Cross-border Selling

The PeC Review: i-BEAK Offers First Rate Translation and Cultural Services

One of the great promises of the Internet is that it brings together buyers and sellers from around the world. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone can communicate.

Ecommerce marketers who want to sell their products or services worldwide should therefore consider translating their site content, documentation, and even product packaging into their target audience’s language and culture. This can mean a lot more than just translating words from one tongue to another.

four and a half stars

International Business Environment, Answers and Knowledge, or i-BEAK, is a company that provides language and cultural support services to U.S. and Japanese firms that wish to do business abroad. i-BEAK ensures that an American company positions itself not just as a business that speaks the local language, but also understands the local culture. And for this reason, I am awarding i-BEAK four and a half out of a possible five stars in this, “The PeC Review.”

The PeC Review is my weekly examination and explanation of the products and services I believe will help you improve your ecommerce business. I only present products and services that I think will benefit you. This week, let me tell you why I think i-BEAK is a great company to work with, especially for reaching the Asian market.

More Than Just Great Translation

I want to make it clear that I have myself been a paying customer at i-BEAK, having used the company to translate marketing materials into Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean for more than one project. So I can attest to the excellent quality of the i-BEAK translations.

But selling your products to consumers in Japan, China, or Korea can be more involved than just translating words, and it is in this area that i-BEAK really shines.

The company can also provide cultural consultation. For example, American advertising and marketing can be very boastful, but that bravado does not always work well in other cultures. i-BEAK can use its experience to help rewrite content as it is translated so that it more closely matches your potential customers’ customs and preferences.

i-BEAK Is Particularly Good in Japan and The Rest of Asia

Although i-BEAK has “international” in its name, from my North American perspective, I think of them as a bridge to Asia.
The company actually started out as j-BEAK, where the “j” stood for Japan, and it positioned itself as a bridge between the U.S. and Japan, helping American companies connect to Japanese customers and helping Japanese sellers make deals with American buyers. In fact, i-BEAK’s CEO, Rika Torres, is a Japanese native that now resides in the U.S. But in 2008, the operation changed its name, taking on a more international focus.

If I were thinking of translating something into Spanish or French or Germany, I might seek a different consultancy, but for Asia, i-BEAK is excellent.

Voice and Creative Talent Too

i-BEAK also offers voice and creative talent. For example, if your ecommerce site uses a number of videos to help demonstrate your products, you can work with i-BEAK to translate the visuals, culturalize the language, and provide the spoken words.

The company can also format translated copy for PDFs or even web pages, since it can be difficult to understand where a section would naturally break or even where a word ends after that section has been translated into a character-based language.

Summing Up

In terms of how far an online merchant can reach, the world has shrunk. But to be successful at selling to consumers abroad, you need to speak the language and understand the culture. Where Asia is concerned, I believe i-BEAK can help your company successfully market there, which is why I awarded it four and a half out of a possible five stars in this, “The PeC Review.”

Armando Roggio
Armando Roggio
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