English is considered the international language of business, but this trend is slowly starting to reverse. In fact, only 20% of the world’s population speaks English as a first language. As the business world opens up, then languages such as Spanish, French, and Mandarin are becoming more in demand.
Many businesses, when needing to translate documents and marketing campaigns, often turn to AI systems to try and reduce costs. Without a doubt, AI has revolutionized certain areas of business, especially in sectors like marketing, where it is used increasingly automation and customer contact.
However, using AI for your important business translation needs may not be the catch-all solution it seems to be. How many badly translated social media posts or signs have you seen online?
Here’s why using a traditional, human-based linguistics approach is good for your business.
AI Translation Is Cheaper, But It May Still Cost You Dearly
There’s no doubt that many of the free translation software programs out there do a great job of translating very simple text content from one language to another. Industry behemoths such as Google and Microsoft are investing substantial sums of money in an effort to improve its accuracy. Human translators, such as those at Para Plus translations still represent the standards of accuracy that these companies are trying to match.
Badly translated documents can cause you to look unprofessional, which can cost you contracts and customers. The more important your document, the more important it is to make sure that it’s accurate and reflects the nuances of a language.
In some industries, a bad translation can have extremely serious consequences in the legal or medical sectors.
Lost In Translation
Not all documents are standard business contracts or reports that need a simple direct translation. AI cannot recognize nuance, tone of voice or context in your writing, and any attempts at humor will probably produce some extremely bizarre translations.
Culture Clash
One of the many great things about being able to work with companies all over the world is the opportunity to experience different cultures and ways of doing things. Each country has its own way of doing things, and a turn of phrase that is extremely common in one country might be disrespectful and rude to another.
You don’t want to risk offending someone.
Brand Reputation
If you communicate with prospects and customers on social media using poorly translated messages, it will affect their perception of your brand. No one wants to buy something from a company that does not take the time communicate with them properly. There are entire social media accounts dedicated to bad translations. You don’t want to become popular for all the wrong reasons.
Key takeaways
AI translators have their place, but if you are looking for a high degree accuracy, context, tone of voice, and cultural fit, then a human linguistics translation is still the gold standard. Don’t be tempted to try and cut costs at the expense of your reputation.