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Home > Globalization > Domain-Specific Language Expertise
Although most good translation firms will do a fine job translating large volumes of content for you, it may be impossible for them to get every last detail correct in a domain where they don't have specific expertise. This is especially true for highly nuanced languages like Japanese.
As an example, imagine you're building software for managing online advertising. You don't want a term in your product like "campaign" (as in ad campaign) to be translated into a word in another language that connotes something sounding like remotely like "propaganda." A native speaker of your target language with domain expertise in that business should know the industry-standard term, or at least know whom to ask.
Especially in the case of emerging technologies, the native-language domain expert can also advise you if multiple terms are being used in that language, if the English-language term is being adopted, or if there is a preferred local term. Try to focus on the most standard and commonly-used terms so that your eventual translated product sounds as natural as possible to your future local users.
You'll want to find and interview at least 2-3 domain experts. Your domain expert might simply be your country manager or someone they hire in market. Ensure that each candidate has a good working understanding of the terms used in your industry and are very familiar with your product.
Start with your glossary along with some representative product or help copy written natively in your source language. Text taken directly from your product is preferable to marketing copy from your website.
Ask each of the candidates to translate some key terms from your glossary and at least a paragraph of copy. (You don't want to overwhelm the candidates with busy work, but they should be expecting to do some translation as part of the interview process.)
Label the translations "A," "B," "C," etc. Anonymously share each of the translated texts with each candidate. Ask the candidates to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each other's translations. If you're not familiar with the target language, this will provide you insight into the range of translation options and select someone whose voice and approach matches what your company is trying to achieve.
Money-saving tip: If you're not able to have the native-language domain expert proofread every word in your product, have them focus on the glossary. At a previous company, we were able to hire a native-language expert review and tweak our glossary of about 100 words for only $500. This helped jumpstart the translation and provide the key terms already translated to the high-volume translation firm we eventually engaged.
Domain-Specific Language Expertise
Before launching your product in any other language, finding a domain expert to at least verify the translation, if not actually help with the translation, is key.Although most good translation firms will do a fine job translating large volumes of content for you, it may be impossible for them to get every last detail correct in a domain where they don't have specific expertise. This is especially true for highly nuanced languages like Japanese.
As an example, imagine you're building software for managing online advertising. You don't want a term in your product like "campaign" (as in ad campaign) to be translated into a word in another language that connotes something sounding like remotely like "propaganda." A native speaker of your target language with domain expertise in that business should know the industry-standard term, or at least know whom to ask.
Especially in the case of emerging technologies, the native-language domain expert can also advise you if multiple terms are being used in that language, if the English-language term is being adopted, or if there is a preferred local term. Try to focus on the most standard and commonly-used terms so that your eventual translated product sounds as natural as possible to your future local users.
You'll want to find and interview at least 2-3 domain experts. Your domain expert might simply be your country manager or someone they hire in market. Ensure that each candidate has a good working understanding of the terms used in your industry and are very familiar with your product.
Start with your glossary along with some representative product or help copy written natively in your source language. Text taken directly from your product is preferable to marketing copy from your website.
Ask each of the candidates to translate some key terms from your glossary and at least a paragraph of copy. (You don't want to overwhelm the candidates with busy work, but they should be expecting to do some translation as part of the interview process.)
Label the translations "A," "B," "C," etc. Anonymously share each of the translated texts with each candidate. Ask the candidates to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each other's translations. If you're not familiar with the target language, this will provide you insight into the range of translation options and select someone whose voice and approach matches what your company is trying to achieve.
Money-saving tip: If you're not able to have the native-language domain expert proofread every word in your product, have them focus on the glossary. At a previous company, we were able to hire a native-language expert review and tweak our glossary of about 100 words for only $500. This helped jumpstart the translation and provide the key terms already translated to the high-volume translation firm we eventually engaged.
