Translation challenges stymying online communication
Kristina: What do you see as the biggest demands and challenges for organizations when it comes to translating content to other locations, languages and cultures?
Paige O’Neill, CMO, SDL: When businesses fail to adhere to the growing demands of globalization, they lose out on opportunities to foster deep relationships with customers. One of these demands is the ability to translate content into the language of the customer. All too often, language has become an afterthought in an organization’s customer experience strategy, not taking cultural nuances and idioms into account.
More specifically, businesses are challenged to take into account industry-specific sayings and phrases, going beyond traditional translation. For example, the Travel and Hospitality, Finance, eCommerce and Life Sciences industries all have distinctive needs and nuances when it comes to translation. Organizations can meet these localization mandates by translating at a local and even industry-specific level. With this added layer of personalization and accuracy, consumers can enjoy a truly global and local experience.
Kristina: How do translations differ across industries? Do highly regulated industries like life sciences need to approach translation differently?
Paige: Every industry faces its own unique challenges when it comes to translating content. Life sciences companies require high quality, technical translations that avoid any inaccuracy that could inevitably impact a patient. On the other hand, Travel and Hospitality businesses act as bustling content factories looking to translate a high volume of information to customers across the globe in a timely manner. For this reason, global businesses today require specific translation solutions comprised of both machine translation and professional language services to ensure accurate and consistent translations across languages. Integrating tailored solutions helps to provide seamless delivery of global customer experiences at an accelerated pace.
