HT Localization Presents Language Translations: Is it Good Practice to Ask Bilingual Employees to Translate Materials?

Segment 36 – Is it Good Practice to Ask Bilingual Employees to Translate Materials? 

There are so many advantages to having bilingual people on board.  Having bilingual employees can bring huge advantages to global companies in today’s business environment.  Bilingual employees can bring fresh perspective to business practices and can help execute business interactions with more geographically and culturally diverse clients.  Many companies have discovered the value in having a varied workforce and actively seek bilingual employees.  

Now here’s a common question, clients and friends often ask... "Can't we have our bilingual staff translate business materials and documentation?” 

It seems like an easy concept to hook onto – “He speaks Spanish. Let's ask him to translate the document into Spanish.”  This is actually a common approach for many companies new to the localization process.  While this may be a perfectly viable solution for some internal documents, is it the right solution for a company’s localization needs?

The answer depends…

I suppose that if the bilingual employee happens to be an attorney with fluency and literacy, and law licenses in both languages and regions, then having him write that legal memo for staff in Spain from an English original is probably less risky.  Nonetheless…it’s not always best practice to use bilingual employees to translate materials. 

• What is the employee’s normal role?
• Can he actually write well?
• Who is the audience – internal only, clients, media or public?
• What are the subject matter, media, and risks involved – regulatory, legal, financial, medical, policy, safety, operations, etc.?
• Is there anyone else available who can review and proofread the copy?

Here’s a case where good intentions went wrong…

The VP of products for a software firm contacted us to fix their “language issues”. Their products were already used in several markets, but they had received feedback that clients were confused when navigating through their application due to language inconsistencies, terminology usage, and mistakes in various different language versions of the software. The software simply appeared unpolished. It turned out that, the product development team actually translated the text strings internally with bilingual developers, who were in fact subject matter experts (although not professional linguists), and they believed that everything would be satisfactory upon launch. 

Be warned – A few reasons to be careful with this approach:

1. Just because one is bilingual doesn't mean that he can write effectively and professionally. While one can be good at languages, it doesn't always mean that he is disciplined with following proper grammar rules and evolving language trends.  E.g. Accountants understand changing accounting practices and tax laws. Likewise, a translator is a trained professional.

2. If the translation is NOT done by a professionally trained translator, there will likely be mistakes.  A professional localization service provides translations, editing, proofreading and QA by a team of linguists. A professional translator will be educated with a BA or Master level degree in Linguistics and/or the language pairs, and will have practical experience.

3. Just because one is bilingual doesn’t mean that he is the subject matter expert. While one may have fluency in more than one language, it is not always the case that he also has mastery of the subject matter; industry specific terminology can be challenging for non-specialists in any language. Eg. Ever try reading a doctor’s report?

4. If the translation is NOT done by a specialized translator, there will likely be inaccuracies or mistranslations.  If a term is translated with a term that is not industry appropriate, the material could simply be translated inaccurately.  Industry specific nomenclature is critical. Professional translators typically specialize in areas of expertise with both education and practical experience.  For example, medical translators usually also have a degree in medicine or health related studies, likewise for legal translators.

5. Just because one is bilingual doesn't mean that his work doesn't need to be reviewed.  While one may be a good producer or copy writer, there is always room for review, editing and proofreading by another knowledgeable person.  Copy reviews not only include basic grammar and spell-checking; but also help to maintain key messaging, positioning, style and tone of the copy in accordance with the company’s objectives. This holds true for all copy, even in the source language.

If translation is not reviewed using a methodical approach, there will be inconsistencies.  It is important to have a review process in place whereby the reviewer is knowledgeable in the subject matter, fluent in the local language, and understands the company’s overall messaging voice.  Style guides, terminology glossaries and translation memories help provide consistency across the organization.

6. Just because one is bilingual doesn't mean that he doesn't have to perform a “regular” job. People are hired to fill a specific role in an organization.  If the bilingual employee is performing translations, then what isn't he performing? 

What is the primary role of the employee?  Consider the opportunity cost of him focusing time and effort on translation tasks, rather than completing his “regular” job?  Is a senior manager or general manager of a local office better off spending his time managing key management initiatives, or translating text?  Is a local business development manager supposed to be in front of clients networking and making business alliances, or translating text? 

At the end of the day, does this bilingual employee actually want to translate? Or is he simply doing it because the bosses at HQ asked him?  

Now let’s ask the question a different way…“Is it good practice to have bilingual staff translate business materials and documentation?”

Here’s a little secret – Many people who ask us to translate for their organization, are actually bilingual themselves - in the source and target languages! So there you have it!

...Stay tuned for the next Segment of HT LOCALIZATION Presents Language Translations for Real Life Series, where we’ll continue … with more stuff.

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This article was written by Rachanee Thevenet, Co-Founder of HT Localization.  Rachanee is an Asian-American expat living in Spain with her family.  She loves all things international including food, art, literature, culture, languages and people.  She has years of professional product marketing expertise and global expansion experience.

HT LOCALIZATION LLC. is an international translation & localization agency providing a full range of professional language translation services, including social media localization, marketing translations, website translations, software localization, eLearning materials, documentation translations, etc.  With locations in the US, Spain, France, Zambia & Thailand, and coverage across all languages and most industries, HT LOCALIZATION is well positioned to provide around the globe services for all translation needs.  

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