The last month has seen more diamonds of economic news than there are in Cullinan mine. While British retail remains patchy, UK and other European companies selling “luxury” have done phenomenally well on the global stage. They have reaped dividends of promotion in emerging economies, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, targeting High Net Worth Individuals or those aspiring to perceived luxury.

Translation plays no small part in this global success: research has shown that the majority of consumers will only buy from websites with information presented in their language. This effect becomes more pronounced the higher the value of the product or service. (see Can’t Read, Won’t Buy: Why Language Matters, Common Sense Advisory)

A few news snippets illustrate the trend:

Paul Smith smartens up profits
Paul Smith, the fashion designer famed for his smart suits and signature rainbow stripes, has notched up a 31 per cent increase in pre-tax profits…
Turnover increased 15 per cent to £171.6m, but international sales were the star performer, rising 16 per cent in Europe, and 15.5 per cent in the rest of the world. By contrast, UK sales rose by just over 7 per cent.
Financial Times

Bentley leads convoy for mini-recovery in UK car production
December PMI figures and Bentley’s 37% global sales rise bring a little new year cheer to European stockmarkets
The luxury carmaker Bentley has defied the economic gloom with a 37% surge in global sales, producing a sparkling set of figures for 2011, powered by rising sales to China and the United States. It has forecast strong growth this year.
The Guardian

Ferragamo takes a sexy step on the red carpet
Asia-Pacific accounts for 36 percent of Salvatore Ferragamo’s global sales from January to September 2011. Paul Cadman, Ferragamo’s regional chief executive officer for Asia Pacific, says “The biggest challenge we foresee is how we will be able to keep up with the demand for our products given our forecast for the region for 2012. Our China market alone grew by 50 percent from January to September of 2011 as compared to the same period in 2010. Growth is what we anticipate for the region with our expansion plans, especially in China.”
The Philippine Star

China boosts Rolls Royce sales
Rolls-Royce said sales in Asia-Pacific grew 47pc in 2011. China is now its largest market. Sales in Germany and Russia more than doubled. Torsten Müller-Ötvös, chief executive, said “Our business is in excellent shape. We are developing our dealer network, moving into new markets like South America”
Daily Telegraph

China: number one for Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Roycerevealed that in 2011, for the first time ever, China over took the US as its biggest market. Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst at Credit Suisse, pointed to South Korea, Turkey and South America as regions where demand was likely to expand rapidly. The proportion of sales across the luxury vehicle universe from “non-traditional” markets could grow to 60-70 per cent of total sales, he added.
Financial Times beyondbrics blog

This trend is not just present in exports but also in sales within the UK – to those who have travelled here.

Foreign tourists have boosted profits at top London store Harvey Nichols by 32 percent. Harrods saw a 39 percent rise, with Chinese visitors spending an average of £3,500 per visit. With an eye on this market, Burberry has spent £20m upgrading its London stores. Angela Ahrendts, Burberry’s chief executive explained to the Financial Times recently, “When Chinese consumers travel, they spend six times more than when they stay at home. Saying ‘I bought this in London’ adds further cachet.”

The effect extends beyond London too, at least as far as the Oxfordshire town Bicester – which boasts the only station in the UK with signs signs translated into Chinese and Arabic. The designer outlet centre Bicester Village is now the UK’s third-biggest tourist shopping destination after Harrods and Selfridges. Visitor numbers are expected to exceed 5.5m in 2012, with 40 percent of shoppers coming from outside of the EU and some two-thirds coming from outside the UK.

So, what conclusions should we draw from all this?

First, any brand that considers its products positioned at the premium or luxury end of the continuum should start taking emerging markets seriously. Of course, Arabic, Russian and Japanese remain key languages to be addressing consumers in but the list is expanding to include Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and more.

Secondly, the “blank slate” of these markets provides an opportunity for brand transformation and hegemony – I wrote last year about wealthy Chinese tourists and Clarks shoes.

Finally, the internet is a cost effective place to start. Many companies get a shock when they see the number of non-English speakers among their existing visitors, never mind potential new ones. Isn’t it about time we started speaking to this global audience in their language?

