Resources / Blog

The State of X-Border Online Holiday Shopping

Dec 22, 2016

Online holiday shopping in the US: double-digit YoY growth

Holiday season online retail sales in the US keep growing dramatically from year to year. Cyber Monday online shopping this year hit $3.45 billion, up 12% from last year. And the Cyber Five shopping days (Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Cyber Weekend and Cyber Monday) brought in $12.8 billion in online consumer sales.

All in all, holiday season online sales are forecast to exceed $90 billion in the US alone. [1]

Cross-border e-commerce holiday shopping is also growing

Cross-border e-commerce is expected to grow to a staggering $1 trillion by 2020, with an average 26% YoY growth during the 2015-2020 period. [2]

Two-thirds of consumers from more than a dozen countries who participated in a recent Pitney Bowes survey stated that they shop cross-border, with close to 60% of those saying that they do so on a monthly basis. Some markets where cross-border shopping has become a part of daily life are China, Australia, Singapore and Canada. [3]

When it comes to the holiday season, even cross-border consumers who do not celebrate Christmas are active on US online shopping sites. In 2015, for example, Chinese consumers spent approx. $55 million on US e-commerce sites and that number is predicted to double in 2016. [1]

There are, however, some clear obstacles to frictionless cross-border holiday shopping that need to be overcome in order to realize its full potential. In the Pitney Bowes survey mentioned above, 42% of cross-border consumers stated that they experienced holiday shopping challenges such as tracking inaccuracies, unclear return policies, final-price (including duty and tax) miscalculations, and shipping errors.

Who are the cross-border merchandising winners?

The US consistently scores #1 in terms of cross-border e-commerce “friendliness”, with China, the UK, Canada and Spain not too far behind. Some of the key characteristics of winning cross-border e-commerce sites [4]:

  • 80% of the top 10 cross-border merchants accept 6 or more currencies (vs. the average of only 23% across all merchants).
  • Only 30% of the top 10 merchants require customers to sign up for an account to make a purchase (vs. 90% among the bottom 10 merchants).
  • Free shipping is the largest differentiator between the best and the worst sites.

 

Cross-border communications: a key success factor

In addition to solid payment and logistics infrastructures, online e-commerce sites that want to capture the hearts and wallets of holiday season shoppers around the globe must invest in effective communications with their target audiences. It starts with presenting a product mix that is dynamically adapted to the local market tastes of international shoppers. It continues with describing those products in a language that the cross-border shopper can understand. It includes customer service that is multilingual and accessible during business hours for that time zone.

We here at Morningside would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful year of meaningful communications with your customers around the globe.

 

 

References
[1] Abigail Singer, 2016 Holidays Gone Global: How to Maximize eCommerce Revenue, Riskified, November 10, 2016
[2] Stacey Rudolph, How Cross-Border Ecommerce is Growing [Infographic], June 3, 2016
[3] Rachel Martin, The continuing rise of cross-border ecommerce: The 2016 Pitney Bowes global online shopping study
[4] X-Border Merchant Rankings: And The eLeader Is…, PYMNTS, October 7, 2016
Resources / Blog

Cost-Effective Strategies for Updating Medical Device Documentation

Nov 30, 2016


By: Jack Fischer, Business Development Manager – Life Sciences division

 

The mantra of medical device development is ‘Design, Validate, Iterate – and Repeat’. Unlike large- and small- molecule therapies, the tangible nature of medical devices enables a more efficient path for innovations to reach the market.

For developers, this represents a double-edged sword—the average 510(k) device takes only $73 million to successfully traverse the path from concept to reimbursement[1]. On the other hand, most medical devices have an 18 to 24-month window before an improved substitute enters the market[2].

By steadily iterating your device – incorporating novel materials, more user-friendly designs, and feedback from physicians, patients, & regulatory bodies – your medical devices can remain competitive across several product cycles.

As devices are improved in order to stay competitive, documentation must be updated to remain applicable and relevant. With limited resources, this raises a key question – what is the best strategy for managing the costs of translation while ensuring high quality and consistency across all your medical device documentation?

As we know, design is all about making the most appealing trade-offs. Iteration is meant to address those compromises to create a better experience & outcome. Updating your translations with Morningside will allow for an iterative process, which is both cost-effective and increases consistency. In order to create value for our clients, Morningside utilizes a series of software tools to aid linguists, known collectively as Translation Memory. Translation Memory, or ‘TM’, increases quality & consistency, while reducing costs.

