June 8, 2021 By Olena Polissky Comments are Off

Consider adding a Spanish translation of your software or app.

Is your software available in Spanish?

If you could reach 60M, extra potential customers, in the USA simply by adding Spanish language to your software and documentation, what would that do for your sales?

18.5% of the US population, or 60.6 million people, is of Hispanic or Latino origin (2020 United States Census). That means there are 60.6 million potential customers and employees who may prefer communication in Spanish. This number is projected to grow to well over 110 million by 2060. We are now facing a real opportunity to adapt our businesses to meet these shifting demographics head-on by simply adding Spanish translation of your product or service offering.

Nurture the Relationship

As we know, building relationships is key to a successful business. As technology reigns, geographic borders diminish and fade, the far corners of the world seem closer, and effective communication with key stakeholders becomes fundamental. By assuming that all users will understand English, many of us are missing opportunities to grow in developing markets, both locally and globally.

Spanish is spoken not only in the US but internationally, by people from many different cultures, backgrounds, educational levels, and living standards. Half a billion people worldwide speak Spanish, second only to Chinese for first-language speakers (including Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Spain).

While the collective United States has not designated a national official language or mandated that multilingual or Spanish documentation accompany products for consumers or employees, adjusting to the changing cultural and economic trends in the local economy by offering Spanish translation is essential for success and could be the springboard to a short vault into the Latin American market.

Let’s look at a few statistics as we consider the benefits of Spanish translation and localization, and growing your businesses to include the Hispanic demographic:

For Consumers

72.4% would be more likely to buy a product with information in their own language
56.2% of consumers indicated that they would pay more for the ability to obtain information in their own language.

For Employees

For Stakeholders

67% of respondents say that miscommunication contributes to inefficiency
42% indicate that poor communication reduces productivity
46% believe that miscommunication reduces collaboration

The U.S. is the largest economy in the world and has seen the biggest growth opportunities within markets that are fenced off by language barriers.

To effectively compete in those markets, we need engaged stakeholders, a safe working environment, and the ability to reach the consumer base in their native language. Foreseeing these trends and acting on insights by simply making Spanish translation available, breeds thriving businesses, whether or not legislators have taken this step.

With the advancement of technology, providing products and services with Hispanic language options has never been easier for businesses or customers. Not only Spanish translations but multiple languages could even be included on packaging in the form of a QR code or links to a website hosting video instructions or full versions of manuals in Spanish.

At the end of the day, there are numerous benefits to adding the Spanish language to your software and documentation. There are also many reasons why businesses should always rely on a proven translation service to provide Spanish translations. Like so many things in business and life, it is all about creating connections.

Build Credibility With the Spanish Language

As a business, much of your success rests upon building a credible image and reputation. Offering Spanish translations of materials can go a long way toward establishing that credibility. Even if your clients do not specifically need Spanish language software and documentation, you will earn a reputation for being inclusive, collaborative, and professional simply by having them.

This reputation for being forward-thinking and community-minded alone can help give you a leg up over competitors who may not offer Spanish translations and therefore the same access to Spanish language materials that your company does.

Create Common Ground With Spanish Speakers

Relationships are essential. And there is simply no better way to build a connection with others than by speaking their language. If your business frequently—or even just occasionally—interacts with native Spanish speakers, then you have no doubt run into a language barrier as a result.

These barriers can be frustrating for both parties, and they make it difficult to build the kinds of relationships that are necessary for businesses to thrive. Offering Spanish translations of your materials by a reputable translation company helps break down those barriers, allowing you to find common ground with clients, customers, partners, and team members.

Extend Your Global Reach of Spanish Speakers

We live in a global society, which is something that every business should take into account. Offering your software and documentation in Spanish is not only an important step to reaching the 60.6 million native Spanish speakers in the U.S. but also the 580 million native Spanish speakers worldwide.

