| Translation services have become a necessity in | | | | The need for proper translation is even more |
| today's highly globalized business environment. Aside | | | | apparent for companies in highly technical or |
| from enabling products and services to be more | | | | specialized industries such as medical equipment |
| easily accepted by their target markets, properly | | | | manufacturing. In fact, the European Union's Medical |
| translating technical documentation and other | | | | Device Directive (93/42/EEC) requires medical device |
| collateral materials can help consumers gain | | | | manufacturers to adopt a multilingual documentation |
| confidence in the company itself. | | | | process. The Directive has made it mandatory for |
| However, translating a product or service goes | | | | companies to translate not just the product |
| beyond merely converting words from one language | | | | packaging, but end-user instructions, labels and other |
| to another. As many multinational companies have | | | | essential product documentation. |
| already learned, there are many factors to consider | | | | While some companies may think that using an |
| when entering a foreign market. Aside from the | | | | in-house translation team or simply relying on local |
| linguistic barrier, companies need to understand that | | | | partners or distributors is a cost-effective approach |
| there are many cultural, social, and even political | | | | to translation and localization, this can often result in |
| factors that can affect how information is translated | | | | poor translations. Aside from the potential legal |
| and received by a target audience. | | | | repercussions of mistranslating product-specific |
| While translation errors are sometimes just humorous | | | | documentation, this can also lead to loss of consumer |
| or annoying, in some cases, improperly translated | | | | confidence. |
| documentation or instructions can lead to disastrous | | | | Professional providers of translation services have |
| results. For instance, the lack of properly translated | | | | the manpower and resources to accurately translate |
| documentation can prevent administrators and | | | | and localize products and documentation for a specific |
| end-users of complex software and data | | | | target market. Through their services, companies can |
| management systems to fully utilize the capabilities of | | | | prevent the potential problems that can arise from |
| the system. Aside from usability issues, the potential | | | | inaccurate or poorly translated documents. |
| for data also becomes much greater. | | | | |