Morningside uses translation memory software to increase value for clients by reconciling the precise & repetitive nature of documentation with the human element of translation. At its most basic level, translation memory functions as a client-specific database of previously translated documents. During the quoting process, we use this interactive database to check your new files for repetitive and/or previously translated text. To avoid stylistic changes in translation of the same terms and phrases, our translation memory software flags the text in question and notes the previously used translation. During the translation process, linguists check the previous translation to make sure it fits in the context of your new documentation. Not having to re-translate the same text ensures high quality by protecting against stylistic changes and ensuring consistency across documents.

While translation memory increases consistency and quality, it also decreases cost and turnaround time. Just as you leverage your past experience to keep up with new market trends, leveraging translation memory allows linguists to produce high quality translations at a faster turnaround time. Repetitive phrases are also billed as a discount, allowing for significant cost savings.

Just as patients and physicians choose specific medical devices because they improve quality of life, you can choose an informed partner who provides a personal, professional experience with the benefits of customized translation memory that speeds up turnaround times and lowers costs. At Morningside, we put our best foot forward to understand your needs. By utilizing our tools, like TM, to create a professional experience, we ensure that we can meet and exceed them.

 

The Author

Jack Fischer

Jack Fischer is a Business Development Manager at Morningside’s Life Sciences division. After researching Tuberculosis genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and working with numerous biotechnology startups in New York, Jack moved to Morningside in order to apply his expertise to developing and implementing translation solutions for the life sciences industry. Jack has a dual B.A from Skidmore College in Integrative Biology & Business.

 

[1] Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Public Health Effectiveness of the FDA 510(k) Clearance Process; Wizemann T, editor. Public Health Effectiveness of the FDA 510(k) Clearance Process: Balancing Patient Safety and Innovation: Workshop Report. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2010. 4, The Medical Device Industry Innovation Ecosystem. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209786/
[2] Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Public Health Effectiveness of the FDA 510(k) Clearance Process; Wizemann T, editor. Public Health Effectiveness of the FDA 510(k) Clearance Process: Balancing Patient Safety and Innovation: Workshop Report. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2010. Appendix D, Impact of the Regulatory Framework on Medical Device Development and Innovation. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK209794/
Resources / Blog

The Critical Role of Language in Global Clinical Trials

Nov 22, 2016

Life science companies – including critical-role-of-languagemedical device, biotech and pharma – are increasingly turning to countries outside the US and W. Europe for clinical trial sites. According to the statistics kept by the National Institutes of Health, almost half of the currently registered studies are being conducted entirely outside of the US and an additional 6% are being conducted both in and outside the US. A more detailed breakdown of the distribution of the non-US multi-regional clinical trial (MRCT) locations indicates that Europe accounts for slightly less than 50% of clinical trials, followed by Asia with 26%, Latin America with 8% and the Middle East with approximately 7%. [1]:

critical-role-of-lang-pic-2

Why are companies going abroad?

The two major benefits of MRCTs for the life science companies are: access to larger and more diverse patient populations that are often willing participants thus expediting enrollment; and the lower cost of conducting trials in developing countries. One publication estimates that, for a 60,000-subject study, $600 million per year can be saved by shifting half of the late-phase trials from the US and Western Europe to South America or India. [2]

The other benefits of the growing trend toward MRCTs are improvements to the healthcare and clinical research infrastructures in the target countries; opportunities for talented practitioners to be principal investigators; faster launches of innovative drugs and devices and improved global patient access to these products.

What are the challenges of going abroad?

At the clinical level, differences in medical practice and standards of care across multiple geographies can make it difficult to validate the results. At the clinical study design level, diverse and sometimes contradictory regulatory requirements have to be bridged regarding issues such as endpoint definitions and required levels of evidence.

There are also potentially troubling ethical issues such as adequate protection of research subjects, getting truly informed consent, levels of research conduct and transparency, the quality of the local reviews that authorize the research, etc. [3] In response to unease that is frequently expressed concerning how clinical trials are conducted in developing countries, the large pharma companies, such as Pfizer, have made clear and public commitments to ensuring that their research strictly conforms to international standards no matter where the trial is taking place.[4]

Translation can make or break an MRCT

Clinical trials are highly structured and meticulously documented processes. A partial list of the documents that have to be made available in all relevant languages for healthcare professionals, investigators and patients at every clinical trial site includes: Clinical Study Protocols, Case Report Forms, Investigator’s Brochures, Patient Information Leaflets, Patient Informed Consent Forms, Patient Questionnaires, Patient-Reported Outcomes.

