by Michael Bastin | 30 Sep, 2021 | Business, Business Tips, Professional Translation
Trademarks are significant intangible assets in today’s culture.
A well-known mark is a substantial source of income for a company.
In addition, a brand serves as a visual representation of the company and its products.
As a result of the intense market rivalry, these marks play a crucial role in concentrating products on the market.
To be successful in market competitions, all companies have a similar value system.
As a result, translating marks for different regions is highly significant and can have a substantial impact on a business.
If you want to expand your business abroad, here are the ways in which translating brand names can benefit your organisation:
Translations can take you to a global market
A product’s brand name is critical. However, having a solid name alone isn’t sufficient. It’s vital to have an accurate and professional translation.
Similarly, if you have invented a new product, you may wish to look into securing a patent for your innovation, as this patent will provide you with more protection, ensuring your company is secure for up to 20 years.
As a result of entering the World Trade Organization, China has seen an influx of international goods.
To succeed in the Chinese market, companies must translate their brand names into Chinese as accurately as possible to attract consumers.
However, accurately translating these names isn’t always straightforward.
The economic development that a business may experience with a successful translation of their brand is enormous.
In order to file an application for a Chinese mark, a certified translation of your prior registration (in the U.K. or the U.S., for instance) will be required.
Nevertheless, a well-translated mark is unquestionably an effective marketing tool and symbol for a company.
It may also assist a business, allowing it to reach a broader global audience, and it can take you to a worldwide market.
The target audience’s customs should be followed while translating brand names.
Chinese brand names, for example, are often composed of two or three phrases, aligned with Chinese tradition.
Traditional Chinese names and names of places are written and are comprised of two or three words at most.
This approach should be followed when localising brand names from English into Chinese.
Once you join the Chinese market, the vast majority of your client base will be from China itself.
However, because these names come from many cultural backgrounds, they must first be translated into Chinese.
They may gain market share and the trust of Chinese consumers if they have a competent translator on their side.
As a result of cultural differences, individuals have various ways of thinking, temperaments, and interests when it comes to art and design.
Therefore, the specific cultures of the target nations should be reflected in the translation.
Translations must comply with local laws
Translations of brand names must adhere to local rules and regulations, particularly intellectual property laws.
This is because legislation varies from country to country, so you must be extra careful while translating.
For example, the word ‘citizen’ was rendered as ‘希奇准’ throughout the city. These three Chinese characters accurately and concisely define the product.
However, because of Hong Kong’s legal requirements, the brand name was rejected during the registration process. As a result, ‘Citizen’ was later retranslated as ‘西铁城.’
Translations protect intellectual property
In order to differentiate one company’s products or services from those of another equivalent business on the market, brand names are used.
Intellectual property rights protect these names.
A name may be registered for national or regional legal protection at the appropriate office by submitting an application for registration and paying the necessary fees.
The Madrid System of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an alternative to filing an application in each country where you want protection.
However, translating intellectual property isn’t easy. Since it involves so many nuances and linguistic subtleties, it requires an expert’s touch.
As there is a lot of complexity and subtleties involved in translating intellectual property, it’s best left to those with extensive experience.
Translations bring huge profit
A well-translated brand name is unquestionably an effective marketing tool for a company. It may also assist a business in reaching a broader global market.
A solid brand seems to play a crucial role in conveying meanings, explaining the benefits of a product, and differentiating it from competitors.
A good name may save a company a lot of money, while simultaneously generating enormous revenues.
As a result, businesses make no compromises when exploring the commercial attractiveness of brand names from every angle.
Conclusion
To summarise, brand names are critical to the sale of goods.
When translations are precise, they become a company’s intangible asset when it expands abroad.
Cultural and religious differences may have a significant role in the translation, so it would help if you prioritised these aspects while working on it.
Get in touch with us today, and receive a free, no-obligation quote!
by Michael Bastin | 28 Apr, 2021 | Professional Translation, Business, Outsourcing
As a successful UK company, you will naturally be looking to expand and make inroads in other markets, maybe ones that do not speak English.
Translation is, therefore, the next logical step, but the big question is, how much does it cost to translate a document?
There is no single answer to this as it will vary according to the industry, of course, but the good news is that are always high-quality translation services to meet your business’s budget.
Here are the things to consider.
Factors in the cost to translate a document
Factors affecting the cost to translate a document include:
- translation purpose
- language combinations
- word count
- turnaround time
- technical level
- file format
- frequency
Let’s examine each factor, so you know the translation services you need and where to build it into your budget.
Translation purpose
The questions you should ask yourself are: who is my audience? Is it internal or external? What level of understanding is needed?
