Many businesses hire translators to do all their business, from marketing materials to labels to internal documents. They will bring in translators for quality control, consistency, packaging compliance, to save money, and to reach more consumers in the global marketplace. If you’re a bilingual company or one that offers products to customers who speak another language, these are five reasons why you should hire a translator, too!
1. Quality Control
Many people assume that anyone who can speak two languages is also qualified to translate documents between them. This isn’t true, and translation services are a very specialized area that 
relies on years of study and accreditation in both language and culture to provide the full meaning of one language into another.
At its most basic, translators should provide accuracy of spelling, grammar, punctuation, as well as ensure they represent any technical terminology accurately in the translated text. They also have proofreading so that you can be sure that the final wording seen by the public is correct to how they speak the language.
2. Consistency Across Projects
Mistakes don’t have to be out in public to hurt your business: they can cause misinterpretations within a bilingual company, too. Businesses hire professional translators to make sure that there is consistency throughout in-house materials, too.
Good translators maintain glossaries of industry-specific terms to make sure the consistency in translation projects reaches every word; it also speeds up the process! They often use translation software to help with this task, especially if working on longer materials.
3. Packaging Compliance
Manufacturers and graphic designers have to modify their packaging design for the market they are entering. It’s a task that can bring some hesitation or uncertainty, especially when bilingual packaging regulations are strict; some mistakes can lead to costly penalties. Businesses will hire translators to ensure that their bilingual packaging is compliant with the rules and regulations of the specific market. This consistency also secures brand cohesion if the company is producing information and messaging in different formats.
4. Many Businesses See It As A Money-Saving Solution
Professional translators can take on projects at scale, meaning they can accommodate for an increase in work or output in a cost-effective, timely manner. They have both the right tools and the quality assurance procedures to reduce mistakes and prevent the need for expensive reprints.
A business’s translator must localize specialized texts on tight deadlines, and they can’t spend precious hours waiting for a translation and correction. Businesses hire translators not only to change texts but also to do everything with accuracy. For example, one common task we see at WordFrog is video subtitling and voiceover services – companies hire us because our subtitling and voiceover work eliminates the need to produce a separate video for each language. We have saved many marketing teams a lot of time, resources and money!
5. It Has Become Essential For The Global Marketplace
No longer can major companies be content to serve only one language market – to get big, they have to think big. Many businesses these days have to hire translators to expand because not knowing the cultural norms of a region can both lead to embarrassing mistakes and decimate any chance of reaching new audiences. Translators should consider every regulation, legal requirement and social norm when turning out a text to ensure that every piece of packaging and marketing material sounds correct to those who speak the language every day.
