Specialized Consulting Services

For many companies, translation efforts are a component of an overall marketing or multilingual Internet or packaging program. By taking advantage of ForeignExchange's specialized expertise, clients can reduce translation expenditures and speed up time to market.

We work with departments and functional teams within drug and device companies to provide real-world, actionable advice and reports. This ensures that all aspects of your foreign-language efforts benefit from ForeignExchange's reliability, quality and professionalism.

Life science companies are struggling with globalizing their intranet and extranet web sites. You know you have to do it but how do you get started?

ForeignExchange Translations can help. We understand that creating and managing multilingual content is a complex process that requires careful planning and coordination.

ForeignExchange Translations' Recommendations and Findings Report will address the specific needs of each organization through an in-depth analysis of the following five areas:

1. Workflow Design
   Many process inefficiencies come from lack of clearly defined processes, roles and responsibilities. ForeignExchange consults with clients to establish the most streamlined authoring, localization and publishing workflow with associated roles and responsibilities.
2. Assessing Roles and Responsibilities
   The implementation of new processes and technologies require that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined in the workflows. This exercise may also highlight where to shift resources, implement new resources or decrease existing resources.
3. Scope Definition
   According to the strategic objectives set by the company and any subsidiaries that might be involved, ForeignExchange can help narrow down the content to be translated and make recommendations on how to assess whether content should be translated, localized (i.e. adapted) or removed from non-English sites.
4. Maintenance Process
   Our professionals will recommend infrastructure, resources and processes for smooth maintenance of localized sites.
5. Localization Audit
   ForeignExchange can analyze your site and make detailed recommendations on the assets requiring cultural or market tailoring. If necessary, subject-matter linguists can even develop a custom-tailored translation style guide.

The benefits to our clients are significant:

• reduce the risk and expense associated with creating a multilingual web presence
• in-depth analysis of your existing strategy, technology and business processes
• assures that best practices are being utilized
• reduce time to market with a detailed action plan

A name that conveys quality and leadership in one culture can be a source of humor or worse in another. And in a highly competitive global market, you don't get a second chance at a first impression.

We've all heard stories of overseas product introductions that failed because of a poor name choice: the soft drink whose name, transliterated into Chinese, invited consumers to "bite the wax tadpole," or the Japanese sports beverage aimed at the American market called "Pocari Sweat."

These types of blunders are embarrassing, expensive and sometimes fatal. Yet they happen every day. Why? Because the naming process itself typically ignores a crucial step—global brand-name analysis.

Among other items, global brand-name analysis tests for:

Pronunciation
Will native speakers attempt to pronounce the name in English or in their respective languages? Will they be able to pronounce the words?

Connotation
Do similar words exist in the target language? Is the connotation positive or negative? Is the connotation consistent with the brand's message?

Meaning
If similar-sounding words exist in a target language, do they mean the same or something different?

Appropriateness
Does the name suggest anything obscene or inappropriate?

Phonetics
Would the name have more impact if it were transliterated or translated into the target language?

Not only does ForeignExchange supply the linguistic expertise that you need to penetrate global markets via the Internet but we can also help to orient your global web-marketing strategy. ForeignExchange can provide detailed, actionable market research and analysis, cross-border marketing expertise and practical strategic plans based on combined American, Asian and European experience.

We help companies, web developers and agencies optimize their investment in the Internet as an integrated marketing and communications medium. ForeignExchange's international marketing services encompass the following:

Content, brand and personality
Definition and codification of a brand's personality as part of a global branding strategy and style guide

Positioning
Global positioning of products or services in view of market opportunities and competition

Tone
Evaluation of a message's style, imagery and tone from the point of view of global markets

Compliance
Check for legal and technical compliance of message and means according to regulatory requirements of foreign markets

Delivery
Recommendations for the means of message delivery across global markets

Translation and copy writing
Translation, adaptation and rewrite of messages to tailor them to a firm's markets

Execution
Advertising and direct mail campaigns in foreign markets and management of global Internet advertising and promotion strategies

In the last five years, advertisers and companies have begun to incorporate diversity marketing into their overall marketing plans. As companies target their marketing budgets at various ethnic groups, they need a level of translation and cross-cultural awareness to make a significant impact (and avoid significant mistakes).

For example, a client may not be aware of the many variations of Spanish in use across the U.S. Much depends on what part of the country you're targeting, i.e. Miami vs. Los Angeles. Use Mexican Spanish with a Miami audience and you might as well be using French.

In addition to providing linguistic services, ForeignExchange can assist in your multicultural marketing efforts by providing market analysis and testing, ethnic marketing campaigns and ongoing training and support.

Many drug and device companies find that the single biggest factor contributing to translation delays is the process of reviewing translations in their respective target countries before they are finalized. Vacation schedules, internal politics and miscommunications across time zones all make this a difficult, frustrating and ultimately time-consuming process.

ForeignExchange has developed a better approach: after analyzing your existing organization and work flow, we can provide clients with a turnkey outsourcedin-country review solution, including:

• tested and certified third-party reviewers (approved by the client, these individuals work for ForeignExchange, providing increased accountability and improved turnaround times)
• regular status meetings and opportunities for feedback, training and reviewer changes
• documented processes for client approval of reviewers, training and quality control issues
• reduction in review times by up to 90%