Native-speaker translation for business success – think globally, act locally

“If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen.”
Willy Brandt, former West-German Chancellor

Why is it worthwhile working with native translators who are well-versed in the customs and traditions of the given people? 

Let’s take a look at some sobering figures

A recent survey showed that the price of linguistic shortcomings, in the EU alone, was huge*:

• 200 companies indicated that they had missed out on contracts because of language deficits,
• the estimated aggregate value of the lost deals: 54 companies lost between 16.5 and 25.3 million euros, 37 companies lost between 8 and 13.5 million euros and 10 companies more than 1 million euros

One of the reasons for the business failures is the lack of cultural belonging or similarities.

Is it really worth missing out on so many millions of euros by not sacrificing a fraction of this on professional translation? Especially when your company is expanding abroad or you are planning to establish a fruitful business relationship in another culture?

The solution to these important issues is “glocalism”.

Consciously realising this and understanding its crucial importance lead to international success.

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Glocal is a new expression coined from the words “global” and “local”.

The objective of the “think globally, act locally” approach is for the globalised world to be a stable and integrated place, but at the same time protect the cultural heritage of local areas as well.

So what does glocal mean?

1. Global events take on local significance by influencing the local economy, and local events also have a global impact.

This resembles the butterfly effect, where the wind created by a butterfly flapping its wings can cause hurricanes on the other side of the planet. Glocalism creates smaller events in the local economy which have an effect on the global economy. Parallel to this, every global event can potentially influence the local economy too. Everything is connected.

2. Adapting your product or service in another culture.

This means that when you position your own products and brands on a target market, you need to take cultural relevance into account.

3. Glocal helps products and services be global and local at the same time.

International organisations pursuing their business activities all across the world have to take cultural requirements into consideration much in the same way as the local grocer, who knows everything about his local customers. People are not interested in whether a given business can address the masses, what they want to know is whether the company can live up to local needs and demands.

4. Glocal influences society

The renowned business strategist Dion Hinchcliffe said the following in an article (FORRÁS?): “Glocalism is an emerging trend that will be amplified by social media – and many companies won’t be prepared.”**

With the help of glocalism, local consumers, economies and cultures have much more power in the international economy. They now want products or services not just to be translated into their language, but that they “speak” to them properly.

5. Glocal impacts on translation and localisation

Based on glocalism guidelines it will no longer be enough for companies just to translate their documents into the local language. Materials have to be culturally relevant at the target destination as well.

Alongside translation and localisation, organisations need to ensure that they not only address their target audience in the local language, but that they are also relevant to them in a cultural context as well. It is no longer enough just to ask a translation agency to translate product specifications into however many languages.

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*Source: 21 November 2011 Egy nyelvet beszélünk? Konferencia a nyelvoktatás és foglalkoztathatóság összefüggéseiről
**Source: https://www.enterpriseirregulars.com/58013/social-media-marketing-predictions-for-2013-part-1/