Most businesses assume that if a product is strong and pricing is appropriate, customers will find their way. In practice, many do not. They pause, reread, hesitate, and sometimes leave without ever quite knowing why. When teams later review the funnel, nothing obvious appears broken. Traffic looks healthy. The offer makes sense. Yet conversion from certain regions consistently underperforms.
Very often, the issue is in plain sight: language that technically says the right thing but does not feel right to the reader.
Poor translation is rarely dramatic. It does not crash systems or trigger alarms. Instead, it creates a low-grade discomfort that users feel but cannot articulate. Over time, that discomfort turns into distrust, drop-offs, and lost revenue—quietly, predictably, and at scale.
Translation Is No Longer a Side Task
For years, translation has operated on the margins of business operations. Once the product was ready, the English copy was sent for translation into other languages, typically under tight timelines and even tighter budgets. The assumption was that translation was a mechanical step, not a strategic one.
That assumption no longer holds.
As Harvard Business Review has pointed out in multiple analyses of global consumer behaviour, people do not simply process information rationally. They rely on familiarity, tone, and ease of understanding to decide whether something feels trustworthy. Language plays a central role in that judgment.
In markets like India, where digital growth increasingly comes from non-English-first users, this dynamic becomes especially visible. English may be the language of internal teams, but it is not always the language in which customers make confident decisions.
Where the Revenue Actually Leaks?
The financial impact of poor translation rarely shows up as a single, identifiable loss. Instead, it spreads across the business in ways that are easy to misdiagnose.
Regional campaigns convert less effectively than expected. More onboarding flows are abandoned. Support teams are repeatedly asked about obvious steps. Avoidable misunderstandings about form and disclosure plague compliance teams. Each issue seems tiny, yet cumulatively, they limit growth.
Deloitte research repeatedly links clarity to trust, particularly in financial, legal, and personal decision-making. When translated content is unclear, people withdraw rather than complain.
That disengagement is the hidden cost.
Why “Correct” Translations Still Fail
One of the most persistent myths in localisation work is that accuracy guarantees effectiveness. In reality, accuracy only ensures that nothing is factually wrong. It does not ensure that the message works.
This becomes very clear in English to Odia translation.
English business writing often relies on long sentences, abstract phrasing, and formal constructions. When these are translated word-for-word into Odia, the result can feel dense, overly formal, or disconnected from how people naturally read and interpret information. Nothing is incorrect, yet everything feels heavier than necessary.
For the reader, that heaviness translates into effort. Effort slows comprehension. Slower comprehension introduces doubt. Doubt interrupts action.
In digital journeys, that interruption is where revenue is lost.
Familiar Language Builds Trust
People trust written, not adapted, information.
Local-language access promotes digital inclusion and participation, according to the World Economic Forum. When material uses familiar language and culture, people interact more deeply and repeatedly.
Rather than imported English structures, Odia-speaking consumers prefer language that aligns with their reading patterns. The distinction may seem subtle to non-native speakers, but it signals to readers whether a product knows its audience.
The Internal Cost Few Teams Account For
Poor translation also creates friction inside organisations, although this is rarely recognised as a language problem.
Support teams end up explaining instructions that should have been self-explanatory. Product teams chase usability fixes that are actually wording issues. Operations teams address errors stemming from misunderstanding rather than non-compliance.
Over time, teams respond by adding more documentation, more reminders, or more checkpoints. Very rarely do they step back and ask whether the language itself is doing its job.
As translation quality improves, many of these downstream problems diminish without additional process changes.
Regional Growth Depends on Linguistic Credibility
Regional markets are often discussed as extensions of a core business, but users do not experience them that way. They experience them as separate relationships.
English to Odia translation in Odisha goes beyond accessibility. It influences business seriousness. When language is generic or awkward, users may try a service but not trust it. Use becomes habitual when language feels native.
That difference determines whether regional expansion produces sustained revenue or remains stuck at the awareness stage.
Translation Works Best When It Is Treated as Infrastructure
Companies that perform well across languages tend to integrate translation into their systems rather than treating it as a recurring project. Language updates move alongside product updates. Terminology stays consistent across touchpoints. Quality improves incrementally rather than resetting with each release.
Language is treated as an intelligent layer that grows with content on some platforms, such as Devnagri. Just one adjustment eliminates most of the friction that causes inconsistency and delay.
Readability trumps formal precision.
User evaluations of translations rarely consider grammar. They evaluate ease.
Natural, flexible language with familiar terminology and local rhythm works better than formal translations. Odia often simplifies sentence flow without meaning.
When content feels easy, users move forward confidently. That confidence is what converts interest into action.
How to Start Fixing the Problem?
The solution does not require sweeping change, but it does require intent.
Begin by reviewing the language used in critical user journeys, not just marketing content. Involve native readers in evaluating readability, not just correctness. Standardise terminology early to avoid confusion. Translation should be integrated into workflows, not added as an afterthought. Finally, assess language performance for friction.
These steps are feasible and practical to keep it that way.
A Closing Thought
Poor translation does not break products. It weakens relationships.
In multilingual markets, language is not an accessory to growth. It is one of its foundations. Businesses that recognise this will not only communicate better but also earn trust faster and convert more consistently.