For GettinG the Most out oF A

MArket reseArch trAnslAtion coMpAny

10 top tips

introductionimportant commercial decisions are based on sound intelligence and good market research: that is why you are in business.

As advances in communication make the world smaller, the need to gather more information, more quickly becomes ever greater. developing the research questionnaires to provide the data clients want is one thing, making sure the questions and their responses communicate all of the nuances that the researcher and the responder intended is quite another.

Experience has shown time and time again that good market research across international boundaries requires excellent, contextual translation. Without the cultural insight, the research becomes flawed and the results damaged or even unusable.

So whether you are sizzling a fast-food survey in china, splashing out on a wealth management survey in West European countries, or sniffing out a new cold remedy survey in 40 countries all around the world, choosing the right translation partner is essential. You minimise the risk and your rewards are substantial dividends in the quality of your research and, ultimately, your relationships with your end user clients.

With the market research community very much in mind, we have developed this guide to share our experience and help agencies around the globe get the very best from this critical element of the research process.

We hope you find this guide useful and we welcome your feedback at www.wordtrans.com or email to krisj@wordtrans.com

1. Look furthEr thAn thE WEbSitEthe translations industry is basically unregulated and anyone can create a website and call themselves a translation company even if they have no translation industry experience at all! Offices can be rented for a short period, “staff” drafted in for a photo shoot, logos airbrushed on walls. this really is not as far fetched as it might seem, in fact we have seen a translation company created in precisely this way – even with archived news items from well before the company was formed! So, don’t be taken in by a slick website but dig a little deeper.

2. chEck thEir mArkEt rESEArch trAnSLAtion ExpEriEncEJust being a translations company is not enough. market research is a specialist area requiring specialist translation skills. it is not about translating words and phrases but much more about understanding the culture and social norms of the target audience and phrasing the translations accordingly. it is really important that questionnaires are translated unambiguously and in multi-lingual questionnaires, the results are uniform across all the languages. colloquialisms, puns and idioms may form an integral and essential part of the English questionnaire and the translator must be capable of creating a translation that accurately reflects this. Here’s an example of an idiom: “That’s the heart of the matter” translated into German may be: “Das ist der Kern der Sache“. Despite being an accurate translation, it makes little sense in German. An equivalent phrase in German to “that’s the heart of the matter” is “Da liegt der Hund begraben” – which translates as “that’s where the dog is buried”.

the translation company should be familiar with and understand market research terms such as: qualitative research, quantitative research, branding awareness, and ad and

concept testing. they should also have specialist translators experienced in working in sectors such as FMCG, media, pharmaceuticals, finance and technology.

market research projects are often urgent and quick turnarounds of high-quality translations are needed. does the company have a demonstrable track record? if they show case studies of market research translation projects, look at them closely and perhaps ask to speak to the client.

3. chEck thEir profESSionAL crEdEntiALSAny translations company worth its salt will be a member of an industry professional organisation such as the Atc, iti, ioL or ALc. membership means that the company has been vetted by the professional organisation and their translation services meet, or exceed, the required standard. the professional organisation will also continue to monitor the performance demanded of all their members. if you are at all unsure you can check with the relevant professional organisation.

ISO 90001-2008An iSo 9000 accreditation means the translation process is inspected annually by an independent auditor and a pass/fail certificate is issued. If a translations company has this accreditation you know that their processes are fit for purpose and things like structured project management and audit trials are in place. You can be fairly sure that a company with iSo90001 accreditation is serious about its business and you will reap benefits in terms of reliability and consistency of service.

4. chEck thAt thE trAnSLAtion compAnY uSES Only MOTHEr-TOnGuE, In-COunTry TrAnSlATOrStranslators should only ever translate into their mother tongue because they need to have this fluency to create 100% accurate translations. Beware of translators who claim to be able to translate into and from their mother-tongue. translators need to be located in the target country because it will help them keep up to date with trends in business, commerce and social media, shifts in language usage, new terms (e.g. Mo Farrah’s Olympic “Mobot” is very big in the uk right now, but do people outside the uk know what it is?). one thing to bear in mind is that translators will largely be only available during their normal office hours, which may be the opposite end of your working day.

5. if A 24/7 SErvicE iS importAnt to You, cAn thE trAnSLAtionS compAnY dELivEr?Global questionnaires are often run simultaneously in many locations around the world in many languages. being able to contact your translations company at any time may be vital. Even if the translators are unavailable (see point 4), project managers and account managers should be contactable 24/7 to kick off projects, or deal with changes or queries. it should also be possible to upload and download files for translation via a secure internet-based client portal that is available day and night via the internet.