The audience for your translation will affect the level of quality required and, consequently, the price.
Documents for public consumption should be very high quality, and the higher cost will include additional editing.
Internal documents, where understanding is more important than sounding perfectly natural, can be more cost-effective as they require less rigorous checking.
Post-edited Machine Translation is another option for keeping costs low.
Here, a human translator revises and edits machine translations for texts that are accurate and at a lower price.
Some language combinations are more suited to this than others, but it works very well for Western European languages.
Language combination
You will probably be wondering by now what the cost to translate a document into several languages at once is.
This also can vary, as some language combinations are cheaper than others. For instance, translation into Finnish costs more than into Spanish as, typically, there are more translators working into Spanish.
The price also reflects the expertise that the professional native-language translators in our network offer.
How much do translators charge per word?
Translation services are generally priced based on the number of words in the source text.
There can be discounts for repetitions within a text or matches from a previous translation.
BeTranslated can give a breakdown with your quote on request. You can also expect volume discounts for large projects.
If you are on a tighter budget, a better investment is to batch-translate to minimise costs over time.
How long does a translation take?
For quick translations, you can expect to pay more. But bear in mind that while quick translations can be convenient, quality and consistency could be affected.
A fast turnaround is more logistically demanding, so it pays to plan ahead and leave plenty of time for a translation that meets your exacting standards.
Our project managers can guide you through the standard translation process and the kind of time frame we work with.
We can customise the turnaround time in some situations, so please get in touch for more details. In addition, our network of freelance translators is worldwide, meaning one of our BeTranslated translators can meet your deadline, whatever the time zone.
Technical level
The more technical a document, for example, legal or medical texts, the higher the price point.
Here at BeTranslated, we understand that technical translations can be quite specific to the situation, so we work with our linguists to find the right terminology and involve experts from your company in the final word choice.
You can also provide a glossary to ensure consistency across texts.
What file formats can be translated?
Our CAT tools work with Word or Excel files, so any other file types will need to be converted, adding some extra time and cost to the process.
In addition, DTP tools like InDesign and Illustrator will need layout editing after language changes, which BeTranslated offers at an additional cost.
We also offer ICR (in-context review) of translated website content, which is billed by the hour.
How often do you need translations?
If you have frequent needs, BeTranslated can offer you some discounts and assistance with creating a translation memory (TM).
This is a tool that can help for regular projects as it is a database of your previous translations, so you can use the same vocabulary to ensure consistency and reduce costs.
It is particularly useful for content like product catalogues.
BeTranslated will create and host your translation memory for you and use it in every new translation.
Your perfect translation
Now that you have a better idea of the costs involved in translations, you can decide what is the right option for your business and your budget.
At BeTranslated, we can help you streamline costs so your translated content is perfectly suited for its purpose and audience.
For your leap into the international marketplace, BeTranslated is there to guide you through the process.
For more information or a free, no-obligation quote, contact us today.
by Michael Bastin | 23 Apr, 2021 | Communication, Audio Blog, Technology
If you are looking to share your company video, YouTube advert or documentary with an audience that doesn’t speak English, hiring a professional dubbing service for your audiovisual content might be the solution you’re looking for.
Our translation agency works closely with many experienced figures throughout the dubbing industry who can give your content the boost it deserves.
Dubbing opens the door to potentially millions of viewers
Audiovisual translation is one of our specialities. You will know by now that, at BeTranslated, we set a great deal of store by subtitling English-language content into other languages.
Subtitled video content on social media benefits from a considerably bigger audience than text-free video. The same goes for clips that are dubbed into the language of the target market.
Whether as an alternative to subtitles or in addition to them, dubbing audiovisual content is good publicity for you in your chosen language(s), whether it’s for your corporate video, your product advert or the classes on your YouTube channel.
In reality, using a professional dubbing service for your English-language video can put you in touch with literally millions of potential consumers.
Dubbing into French alone could allow you to reach not just France but Belgium, Switzerland, Senegal, Haiti, and Canada, among a great many others as well.
As you have put a lot of time and effort into producing a professional video, it makes sense to reach as big an audience as possible and more people will be able to understand it if it is accessible in one, or even two, other languages.
Latin America and China, for example, are major international markets – both home to a huge pool of buyers who will want to learn about your product in their own language.
Total professionalism with the best dubbing and voice-over actors
Our international network of linguists has grown and grown over the years to encompass a wide range of profiles, and many voice actors from a variety of backgrounds have swelled our ranks.
