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Writing White Papers In More Than One Language
By Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2011-02-17
When it comes to writing styles, many white paper authors try to use short words and simple sentences so that the average English speaker has no trouble understanding them. The thing is, though, that the "average person" on a global scale doesn't speak English, and so one (admittedly risky) approach to attracting a new audience is writing a white paper in a different language.
To make the appeal of this strategy more clear: Ethnologue statistics collected by Wikipedia indicate that 845 million people speak Mandarin Chinese. Around 329 million people then speak Spanish, while 328 million speak English.
Branching out into a language other than English could create a lot of business opportunities, then, even if a company's success rate is quite low.
Just be aware there are many things to be careful about. First, a poor translation could make a white paper into an object of laughter or scorn. Second, white paper authors need to consider whether they're actually capable of conducting a business transaction in another language (it might be necessary to either re-hire a translator or try to translate on the fly, versus having days to work out the original white paper).
Third, everyone should try not to break any tax laws that would apply to international dealings.
Good luck if you decide to experiment with this approach. Here's a link to Google Translate that might help.
About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.
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