Let's begin with a nice quote, ‘Forget the 99.99% you get right, it’s the .01% error that’ll bring a chopper down’.

When dealing with military, engineering, medical and industrial documents, the life of your company and your clients resides in the detail. Over a quarter of APT’s business comes from ‘damaged goods’ – i.e. companies whose product has entered the global market with wince-inducing poorly translated literature. We believe that every translation, from a caption to a catalogue, is an undertaking of trust.

The international arena of translated technical material is an ever evolving language medium, which means that using subject qualified experts is essential. But, if they are non-native translators, they will alienate the company’s target audience in that country’s marketplace.

"When your overseas client receives your product and opens your manual, he is holding your company’s ‘silent ambassador’ – so he’d better speak the language well.", Tim Francis, APT (Bristol).

As an international PR consultancy, BCM have encountered similar issues. For example, a former German speaking client provided regular "English" translations of highly technical press releases that were undertaken in-house as a cost saving excersise. The result was a German (non-native) translation that would have confused even the most clued-up specialist in their technology.

The unfortunate Account Manager had to use a combination of the original "Deutsche Pressemittielung" and the English version to achieve an adequate press release.

This press release would then have to be re-approved by the German engineers, to ensure that the facts were correct before finally distributing the press release.

Now, ask yourself how many hours that takes and compare it to the cost of a professional translation undertaken by your regular translation partner. The sums, the delays involved and the number of stages introduced are undesirable. More importantly, as Tim explained above, the quality and company image is at risk if the work is not completed satisfactorilly.

From a PR perspective, of course, a holistic view is essential. Why spend money and time building a reputation for a company as an international player in PR materials when their product brochures say "We about us" or have completely meaningless translations?