancy implies that while English may be the lingua franca of international speech, the reality is far different when it comes to written texts for the general public. It is important to keep in mind that first language reading skills significantly reduce the effort required to read, scan, decipher and identify text. By contrast, for the vast majority, reading is second language demands far more concentration with much less success, especially in quickly navigating websites. Given the people prefer to work less hard, readers will almost always prefer text in their native language unless the translation is of noticeably poor quality. Thus, when it comes creating a successful presence, having text written in the local language, not English, is vital.

One domain of ever-increasing importance is websites. As commerce becomes more global and business reach out to customers worldwide, it is vital to make sure that at minimum the vital sections of an informational or sales website  are available in the language of the intended audience. Businesses strive to streamline purchase processes to reduce the number of uncompleted sales. Since reading a foreign language significantly lower comprehension speed, having localized sites increases sales and creates a competitive advantage over monolingual sites. While customer use of Google Translate can help bridge this gap, it tends to add additional time and often creates a lack of clarity and, even worse, expensive misunderstandings.

In many countries, store signs should reflect the linguistic variety of the potential customers. For example, in the picture at the head of the post, the seamstress describes her services in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English, ensuring that all the by passers can quickly identify her services and make a note of them for immediate or future use. Where tourists represent an important part of the customer base, it is vital to label items in several languages, especially when the local alphabet is not Latin based. Likewise, restaurants in non-English speaking countries should cater to potential foreign diners by having the menu translated into at least one relevant foreign language. This convenience, maybe even respect, provide that business with a competitive advantage.

On a business-to-business level, as I learned from an excellent webinar by Miriam Burley, LinkedIn allows and facilitates multilingual profiles. With a click of a button, it is possible to add a profile in several other languages (not Hebrew, unfortunately). Moreover, it is possible to only have specific sections in the additional languages, with the other sections imported from the primary language. Thus, the account holder can manage the translation process gradually and incrementally. Clearly, non-native English readers can and will find it much easier and faster to scan a profile in their native language and with far greater accuracy. Utilizing this feature can increase the effectiveness of LinkedIn activity.

Of course, there is a proviso to the expansion to other languages. As my late father used to say, anything worth doing is worth doing well. While easily available and time efficient, Google Translate and similar applications are not the correct tools for producing business text of any kind. The resulting inaccuracy and inappropriateness far outweigh their advantages of speed and convenience. Natives are almost always protective, read judgmental, of their mother tongue. They find it absurd and disrespectful for a business to publish text with linguistic and stylistic errors. This negligence somehow stains the reputation of a business. How many times have you laughed at poorly translated menus? Thus, it is highly recommended to have the foreign text written by an educated native or translated by a professional translator and then checked by a native speaker. While this process may add expense, the failure to do so may render a business infamous, not famous.

So, if the goal is to reach potential customers where they are present, which is quite often the Internet today, it is important to remember that most communication is through text today. As a result, their ease in speaking English has no relevance to their ability to efficiently read English. To overcome this difficulty, text in their native tongue is much more effective and adds to the brand image. Write it as they read it.

* Picture captions allow the blind to fully access the Internet.