Terminology has to be stringently controlled across all languages. Translations have to be done by qualified professionals under strict quality assurance processes, such as validation by experienced clinicians. Errors not only potentially endanger lives, they can undermine the very validity of the trial. To this end regulatory bodies such as the FDA, EMA and professional organizations such as ISPOR (International Society For Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research) provide good practice guidelines on how to conduct and document MRCTs so that patients are protected, their reported outcomes – including Adverse Events — are unequivocally validated, and the clinical trial data can be used confidently to make a decision about whether or not a new medication or device should be allowed to enter the market.

References

[1] Based on data from ClinicalTrials.gov (NIH) as of September 1, 2016
[2] Rebecca Li et al, Global Clinical Trials: Ethics, Harmonization and Commitments to Transparency, Harvard Public Health Review Volume 5, May 2015
[3] Premnath Shenoy, Multi-regional clinical trials and global drug development, Perspectives in Clinical Research, 2016 Apr-Jun; 7(2): 62–67
[4] Joe Feczko et al, The Globalization of Clinical Trials, Pfizer, March 2009
Resources / Blog

Four Translation Mistakes that could harm your Law Firm’s Website

Nov 15, 2016

Websites in professional industries such as law rely on the trust, credibility and reputation built by the company in question. More often than not, a potential customer’s first impression of a law firm is the law firm’s website.

For this very reason, the way that the information is displayed and delivered on a law firm’s website is of paramount importance. Translation is key to getting the branded messaging across to the target audience effectively and an accurate and localized translation of the website’s content is a key part of this task.

There are countless examples of embarrassing website translation mistakes, some of which would leave the most stoic lawyer red in the face, but these mistakes are easily avoided by using the right tools and translation services. We’ve highlighted four of the most common website translation mistakes made by law firms and provided useful tips for avoiding these pitfalls

1. Using machine translation for multilingual versions of your law firm’s website or landing pages

Whilst it may be tempting to utilize the immediacy and low cost of machine translation to create your law firm’s multilingual website, the poor quality of these translations may be detrimental to your firm’s credibility and leave your potential overseas’ clients with a bad first impression.

Of course, translated landing pages will ensure the website is visible and targeted to a wider audience, but if that audience sees mistakes in grammar, syntax and word choice in the translation, then it would be difficult to convert them into a paying customer.

The solution to this really common mistake is a simple one, and it comes in the form of hiring a professional legal translation firm that employs legal translation experts who also have website translation experience and are able to understand the nuances of legal translation as well as how to effectively market legal services to the target audience.

2. Forgetting to translate email and contact us forms

So, your law firm’s website is ready to launch and contains perfectly translated copy for each of your target markets, but what about next steps in the conversion funnel?

Take this conversion path for example:

  • A potential client who only speaks Spanish is looking for legal assistance with divorce proceedings.
  • She visits the site and is impressed with the way the website is translated in a professional manner.
  • She clicks ‘contact us’ and sends a short message asking for more information from your specialist divorce lawyer.
  • The automated response she receives is in English and she cannot understand the next steps required of her.
  • She leaves the website to look for another legal firm to handle her case.

Particularly with sensitive legal matters, it is important to have the entire user journey translated properly to ensure that no potential client leads are lost.

3. Failing to translate lawyer profiles

The majority of website searches that lead visitors to your law firm’s website will be by potential clients searching for a lawyer to potentially work on their case.

These visitors have often been given a recommendation by a friend, family or work associate. In order not to waste this warm lead arriving at the website, ensuring that your lawyer’s profiles and descriptions are translated will improve both conversion and decrease bounce and exit rates on your site.

Monitoring Google Analytics is a simple way to see which lawyer profiles are generating inbound traffic and this information can be used as a benchmark to decide the order and priority in which these pages are translated, to have the maximum impact in the shortest time – a significant quick win for your law website.

4. Email Marketing and Newsletters – all important for getting your localized message across

If your law firm uses email marketing or newsletters as a channel to communicate with clients and prospects, then translation will be important to consider when spending time on these marketing assets.

