Press releases have become an integral part of marketing. They are best left for original messages, changes in business practice, special deals and release of new products. But for many businesses, press releases are a means by which the company’s profile is kept as visible as possible.
Businesses are much more likely to have a global presence these days and that means making sure that the message is translated into as many languages as are important to the business. Making sure that your all important press release is professionally translated into the languages of all your target markets is just as important as professionally translating business documents and the web pages of your main website.
A press release is a bit like making a speech, except it is a written speech, not a spoken one. Not so long ago, it would be common for the marketing executive or salesperson to use English as a medium of communication almost exclusively, in the hope that he or she would be understood. If the equivalent executive or salesperson was a native German, Japanese or Chinese speaker, it is highly likely that their message would fail to be understood by their audience if they restricted themselves to speaking in their native languages.
If they didn’t have an excellent command of English (or whatever the language was of the country they were visiting) hey would most likely have a professional interpreter to do the job of interpreting for them. Having to listen to someone giving a speech in halting English can be excruciating and in the end not very worthwhile. The same goes for a speech made in any other language. If it is not professionally delivered, then it can even be counterproductive. An unprofessionally delivered speech can give the impression that the company itself is unprepared and unprofessional.
What can be said about speeches and interpreting also goes for press releases and translation. A press release is not worth bothering with if it is left to someone in the office who thinks they can translate it themselves. Leave it to the professional translator and if at all possible choose a translator who specialises in business translation. They will at least understand what a press release is all about and make sure that the language used in the translation is the same sort of language used in a press release.
