Hot market: Translating for European companies

The differences tend to be subtle, but they can make a difference for European companies hoping to make inroads in the United States. What the British call a “trolley,” for example, is a shopping cart here. What the British call a “rubber,” we call an eraser.
As a result, European companies are increasingly seeking out translators who can frame their messages in American English so that their Web sites, product packages and support documents speak to their audience effectively.
Bay Translations, a small company based in Bristol, is capitalizing on that growing demand. To expand its presence in Europe, the firm is partnering with EDV-Studio Kortheuer, a German translation bureau specializing in electronic and technical documentation.
“We notice more and more there’s a request and a need for American English,” said Karin Weldy, co-owner of Bay Translations. “In the last few months it has really increased.”
At the same time, said Peter Weldy, Karen’s husband and head of marketing, sales and management for Bay Translations’ domestic accounts, U.S. companies are realizing the value of having their Web sites and marketing materials translated into foreign languages, so they can do business in other countries.
That trend is occurring more slowly, he said, because U.S. companies – especially manufacturers – are afraid of the unknown and also may be concerned that if they get a sudden increase in orders, they won’t be able to fill them.
To encourage them, Peter Weldy said, he spends a good amount of time explaining the benefits of taking advantage of the global market. And last year, to help find new clients, the firm formed a partnership with Bryant University’s Chafee Center for International Business.
Bay Translations is the Chafee Center’s sole resource for foreign language translations, so a large portion of the company’s U.S.-based work comes from the Chafee Center. Bay Translations, in turn, refers its customers to the Chafee Center when they can benefit from its services.
Peter and Karin Weldy formed Bay Translations after spending more than 20 years in the language industry in Rhode Island. They worked in the field for a few years before purchasing a Providence translation company, Protrans Inc., in 1995. They sold Protrans Inc. five years later after tripling revenue and getting a purchase offer they couldn’t refuse.
For awhile, they continued to work for Protrans, but then, two years ago, they started their own firm, because they missed the hands-on involvement in running a company.
Though Bay Translations faces competition from Protrans Inc. and even larger Boston translation companies, the company has managed to maintain a chunk of the market by offering “extremely competitive” prices, Karin Weldy said.
“We can always beat big-city prices because we don’t have the overhead,” she said. “That’s a big advantage.”
The company contracts work to a core of about 25 translators with whom it has developed working relationships over the years, Peter Weldy said. But there is no staff beside the Weldys, and no office overhead, because they work from their home in Bristol.
Another differentiator is the “personal touch,” he said. The couple travels to each client located within driving distance. About half of their clients are located in southern New England, 25 percent are in Rhode Island and 25 percent are international. But the international market is the fastest-growing.
“Europe is really taking off for us,” Karin Weldy said. “They don’t have the innate sense for the right marketing language.”
Bay Translations offers translations of technical manuals, packaging, product inserts, advertising copy, sales and marketing collateral, press releases, catalogues, scientific papers, business correspondence, legal documents, government regulations and brochures.
The company works with a dozen industries, but mostly manufacturers and advertising firms, Weldy said. The company also provides translations of all major languages and will search out the proper translator for special dialects of a language from a database of hundreds of translators.