Email marketing and newsletters are an example where audience-specific translated content should be considered. If, for example a market you’re looking to target is the Spanish-speaking community, then it makes sense to send out translated newsletters and email campaigns to coincide with national holidays like Cinco de Mayo, Día de Acción de Gracias and similar.

This will demonstrate a clear understanding of the audience you’re catering to, and this relates back to establishing trust, credibility and confidence in your law firm’s ability to tailor your services to your client’s background and specific needs.

Resources / Blog

MSDS Translation: An Essential Safety Tool

Nov 08, 2016

What is an MSDS and who is responsible for it?

A Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) is a document that provides information on the potential hazards (health, fire, reactivity, environmental) of a chemical product. It also contains instructions on how to use, store and handle chemical products safely, as well as potentially life-saving guidelines on what to do in the case of an emergency − spillage, overexposure, and so much more. The patient risk associated to these medical products means MSDS translation should be handled by subject matter experts who have been rigorously vetted.

Many workplaces use dangerous chemical products – from industrial plants to labs, to the cleaning supplies found in every office. Improper handling of chemical products can cause damage of staggering proportions through explosion, fire, and/or the release of lethal toxins into the atmosphere. When creating this piece of critical content, it is important to extend an agreement of partnership with a professional language services provider with ISO certifications. ISO certifications indicate an organization’s services and business processes have been independently audited to meet or exceed international best standards or practices. So, look for a language service provider certified to ISO standards – especially ISO 13485, which specifies QMS standards for medical device companies. Doing so ensures your technical MSDS translation is reliable and accurate.

With so much at stake, national and global regulators have established a clear chain of responsibility for educating users on how to safely handle hazardous products and how to respond to an emergency: the manufacturers are required to prepare a detailed MSDS that covers all the mandated topics and to update them regularly, typically every three or five years; suppliers are required to deliver, along with the product, the most updated material safety data sheets in all the languages relevant to the buyer; and employers are required to make the MSDSs readily available to their employees.

Basic MSDS requirements

There are a number of harmonized and national regulations that dictate the basic content and format of the MSDS [i]. Thus, for example, the European Union’s REACH (Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals), requires that the following 16 topics be covered [ii]:

1.       Product, manufacturer, supplier info

2.       Composition of ingredients

3.       Identification of hazards

4.       First-aid measures

5.       Fire-fighting measures

6.       Accidental release measures

7.       Recommended handling & storage conditions

8.       Exposure controls / Personal protection

9.     Physical and chemical properties

10.   Stability and reactivity data

11.   Toxicological information

12.   Ecological information

13.   Disposal considerations

14.   Transport information

15.   Regulatory classification

16.   Other information, disclaimer, etc.

Making MSDS Understandable

As noted in Canada’s Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System guidelines [iii], in the past the intended readers of MSDSs were occupational hygienists and safety professionals. Today, however, the audience also includes employers, workers, supervisors, nurses, doctors, and emergency responders. Thus, in order to ensure that MSDS users can quickly find the information that they need, the MSDS should be in an easy-to-read format and written in a clear, precise and understandable manner.

Not only must MSDSs be clearly written, but they must also be carefully localized[iv]. For one thing, they must be adapted to regional regulatory specificities such as the emergency call number in section 1, the occupational exposure limit values in section 8, and the list of the regulations that correspond to the substance in section 15. MSDS translations are a critical form of communication to safely inform your product users of patient risk, localizing the content ensures maximum comprehension.

MSDS Translation Challenges

In addition, they must be provided in the language of the user. REACH, for example, states explicitly (article 31, paragraph 5) “The safety data sheet shall be supplied in an official language of the Member State(s) where the substance or preparation is placed on the market unless the Member State(s) concerned provide otherwise.”

Translating MSDSs is a mission-critical responsibility that should only be undertaken by knowledgeable and experienced translators. Not only must they be chemistry subject matter experts, but they must also be well-versed in the MSDS requirements of the target audience. In addition, they must be working within a well-established quality system that ensures accurate, consistent deliverables. The well-being of people, the environment and valuable assets are dependent on always-accurate, always-understandable MSDS translations.

