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Translators speak to growing need

Interpreters help companies walk linguistic tightrope

By Paula Schleis
Beacon Journal business writer

Published on Monday, Mar 10, 2008

It's one thing for a translator to give an American executive the gist of what a Chinese newspaper wrote about his company.

It's an entirely different challenge to take the nuance and intentional ambiguity in a popular slogan and impart the same meaning to a Mandarin-speaking audience.

The shift to a global economy has companies of all sizes walking a linguistic tightrope when it comes to communicating with distant clients and consumers, said Elena Dunne of Advanced Language Translation Inc.

Dunne, who works for the New York-based company from her home office in Munroe Falls, has assembled interpreters and editors for projects in 30 different languages.

The most challenging assignments, she said, are marketing material.

Consider the ''tagline,'' a phrase a company attaches to a product. The goal is to say much with few words, relying on a shared and unspoken understanding with the target audience to fill in the blanks.

Many slogans can't be translated literally, at least not without offending, confusing or amusing the new audience.

''A tagline can have many messages behind it,'' Dunne said, ''and you have to re-create all the ideas in that message for the new culture and still preserve the meaning.''

Technical and medical documents also face a high degree of difficulty, especially if the product, technology or process is new.

''The newer the area, the harder it is because so few people know about it,'' Dunne said. ''It's harder to research the terminology and sometimes in the target country the terminology isn't even known, so translators actually have to help create this field.''


Not surprisingly, the need for skilled translators is greater than the supply.

Dr. Francoise Massardier-Kenney, director of Kent State University's Institute for Applied Linguistics, said a decade ago there were probably fewer than 10 graduate students in the program at any one time.

Now, the program averages about 55 graduate students a year.

That growth is a direct result of the development of business through the Web and globalization, she said.

The graduate students are already fluent in another language. The KSU coursework prepares them to be professional translators.

''People know now that you are much more likely to buy a product if it is presented in your own language,'' Kenney said.

Even if someone understands English well, they are likely to miss puns and cultural references used in common marketing material, she said.

Dunne understands those challenges personally.

She was born in Russia, coming to America a few years ago as part of a cultural exchange program with the YMCA. When she learned about Kent's linguistic program, she decided to stay.

She earned her master's in 2003, specializing in German, then relocated to Rochester, N.Y., to take a job with Advanced Language Translation.

At her request, the company sent her back to Northeast Ohio in 2006 to establish an office.

''There is a large manufacturing base of small and medium-size companies and that is who we work with most of the time, so it made sense,'' she said. She can also tap the KSU program for interns.

Another trend she sees contributing to her growing industry is an effort by local chambers of commerce and economic development groups to help companies increase their export potential.

''For companies now to be competitive and be able to compete with China, India and all this outsourcing, they have to find channels outside of the state and outside of the country,'' Dunne said.

Some translation services specialize in oral communication, but Dunne said her team's expertise is the written word.

In addition to marketing materials, they can translate Web sites, software programs, operating manuals and required government and shipping documentation.

And sometimes their target audiences are within the United States, Dunne said, noting large Spanish and Asian language communities in places like California and New York.

The process usually begins with the company explaining its need, and Dunne preparing a quote based on how involved the project will be. Dunne said there is no specific hourly rate or price template because every job is a customized order.

She said the number of people that need to be involved will take many things into consideration, including this question: ''What is the risk of not getting it right? Is it something that somebody will laugh at and not take serious, or is somebody going to get killed?''

So while most jobs require a writer and editor who are native speakers of the target language, other jobs — say, translating manuals for a medical device — will pull in industry experts.

Native speakers are critical, Dunne said, because translators need to know how the audience will perceive the material and offer suggestions to unwitting American executives.

For instance, a personable tone might work with a consumer here, but be considered improper in another country.

Dunne used her own country as an example.

English language software tends to be hand-holding, ''like we're sitting down with the user and walking them through the program,'' Dunne said.

But that would seem strange to a Russian user who is used to more authoritative instructions: ''I'm telling you how to do this.''

American companies trying to develop foreign relationships would do well to respect that subtle difference.

''Though the customer may understand the words, it could become apparent to the customer that the company is not trying to build a rapport,'' Dunne explained. ''A company doesn't want to appear as if they don't value their customer.''

Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.

It's one thing for a translator to give an American executive the gist of what a Chinese newspaper wrote about his company.

Get the full article here.


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