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Why is multilingualism vital for your business?

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English is a widely known and spoken language both in business circles and in private life. Nowadays, however, English alone is not enough to reach every potential market. It is crucial for multinational companies to communicate with their partners and clients in multiple languages.

Customers often do not necessarily decide based on the price of a product or service, but on the language the company communicates in. Put more simply, you can reach more people if you know what language to address them in. This reads particularly true for smaller companies, who are constantly competing with one another to attract the attentions of the market and make their brands known.

Multilingualism is a must on the web. Read on and learn why your company needs a multilingual website!

This map clearly underlines that the number of English speakers is not nearly as high as you might think, even in European countries such as Italy or Spain.

English speakers world map

source: telegraphtravel.carto.com

This shows that unless you want to deprive your company of considerable revenue, it is vital to communicate in more than one language, whether we are talking about business documentation, or digital marketing texts such as articles and blog posts. Although English is essentially spoken all over the world, it is often more effective to provide certain texts, for example promotional materials, in the mother-tongue of your prospective customers. This not only shows you are obliging, it also helps to convey the meaning of your communication to the fullest extent.

At EDMF we help our partners with this, and can ensure your company’s texts published in multiple languages reach your target audiences, thereby keeping your existing customers and acquiring new ones.

Proofreading

Why is proofreading important in business communication?

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The success and prestige of a business can frequently depend on sophisticated wording. A thorough review and correction of a text is crucial when concluding an important contract, but it can make a huge difference for websites, publications, articles, books and marketing materials as well.

Whatever your line of business, communication is everything, and well-composed texts, besides impacting on clients, can immediately form and convey an image of the company itself.

Proofreading may seem simple at first sight, but not everyone is cut out for the job. Professional expertise is not necessarily enough though, as minor errors, typing mistakes and missed words need to be spotted too. The fact the human mind automatically corrects errors that it detects while reading a text makes the task even more difficult. Generally speaking, after writing a long text it is worth having it read by someone else, who can read it with a fresh mind and spot the mistakes that the author simply overlooked.

A minor typo or an inappropriately used word may lend a totally different meaning to a sentence or even the entire text, which may cause misunderstandings.

Not to mention that overlooking such errors suggests that the author did not pay enough attention to the task, making it less appealing for existing or potential clients. Grammar and spelling mistakes divert attention from the content of the text, making it difficult to read and thus casting doubt on the authenticity and expertise of the author.

For business texts it is important to think ahead not only with regard to the content but also in terms of the format, so it is worth sending a contract to a proofreader for example to avoid possible financial losses in the future. With accurate and correct wording you can ensure your prospective client will consider your newly established partnership to be professional and focused, but also reliable

There are several types of proofreading, for example native or professional proofreading.

With native proofreading the reviewer corrects both the style and the language of the text. Sometimes there is a specific requirement to have a target text that is not a word-by-word translation of the original. Such is the case, for example, with slogans, marketing texts, literary texts, or texts that mediate between two different cultures.

Professional proofreading is carried out by a recognised professional, for instance a doctor, an engineer or a programmer, who is well-versed in the specialist field but is also a qualified translator. With documentation, tenders, professional publications, information leaflets, user manuals, financial, legal, medical and technical texts, it is extremely important to involve a proofreader.

Alongside grammar errors, style is of paramount importance too since you need to meet the requirements of the target audience and the communication context as well.

Ask for a free tailored quote for our proofreading services. Our native proofreaders are all highly trained professionals.