Pic: By Ricardo Stuckert/PR (Agência Brasil [1]) [CC-BY-2.5-br], via Wikimedia Commons



Will translation rescue London businesses from the morass of the UK economy? A report today by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry shows a difficult last few months for London business, but concludes that part of the solution is reaching out globally to growing economies.

Most of the key performance indicators for London’s businesses fell in the third quarter of 2011, according to the LCCI’s latest Quarterly Economic Survey. London businesses saw sales and orders in both domestic and export markets fall significantly.

The report [.pdf] notes confidence figures at an individual company level remained relatively steady in Q3, but confidence in the UK’s economic situation fell drastically.

Interviewed on the BBC, Colin Stanbridge, Chief Executive of the LCCI, said, “London business have to get out to places where economy is growing.”

He commented further on these results:

“There are economies beyond Europe experiencing huge surges in consumer demand, not least in Brazil, China and Russia. The business community and the government must work together to harness these opportunities for UK firms.”

An unusual tourist destination for Chinese tourists in the UK is revealed by the Metro today. The Clarks shoe museum, in the small Somerset village of Street, is hoping for coaches full of tour groups.

Stephanie Cheng, managing director of China Holidays, thinks that Chinese tourists “will definitely come here to the home of Clarks and the shoe museum”. Clarks have been making footwear since 1825, and it has gained popularity in China.

Cheng comments “Clarks shoes are a phenomenon in China, their quality and design are famous. When Chinese people come to England, they find the price is comparatively low and they buy for the whole family, perhaps five to ten pairs.”

It’s hardly news that the Chinese economy is growing, and some individuals are becoming wealthy. Only last month, the Chinese economy became the second largest in the world, surpassing Japan. It is predicted to become the single largest economy in the world before 2020. Only today, a Guardian blog highlights some of the incredible figures (and risks) behind this enormous growth: “China plots world domination and an almighty shopping spree”.

Against this background, the number of Chinese visitors to the UK can only increase. Chinese tourists are certainly a group that are being newly looked at by many serious luxury brands, hotels, visitor attractions, service providers, and so on.

Returning to Somerset, the local County Council and Tourism Association have been working hard at building links. Cllr David Hall said: “The Chinese are now recognised as being bigger spenders than the Arabs, Russians or Americans and their visit will give a tremendous boost to Somerset’s economy and local employment.”

At WorldAccent we’ve undoubtedly seen an increase in publicity requiring Chinese typesetting. After all a exhibit leaflet or information on a website can be created in key languages such as Chinese quickly and for a relatively small outlay. However you can’t help but wonder how many attractions, services and companies are still caught in the old world view, seeing China as source of affordable manufactured goods rather than a source of well off visitors and consumers.

To help this process on its way, WorldAccent has produced a free download of 4 shop information signs in Simplified Chinese for shops and visitors’ attractions. You can download and print the PDF with signs in Simplified Chinese for Open, Closed, Toilets and Special Offer. Feel free to pass it on, but please link back to here as a credit if you do.

You can read the full article (or syndicate the text for your own website) on Buzzle:
How Translation Helps Business Survive Recession in the UK

The plans had caused widespread outrage with the Welsh Language Board threatening to launch an investigation into whether the move would break the Assembly’s own Welsh language scheme. Pressure group Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) also intervened stating:

“It is also a matter of great sadness that Dafydd Ellis-Thomas the Presiding Officer has actively backed this decision since it shows a churlish, colonialist attitude utterly alien for a nation that is striving to create a bilingual future for itself. But we emphasise yet again that our aim at the moment is to seek legal advice concerning this decision since we believe it to be both unlawful and unjust.”

Those of us who have ever lived in or visited parts of north and west Wales can have no doubt that Welsh is a living language, used by many as their first choice for saying hello, ordering a pint or doing business. Almost 22% of the population of Wales are Welsh speakers of some kind, and although a smaller number would choose Welsh as their primary language, many switch between Welsh and English according to the subject at hand and the social context.

