Communication is all about building trust

So, you’ve spent hours getting to this point and you now want to expand to English speaking customers. And that is where a lot of companies fall down. You’ve invested a lot of time, which is money, drawing in your potential clients. You don’t mind doing this because it’s an investment right? The time and money you put in now will lead to sales of your products or services. You need to invest to reap the benefits later.

Where a lot of businesses fall down is that they do not apply the same rules to their marketing strategy when they hit the version in the foreign language. Everything you’ve read so far, you’ve nodded your head and agreed with, but for some reason you get to the version in a different language and instantly see translation as an expense not an investment.

How many times have I read a website that has been translated by somebody working in house in marketing who speaks English very well. The type of person that may spend hours of their day communicating with colleagues in a different country in excellent English, or answering customer queries in English with no problem. They have a strong French accent, but their English is more than good enough to be understood by the person at the other end of the line.

But, and this is a big but, English is not their mother tongue. Simply learning a language is not enough to fully capture its nuances. Beyond vocabulary, grammar, conjugation and spelling, lies the more intangible fundamentals of culture, way of life, history, tradition and much more. These cornerstones which shape words and expressions in a unique manner depending on the specific context.

When students travel to the United Kingdom to learn English, their aim is much more than to merely acquire, practice or polish their linguistic skills. They do so to fully immerse themselves in a microcosm that is different to their own. And for even the most enthusiastic and open-mind, absorbing these intangible fundamentals which are not part of their DNA takes time.

In my case, I have lived in France for 20 years during which time I have translated websites, financial reports, IPOs and corporate communications among others. I have therefore learnt to understand the subtleties of the French language, but also its structure, nuances and everything else hidden behind its words.

I do not claim to be able to express myself better than native-speakers do in French, quite the opposite. However, I do know how to faithfully express your ideas in English.

Moreover, most professional translators (I say most as there are some very rare exceptions) only translate into their mother tongue. A sentence can be grammatically correct, but sometimes just not sound right. For example, French sentences flow at a different pace to English sentences.