If it is your first time dealing with typesetting foreign
language business cards, you may start out thinking it is
a simple task. So did we. Later we learned that without proper
preparation and accessible information, it can turn out to
be a very time consuming job with changes and changes following
initial layout and translation. After many trials and errors,
we have summarized the lessons we learned here for you.
- Establish a “Do not translate list.” Generally speaking,
clients have their own preferences as to what information
should remain in English. We find that many Japanese clients
prefer leaving “phone number” and “fax number” in English.
The reason behind it is that those phrases are so often
used in business correspondence that they are widely understood
and don’t require translation. Another situation where a
“Do not translate list” would help is name translation.
For some English speaking clients, they want their name
translated. If it is from a Roman based language into a
non-Roman language such as Japanese or Chinese, usually
“transliteration” is used where the name is translated into
characters based on the pronunciation of the name. For example,
President George Bush’s name is translated into Chinese
as 乔治·布什, which is based on its pronunciation.
Depending on the client, some are comfortable with this
approach, some are not. Finding out before sending this
card for translation will save a lot of revision down the
road.
- Specify native name spelling. Many expatriates who need
business card translated already have their name in the
target language. For example, the Chinese name of Connie
Chung is 宗毓华 (pronounced as Zong,
Lihua in Mandarin), which is not a translation of Connie
at all. In a situation where Connie wants her Chinese card
done, she would like to see 宗毓华 on
the card, not just a transliteration of Connie Chung. The
point we are making here is that it is imperative to find
out the native name spelling of the card client whenever
applicable and possible.
- Number formats: for example, in most languages, both
Arabic numbers (0, 1, 2, …) as well as their native numbering
formats are acceptable. For example, in China, the phone
number 519 256 3399 can be written both like that or in
Chinese
五一九 二五六 三三九九. We find that if we knew client’s choice
before starting to typeset, usually the turnaround time
for the final card is a lot faster.
- Company name translation: many companies already have
previously established names for their foreign subsidiaries.
For example, Goldman Sachs’ subsidiary in China is called
高盛公司 (pronounced as Gao Sheng). The
decision for which characters to use to stand for the company
is usually made from a marketing perspective and based on
a lot of research. The same applies to tag lines. It doesn’t
make sense for a translation company to re-invent a name
or tagline when they already exist. It is important to find
out that information and communicate it to the translation
vendor before everything starts.
- Be aware of final delivery formats. For cards in non-Roman
based languages, if you use an English operating system,
you will need to receive the final translated business card
as outlines so that you can view it (after being converted
to outlines, text becomes an image). You can still manipulate
the outline but you can not change the content of the text.
So if you want to have the flexibility of being able to
make changes (sometimes it maybe just to change a phone
number), you need to ask for the text version of the file.
- Finally, the typesetter needs to know what kind of software
and which version the printer is using. For example, if
the typesetter is using a version 10 software but the printer
is using version 9. Unless the typestter knows it before
hand and downsave it to a lower version, the printer might
not be able to use the file.
We learned the above from translating and typesetting hundreds
of business cards. We hope the information can be of use to
you, helping you save time and money. If you are looking for
Chinese
translation or Chinese
typesetting services, contact WTB Language Group.
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