Terms of Business & Economics

Present by ： Fan Yu
Date : 26/NOV/2019

※content
1. Definition
2. Importance
3. Job Areas
4. strategies
5. Dictionary
6. Terminologies

1.Definition of Business
Business refers to those economic activities which are
connected with the production or purchase and sale of
goods or supply of services with the main objective of
earning profit.

A business is defined as an organization or enterprising

entity engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional
activities. Businesses can be for-profit entities or
non-profit organizations that operate to fulfill a
charitable mission or further a social cause.
The term business also refers to the organized efforts
and activities of individuals to produce and sell goods
and services for profit. Businesses range in scale from a
sole proprietorship to an international corporation.
Several lines of theory are engaged with understanding
business administration including organizational
behavior, organization theory, and strategic
management.

√ What is BUSINESS TRANSLATION

International companies rely heavily on language translation to get their

information about products, services, transactions, and management

methods across cultures to users of the target countries. Without

language translation, global business cannot exist. Thus, translation is

seen as the basis for global business and an important guarantee for its

success. People that own an international business invest a lot of money

in translation and expect impeccable services, this article focuses on the

challenges that one might encounter in this field of translation and

proposes a few techniques that could help you avoid mistakes and

misunderstandings.
1. ATTENTION IS ESSENTIAL
The success of international companies in not owed only to clever industrial

strategies. Effective cross-cultural communication is a must and here is where

translators intervene. To emphasise how important translation is and how can a

common mistake affect a business, I will give you an example. Mr L. , a mineral

developer, received a report on mining from Pakistan. He trusted a company in

China with the translation work. In half a month’s time, Mr. L soon received the

translation that showed that a mine he was really interested in had a gold

content of 0.2%. Excited as he was, he went straight away to Pakistan ready to

invest. The trip cost him a lot of money and when he arrived there he found out

that the mine had 0.2% silver content, not gold. The translator made confusion

between two words, which cost Mr L. a lot of time and money. He even filed a

lawsuit against the translation company. What I want to emphasise through this

story is the importance of attention in the career of translator. This is the first

quality that a business translator must have. The future of a business depends in

some cases on the efficiency of the translator, so mistakes are not allowed.

2. STAY INFORMED
To improve their skills, business translators must try as much as possible to

develop their attention to details. There are several techniques that one might

use to achieve this. First of all, reading books and academic journals about

business translation is a good way to improve your skills. This way you learn

from other people’s experience and mistakes, which helps you avoid similar
situations. Reading business journals all the time gets your brain used with the

terminology and the numbers, so your work will become much easier. It is

important to focus on the terminology, but in the case of business translation

one must not forget about the numbers. They are important and they must not

be ignored in order to avoid mistakes. There is also literature available on

common mistakes and techniques that help you achieve impeccable translations.

These are great for those who haven’t got a lot of experience. Thus, we have all

the reasons to say that a business translator must be an avid reader as well.

3. EXPERIENCE MATTERS
An ideal situation is when a business translator has experience in the field. Most

of the companies will choose someone who has some past experience in the

business sphere. This is why it is important for translators to specialise on a

particular subject. This will increase their chances of getting a good job.

Furthermore, business translation requires knowing a specific terminology that

must be studies thoroughly by those who want to work in the field. This can be

achieved by studying a business related degree or by working in the business

sphere. A lot of people that studies business with foreign languages for instance

will choose the career of business translator at the end of their degree.

4. AVOID ASSOCIATION WITH YOUR FIRST

LANGUAGE
5. Companies often need advertising campaigns, which of course need to be

translated as well. Mistakes in the advertising industry are common and most of

us have spotted at least one. Actually, a survey conducted by the Wall Street

Journal showed that from the 513 people that were surveyed, 57% spotted

mistakes in advertising. Bad translation makes clients wonder about the quality

of the product, which can affect sales. The most common mistakes stem from

the fact that translators tend to associate some words with the equivalent from

their first language. For instance, many English translators tend to write the

Spanish “un dolar” like the English “dollar”. If you look carefully, this type of

errors exist on a lot of products and just show lack of professionalism from the

translator. To avoid this, he must learn the differences between languages

better. Proofreading and asking some other people`s opinion could be useful

techniques as well.

5. CULTURAL AWARENESS
Cultural awareness is also very important in the business industry especially

when it comes to advertising. A translator must never forget that commercials

use a lot of idioms, so translating them work by word will have an unwanted

effect. You cannot argue that you know a language very good unless you know

its culture as well. For example, a British company, HuntWesson, once marketed

one of its products “Big John” in French speaking areas of Canada, but the

name was translated as “Gros Jos” (“big breast”), so there was an impact on

the sales. Another British company, Sweppes, translated its tonic water as
“Sweppes Toilet Water”. These situations emphasise the translator’s ignorance

regarding the cultural implications of the words used.

In conclusion, business in a field that needs translation in order to function

properly, but we’ve seen that when mistakes are made translation can become a

big issue. Mistakes must be avoided and translator must use all the techniques

known to become more efficient. Professionalism can only be achieved through

hard work, research, reading and practicing.

2.The importance of business translation

 Better communication with customers

 Enhance brand visibility
 Healthcare industry is hugely benefitted

Better communication with customers

If your business calls for communicating directly with
your customers then you must’ve faced a lot of people
who do not speak English. You can market your products
to a much wider spectrum of audience if you could
speak to them in their language.

Enhance brand visibility

A company’s brand potential is tested on the
basis of a lot of abilities. Reaching out to more and
more people is one of them. You need to cross the
barrier of language to build an image in the global
market and that is possible only with professional
translation services.

Health care industry is hugely benefitted

Health care units have to deal with a lot of patients
coming from various countries. Also, there are a lot
of doctors across the globe busy researching.
Professional medical interpreters and translators
play their aces in translating the medical
documents that will help the doctors who are
more comfortable in studying in the language they
choose.

3.Job Areas of Business Translation

Best Sites for Translation Jobs
 1 . Guru and UpWork
 2 . Rev
 3 . Lionbridge
 4 . Pacific Interpreters
 5 . World Lingo
 6 . Gengo
 7 . ProZ and TM-Town
 8 . Verbalize It
 9 . Tethras
 10.Text Master

For example:

https://www.translatemedia.com/translation-blog
/future-careers-in-the-translation-industry/

4.Strategies
Business Translation Considerations
※ Items that may fall in the realm of business
include patent documents, depositions, contracts,
application letters, birth certificates, strategy
guides, marketing and advertising, and even
financial statements.

※ Translators who work on business documents

must not only have native-level fluency in the
languages in which they work, but understand the
field-specific terminology used in the documents
and comprehend the cultural and systems
involved.

※Culture:
Even small cultural faux pas can have major
impacts. From embarrassment to outrage, a simple
gaffe can sink a deal. Consider the Chinese word
that sounds like “shi” in English. There are
dozens of variants of that sound in China and some
of them may be used offensively.

※Deadlines:
Most business documents are time sensitive.
Documents that miss deadlines are typically
invalidated. You might have to start the process all
over again, if your work is not voided entirely.

※Confidentiality:
The topics discussed in business and legal
documents are confidential. You should ensure
that your translation service has vetted their
translators and have confidentiality agreements on
file. The leaking or sale of information could be
extremely detrimental to a business, patent, or
marketing campaign.

6.Terminologies
International Islamic University Islamabad
Department of Translation & Interpretation
8th semester
Assignment of Sir,Shair Ali Khan
Student Name : Fan Yu
421-FA/BSTI/S15