A few days ago I was at the Entrepreneurs Center of Alicante. Within its quarterly program, the Local Development Agency invited TRAYMA TRADUCCIONES to develop the English Business Day and to share it with those who wanted to practice their Business English, develop new language skills and share their experiences on the subject.
I had to prepare the conference and I decided to focus it on the barriers that we encounter when we go abroad in terms of business, which is why I titled it “English Barriers in International Bids”. I sensed that the audience would be more interested in learning technical and specialized English than in my services, but I took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of having our translation and interpreting services in “important” situations. Of course, “important” for us is everything from the translation of a web page, which must convey in all languages the same emotions that you evoke in your own language; to the sworn translations of all documentation if we want to export our products abroad.
There were many attendees; all of us, as a way of networking, introduced ourselves in English. There was a good level! Next, I explained what TRAYMA was and emphasized the care we must take to maintain our personal brand and stressed that if we were selling something, we should sell it well! I encouraged the attendees not to be afraid, to constant effort, to approach professionalism, efficiency and trust. This part, according to the polls, was liked! Then, I presented how we work and insisted on the importance of customer satisfaction surveys, because this feedback is what will make us grow and improve by showing us our strengths to enhance them and our weaknesses to improve them.
After the break, we got to work on more technical aspects. We talked about the internationalization of companies and discussed the pros and cons of self-contracting and outsourcing. Then, I explained how a translation with errors and lack of meaning affects sales, with clear examples of poorly translated restaurant menus, deeds with errors in the data, websites and catalogs translated with google translator and cases of unintelligible interpretations; I also gave examples of good practices in translations of official and sworn documents such as deeds of incorporation of a limited liability company, as well as the process we must follow for these translations to be valid in the receiving countries and the approximate costs. Before this presentation, doubts about legal terminology arose, which we gradually worked on and clarified.
Finally, in order to better understand the need for translation for those who wish to internationalize their products or services, I explained the process and documentation that must be presented to enter Morocco and Iraq. With this information I proposed a practical exercise, so we divided into groups of 4. From each group, two components were going to export their products to countries such as Russia, China, Brazil, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates; and the other two were the partners or stakeholders. With this, they had to develop how they could enter the country and what documentation would be necessary to start selling. To conclude the session, each group presented in English and in elevator pitch format, what their company was, what they wanted to export, to which country, who their partners were and how they could achieve it.
Very sincerely, it was a pleasure to share this day with all the attendees. According to the surveys, the presentation was well received and profitable for all of them. It was also profitable for me. Before all of you who want to improve your English skills on a daily basis, I tried to convey the value that our profession brings to situations that require our more specialized service. Once again I corroborated that translation is an intangible value and that a good translation adds value to the company or service, since in the times we live in, there is a need to communicate our ideas, our values, our feelings, and also to communicate them well in order to obtain better results!
I would like to thank the Local Development Agency of Alicante for giving me the opportunity to collaborate in this conference and I encourage you all to participate in the next ones.
A big hug to all of you!
