Digital translation How is it born and what does it consist of?
It is undeniable that our society is immersed in a digital revolution that has impacted the entire planet on a social, cultural and economic level. Traditional processes and businesses have changed and evolved to a point where many of their tasks, communications and transactions are carried out through the Internet.
The new order that has been generated at a global level has meant that the way of relating to both users and other companies has changed radically. Technological globalization has meant that customers are much more informed than before, having the ability to choose from thousands of options and compare which ones best suits them. This has created a new form of communication between companies and customers, in addition to the birth of new companies or business models with solutions other than those provided to this day by traditional business models.
What does the digital revolution mean for my business?
The importance of marketing in companies has increased exponentially if we intend to expand our business and communicate with our customers in their native language. That is why in the digital sector and, more specifically, in the digital marketing sector, The translation work It is considered one of the most relevant for the image of our brand and communication with our clients.
The needs that are required of translators in the digital world are endless, from web page translation, e-commerce, posts, newsletters, advertising campaigns, etc.
Currently, the possibility of competing in a global market is within the reach of any company, no matter how small. International websites require translation and optimization work depending on the country in which we want to locate them, but their creation and resources have never been as close at hand as they are now.
The birth of the website of a business in the local country has been greatly facilitated thanks to content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla… and the same can be said of the management of e-commerce thanks to programs such as Prestashop or Magento. All these tools have facilitated the presence of any type of business on the Internet, although it is true that the work so that this presence becomes a real and profitable business depends on many other factors that must be worked on, such as the SEO, advertising campaigns, e-commerce optimization, marketing strategies, etc.
How important is the language when it comes to selling in the digital age?
To analyze the impact that our online business is going to have in the different countries in which we decide to operate, we have first to analyze what the users of these locations require and need to navigate and consume on our digital platforms.
There is no doubt that at a global level the king of languages is English, so the translation services we request should include, in most cases, adaptation to this language. It is possible that, depending on the budget and how ambitious the project is, we do not have the capacity to translate into all the languages of the countries in which we are going to operate (although it is recommended), so a website in English is the patch that is usually used to give basic information in a language that is handled. in most locations in the world.
However, we find data that reflects that most users prefer to navigate their mother tongue (in many cases because they do not know another). A study by the European Commission stated that 9 out of 10 users always visited a website in their own language than a website in another language. The same study declared that 42% of Internet users never bought on a website in languages that were not in their native language, so the possibilities of selling products on a website that are not well translated are almost half.
In this sense, digitization requires professional translation services, not to appear on the websites at a global level, but so that these appearances are professional and provide the same value to the user in the target language as the one we are providing to users in the country of origin of the business.
All these needs multiply when we talk about countries where the predominant language is much stronger than in markets like the European one (we are talking about powers such as China, Russia or the US), so depending on the growth objectives that we set for our digital business, we must give priority to certain languages or others.
The digital world is here to stay, and the competition is increasing, so the quality of our work will make a difference with respect to our competitors.
