Japanese Translation Services: Errors & Lost Revenue – The Causes

Are you experiencing revenue losses in your business due to translation errors?

It's essential to address this issue head-on as these losses can be significant and far-reaching. The impact includes lost business opportunities, customers, and even fines for non-compliance. Don't underestimate the consequences:

The cost of translation errors can be substantial.

In case you think still these kinds of losses are trivial or the impact on revenue is irrelevant, read the following article:

Translation errors in the technology, business & marketing space

The Surprising Reality of Translation Errors

You might be thinking that translation errors only happen occasionally and are caused by careless individuals. However, the truth is quite different. An influential study in the translation industry revealed that an astounding

80% of global firms suffer from lost revenue due to translation errors. 

These are not fly-by-night companies staffed with unqualified employees, but rather reputable organizations with top-notch talent.

Root Causes of Translation Errors

As someone with over two decades of experience in delivering professional translation services in Tokyo, working with global firms, I have identified some common root causes of translation errors.

• Lack of Translation Strategy

Without a clear and coherent plan, errors are bound to happen, leading to revenue loss and missed opportunities.

• Poor Project Management

Efficient project management is crucial to ensure accurate and timely translations.

• Excessive Focus on Cost-cutting

While cost optimization is essential, sacrificing translation quality can be detrimental to your business's revenue.

• Unqualified Personnel

Entrusting translation to unqualified individuals can result in costly errors.

Prioritizing Translation as a Standalone Process

To avoid revenue losses caused by translation errors, it is essential to recognize that

 Translation is a standalone process, and not an afterthought of a larger process such as marketing. 

Just as you wouldn't compromise on quality in other critical processes like manufacturing, you should treat translation with the same level of importance.

Protect Your Bottom Line with Professional Japanese Translation Services

Looking to safeguard your revenue and brand? Employ the expertise of professional translators in Japan to ensure accurate and effective translations that can save you from the financial pitfalls of translation errors.

Addressing translation errors is crucial for maintaining revenue and brand in global business. By understanding the causes and prioritizing translation as a dedicated process, you can protect your bottom line and unlock new opportunities for success in the Japanese market. 

Translation Services Japan: Eat Your Fingers Off, Machine Translation & The Mathematician

Terms such as useful and meaningful are bandied around liberally in the video below: Let me assure you that machine translation (MT) is anything but.

 

(Source: Business Insider)

I’m sure KFC, having forked over good money –in fact millions of dollars in international advertising fees- only to have one of the most powerful catch copies of all time garbled for the Chinese market, would not consider machine translation either useful or meaningful!

Here’s that copy in case you missed it in the CNN video:

“Finger-lickin' good”

And here’s how it got screwed up -um, lost- in translation:

“We'll eat your fingers off”

(On an interesting side note, the image above is a play on this infamous translation blooper advertising restaurants at the JFK Airport food court).

Machine translation is being billed by marketing spin doctors as an alternative to, and is therefore in direct competition with, professional human translation. These outrageous claims are made by manufacturers of machine translation software that obviously have a vested interest in seeing their wares sell, and by so-called professional translation companies that don’t have a clue about the efficacy of this product nor the ability to assemble a team of professional human translators.

Unfortunately, this false promise of economic efficiency and effectiveness has struck a chord among the general public.

Indeed, we get plenty of customers that were duped into using machine translation on their websites only to reap disastrous results -- Economic loss, legal woes, and worse. One particular customer out of Sri Lanka comes to mind. When I asked this client how much he paid for the machine translation solution on his used car website that he was contracting the Translation Services Japan to replace, I was very surprised to learn that our Japanese translators were cheaper! That bears repeating:

A Japanese-to-English translation solution by professional human translators turned out to be cheaper than a failed machine translation solution!

If I have not made my case against the dangers of (using) machine translation, then consider the following article: Machine translation forces major Japanese publishing company Takeda Random House Japan Co., Ltd into bankruptcy