References

[i] Morningside Translations
[ii] Safety Data Sheet, Wikipedia
[iii] WHMIS 1988 – Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs): General
[iv] Sabine Ashfaq, I have to translate my MSDS! The least expensive solution: software, February 24, 2016
Resources / Blog

Quality Translations – Easy Insurance for Life Science KPIs

Oct 25, 2016

jack-fischer

By Jack Fischer, Business Development Manager – Life Sciences division

 

 

 

If you work in the life sciences, then your job contributes to saving lives around the world. Diagnostics and other medical devices help physicians evaluate and prevent disease. Pharmaceutical products inhibit the progression of diseases. New and improved research tools broaden the scope of research outcomes and expedite the results upon which novel treatments are based.

With that said, there are two constants that life science professionals must face: the existence of patients beyond your initial market, and the need to convince your colleagues that certain risks associated with international initiatives needed to reach these patients can be mitigated. More often than not, your colleagues will have to convince others as well.

Across industries and around the world, 83% of consumers feel that having pre-purchase information in their own language is a critical factor in decision making.[1] When it comes to decisions about health, that number is even higher. High-quality translations performed by a specialized team represent a highly effective tool for reaching global health consumers and decision makers, as well as international stakeholders.

With the cost to gain 510k approval for a low-risk medical device commonly exceeding $31 million, and the overall cost to develop and win marketing approval for a new pharmaceutical product exceeding $1.3 billion, expanding your target patient populations is a financially attractive proposition[2], [3]. In order to manage the regulatory risk, and realize the potential of your international initiatives, clear communication across language barriers is imperative. Regulatory bodies must be absolutely confident about the methods and data you present to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of your treatment in your submissions. Physicians and patient community groups need translated education materials to inform productive & empathetic conversations about condition management.

When it comes to life sciences translation, it’s critical that your team or partnership be led by experts. Ensuring that your translation partner employs a highly-qualified team of medically-proficient linguists is critical to overcoming the language barrier. In-country linguists help incorporate cultural awareness that allows for a more fluid narrative, while retaining technical expertise. While cost-effectiveness is important, the potential loss of rejection for a regulatory submission or a clinical trial application far outweigh the cost of high-quality translations. Choosing a translation provider that can execute against these parameters can be the difference between approval and rejection for a regulatory checkpoint, enrollment in a clinical trial, compliance during audits, and adoption in your physicians’ offices.

While high-quality translations may seem like a small detail in the context of development costs, they are actually a key component to expanding your market and reaching more patients. They ensure the work of your regulatory, quality, and marketing teams are accurately represented on the international stage, allowing your company to reach your most crucial performance indicators with international stakeholders.

Going the extra mile to find a translations team that is experienced, informed, and committed to your success represents the best insurance you can buy for reaching patients and increasing revenues abroad.  Plus, by helping share your treatments across borders, you can help improve countless lives.

[1] Common Sense Advisory, 2016
[2] Steinberg, D., Horwitz, G., & Zohar, D. (2015). Building a business model in digital medicine. Nature biotechnology, 33(9), 910-920.
[3] Joseph A. DiMasi, Henry G. Grabowski, Ronald W. Hansen, Innovation in the pharmaceutical industry: New estimates of R&D costs, Journal of Health Economics, Volume 47, May 2016, Pages 20-33, ISSN 0167-6296, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2016.01.012.

The Author

Jack Fischer

jack-fischer

Jack Fischer is a Business Development Manager at Morningside’s Life Sciences division. After researching Tuberculosis genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and working with numerous biotechnology startups in New York, Jack moved to Morningside in order to apply his expertise to developing and implementing translation solutions for the life sciences industry. Jack has a dual B.A from Skidmore College in Integrative Biology & Business.

Resources / Blog

Cross-border Online Dispute Resolution: Language is Key

Oct 04, 2016

What is online dispute resolution?

Online dispute resolution (ODR) is a form of alternate (i.e., non-litigation) dispute resolution (ADR) that uses technology to facilitate the resolution process. As in alternate dispute resolution, ODR involves negotiation, mediation or arbitration, or a combination of the three.

While in ADR there are typically three parties (two disputants and the third neutral party), in ODR the technology itself becomes a fourth party that embodies its own range of capabilities – information organization, sending automatic responses, shaping written communications, monitoring performance, scheduling meetings, clarifying interests and priorities and so on. As technology advances we may even see the emergence of fourth party “avatars” that are created to judge disputes and become more skilled with each case. [1]

How does it work?

