1.35 billion people speak English around the world, making it one of the most popular languages on earth. That reality means big money for businesses that can be proactive in porting their Spanish-native marketing and brand collateral into English.
Spanish to English document translation might seem as easy as popping a wall of text into Google Translate and hitting “Go”. Believe us when we say though that unless you want to embarrass your brand and potentially offend English-native readers, you’ll want to go more in-depth than that.
So then, which document translation tips should you keep in mind as you try to migrate collateral across languages? Keep reading to pick up 5 tips you shouldn’t do anything before committing to memory.
1. Simplify Your Spanish
Transitional is made much easier, particularly if you want to use an auto-translator if your material’s source language is simple. Simple means cutting down on flowery words that enhance your piece but are not necessary to get your text’s meaning across.
Fewer words that need to be translated result in fewer errors and that’s a good thing because errors will undermine the integrity of your brand.
2. Be Mindful of Cultural Differences
If your Spanish documents use analogies or phrases that don’t connect with English-speaking audiences, you’re not doing yourself any favors. To reduce the number of cultural disconnects that happen during the translation process, have a fluent speaker in both languages or a cultural expert review your source material.
Changing references from yucca, for example, to more English-friendly foods like cauliflower could create a deeper connection with your piece in new markets.
3. Know There Are Dialect Differences
What kind of English are you looking to port your Spanish materials into? Are you wanting to cater to a US audience? Are you hoping to use documents in England?
That question matters since there are several differences in the ways that multiple English-speaking countries navigate the language. Not being mindful of those differences could, again, create disconnects with your piece in your new market.
4. Get Auto Translations Proofread
You’ve simplified your Spanish, remained mindful of cultural differences and kept an eye on dialect variances. Now, if you drop your piece into an auto-translator, it should come out flawless, right?
Wrong.
You insulate yourself from many errors by doing the document translator prep work we’ve gone over. Still, auto-translations will have errors that you’ll need a native English speaker to comb through before anything gets published.
5. Save the Stress and Go With a Pro From the Beginning
Hiring a document translation service from the get-go can save you a lot of hassle when you’re trying to execute Spanish to English document translation. So, if time is of the essence, make the investment and get help.
You’ll be glad you did.
Spanish to English Document Translation Is Worth Your While
We’ll reiterate that an overwhelming amount of the planet speaks English. Because of that, if you have documents that are native to Spanish or any other language, getting them ported to English will have a big impact on your ability to connect with audiences.
For more insight on Spanish to English document translation, how to translate a document, and related topics, explore related posts on our blog.