Consequently, we collaborate with voice actors offering voice-overs in Spanish, French, German and more besides, and with experience in adverts and TV channels.
Lip-syncing – matching lip movement to speech, as seen in many films and TV series – is one field that our voice actors excel in, giving you an unparalleled viewing experience.
Simple unsynchronised reading, as in a documentary with an off-screen narrator, is another option.
Our voice-over actors work with state-of-the-art recording equipment, therefore ensuring optimal sound quality and perfect delivery whatever the broadcast medium, from TV and Internet to cinema screen and auditorium.
Our translation agency guarantees professional dubbing artists in any language
Are you looking for an appealing French voice to explain the finer points of your company’s goals for 2024 and beyond?
Maybe your product will soon hit shelves in Italy and you know that only a video in the language of Dante has the ability to reach consumers in Rome, Naples and Florence?
Have you just launched your multilingual e-commerce website and want to offer a welcome video in Spanish or Chinese to be able to reach (much) more of the world?
Our translation agency is here to help. We offer the professional voice actors you need, the languages you’re looking for, and unrivalled actors.
BeTranslated has more than 20 years’ experience in professional translation, subtitling and voice-over.
There is nothing worse than the experience of dubbed audiovisual content done by an enthusiastic amateur with just an old microphone and an old version of GarageBand.
To really make an impact on your target market, professionalism is key.
Please do not hesitate to contact our team to get a quote within 48 hours and to find out more about our services.
by Michael Bastin | 31 Mar, 2021 | Good to Know, Professional Translation, Translation skills
Translators often have to meet some pretty tight deadlines. When every minute counts, having the necessary time-saving tools close at hand is vital.
Let’s go over the keyboard shortcuts that will save you precious seconds and mean you can deliver the perfect translation every time.
The big hitters
• Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y
These two keyboard shortcuts go hand in hand and can in many ways save you from some very unpleasant situations.
Firstly, Ctrl + Z lets you undo your last action. Say that you had accidentally deleted your translation for the phrase you’ve spent the last few minutes struggling with, simply press these two keys simultaneously and your sentence reappears!
Meanwhile, Ctrl + Y lets you redo your previous action. Maybe you thought it over and that tremendous sentence that you had just recovered no longer meets your standards.
Press Ctrl and Y, and it’s as if it never existed! You’ll be pleased to know that you can also use this shortcut for a number of programs besides Word.
• Ctrl + A
This shortcut means you avoid scrolling through a 60-page document that you want to copy all the content from; it does it for you! With this shortcut, you can select all the text in a Word, PDF or even Excel document, and it works for all situations, including your homepage or online.
• Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V
These keyboard shortcuts are better known as “copy-and-paste”, indispensable for any computer-user and even more so for a translator.
Once you have highlighted the right section of text with your mouse, press Ctrl + C, place your cursor where you want to paste the text and press Ctrl + V.
And like magic, there it is! It’s child’s play, really. The Ctrl + V shortcut is also handy for things like images or emojis.
The unsung heroes
• “Windows” + V
Very few people know this shortcut, and yet…have you ever lost the word or image that you had copied an hour ago?
This shortcut will open the clipboard, showing all the previous information that you had copied using Ctrl + C.
Once open, you can navigate with the up and down arrows, choose what interests you and press the Enter key to paste.
Bear in mind that the last thing you pasted to the clipboard will be automatically chosen when you next use Ctrl + V.
• Ctrl + Shift + N
Is your file explorer a sea of documents? A dumping ground where you are the only one who understands anything?
Maybe the time has come to reorganise your workspace, to create some folders with their own subfolders. The Ctrl + Shift + N shortcut lets you create a folder for your scattered documents and prompts you to give it a useful name.
A clear, well-organised workspace will obviously mean you can increase your efficiency as you will be able to find the documents you need straight away.
We recommend developing a classification system for your folders and subfolders. Remember that depending on your keyboard, the Shift key might show a small arrow pointing upwards rather than the word ‘shift’. Whatever your keyboard, it will be found above the Ctrl key.
• Ctrl + F2
This shortcut is the perfect complement to the one above. You have now created and named your folder, but a typo has sneaked into the folder name.
Don’t panic, it happens to the best of us, even translators!
Click on the folder and press Ctrl + F2. You can get rid of the ugly mistake in a flash, then save the name by pressing Enter. This is a useful quick fix for any type of document in your file explorer.
• Alt + Shift
Have you changed your keyboard, so you can write in your second language? Alt + Shift will get it back to normal! This shortcut is hugely helpful when you work with different languages.
Each language has a specific keyboard layout for use in any Windows system, whatever the letters and symbols displayed on the keys.
