A business plan is a written document that describes in detail how a business is going to achieve its goals and therefore includes the marketing strategy, financial forecasts as well as operational standpoints. A business plan is an essential document for any business since they can be reviewed and updated to measure if the business is achieving its goals. However, they are particularly important if a business is wanting to attract investment in order to expand and grow their organisation.
Nowadays, more and more businesses are wanting to launch their business into international markets and are trying to attract investors from abroad. Therefore, it is important for businesses to have their business plan translated into many different languages. Although English is understood and spoken by millions of people all over the world, having your business plan written in the language of the investor is an excellent idea because it will undoubtedly leave a much better impression as people prefer to read in their native language. Also, it will be easier for them to pay attention to all the details of your business plan. In order for your business to have coherent business plans in multiple languages that carry exactly the same messages as the original plan, it is essential that the translation is carried out by a native speaker of that particular language.
Why is having a native speaker so important?
Having a native speaker to translate your business plan is absolutely necessary to ensure that you have an accurate translation since native speakers can detect even the smallest of cultural nuances and stylistic details. This guarantees that the original message is translated correctly and prevents any misunderstandings, and you can’t afford to lose any detail in the translation. Therefore, they can help overcome any cultural barriers that a non-native speaker might not pick. As a result, potential investors will have much more confidence in your business plan when the language is 100% correct with zero errors. Also, native speakers will be able to write more eloquently and more fluently than non-native speakers which will ensure grammatically correct sentences that flow well.
Furthermore, if you are thinking of budgeting a small amount of money for someone to translate your business plan or even using machine translation for the entire document, you need to think again! The problem with machine translation is that it can’t capture the exact meaning of the text and translate it into another language with the same meaning, especially for specialised texts such as this. Similarly, machine translation will make mistakes when it comes to culturally sensitive topics. Having a poorly translated business plan will hold you back and ultimately have an impact on your business outcomes because it will make investors have second thoughts about your professionalism.
Another tip when recruiting translators is to look for agencies that have subject matter expertise since there is lots of information within a business plan and you need linguists who understand business writing rules and the specific terminology of the industry. For example, if you work in pharmaceutics you should work with a certified medical translator with experience translating business plans in this specific niche. This will guarantee that the language is translated correctly and therefore will help your business to grow and expand into new markets.
Overall, if you are wanting to translate your business plan into other languages, you will need to use native speakers to ensure a precise translation as well as showing investors that you care and are ready to go that extra mile for them.
Photo Credits to Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
