Don’t Compromise: 3 Industries That Need Top-Quality Chinese Translation

Quality Chinese Translation? If you’re thinking of cutting the cost of your Chinese translation projects, think again. You’d instead hire a professional translator to handle the work to avoid communication blunders that will affect your company’s reputation. Three industries require high-caliber translators who have extensive years of experience to achieve accurate translations: medical and healthcare, industrial, and legal. With that said, here are the reasons why you should be careful in choosing Chinese translators if you’re working on important documents related to these industries.

Misunderstood Terms in Medical and Healthcare Can Compromise Emergency Care and Use of Device

Mistranslation of a medical term can cause misunderstanding to the doctor, patient, and family members. They can also make a life-or-death experience when taking medications or using a medical device. Moreover, when in emergency care, improper translation of papers can cause delays and inappropriate treatment for the patient. If you’re selling medical devices, you want to make sure that your device works well for the patient and includes localization of the software, a manual guide for patients, and special instructions for the healthcare professionals.

Legal Translation Mistakes Affect Brand Reputation and Lead to Disputes

Make no mistake for legal documents because these should be error-free when working with clients and potential partnerships with Chinese counterparts. The legal terminology used in Chinese may differ from Simplified and Traditional, so you must consider if the transactions, contracts, and other legal requirements will be presented in Mainland where Simplified Chinese is used or in Taiwan for Traditional Chinese. Some translation mistakes can be funny or offensive that can make your company look unprofessional to your potential clients. In China, five percent of contract disputes between foreign companies and Chinese companies stem from translation blunders. For example, in 2011, a company translated “drydocking” as “tank washing” in Chinese, and the phrase “except fuel used for domestic service” to “domestic flights,” which caused disagreements between two parties.

Inaccurate Translations of Technical Documents Lead to Incorrect Use of a Device

Technical translation involves documents about the owner’s manual, user guides, to name a few. It requires a specialized skill if your business, for instance, is in the mechanical engineering field. If you have user manuals about a machine or a piece of equipment, you need a translator who’s specializing in this area. There’s also no room for error because it will affect to incorrect use of the machinery. The owner’s manual for consumers should also be error-free to avoid accidents and mishaps when operating electrical devices. Whether your business is involved in engineering, consumer electronics, biotechnology, IoT, and more, make sure the technical translators you work with are genuine experts in your field.