Never before in the history of the European Union, an international organisation comprised of 28 States that was founded thanks to the signing of the Treaty on European Union, has a country decided to abandon this political and economic union which has done nothing but grow since day one.
On 23 June 2016, 51.8% of the British population who voted in the referendum called by the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, to decide whether or not the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union, declared that they were in favour of leaving.
One of the reasons that explains these results was the strong campaign by those who backed the United Kingdom’s exit, using the concept of ‘Brexit’. The term ‘Brexit’ comes from the words ‘Britain’ and ‘exit’ and has become one of the most widely used terms to talk about the referendum and its results.
This unprecedented situation is posing a series of new challenges for Europe and could affect how relations are built on the European continent following the country’s exit.
One of the most significant challenges posed by Brexit is related to trade between the European Union and the United Kingdom, one of the largest European e-commerce powerhouses. As we already know, the European Union is a free trade area which allows the free movement of persons, capital and services across the borders of Member States, and the departure of the United Kingdom would inevitably entail the need to restructure these relations.
Until the exit process and the freedom of the British state to move freely through European space are officially formalised, the United Kingdom would be required to negotiate trade agreements for products and services, including Internet commerce.
As we mentioned in our blog entry on e-commerce, this marketing channel is key to business success in today’s world. Furthermore, if a country wants to trade beyond its national borders, a good international business strategy is needed, including hiring a professional freelance translator or translation agency so that the content is available in other languages.
The United Kingdom’s exit would create additional challenges related to the internationalization of businesses wanting to export their products, and these problems can, as we will see, be significantly alleviated by hiring a good translation agency.
Let’s take an example of an English company that, in the context of Brexit, wants to continue selling products abroad, in Spain, to be precise. Internationalization under Brexit would affect, first and foremost, the export of goods, as it would include cross-border taxation and could even result in losses incurred from the shipment of products: passing through customs could have repercussions on delivery times and generate dissatisfaction among Spanish buyers.
In this sense and in order to avoid customer dissatisfaction, companies should offer information on their website or by email to inform buyers of possible delays and new delivery times. A translation agency could be responsible for translating these texts into Spanish and adapting them to the target audience to avoid misunderstandings and guarantee their satisfaction.
Furthermore, with Brexit, businesses would have to deal with problems related to data security. In the United Kingdom, there are a series of regulations that govern how businesses process and store a user’s personal data. Businesses will have to stay up to date with EU regulations, while those companies with an online presence will have to duly inform their users of the rules applicable to processing their data on their web pages.
To do this effectively and avoid any potential issues, warnings relating to data confidentiality would ideally be available in several languages, such that the content would be accessible to users in both the United Kingdom and Europe. The translation of online content by a professional translator is therefore a key part of the process of internationalization.
As we are seeing, Brexit complicates the already complex export procedure for businesses, and these complications are largely related to the need to generate pertinent and suitable information and warnings for possible buyers outside of the United Kingdom.
All this inevitably goes hand-in-hand with the need to translate newly generated content, something that only a professional translator who understands the language and culture perfectly is able to do in order to adapt the content to this audience.
If your business is concerned that your new content isn’t suitable for this new international context, why not get in touch with a translation agency who will translate and adapt all your new content?
Count on Tatutrad! We ensure the highest quality translations so that your business doesn’t lose out on any more benefits amid this complicated situation.
Marina Rodríguez Colmenero