ODR has the potential to dramatically reduce the pressure on overburdened court systems by handling, for example, small-claims disputes or personal injury claims. But so far, only a handful of European countries (Switzerland, Austria, Norway) have succeeded in implementing ODR frameworks to scale. [2] For the most part, ODR is being used to handle commercial disputes in general and e-commerce disputes in particular.

A good example is Modria, a leading ODR cloud-based platform that provides retailers with a technology-mediated channel for settling disputes with consumers and thereby significantly reducing legal and customer service expenses. Modria’s customers create policies (or use Modria’s pre-configured policies) to automatically trigger actions in the resolution process including issuing a refund, sending a message, or routing to the right agent. The resolution process is initiated by the consumer directly from the retailer’s website and is guided step-by-step through the dispute resolution process. With one-click the customer can escalate to direct contact with customer service, and Modria also supports mediation and arbitration.

What happens when the dispute is cross-border?

Now that’s the (multi-)million-dollar question. The global e-commerce market is growing rapidly and cross-border e-commerce is becoming a significant percentage of that. Yet ODR platforms like Modria support English only.

Recognizing that for cross-border e-commerce to flourish, there has to be a convenient, multilingual dispute resolution mechanism, European Commission launched its official ODR portal in February. As you can see below, the consumer can initiate the ODR process in any one of the 23 official European languages:online-dispute-resolution-chart

Currently there is a note below the “Choose your language” message that “…you might be redirected to English content if a translation is not available yet.” One can only assume that, as the system scales up, more and more of the website will be available in the consumer’s native language.

online-dispute-statsAt this juncture, online traders are only obligated to provide a link to the ODR Platform on their website, and the ODR Platform will only automatically transfer the complaint to that entity if both the consumer and trader both agree on an ADR entity to handle their dispute. [3] The jury is still out as to whether this EU ODR initiative will be embraced by online traders and their cross-border customers. As shown in the info-graphic to the right [4], there is still work to be done to spread awareness, especially among traders.

Cracking the language barrier is key to the proliferation of cross-border ODR

ODR industry thought leaders [5], [6] are hard at work designing models for global ODR systems that can reliably handle high volumes of ODR traffic within a labyrinth of diverse legal systems and across multiple languages. One suggestion is that the ODR process will be conducted in the language in which the transaction took place – or as determined by the online arbitrator. It also seems likely that being multilingual will be one of the threshold requirements for the online arbitrators. Perhaps open-source ODR translation databases can close some of the linguistic UI/UX gaps as well. The only thing that can be said with confidence today is that with technology advances and with the growth of cross-border e-commerce, robust multilingual ODR platforms will become a reality — sooner rather than later.

References

[1] Online dispute resolution, Wikipedia
[2] ODR and the Courts: The Promise of 100% Access to Justice?, Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) Trend Report IV, 2016
[3] John Davidson-Kelly, Europe’s new online dispute resolution platform: what do you need to do?, Osborne Clarke, January 22, 2016
[4] Settling consumer disputes online, EU Factsheet, January 2016
[5] Colin Rule, Vikki Rogers, and Louis Del Duca, Designing a Global Consumer Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) System for Cross-Border Small Value-High Volume Claims, Uniform Commercial Code Law Journal [Vol. 42 #3]
[6] Vikki Rogers, Establishing a Global Online Dispute Resolution System for Cross-Border Online Transactions for the Sale of Goods, March 2013. Chapter from book Online Dispute Resolution Theory and Practice, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Ethan Katsh & Daniel Rainey ( Eds.)
Resources / Blog

Meet Morningside @ The State Bar of California’s 89th Annual Meeting!

Sep 30, 2016

Morningside is excited to sponsor The State Bar of California’s 89th Annual Meeting in San Diego. The conference kicked off on Thursday and will continue through Sunday October 2nd. As a leading legal translation provider, Morningside offers a full suite of language services for the legal industry including legal document translation, legal interpreting, multilingual document review and eDiscovery support. If you are attending, make sure to stop by Booth #416 to grab some fun giveaways and learn more about us!

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Resources / Blog

Breaking Down the Language Barrier with Auto-Translation

Sep 27, 2016

While browsing the web, you may have come across a website written in a foreign language and attempted to use the ‘one-click’ translation function in your browser to instantly translate the text on the page. This is one way the ecommerce world has attempted to break down the language barrier with auto-translation.

Once the text has been translated, you were probably able to understand some of what the web page is saying, but many words or phrases likely made little sense. This is typical of end-users’ experience using auto-translation: it can be useful to get the gist of what a website or document is saying, but the quality is typically not very sufficient to get a clear understanding of what is written. What is worse is that vital information can easily be misinterpreted.

