How to translate business cards?

by Target Language Translation Services

- December 21 2021

The increasing prevalence of international business arrangements requires business people to travel to various parts of the world. During business travel, one frequently comes across, or is introduced to people whose knowledge, area of work or contacts can be useful for one’s business. A business card can be of great help in such occasions. Who knows a business card given to someone you met and chatted up in your client, supplier or partner’s office might end up offering you the deal of a lifetime. So if you frequently go abroad on business trips, you should always be ready with your business cards.

Having the appropriate information translated into the host language is an effective way of making a statement by ensuring the receiver understands who you are and who you work for. However, translating a business card is not a simple as literally translating one language into another. There are many linguistic and cultural considerations one must take into account.

Tips to Help Translate Business Cards

To assist those needing their business cards translated here are some tips:

--Always have your business cards translated by a translator or translation agency. Your neighbour or friend may be capable of translating but to ensure the most suitable and professional language is used, find an expert.

--Try and have business cards printed only on one side and in one language. In many countries people will write on the back of your card. However, this is not always necessary and if there is a considerable amount of text you may use both sides.

--Keep your business card simple. All the receiver needs to know is who you are, your title, your company and how to contact you. The rest is superfluous. This also helps keep your translation costs down.

--Ensure the translator translates your title precisely. In some cases, because of the Western liking of complicated titles like “Associate Director of Employer Solutions”, this is not always easy. It is critical the receiver understands your position within a company. Therefore simplify your title as much as possible.

--Do not translate your address to help the reader pronounce your address. If they ever posted you anything the postman will be scratching his/her head.

--It can be useful to transliterate names including company names. This then helps the receiver pronounce them properly.

--Make sure numbers are arranged in the correct format. For instance, if for any reason you need to write a date on a business card consider the local equivalent for dates – i.e. in Europe dates are written as date/month/year or in the Islamic world the Hijri calendar is used.

--Ensure you use the correct language when having your business card translated. If you are travelling to China you would need Simplified Chinese, whereas if you were travelling to Taiwan you would need Traditional Chinese. Similar differences exist in many parts of the world where language may have political consequences.

--Try and research whether there are any cultural nuances that make a business card attractive in another culture.

--Always learn a bit about the cultural dos and don’ts of giving/receiving business cards in foreign countries.

Professional Translation Services

Since business card is a very important document, you should obviously take care to get it translated by professional language translation experts. At Target Language Translation, we have highly experienced and professional business card translators who have been offering high quality business card translations to the full satisfaction of our clients.

Our professional translators treat the minutest of details with respect; moreover since we have a large number of in-country translators at Target Language Translation, they are familiar with the various linguistic preferences of the locals.

A business card translation expert at Target Language Translation would take care to find the local equivalent of the job title and also tend to many other such language translation issues like the correct format of dates.

If you require translating your business cards, Target Language Translation assures you the best translation services at low rates. We work with professional language translation providers from all over the world and can get your business card translated between almost any language pair.

Contact us today to learn more about our professional business card translation. Let’s eliminate the language barrier between you and your clients!

This article is reprinted from AsianBusinessCards and Tomedes.

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