How Do You Say...?

 In this issue:

• The Business Wisdom of Saying It Right
  
• About Us
  

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One of the cleverest sayings that succinctly represent what a company does is one used by the giant chemical company BASF. I noticed it in one their television commercials recently. I can just imagine them sitting around with their advertising copywriters and trying to come up with something memorable and relevant to the business of providing industrial chemicals for all kinds of products

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President & C.E.O.
Galindo Publicidad, Inc.
TEL 954.255.5620  1.800.572.9446 
FAX 954.255.5615
email: mgalindo@translationsandmore.com
http://www.translationsandmore.com

Someone probably said something like, "We don't really make any distinctive product, we just provide something that makes someone else's product better." A pregnant pause would have come over the room as the "Eureka!" moment dawned. "That's the line! "We don't make widgets, we make widgets better." Now their television commercials feature all sorts of products made by their customers and each product name is inserted in the tag line. Whether the product is roller skates or clothing or automobile tires the line adapts beautifully: "We don't make roller skates. We make roller skates better."

The reason that line is so effective for me is that translation services fall into the same category of services that make many things better for many kinds of companies. Marketing, Advertising and Sales functions use our services to tell their foreign language customers and markets about the products and services of the company. The Human Resources department needs translation services for all the recruitment, orientation, policies and procedures of the company employees. Employee communications people need us to communicate with their increasingly diverse employee base in all their globally diverse locations. The Training department needs all its skill development, safety and quality programs produced in the various languages of the employees. At Galindo Publicidad we don't make employee policy or marketing strategy for our customers, we just make the communication of those strategies and policies and training and all the other communications of a diverse company understandable and clear to all those whose primary language is other than English. Often, we do make suggestions for additional content, different approach, or change of strategy in a marketing piece.

Even more invisible than the benefit of translation of words is the translation of meaning. The benefit of this difference often escapes the buyer who decides on a translations services company based solely on price. Nothing marks a communication more clearly as the work of a clumsy translator than awkward phrasing or syntax. A language is a living process and only those intimately familiar with its changing usage and idiosyncrasies can effectively convey the sense and the nuance along with the words. It is work that is not noticed when it is done well but only when it is not. The service may be intangible but the benefits are not.

So, prompted by such musing on things not noticed, this column is a thank you to all those critical but unsung services that make a company function at a level at which its employees can be proud to work for it and its clients or customers can feel absolutely confident to do business with it. I salute you accountants who keep the books straight, you Six Sigma folks who worry about every detail of quality, you sales people whose successes get noticed but whose diligent determination rarely does; you with the brooms who keep the place cleaner that it needs to be, you out there polishing the windows that let the sunshine reach every cubicle, and especially those of you in the lonely corner offices who earn your keep with late night worrying and early morning meetings and can still convey the sense of growth and energy that makes your company special.

And finally thanks again to BASF for the inspiration. You are not alone; many of us work to make the things that others make better. And here we make things better by making sure not only that everyone gets the word but that everyone gets the right meaning as well. The meaning that may be the driving force of a new business, the catalyst of change in a growing economy, the key to open new doors and welcome everybody. Enjoy this: Business inspiration for entrepreneurial minds.

See you soon!

Martha.


P.S. If you enjoy our newsletter HDYS, please add, copy/paste, this specific email address mgalindo@translationsandmore.com to your email address book, to insure that you receive it and it's not deleted by junk/spam filters.

About Us

Galindo Publicidad, Inc. (GPI), Specializes in translating English business-related materials into and from Spanish and Portuguese, while also providing translations in Arabic, German, French, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Hungarian, Creole, Russian and others.

Using its select network of native professionals, GPI guarantees linguistically accurate, reliable, and confidential translations performed with sensitivity and cultural respect.

Galindo Publicidad, Inc., winner of multiple awards, has been selected twice as a Florida 100 company, a top honor recognizing rapidly growing, privately owned companies in the state of Florida.

Copyright © 2002 Galindo Publicidad, Inc.
All rights reserved (but feel free to forward on to others who you think may find it useful).

Newsletter Developed by Galindo Associates, Inc.
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