Case Studies

Retail Translation Case Study

Whether it is foreign market, or the cross- cultural, multilingual customer base in the home nation, retailers need to communicate with their audiences through several ways such as catalogs, brochures, e-commerce sites, newspaper leaflets, coupons, in-store promotions, product manuals, packaging instructions, and other point- of- sale collaterals. Even internal customers to an organization, its employees are to be provided the translated and usable formats of product manuals, operation guidelines, and other training material. Many a time, the material consists of repeated texts across product lines and over time, especially so when the organization has sufficient cross- lingual global presence. This kind of texts greatly benefits from technology.

Unlike luxury retail, mass retail is characterized by high- volume, low- margin on its projects. To keep pace with highly dynamic high volume, short-turnarounds are a prerequisite for translated texts in retail. Apart from turnaround time, price is a key consideration. Many a time retailers may focus solely on price per word and hourly rate without realizing the quality issues that may arise later on. Guarding information from competitors is another key concern for retailers, especially of large organizations. They require their translation efforts to be distinct from those of their competitors. Further closely observed, translation gives competitive edge to a company over those not using translation as the former had already figured out how to work in customer’s language.

One very important aspect in retail translation is the legal and cultural environment of the origin country. Quebec , for instance, requires companies with more than 100 employees to provide work- manuals in English and French. To be eligible for the European Community’s CE mark, the supplier must confirm to language specific requirements which may include translation. Having understood the cost effective strategy of translation, it is equally important to understand HOW it is to be done. In retail, place of transaction is very important. A catalogue designed in Spanish for customers in Mexico may not meet the needs of customers in Spain. Taiwanese customers can understand the packaging tailored to the market in China, however, they can tell immediately that it was not made for them. This calls for the need of culturally sound translators who understand market sensitivity to social & cultural influences.

Knowing this, how does then one maximizes the output through translation? An effective and efficient strategy aligns technology with processes. For instance, TM or Translation Memory software can be used to reduce cost of translation by reusing already translated structures from a database of previous similar structures. Using a GLOSSARY could be a second cost- saving tool especially for industry specific terms such as visual merchandising, 0% interest rate etc. A style guide could be the third aid to understand culture specific conventions. Staffing adequate in- house resource helps retailers enforce consistent terminology and language hand- offs.

A crucial point in context is to support human translation with technology. Systems driven process can handle the high- volume, high quality considerations other than handling smooth file movements, confidentiality, and consistency across projects.

It is then imperative for translators working on retail project to understand the legal, social, and cultural connotations in translation project and support the same with advanced technological tools for the maximum optimization of available resources.