Choosing the right Portuguese translation service can be a daunting task. There are so many translation providers on the market!
Portuguese-speaking markets can represent a significant opportunity to grow your global company. But only some providers will have the knowledge, experience, and scalability required to help you take advantage of this opportunity.
It's hard to know which Portuguese translation service will best suit your company's needs. However, when you follow our advice in this article, you can make a more informed decision when comparing solutions.
With a little research and knowledge, you can find a service that provides accurate, scalable translations for your Portuguese-speaking markets.
Here's how to find a service that works for you…
What is Portuguese translation and does your company need it?
Portuguese translation is simply the process of translating a text from English (or another source language) into a variant of Portuguese. If you want to successfully grow your company into a Portuguese-speaking market, translation is essential.
The language Portuguese is spoken by over 270 million people worldwide. It is the official language in 9 nations – Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Timor-Leste, Equitorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe – but is spoken in at least 27 countries.
There are some significant benefits to growing your business into Portuguese-speaking markets. For many US companies, for example, Portugal can be a gateway into the rest of Europe. In the last 5 years, we have seen several multinational companies — including Google, Amazon, and Uber — set up themselves in Portugal, with some economists calling the country "the California of Europe."
Beyond Portugal, the vast majority of Portuguese speakers are in Brazil. As the largest economy in South America and the 9th largest economy in the world, Brazil is a tremendous growth opportunity.
Whatever your reasons for targeting the Portuguese language, it's important to find a translation service that will help you make the most of these opportunities.
The benefits of using a Portuguese translation service for global companies
As a global company doing business in Portuguese-speaking markets, it's important to have accurate and culturally appropriate translations of your content.
The types of content you could translate might include marketing materials, eCommerce listings, product catalogs, documentation, eLearning content, and more.
How can you tell which specific content you should translate?
You need to look strategically at your global content needs. This is the benefit of working with the right translation provider — one that specializes in working with large global companies like yours.
A good provider will help you clarify your Global Content Strategy. With this strategy in place, it becomes much easier to select the right content for translation. The strategy also helps you to optimize your translation process so that you don't pay more than you should for your Portuguese translations.
Other benefits of working with the right translation provider are:
- They deeply understand the challenges faced by global companies like yours. Most translation providers are just too small and only suitable for small translation jobs.
- They have the internal processes needed to support large quantities of regularly updated content.
- They will focus on optimizing your translation processes over time, helping you to reduce the cost of your translations.
This is how we work with our clients at Rubric.
How to choose the right Portuguese translation service
When you are looking for a Portuguese translation service, there are a few things to consider to ensure you find the right one.
A few helpful tips are:
Look for a service that specializes in your size of business
Most translation services are better suited to smaller businesses and translation jobs. Even if they support the Portuguese language, they won't have the internal processes to support a global company of your size.
Only look for services that can support a business of your size as they will be able to handle the complexity of your content.
Read the company's case studies and testimonials
One of the best way to judge the quality of a translation service is to look at their case studies and testimonials.
When doing this, it doesn't matter so much if the languages mentioned include Portuguese – most good providers will support this highly popular language. It's more important that provider's client companies are a similar size to yours and their projects involve handling similar types of content.
Prioritize translation providers with experience in your industry
Another important factor to consider is the experience of the translation provider.
Experience in your chosen Portuguese-speaking markets is a good sign. Even more important is their experience serving your industry.
For example, let's say you are a manufacturer looking to grow your company in Brazil. It's much better to find a provider with experience translating for manufacturing companies operating in Brazil than simply finding a translator that translates "into Portuguese."
3 quick tips for working with a global translation service
How can you ensure you get the most from your translation provider when you are looking to grow into Portuguese-speaking markets?
Here are 3 quick tips for getting the most from your Portuguese translation service:
- Let your provider look at your content processes — Sometimes, people assume all they need to provide their translation service is their English-language content. You might think you just need to send a document and the provider will translate it to Portuguese. You will see much more success when you let your translation provider understand your entire content-creation process. They should then help you improve the efficiency of your translations, reducing costs.
- Get strategic about your Portuguese-language content — Your Portuguese content shouldn't exist in isolation. It should be part of an entire strategic content plan for your company's global growth. When you start looking at this content strategically, you can make a bigger impact in your Portuguese-speaking markets.
- See your relationship with the provider as a long-term partnership — You will get the most from your Portuguese translation services by treating it as a long-term partnership. The best providers will help you continually improve your translation processes, helping you to get more from your translation budget.
Where to find the best Portuguese translation service for you
When looking for a Portuguese translation service, most people assume that the language is the most important aspect — they focus on finding a translation provider that specializes in Portuguese.
As we've seen, some factors are far more important for a business of your size than simply the linguistics.
It is important to prioritize finding a provider with experience in your industry. One that specializes in your size of business. This will make the entire process of translating into Portuguese smoother, helping you better achieve your company's global growth goals.
Your translation provider should deeply understand your content-creation process. In this valuable long-term partnership, they can help you make a bigger impact in your Portuguese-speaking markets for years to come.
Download our free eBook 10 Profitable Tips to Streamline Your Translation Workflow to learn how to get more from your translation budget.
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10 Profitable Tips to Streamline Your Translation Workflow
Like any manufacturer, you know that a streamlined workflow is the key to a successful business. However, the idea of having a “streamlined translation workflow” might seem unusual.