Providing Spanish translations expands your horizons and extends your reach. It allows you to communicate and collaborate on a global scale, grow in developing markets, and become part of a growing global business community. If you are a rapidly growing business, you may find yourself poised to expand internationally, and Spanish translation allows you to do so without missing a beat.

The Internet is Not Just for English Speakers

We tend to see only a limited view of what the Internet looks like in the United States and Canada. It was, after all, originally invented by English speakers, for English speakers. But the reality is that the Internet’s reach extends across the globe, and the digital landscape is populated by more people who don’t speak English as their first language than those who do.

That makes offering materials in languages like Spanish especially important for technology and software companies, whose products and services are useful anywhere the internet can reach. Consider too that Internet use is expanding the most rapidly in areas outside the English-speaking world.

Do More Business in the U.S.

With all this talk of global expansion and extending your reach worldwide, it is easy for U.S.-based companies to forget about the benefits of providing Spanish language content right at home. Offering Spanish translations of software and documentation is good for businesses in the U.S. as well.

Consider again that the 60.6 million native Spanish speakers in the U.S. are expected to grow to well over 110 million by the year 2060. And even though the majority of those individuals may speak some amount of English as a second language, it is still the reality that those potential customers—all 110 million of them—will speak primarily Spanish. Wouldn’t you like your business to be able to reach them in the language they are most comfortable with? The advantages of providing Spanish translations are quite clear.

Why Choose Professional Translators?

As tempting as it might sound to use a machine translation or a Spanish-speaking colleague for your translations, these “savings” often lead to poor translation and can hurt your business, just as quality translation can propel it forward.

After all, translation is not about simply replacing words from one language with words from another. It is about conveying information as well as emotions. It is about telling a story that would make sense not only linguistically but also culturally, and it requires a keen understanding of not just what words mean, but how they make the reader feel.

When you want to offer software and documentation in Spanish or any other language, you need to know that your Spanish translations have been performed by professional linguists who truly understand the messaging you want to get across. Here are some of the many benefits of dealing with professionals for your Spanish translation needs:

The Human Connection: The problem with machine translation is that it does not understand idioms, metaphors, figures of speech, or any elements of language that are not strictly literal. Only professional human translators can do that, and it’s essential to convey the true meaning of what you are trying to say.
Localization: There’s more to a culture than just language. There are also design elements, historical contexts, image meanings, and countless other factors that come into play. Something as simple as a hand gesture can mean something drastically different in another culture. Incorporating these elements into your translation is called localization, and it is something that only a quality translation service with a deep understanding of other cultures can offer.
Handpicked Translators: The best translation services have experts in different languages who live and work in the part of the world where that language is spoken. They can handpick the best translator for any given job and any local.

That is important not only for accuracy but because there are subtle yet vital differences in dialect, even within the same language, depending on the country or region you want to reach. Spanish spoken in Spain for example differs significantly from Spanish spoken in Latin America. Expert professional translation provider offers Spanish translations in each of these dialects. You can read about these differences in this article.

Larger Work Volumes: If you have a large amount of documentation that requires Spanish translation, you need a well-established translation service with the capacity to handle the volume of work you need quickly and efficiently.

After calculating the benefits, you no doubt agree there is a huge opportunity to reach new markets by expanding language options. Before undertaking the project from within your organization, consider these 14 Reasons to Have a Professional Translation Company Localize Your Software or App

Adding Spanish to Your Software and Documentation

Here is the good news. Adding Spanish (or any other language) to your software and documentation does not have to cost you a lot of effort. We help companies of all sizes to get this done right, on time, and within budget.

Art One Translations maximizes and leverages the latest tools, standards, and best practices in combination with intelligent effort and skillful execution in bringing together a team of localization experts who speak to customers on a deeper level. With a proven methodology and a three-step quality assurance process, we guarantee accuracy and consistency. Using the latest Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) tools, we create Translation Memories, Glossaries, and term databases that will help get a product to market on time and within budget.

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