Interpreters to ensure a company’s success

Interpreters can ensure a company’s success, especially in the case of businesses with ambitions to expand abroad.

Companies entering international markets must interface with stakeholders who speak a different language and although proficiency in English may enable them to overcome this barrier, this may not necessarily be the right strategic choice.

To overcome the wall of mistrust that is inevitably erected when approaching a new market, it is advantageous to address interlocutors in their native language. This seemingly superficial action reflects the company’s caring, helpful and respectful approach, which helps to break down language and cultural barriers.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

Nelson Mandela’s words express all the power of appropriate communication.

Employing the services of an interpreter is therefore a winning strategic choice for all companies that wish to internationalize, since it allows them not only to communicate in a correct, appropriate manner, but also to lay the foundation for a trusting relationship, which is essential to a company’s success.

Language skills

Language skills are the main prerequisite for any professional interpreter.

Outstanding knowledge of a second language in addition to your own is an indispensable condition for practicing this profession. The interpreter must have an excellent command of the language in every respect: grammar, terminology, phonetics, cultural heritage, and everything else needed to correctly translate the content being conveyed.

The constant evolution of every language and dialect, especially in the oral tradition, also requires continuous updating, which is why, when commissioning an interpreting job, it is best to opt for a professional who is based in the country where the target language is spoken and is therefore in constant contact with it, or at least to ensure that the interpreter normally lives there on a long-term basis.

This continuous practice enables the interpreter to grasp and internalize all the nuances that make the translation of the message correct and faithful at both a linguistic and cultural level.

Language not only consists of words, but also of nuances, implications, meanings, tones, gestures and many other elements that vary according to the respective culture.

The interpreter’s task is to ensure that none of this complex and magical set of factors is lost, so that the message reaches the recipient with exactly the same intent with which it was delivered.

Relying on the services of an interpreter is therefore of paramount importance, even if you have a perfect command of a lingua franca such as English.

If knowledge of a language is not accompanied by a thorough understanding of the interlocutor’s culture, there is a very high risk of impaired communication and thus an ineffective result.

Employing an interpreter allows you to eliminate this risk since you can rely on an experienced professional capable of masterfully mediating between two worlds that speak different languages and reason with different parameters and cultural references.

In addition to language and cultural skills, however, professional interpreters must also possess another type of expertise, namely industry-specific knowledge.

Industry expertise

Depending on its particular industry, every company uses specific terminology to describe its products and/or services and trends in its target market.

To act as an outstanding mediator, an interpreter must be familiar with the technical terms of the industry in which the client company operates in both the source language (that of the country where the company is based) and the target language (that of the new market the company is targeting).

This is why many interpreters, once they have acquired the language and translation skills necessary to work professionally, specialize in specific fields such as financial, legal, medical scientific etc.

To develop expertise equal to that of an expert in the field, an interpreter continuously studies and keeps abreast of the latest developments in their field of specialization, a prerequisite for high-quality interpreting services.

Thanks to this specific training, interpreters can support the company in its business meetings by also correctly and appropriately translating very industry-specific terms. This enhances effective communication and contributes to the successful outcome of negotiations.

In conclusion, rather than risk committing communication errors that could jeopardize your company’s success on international markets, it is best to rely on the services of professional interpreters who have the appropriate linguistic and technical skills to ensure that business negotiations are correctly transposed from one language to another.

At Way2Global, we have a team of excellent professional interpreters who enable us to support customers by enhancing their communication in all languages. Our services include all forms of interpreting: liaison, consecutive, simultaneous, telephone, and remote.

Need an interpreting service? Contact us!