Show your translation team a little amour
Recently, we published a blog that explored what makes a great translator. In the Canadian financial services landscape — and, certainly, in other industries as well – strong translators are priceless.
They help a company make its marketing, advertising, regulatory and legal documents available in our other official language, so their company can be more successful doing business with French-speaking clients.
Once you have a team of great translators, you’ll want them to stay. Whether you oversee a translation team or work with translators on certain projects, here are a few tips for keeping them happy and productive.
Get the translators involved early on
Translation isn’t just about converting English words into French.
There’s an art to making existing marketing or advertising copy work equally well (or even better) in another language, to flow seamlessly and be impactful for the reader. To do this, the translators need to be briefed along with the writers and designers, so they understand the concepts, key messages, target audience, products and so on.
Give them time to come up with adaptations
Let’s face it, we’ve all been in brainstorming meetings where we come up with a fantastic name for a product or a catchy tagline. As we’re busy high-fiving each other, someone needs to think about whether this name or tagline works in French. Quite often it doesn’t, so the translation team needs to put on their creative caps and adapt the term in French.
As we’re busy high-fiving each other, someone needs to think about whether this name or tagline works in French.
Commit to keeping things on par
By this, we mean that whenever there are any changes to English copy, charts, tables, etc., this must be communicated fully and in a timely fashion to the translators.
“Version control” can be a nightmare for any marketer, but imagine how much worse it is when you’re trying feverishly to keep pace with last-minute English changes so you can maintain accurate, up-to-date French collateral. Which takes us to our final tip…
Don’t squeeze your translators for time
Projects almost always run into snags, causing tasks to be delayed and timelines to compress. Well, guess who usually bears the worst of it? That’s right … your translation team, which is usually at the back end of most projects and sees their translation time shrink fast.
Instead, be more disciplined and diligent about keeping everyone on schedule. If things derail, try to extend the end deadline or shave some time off other tasks so the translation team doesn’t suffer.
If things derail, try to extend the end deadline or shave some time off other tasks so the translation team doesn’t suffer.
Not only will you get better French output, but your English materials might also improve.
After all, one thing we know is that translators are great at catching mistakes, inconsistencies and unclear writing in English documents. They’re a fresh set of eyes that can help immensely with quality control – if you give them the time they need!
To find out more about how to make the most of your translation team, contact Ext. Marketing Inc. today at 416.925.1700 or info@ext-marketing.com.
What makes a great translator?
Financial services translation poses some interesting challenges for marketers – technical terms and time constraints being just two among many. In this post, we talk about the skills that great translators possess and we share some tips on choosing the translator that’s right for you.
Core skills of a great translator
1. Technical knowledge specific to your field
It’s not just enough to be a native speaker. A great translator must have an intimate knowledge of your industry … and its idiosyncrasies. Not only is financial services filled with technical terms but it is also bursting with jargon that only an experienced translator can handle.
2. Critical thinking and passion
These are two sides of the same coin. Critical thought without passion may result in overly technical language when translated, while passion without critical thinking may lead to engaging translations that miss the mark. Great translators have both.
3. Accomplished composition
A great translator’s output is written well, understood easily by the right audience and captures the meaning of the original copy. When certain English terms (e.g., idioms, product names, clever plays on words, etc.) just don’t translate well, the translator will have to adapt. This is definitely one of the more “writerly” skills, and one that makes translation closer to an art than a science.
4. Flexibility
It’s unfortunate but it happens again and again – your translators will have to work under a time crunch. Great translators can work under tight timelines, and they can make adjustments on the fly as work is sent their way.
How to find a find a great translator
1. Create a shortlist
Ask experienced colleagues and your peers for recommendations. There’s really no better way to find out who has financial services experience and who can be trusted to deliver high-quality work.
2. Screen them
Now we’re getting into the particulars. We think that the following three criteria will help you further refine your list: certification, experience and fees. Rate these three criteria in order of importance (depending on your needs, one may be of much greater value to you than another), and then move on to your next step.
3. Translation test
One test should do the trick because you don’t want to take up too much of your – or your potential translator’s – time. How technical should the language be? We think that your goals should not be to stump your translator. Rather, you want to test all four of the skills mentioned above. So, some technical language is ideal, though a PhD level thesis may be going overboard.