This is the introduction article to a series of articles the purpose of which is to provide business with helpful pointers for their translation processes.

We start with a headline that makes professionals in the translation industry cringe:

Translation errors cause lost revenue in 80% of global firms

(Source: SDL International Survey)

The obvious question that jumps right to mind is: How is this possible? Global firms are generally staffed with exceptional bright, skilled and experienced people, right? And, yet…

Having been a professional Japanese-to-English translator for close to two decades, more than 10 years as the CEO of a Japanese Translation Agency based in Tokyo (Japan), I have some ideas that I would like to share with you.

The aforementioned survey squarely attributes the causes of lost revenue to translation errors. Lost revenue, as a result of these errors, ranges from delayed product launches to fines for non-compliance. What is less clear, though, is the root cause of these translation errors.

To simply warn “businesses that they need to improve their translation and localization processes,” as the survey concludes, is as obvious as it is vague! Companies are already well aware of the need to do a better job -- What companies really need to know is how to go about improving their processes.

Drawing on my own experience over the years in dealing with global firms on translation and localization projects, I have created a short list published as a series of articles, which will, I hope, provide companies with a few useful pointers:

• Project strategy - Part 1
• Project management - Part 2
• Project cost - Part 3
• Project personnel - Part 4

Read these articles complete with real world examples showing not only what the root causes of most translation errors are, but how companies can reduce or even eliminate loses due to translation errors.

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, owner of the Tokyo based Translation Agency Japan Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese Translation Services

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