World Trade - October 2008 - (Page 49)

of such distinctions, but distributors often are not. Product Launch Delays For most companies, meeting product launch schedules is critical. If distributors are assisting you in other product launch activities while they translate your content, product launches may be delayed, resulting in lost revenue. Further delays in launch may occur if you need to spend time correcting translations that would have been acceptable had a professional translator been used. Consider, too, that if you use multiple distributors to translate the same content into different languages, the launch of your product in one country may affect your ability to launch on time in another. If your company envisions a synchronized global launch of its product, using a single LSP to translate into all target languages greatly increases the likelihood of meeting global launch objectives. Use of Translation Memory Tools niﬁcant costs to your company. If you use an LSP to translate your content, you should expect to see both consistent translation of terms and some decrease in your translation costs as your translation memory is reused from one project to the next. Proofreading Your Material Distributors do not always proofread their translations. When they do, the person who performs the proofreading may not be qualiﬁed to do so. What this means is that you will need to spend time and money on reviewers capable of proofreading the translation. Without an objective review of the distributor’s translation by someone ﬂuent in the target language, expect that errors will be overlooked. Keep in mind, too, that if your distributor translates and does not have an editing, prooﬁng, and approval process in place, you are accepting the liability for any document errors. Meeting Standards Accredited translators and professional LSPs use translation memory (TM) tools to leverage existing translations and help ensure consistency. But investment in TM tools and training typically make their use cost-prohibitive for distributors. If you use multiple distributors, some English terms may also be translated one way by one distributor and another way by a different distributor because TM tools are not used. To rework such translations can mean sig- Your company’s marketing materials are the face of the company to customers in non-U.S. markets. The words in those materials speak to the readers about the respect your company has for their culture, nation, and business. Both the quality of the translation and the ﬁnal layout are factors to consider. Materials translated by your distributor may not meet international or company standards for quality and may WTM10084Lion.indd 1 WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM 9/15/08 10:11:28 AM 49 http://www.lion.com http://www.lion.com http://WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - October 2008

World Trade - October 2008 Contents Tune Up Your Supply Chain Globalization: The Real Competitive Threat Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds Shippers and Providers Collaborate to Take on a Challenging Economy Tweaking the Supply Chain to Optimize Value and Minimize Cost Supply Chain Software Morphs Into Enterprise Management Can Warehousing Really, Truly Be Strategic? Everybody is Global Between the Devil and the Deep The Hidden Costs of ‘Free’ Translation Blowing Smoke

World Trade - October 2008

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