How does Auto-Translation work?

Auto-translation programs (such as Google Translate) work on a phrase by phrase basis, using a statistical algorithm to determine the meanings of words. In the case of Google’s translation tool, a back catalog of already translated texts is used. The algorithm analyzes the sentence against these texts to give the best result. The result depends on the quality of these translated texts, potentially leading to mistakes and awkward phrasing.

Auto-Translation of the Future

Auto translation technology is still in it’s infancy, with new technologies being developed and released regularly. The new technology we’re most excited about is the move towards neural machine translation (NMT). This approach to machine translation is structured in a similar way to the human brain and use complex calculations to select the appropriate translation. Unlike conventional machine translation, every component of the neural translation process is trained to maximize translation performance. Rather than simply translating the sentence word-for-word, this auto-translation technology can learn metaphors and idioms and their foreign language equivalents. This technology is still in its infancy, and represents a radical departure from standard MT approaches. If it proves successful, this technology will produce far more accurate translations and could render human translation a thing of the past.

Instant Translation Technology

The move towards highly accurate, instant machine translation would represent a significant step forward when it comes to communicating across languages.  Both Google and Facebook are investing heavily in this new technology, which would significantly improve the user experience by providing automatic translation of ads as well as posts and messages.

Auto-Translation is not Foolproof

Currently, auto-translations are still not good enough to be used in professional settings. There are enough real-word examples of humorous and sometimes embarrassing translation mistakes on signs, product labels and menus around the world to remind us of the risks and potential fallout of relying on online auto-translation tools alone.

For the time being, in order to get a clear, accurate translation, your best bet is to have your document or website translated professionally by a native speaker of the target language. This ensures that the translation will be easily understood, culturally relevant, and avoid the misunderstandings and embarrassment that can result by using auto-translation software.

Resources / Blog

Are You Ready for Cross-Border E-commerce?

Sep 15, 2016

The global e-commerce market is growing rapidly and cross-border e-commerce is gaining an increasingly high share of total cross-border commerce over time. As shown on the left, Alibaba expects the cross-border e-commerce market to quadruple from $233B in 2014 to $994B in 2020.

The four most active cross-border e-commerce channels — both in terms of cross-border purchases and cross-border sales — are the US, the UK, Germany and China. Thus, for example:

  • For German online shoppers, the UK is the most popular cross-border shopping destination (43%), followed by the US (33%) and then China (24%). German online merchants, on the other hand, sell mostly to France, Austria, Italy, Spain, and the Scandinavian countries. [1]
  • 71% of UK online merchants offer cross-border delivery, with the US being the biggest cross-border trading partner (both imports and exports). [2]
  • Cross-border purchases by China’s online shoppers grew from less than $2 billion in 2010 to more than $20 billion in 2014. With the Chinese middle-class expected to grow to 630 million by 2022, this trend is only going to increase. [3]

Despite the massive opportunity for increased revenue that cross-border e-commerce presents, there are also several unique and significant challenges that not all e-commerce merchants are willing or able to address. In a recent survey conducted by Payvision[4], e-commerce businesses that have not yet plunged into the cross-border market cited the following main reasons:cross-border-2

Although the world is becoming more and more of a global village, for the cross-border e-commerce merchant it is still hugely fragmented in terms of local consumer protection laws, customs and tariffs, and privacy and data protection regulations. But surprisingly, it is actually the language and localization issues that were the leading reason given not to jump on the cross-border bandwagon. E-commerce merchants are acutely aware that to compete in foreign online markets they must be able to present their products and provide customer care in the local language and in line with the local culture.

Though website translation & localization pose significant challenges, the potential ROI for e-commerce merchants is obvious. Morningside Translations has developed extensive expertise in localization and cross-cultural communications as it helps its customers do business around the globe every day. If you are considering expanding into the cross-border e-commerce market, contact us to see how we can help you make your cross-border e-commerce dreams a reality.

References

[1] Germany E-commerce Facts and Figures
[2] UK E-commerce Facts and Figures
[3] Fast Facts: China And Cross-Border E-Commerce, Alibaba, October 2015
[4] Key Business Drivers And Opportunities In Cross-Border Ecommerce: Entering an omnichannel world, 2015, Payvision