Press and hold Alt with the Shift key, and the menu of languages and settings available on your computer will stay open.
Scroll through them by pressing Shift again and release Alt once you have chosen the language you need.
• Ctrl + Alt + Prnt Scr
This shortcut is designed with any person using two screens in mind. The Prnt Scr key lets you take a screenshot of everything your computer is showing and saves it on the clipboard (remember Windows Key + V? This is a shortcut that you will come to rely on).
However, there is one problem: you only want to screenshot one screen. Simply press Prnt Scr and the Ctrl and Alt keys at the same time, and only the screen with the cursor will be saved.
All that remains is to paste the screenshot with Ctrl + V!
Quick tip – if you want to save this screenshot, open Paint (available on all Windows devices) and paste the image there. You can name and save it in the folder of your choice.
With these extremely handy keyboard shortcuts, you have now had a glimpse at some of the secret weapons in a translator’s arsenal.
They might seem like no big deal to begin with but these mean many of us can meet the deadlines set for us, and meeting deadlines is a point of pride for BeTranslated!
Do you need to translate your content? You’re in the right place.
BeTranslated will take care of it for you! If you have any questions or would like a free no-obligation quote, get in touch with us today.
by Michael Bastin | 22 Mar, 2021 | Business, Professional Translation, Translation services
It’s impossible not to notice the extent of which the world has changed, not only due to the pandemic, but also with the help of technological advancements.
Some of these changes that arose from the pandemic, are now past the point of irreversibility, which means we are solidly set in the digital age, whether that’s a good or a bad thing.
All kinds of industries have had to adapt to our new world and the new norm that is Zoom meetings, classes, and even parties.
The translation industry is no exception to this adaptation; requests for Zoom interpreting have become a common feature.
Why companies should embrace the digital shift
It is clear that, especially since the COVID pandemic, the economic, social and professional repercussions have been unlike anything we’ve known up to now.
A number of experts agree that habits adopted throughout the various lockdowns – such as keeping our distance and wearing face masks – will remain for a significant period, even now that the pandemic is over.
Likewise, the number of planes in the sky and trips away might be on the rise again but are unlikely to get back to the same levels as before the pandemic, particularly considering the extraordinary climate crisis and the increasing awareness of it among the wider public.
Consequently, remote working has increasingly become the norm. These days, it no longer surprises us to hear about companies who announce that they are saying goodbye to their expensive Silicon Valley offices and opting to work remotely full time.
These new ways of life are not a passing trend but will most likely mark the next decades of the 21st century – a century whereby a virtual, remote and socially distanced life is already second nature.
Any organisation unwilling to embrace the move online will run the risk of paying dearly for it.
Remote interpreting
Like the wider translation industry, interpreting is not immune to this situation. While some methods – such as simultaneous interpreting for organisations like the UN – are highly likely to re-emerge after the pandemic is over, the majority of interpretation services will take place remotely.
After a year of online corporate meetings between colleagues in different countries, we know full well that their smooth running no longer requires the physical presence of all participants.
Quite the opposite, as relegating these meetings to the past will mean companies can make significant savings on participants’ travel or hotel expenses.
Organisations have got to grips with this perfectly and are now investing in good-quality video conferencing software for better remote communication.
The boom in simultaneous Zoom interpreting is proof of that. Why fork out for a whole team’s travel when good Wi-Fi, high-performance video conferencing software and a PowerPoint translated into French or a PDF in German more than does the job?
Nevertheless, two aspects will make a world of difference: the quality of the interpreter’s work and how comfortable they are using Zoom in a professional capacity.
Zoom interpreting – 100% professional results
Do you want to organise a multilingual PowerPoint presentation for all your employees? Are you a company director giving an online talk to a group of international stakeholders? Or do you just want to seamlessly share ideas with a potential client or partner on the other side of the world?
Our qualified professional interpreters are experts in business interpretation – whether that is seminars, conferences, presentations, Q&As, meetings, or discussions – as well as trained in, and perfectly at ease, using Zoom.
This is what sets us apart from other agencies: with us, you can feel confident that we know our way around those pesky Zoom settings, guaranteeing smooth output and speech and no unwelcome disconnections or poor-quality images.
Our remote interpreters are renowned for their unimpeachable work.
These professionals, who work from the four corners of the globe and across time zones, are all experts in a chosen field, from IT or marketing to legal documents or medical texts. The quality of our Zoom simultaneous interpretation service is proof of their credentials.
Would you like to know more about our remote simultaneous interpretation services?
Contact one of our account managers to get a free, no-obligation quote.
