Have a look at some interesting figures that the recent past has doled out. An assessment from research firm Common Sense Advisory has observed that 63 percent of global brands have reached more customers lately through an increase in the number of languages on their websites.
Localization has turned up as the 4th fastest-growing industry in the United States, according to the Centre for Next Generation Localisation.
If we look at what the US Census Bureau has gathered – a minimum of 350 languages are spoken in US homes. This is just a hint of the influx of a multi-lingual impact that other regions in the world have been embracing.
How can a brand not employ a translator for English to Spanish when targeting a Spanish customer who is looking for a product in the SEO list? Wouldn’t this user walk right past the brand if it doesn’t appear in a multilingual format across mobile devices, websites, and SEO lists?
Why does a brand tap services for translation from French to English? To make sure that a potential user doesn’t dissolve in the air just because the branding content was not served in a more comfortable language? Yet, today, despite these multi-lingual winds, about 53.6 percent of web content stays in English.
Brands have to adapt to this new multi-lingual, truly global world. And some of the smart ones are very well adapting it already.
The rise in the number of LSPs (Language Service Providers) – as many as 18,000 firms worldwide, as per Common Sense Advisory – is indication enough.
These language translation services can either offer specific segment or service like translation, localization or interpreting or they can bring a slew of accessory features as full-service providers. These LSPs would cover everything, right from translation, interpretation, web content, audio-video content features, publishing, and narration to machine translation, transcreation, localization, localization engineering, etc.
Powered with a rich pool of professionals, instead of just freelancers; and assisted with advanced technology and offerings that emerged from innovation; these LSPs are charting a new path of solutions that brands tap with outstanding results.
Overall, the translation industry has seen a clip of 6.46 percent growth recently and the journey is becoming more interesting every quarter.
Brands and businesses are coming up with new needs and potentially huge opportunities in many areas. Mobile devices, video content, subtitles, instruction manuals, app localization, software interfaces and many other upcoming areas are bursting with a new degree of demand and appetite.
It’s a time of ample opportunities but also the time for the right set of services to come and play. Shallow and sub-standard work can serve a small segment with no precise strategy but for a multitude of brands or marketers, what is needed is a full-spectrum offering equipped with deep expertise. The use of professional language translation services will make translation truly worth the effort.
It’s a global world and not just brands in the existing mediums of the web, branding collateral and advertising need the support of translation expertise but also brands that are nascent or about to incorporate extensions like apps, mobility or IoT in an unprecedented way.
Language translation service providers with the right resources, skills and experience can push the lever in the right direction. They can bridge the distance between businesses and new age customers, no matter where they are – on a website, on a road, in an aisle, on a mobile app, or simply, on Google looking for a rival brand.
Translation is not a quick fix but a deep and overarching strategy about branding for the new millennium. There is no way to cut corners or do it in a lazy way. Get it done from the best in the industry as this could define the future of your brand in overseas markets.