The director of CBI Wales has written an interesting opinion piece considering the arguments for and against Welsh bilingualism, in which he concedes there is a democratic case for people being able to access documents in the language of their choice. Perhaps not surprising he leans against regulation, but instead profers the idea that business may be missing a trick by not providing Welsh translation.

Photo: orange.co.uk

One company not missing that particular boat is Orange who this month launched a Welsh language mobile phone, the Samsung S5600. Sian Doyle from Orange commented, “This initiative is part of a broader commitment by Orange to provide Welsh speakers with more choice. We already include the Welsh language in our stores via bilingual signage, Welsh speaking advisors and other initiatives. The Welsh market is a vibrant and exciting marketplace”.

The phone features not only Welsh menus but also predictive texting in Welsh. Of course there are many features that influence people on which phone to buy, and it remains to be seen how well the first fully Welsh mobile phone fares. But what is incredible is that this recent launch has taken so long to come about.

Another recent adopter of the Welsh language is Google Translate, which features it in their latest batch of additions. Although it must be said: any reservations about such machine translation would apply all the more in a language as sensitive to word context as Welsh, leaving no doubt that any serious application of the language still requires a professional Welsh translator.

One thing is for sure: with a continuing debate, not only regarding the Assembly but whether businesses in general should be obliged to offer a bilingual service, this issue looks unlikely to be far from the headlines for months to come.

The news that both economies have emerged from recession was welcome, leading French economy minister Christine Lagarde to comment “These are obviously very positive numbers, which have surprised us and made us quite happy.”

The front page of last Friday’s City A.M. also adopted a positive tone, stating “European pair lead recovery”, hinting at a view of a wider recovery across the Eurozone.

Less heralded was the news that Portuguese-speaking Brazil is also now no longer in recession having grown by 1.5% in the second quarter. Along with growth from China and Japan, this means that six of the world’s top 10 economies are now out of recession.

Meanwhile in the UK, the picture seems more bleak. Discussing the outlook and success of Quantitative Easing in his eclectic but always insightful and intelligent blog, Newsnight’s Paul Mason says:

“Even with 0.5% interest rates right through to 2011 and the full £175bn still in circulation until then, the Bank of England is predicting inflation will undershoot the 2% target for CPI. That means we should expect interest rates to be low for at least that long. It also signifies the recovery is going to be pretty appalling: weak and fragile.”

So much for the economics, what does this have to do with translation? Apart from professional translation being effected by the wider economy, I’ve argued before on this blog that translation can be part of a business survival strategy and that the global recession is not playing out evenly.

As Business Secretary Lord Mandelson points out:
“Different economies will show different patterns of behaviour. But the key point is all these economies rely on each other; 55 to 56% of our trade is with the rest of Europe. So when [they are] recovering that is good news for our manufacturers and our exports here.”

The French or German economy may not be booming but if they are pulling ahead of the British, some businesses – not least SMEs – may well wish to revisit the idea of translating a product brochure into French, or translating their website into German. This could not only open up new markets for them, but mean busy times ahead for those of us in the professional translation business!

In the end the deal did not go through as Zabeel are looking to concentrate on investing in property and tourism nearer home. It all made me think about how, in this time of world economic gloom, oil rich Middle East companies look set to try to diversify.

In the United Arab Emirates alone, there is currently around £200 billion worth of active construction projects while the Dubai International Financial Centre aims to massively expand the financial sector with tax, rent and regulatory breaks. Meanwhile the Palm Islands are a massive real estate and tourism development – the largest land reclamation project in the world, increasing Dubai’s shoreline by 520 km. All of this has made the United Arab Emirates one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with some estimates putting GDP growth in 2006 at a staggering 35 percent.

The vast sums of money are not restricted to the Arab world as business opportunities are sought out around the world. So we see Barclays bank raising £7.3 billion from Middle East investors. Other famous names that have seen an influx of Arabic capital include P&O, Aston Martin and Madame Tussauds.

In these times of doom and gloom news stories, it’s no wonder that such growth, investment and let’s face it, plain cash, is catching people’s attention and many other companies have their eyes set on pulling in some of that investment.

All of which probably goes to explain why we have been inundated with Arabic translation and typesetting over the last few weeks!