Is your money going down the drain?  It could be. If you’re not using a professional translation agency for your document translation needs.

With the recent influx of Hispanic immigrants to the Triangle area, it is no surprise that savvy small business owners are courting the ever-growing buying power of the Hispanic market by marketing to them in their own language.

If you are a small business owner that is looking to expand your marketing to include the Latino consumer, one of your main concerns is to make sure that the resources dedicated to this effort are well spent.

The first step that you probably will take is to translate your company’s written materials, such as advertisements, fliers, menus, or signs into Spanish.

Before you decide what method you will use to translate your documents, consider the following frequently asked questions.

I am currently using an employee who is Hispanic or speaks Spanish to translate documents.  Are there any pros and cons I need to consider?

An employee who is Hispanic or speaks Spanish may be able to provide bilingual customer service but may not be qualified to translate documents.

To illustrate: if you needed to hire someone to write an important advertisement, report, or press release in English, would you hire a person to do the work just because he/she speaks, reads and writes English? Of course not. You would look for things such as education, related experience, and writing samples.

This is even more important when the target language is a foreign language you are not familiar with and therefore can’t review for accuracy. A way to determine if an employee is qualified to translate is to ask a reputable translation agency to evaluate a sample of the employee’s work.

I sometimes use a free translation website on the Internet. I’m thinking about buying translation software for my computer. Are these programs any good?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. There is no machine translation software that alone will provide an accurate and true translation.

In fact, relying solely on translation software will achieve poor results and most likely get a chuckle or snicker from your Hispanic customers, or worse yet, possibly offend them. When depending on accurate translation to reach your audience, consider using a qualified, professional translation agency.

Doing so will save you time and money. Latino Outreach Consulting offers expedient, accurate, and quality document translations. Contact us for a free estimate or for information on translation rates.