Commercialista or accountant? Why translating questions isn't enough
A customer in Milan looks for a “commercialista”. One in Manchester looks for an “accountant”. They seem the same person with a different word, but they are not: professions, services and the way of searching all change.
By the ai-rank team
Professions do not match
In Italy the commercialista is a regulated profession, with a professional register. In the United Kingdom “accountant” is not a protected title: anyone can use it, while titles such as “chartered accountant” are protected. In Japan the 税理士 (zeirishi, tax accountant) and the 公認会計士 (kōnin kaikeishi, certified public accountant) are two distinct figures. In Spain asesores fiscales, gestorías and other categories coexist.
A literal translation puts different things together.
Customers' words change
An Italian customer talks about “partita IVA”, “regime forfettario”, “dichiarazione dei redditi”. A British one about “self assessment”, “sole trader”, “limited company”. If the questions are translated from Italian, no customer would really ask them, and the answers tell you nothing useful.
Places and sources change too
The neighbourhood, the city, the areas people name are not the same. The sources an assistant relies on change as well: professional directories, listings and review sites vary from one country to another.
What we do
For each market we write the questions starting from how a customer in that market really searches, in their language, and from what the business's website says. We do not translate: we compose. A person reads the questions before the answers are collected.
If you have customers in several countries
- Write service pages in the language and with the words of each market's customer, without translating literally.
- Use the local names of professions and services, and mention city and areas.
- Declare the language of every version of the site, so that search engines and assistants pick the right one.
The same business can appear in one market and disappear in another. To know, you have to ask the way a customer in that market asks.