Good translation key to staying in global marketplace

In our last few blogs, we shared insights on the content conundrum and the challenges of communicating hundreds of different and often confusing content entries about hotel rooms and amenities across the hospitality distribution chain.

While those issues have been vexing the industry for years, they become exponentially more complex when it comes to translation.

Translation is difficult to manage. It’s costly. It’s difficult to synchronize when you bring on new products. And many ad hoc language translation decisions are made with little or no control over language quality.

But going global is no longer optional. And to stay competitive, hotels need to be communicating in multiple languages. Many still aren’t, however, and for many reasons.

Translation is hard. And study after study shows that if you do translations, they must be not only highly accurate but also incorporate multiple local colloquialisms.

Yes, more and more people across the world speak English as our economies and everyday lives become increasingly intertwined. But research shows that when it comes to internet shopping, they want to do business with websites and mobile apps in their local tongue.

According to the research firm Common Sense Advisory, 90 percent of online users choose a native language when available, 78 percent are more likely to buy from a site in their own language and 60 percent of online shoppers in Japan and France won’t buy from a site that isn’t in their native tongue.

Those are powerful figures, and ones that underscore how much revenue you probably don’t even know you are leaving on the table if you’re not using a good translation system or are reducing your language offerings because they are too costly or difficult to manage.

That’s why we have been aggressively focused here at DHISCO on creating DHISCO Translation Services, which leverages human translation in a synchronized workflow. We use native speakers to make sure the translations are not only correct but relevant for different regions. And that’s augmented with the latest in translation technology with customizable workflows that enable hotel companies to test new languages before they launch into new markets.

DHISCO Translation Services takes a pragmatic approach to these challenges. It allows hotels to translate their content once across channels and devices, enabling them to optimize their translation resources and budget while reaching more people, quickly, with just the right content.

After all, the only thing worse than not having a website in the language of one of your target markets is having bad translation. In the end, studies and experts have shown that the long-term losses of poor translations far outweigh the costs of doing them right.

– Anne Cole, vice president, content