You Might Need to
Translate Less.
4 Easy Steps to a
Translation Strategy That Works
Here's a secret your translation vendor probably won't tell you: You might need to translate less.
That's right. Translate less, save yourself a lot of money. Does that sound too stupid to be true? Let me explain.
No matter how low your translation spend is—if it doesn't contribute towards your business goals, it's still too high. If you don't have a very clear idea of how your translations will help you reach your business goals, you're probably wasting money. You can do better than that.
Why You Need a Real-Life Translation Strategy That Works
The key is having a translation strategy that tells you what type of content to translate and what methods to use. Your strategy process should be so easy that you can repeat it periodically to make sure your strategy is always up-to-date. In this article, I'll show you a really straightforward process that works in real life. All you need is a list of the content types you currently publish in your organization. We'll then go through that list and check each type of asset using four simple steps. And that will give us a quick and easy translation strategy!
- Step 1: Define business value and goals
- Step 2: Determine whether translation is the best way to reach those goals
- Step 3: Define data-driven success criteria
- Step 4: Define translation methods
Step 1: Define Business Value and Goals
We'll start with the question we already touched upon: Why do you need that translation? What's it supposed to do for you? How is it going to help your organization? That is really the cornerstone of your translation strategy. If you can't answer that question, chances are you're wasting money.
There are good answers and bad answers, though. How about you say: “I need to translate this manual because local regulations say I have to supply translated manuals”? You can't really argue with that. How about: “I need to localize my software so I can reach users in my target country”? That might be a valid reason. How about: “We have a company policy to translate all our marketing collateral into these six languages”? Well, you've just told me that you want to do this translation, but you haven't told me why. There might be reasons behind that policy, but unless you can state them clearly, you don't really know what you are doing.
And if you can't think of any good reasons? Well, then it's time to remove that type of content from the translation roster.
Step 2: Is Translation the Best Way to Reach Those Goals?
Now that we've got our reasons, we move on to step 2: Is translation really the most cost-effective way to achieve those objectives? Or is there a better way to get those results? One that either costs less or gives you better results? This is something that a lot of clients forget to do—but it's really a vital question for your success. Sometimes translation really is the only practical option, as in our earlier example where local regulations require you to have local-language documentation. But how about our other example, the one where you localize your software so you can reach users in your target market? This one is trickier. Do you really need translations to achieve that?
Certainly this is what translation vendors will tell you. Every vendor repeats this cliché of: You need translation to reach people in those foreign markets, and that is the only way to do it. And that might even be true in the majority of cases. But you shouldn't blindly accept it. Think it through very carefully to see whether it's true in your case.
When Language Isn't the Problem, Translation Is Not the Solution
Here's an example of what I mean. Suppose you're a US company and you sell a rather complex, technical piece of software. This is going to be kind of expensive to translate if you want to do it right. But with that kind of software, people can't just sit down in front of the screen and start using it. Not even in your home market. They will need training, they might rely on their local resellers, et cetera. In that case, the main obstacle to using your software isn't language, it's the complexity of the subject matter. And so, if language isn't the biggest obstacle, translation might not be the best way to get more people to use your product. There might be better ways, like making your help content easier to understand, producing user-friendly tutorials, empowering your resellers to better serve local customers, et cetera. I really believe you should at least consider those. That's what this step is for. And if there's indeed a better way to reach your business goals ... again, it's time to stop translating that type of content.
Step 3: Define Data-Driven Success Criteria
You've now established a value proposition for your translations, and you've established that translation is the best way to achieve it. That's a great start. But you can make your life so much better by adding data to verify those assumptions. What numbers or other data can tell you whether your translations actually do create the value you're expecting? As in: If you translated your user docs, would that make your users happier? Would more people buy your product? If you stopped translating them, would your users really notice? Would you really lose market share? Because if the answer is no, you've just saved yourself tons of money that you can use to do all sorts of good things.
This part is tricky because there are no universal measures or metrics you can use. It very much depends on your business, your marketing strategy, your sales channels, et cetera. So the bad news is, you'll have to do some work on your own. The good news is: a) it's really, really worth it, and b) we can help you with that: Read our article on translation quality and success metrics here.
Step 4: Define Translation Methods
On to the final question: What methods are you going to use to create your translations? Do you need human translators? If so, do they need special qualifications, or can you just use anyone? Can you use machine translation or multilingual AI to save cost? The great news is that this step is really easy because you can use a risk-based evaluation scheme. The basic idea is that mistakes in translation can cause risk to your organization, and the higher that risk is, the more stringent your translation process must be.
Done!
Once we've got those four steps covered for each type of asset ... we're done! It wasn't all that difficult, was it? With your strategy in place, you can be pretty sure that you're not wasting money on translations that nobody needs, you know that your translation spend really creates value, and you're giving every type of asset the level of quality that it needs.
If you've got questions on any of this, send us a message or request a free consultation on translation strategy & processes. Our consultations come with our unique $100 guarantee: If we're wasting your time, we'll give you a $100 gift card or make a $100 donation to a cause that matters to you. (Terms and conditions apply.) Thanks for reading, and see you again next time!
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