There are thousands of different reasons for a business meeting to fail, but a pretty good chunk of them can be traced to some form of miscommunication.
When you do business in another country, in another language; the risk of miscommunication increases exponentially. Hiring a professional interpreter is the best way to ensure that your message & your business don’t get lost in translation.
For example, if you’re planning to move or expand your business to another country, or dealing with a client who belongs to another country say Mexico, you’ll need professional Mexican translation, which makes it essential to hire a translator or interpreter. Continue reading to understand why it is important to hire an interpreter.
Get it Right — the language & the ideas
Big ideas are important, but they’re not always straightforward. When there is a presentation or a business meeting, there can be a lot of nuance and sensitivity in a single sentence. Every single detail is essential. If these ideas and details are not communicated properly, then what’s the point of having a meeting in the first place?
Thus, interpreters are there who specialize in ferrying complex ideas & minute details across the language barrier as accurately, efficiently, and eloquently as possible. This means a lot more than just listening to certain words in one language and finding the corresponding words in another. It means a genuine comprehension of concept, structure, nuance, and semantics, followed by the complete deconstruction & reconfiguration of all those elements using an entirely different set of linguistic tools. It is tricky business — for which you need to work with a pro.
Context & Security
It’s true that business discussions involve crucial context that a freelance interpreter may not be familiar with.
Fortunately, professional interpreters always come prepared. They will start with the background research about your industry and its jargon. If you have any presentation materials for the meeting or about your work, it’s a good idea to share it with your interpreter in advance so that they can review them and ask questions if required. Spending about 15–30 minutes with your interpreter either on the phone or in-person beforehand is usually enough to bring everyone on the same page.
And you don’t need to worry about the security, as professional ethics and the non-disclosure clause of any standard contract ensures that anything you discuss with your interpreter will be treated as strictly confidential.
An Interpreter is an Extension of Your Brand
An interpreter is the one who literally speaks on your behalf. A competent and professional interpreter helps you to project your own confidence and trustworthiness to your partners across the table. This is especially crucial if you have senior executives attending the meeting — they deserve to be represented with as much eloquence & professionalism in a foreign language as they command naturally in their own.