If your business is ready to take on a new and international market, congratulations! Expanding into foreign markets can be a daunting endeavor, and often rewards risk takers with great returns.
Growth into new markets means new customers to serve and new revenue opportunities for your firm, but it also comes with a host of barriers that your company may not have considered.
International trade is highly regulated, and there is a very low margin for error. Without proper preparation and experts to support your international trade initiatives, including translated documents, your expansion efforts could suffer serious setbacks.
Regulations are especially tight for trading internationally, and the legal documents required could often fill a bookcase!
If you’re moving into a new, international market and are looking for the best way to keep your business interests secure, you can consider professional document translation to be one of your greatest assets.
Before we take a look at why translation is so vitally important, let’s first look at the many advantages of international business, which make expanding appealing to many companies.
The Business Journals, for example, identifies the top five reasons why companies decide to go international as open doors to new markets, diversification, access to talent, competitive advantage, and foreign investment opportunities.
The notion of bringing your company’s solutions, in the form of goods or services, to a new market can be appealing, but it requires a large amount of courage, patience, and planning. Make sure that your business and your reputation remain in good standing by ensuring that your documentation—legal or otherwise— satisfies not only the international trade regulation standards, but also embraces the communities and cultures you’re targeting.
Why Should Your Business Consider International Trade?
Two words: the Internet. The evolution of the Internet has enabled companies around the globe to target audiences they never before thought possible.
In addition, professional services are now available to bring your business their expertise and help ensure your international success. This includes regulatory advisors and linguists to assist you in navigating the regulatory and commercial landscape as well as properly managing your international documentation needs.
Why spend the time attempting to manage this on your own? Instead, consult with experts to handle the details of your international trade certification, documentation, and other requirements.
International trade is a complex endeavor. While the benefits of international trade may outweigh the potential pitfalls, you must be prepared for the documentation required involving everything from exporting and contracting to shipping and banking, in addition to marketing and promotional activities.
Documentation is at the heart and soul of international trade and for nearly every transaction there will be a hefty amount of paperwork— both external and internal.
To make the process run smoothly, the translation and cultural context of your documents should be absolute in their detail and correct in all minuitia. It is better to ensure things are done correctly, at the outset, than to risk delays or the expense of having to do things over.
Consider your product offering from the perspective of your consumers.
Are they able to immediately understand your product, or does it require some instructional documentation? How do you know if your instructions are being translated correctly, especially if your translator is unfamiliar with either your terminology, your product—or even both!
And how does your customer learn about and purchase your product or service in the first place? Promotional information such as datasheets, websites, and even product packaging and labeling all require a keen eye toward regulatory requirements, cultural nuances, and accurate translation.
Hiring a professional organization for your business’ document translation is a one crucial way to ensure that your business is complying with the demands of trading with international markets.
You’ve Heard It’s a Headache – Is International Trade Worth It?
In short, yes. And maybe even in long, too! So what are the reasons to pursue international trade?
There are many potential positive outcomes. International trading can open up doors for your business that you never considered previously, and especially can give you access to countless new customers.
However, that isn’t to say it comes without great effort, and many businesses are scared off by the prospect of dealing with regulations, cultural and language differences, and document translation upkeep.
For any international marketing your business does, having relevant cultural insight will ensure that your business stands out from the crowd in a positive way. There is nothing worse than an unintelligible or cheaply translated document, especially when it’s important that your business be taken seriously.
Even a document with minor cultural or contextual errors can appear unprofessional, and it’s likely not something you’d want to put your good name behind.
It can seem overwhelming first discover, then confirm, and finally conform to the various rules and regulations for international trade. It can hazardous to try and navigate these regulations without industry and cultural experts familiar with the markets and trading guidelines relevant to your industry. And, with a careless translation, your document message can be altered in ways you might never catch until the damage is done.
Rather than leave your document translation to a non-professional and risk losing business—or worse—trust the experts at International Language Services to accurately convey your message to the foreign markets you’re targeting.
Of the multitudes of documents involved in international trade, not a single one should be run through a machine translation. International trading requires financial, commercial, insurance, and transport documents—not to mention specific documents required by your target countries for your specific industry.
The documentation you use in pursuit of international trade should be carefully translated, edited, and reviewed by experts.
Consulting with experienced regulatory advisors and hiring a professional organization to oversee translations will save you time and provide piece of mind, while freeing you to focus on other important aspects of your business.
The professional document translators at ILS have mastered more than 180 languages as well as the technical aspects of your industry, which ensures that documents are delivered accurately and on time with your intended meaning conveyed. This leaves you time to focus on other aspects of international trade to ensure your business finds success.