6. chEck thAt thE trAnSLAtion compAnY uSES TrAnSlATIOn TECHnOlOGytranslation technology acts like an extension of the human translator’s memory and is invaluable in helping to keep translations consistent – even among groups of translators working together. if a questionnaire is similar to one that has been previously translated, exact translation matches just have to be checked and translations that are nearly the same (fuzzy matches) just have to be tweaked and not re-translated. this means clients benefit from better translation consistency, higher quality, reduced turnaround times and costs.

if the translation company allows remote access to their translation memory system, clients can benefit from being able to log in, search for and check any translation in any questionnaire, any time they like.

7. cAn thE trAnSLAtion compAnY Work SEAmLESSLY And hArmoniouSLY With othEr SuppLiErS?if your translations requirements are heavy, or you don’t want to be reliant on one supplier, bringing in another supplier makes sense. however, unless the work processes are managed carefully, problems may occur with duplication of effort, translation inconsistencies, or omissions. common translation memory technology with remote access shared among the translation companies helps alleviate these problems. At the end of each translation project the memories are updated ready for the next project so every translator has access to the latest resources. the process is usually managed by the lead company. We liken it to a library that is managed by the librarian who ensures all the books on the shelves in their correct places at the end of the day.

8. mAkE SurE thE trAnSLAtion compAnY knoWS hoW to hAndLE trAnSLAtionS of quEStionnAirES And thEir rESponSESTranslations of questionnaires• translations of questionnaires have to be tightly controlled and must present

unambiguous questions. • questions must be phrased neutrally with no leading questions. • descriptions of feelings, senses and moods all have to be captured accurately and

expressed in translations. • multilingual questionnaires need particular attention to ensure results are consistent

across all languages. if there is a spike in one or more languages after results have been collated, first check for local market variances and then check the translations.

• make sure the translation company uses the exact brand names of both your client’s products/services and those of its competitors.

• if your client has preferred terminology, make sure these are made available to the translators before translations begin.

• Translations are not an exact science and sometimes preferences play a significant part. Provide client briefing documents as background information before translations begin so the translator understands the focus of the questionnaire.

• make sure the questionnaire translations are proofread by a separate, independent translator and if the questionnaire is going online, it should be checked again before it goes live in case the developers have missed something.

Translations of questionnaire responses• translations of questionnaire responses are much looser than that of the questionnaire

itself. not all of us write well and fluently and the translations should portray (more or less) how the replies were written.

• it’s ok to correct spelling mistakes and the worst of grammatical errors and to asterisk any instances of obscenities or blasphemy.

• if the meaning of an answer is unclear it should be marked [unclear] and if it is incomplete it should be marked [incomplete]. otherwise, the answers should be translated fairly literally and the meaning retained.

• it is important to ensure that any reviewer of the translated results is aware of the approach to deliberately portray the responses as accurately as possible to avoid accusations of literal or poorly structured translations.

9. don’t bE pricE-LEdWe all like a good bargain don’t we? but don’t let price be the deciding factor in making your choice. The expression “quality costs” is never truer than in the translation industry. Cheap translations are often products of inexperienced translators desperate to gain a foothold in the industry and who are prepared to say “yes” to every request, or a product of machine translations (see point 10). A good translator is never afraid to say “no” to a request if they do not have specific expertise in the subject. the other main sources of cheap translations are some parts of East Europe, India, Korea and China. These are fine for languages of their region but you must avoid them as a source for translations of languages for other regions of the world. this is because they buy cheap, unqualified translation resources and they do not have the in-house resources to check the translations they produce.

10. don’t AccEpt mAchinE trAnSLAtionSmachine translations are exactly that; translations produced by machines and not humans. it’s a mechanical process that matches source language words and phrases with the selected language words and phrases, with little or no contextual references. Languages are subjective; just think of how times you pause when writing to reflect and choose just the right phrase that encapsulates what you want to say. the human translation process is exactly the same. no machine, no matter how clever or well-programmed it is, is capable of accurately translating nuances, sensitive cultural items or branding considerations. Machine translations are fine for quick and dirty translations when just the meaning is required, but they have no place in translating market research questionnaires.

About WordtransWordtrans has well over a decade of direct day to day experience in market research translations and our worldwide team of experienced, research-literate translators are on hand to provide comprehensive translation and proofreading services for all market research related requirements.

our dedicated project management team is well versed in the delivery of fast-to-market campaigns, having done so on a daily basis since 2002. So whether you have a requirement spanning 20 languages or a single location launch, Wordtrans can be relied upon to manage your translation requirements profes-sionally, on time and within budget.

Wordtrans has detailed previous experience within the market research industry, having consistently provided translations for Screeners, questionnaires, proposals, open-end responses, insights and predictive market studies in the following areas:

• consumer/b2b research• quantitative/qualitative research• brand testing/ad testing• customer satisfaction surveys

please contact us on +44 (0)1342 826064 to discuss your requirements or request a quote now. Alternatively, you can read our online market research Sector case Study.

Wordtrans Ltd5 riverview business park, Station road, forest row, East Sussex, rh18 5dWtel: +44 (0)1342 826064 fax: +44 (0)1342 825662contact: enquiries@wordtrans.com