It’s becoming one of the top mind-blowing facts of business ─ and life!
To survive and thrive in local and global markets, it’s not only about good products, but also about the look and feel of the content that presents these products. Appearances are not always deceptive!
We’re living in a local and global environment of cut-throat competition. According to Nielsen Media Research, there are more than 500,000 brands all over the world in more than 2,000 product categories. Therefore, against such a frightening background, a good company needs to enhance the appearance of their documents and give them a good design that fits the identity of their brand and communicates that brand’s message to customers, prospects, investors, business partners, and other stakeholders. But how can this be achieved?
The answer is “Multilingual Desktop Publishing”. So, what is it?
What is Multilingual Desktop Publishing?
It’s the final phase of the translation or localization process – which aims to deliver a document that looks as if it were originally created in the target language.
With this indispensable service, your business will have full control over how content is formatted and presented – from layout to images to the actual body of text – noting that every artistic element can be customized so that it may appeal to whatever audience you’re targeting.
Types of Documents That Need Multilingual Desktop Publishing
DTP publishers usually use a wide range of software, like QuarkXpress and Adobe InDesign, to add their aesthetic touches to such basic documents as brochures, menus, business cards, and others.
Furthermore, Desktop publishers also work on more complex projects such as catalogs, flyers, price lists, newspapers, pamphlets, magazines, books, and many other kinds of documents ─ both printed and online.
Why do Businesses Use Multilingual Desktop Publishing?
It’s no luxury. It’s a must, especially when your business is publishing content, printed or online, for multilingual audiences who speak different languages and have different tastes and, still, they are your customers ─ who are kings!
For companies across all industries, there are many benefits of using multilingual desktop publishing services, especially when they’re delivered by a professional partner. Let’s have a look at some of them.
1) Reduced Costs
It’s clear. If you decide to carry out desktop publishing, you’ll have to invest in hardware, software, and human talent. Yet, when you partner with a professional multilingual desktop publishing services provider, you won’t have to invest in DTP equipment (printers and computers) or the advanced expensive software and its regular upgrades, or the DTP designers and professionals. With this, you’ll reduce your production costs, while leveraging your partner’s quality desktop publishing services. Saving is an art!
2) Better Document Layout
You won’t settle for things that are mundane, ordinary, or commonplace! So, you certainly want your printed and online documents to stand out from the crowd? Then, simple templates from word processing programs won’t work for your business. You need to come up with professional documents so that your company may stand out from the competition.
With superior multilingual desktop publishing, your company will leverage a broader diversity of templates, and will also be capable of creating its unique, one-of-a-kind templates and designs. This will help your business to grab the attention of customers and prospects, in addition to bringing about an increase in sales. More importantly, it will help you express your brand identity.
3) Customizable Documents
One of the great advantages is customization. Suppose your company wants to use a certain design but wishes to make some changes that meet their needs or reflect their brand personality. Also, what if your business wants to improve and customize any type of document ─ graph, flyer, press release, catalog, newsletter, menu, proposal, schedule, etc. ─ to target a specific audience? Easy, this is one of the privileges of multilingual desktop publishing!
4) In-house Templates
Brand identity is always one of the top goals for any successful business. Multilingual desktop publishing makes it possible for your company’s marketers to use an existing template or design that best reflects your brand. Of course, this is much better and easier than having to repetitively come up with new versions of marketing materials.
Further, with this wonderful service, your marketers can always use an updated ad, newsletter, or brochure template ─ which helps to keep your brand individuality in the hearts and minds of customers.
5) Easy Revisions
You can easily make a revised version of your designs. It happens when your company wants to change the price or address on an ad. This helps to save both time and cost.
All told, we’ve now reached the question of why we must select an expert multilingual desktop publishing vendor. Let’s see.
Why Choose a Professional Desktop Publishing Service Provider?
Asked what a professional translation company is, we need to resist our tendency to mention AfroLingo, supported by a lot of evidence and dozens of client testimonials.
However, suffice it, for now, to define a great translation company as the one that provides its clients with finalized print-ready documents and finalized screen-ready localized online or digital materials. In other words, it’s the translation agency that, after delivery, the customer will not need to do any additional work.
So, why should you partner with this professional language service provider to handle your multilingual desktop publishing? In reply, we have to mention these following top reasons.
1- They Can Handle Complex Languages & Characters
Based on the source and target languages, the size of the text can sometimes contract or expand. Russian, for instance, has words that might contain dozens of characters, demanding the resizing of graphics and menu items.
When you translate from English into, for example, Arabic, you’ll have more words and an expanded document which will require either more space or smaller font size. As for such languages as Farsi, Arabic, and Hebrew, they require changing the layout order as they’re written right to left.
All these issues are effortlessly handled by multilingual desktop publishing professionals who can easily modify the document layout to accommodate these differences in size and display direction.
2- They Can Recommend the Optimal Look and Feel
When it comes to the look and feel of final documents, printed or online, countries usually have their different standards so that what is great in Japan, for instance, might be quite unacceptable in Egypt. And, here comes one of the advantages of choosing the right multilingual desktop publishing partner who should be able to understand each local language and local culture. With this, they will recommend which layout will fit which target audience.
When it comes to the choice of colors, images and symbols, they will choose the ones that will better communicate your message to your audience. Cultural nuances matter!
3- They Can Handle Any File Type and Format
Let’s put it outright. A professional multilingual desktop publishing vendor will always be able to lay out documents using multiple software and handle multiple file-formats in multiple languages and scripts. They won’t say no to any file format, script, or font type. In this particular area, they should be Jack of all trades and also a master of all trades!
4- They Help Save Time, Money and Resources
When you partner with a professional agency, you’ll enjoy dealing with a team that works around the clock to meet your deadlines. Besides, when you assign the DTP job to internal teams to save some costs, you always end up incurring more costs in the long run. All in all, working with a professional agency will save you a lot of time, dollars, and human talent.
Why AfroLingo?
At AfroLingo, we’ve been since 2008, working with top-notch clients in Africa and across the globe, providing them with premium language services to help them cross their national borders and thrive on a global scale.
As the top ISO 17100 certified translation & localization service provider in South Africa & Kenya, our success is based upon the pillars of professional services, an expert team of native translators, on-time and on-target deliveries, in addition to 100% confidentiality.
When it comes to multilingual desktop publishing, we work closely with our customers to provide them with designs, layout, and templates which capture each brand’s image and values.
Our unique team comprises extensively experienced desktop publishers, native translators, and talented graphic designers who are versed in producing online and print-ready localized content that reflects your brand identity and helps you get close to the multiple languages and cultures of your target audiences all over the world.
Contact us today for more information or a free quote.
