The door to India opens: the next big market for Hungarian businesses

Tóthné Szili Beatrix

On January 27, the European Union and India signed a historic, comprehensive free trade agreement that aims to liberalize bilateral trade. It covers the services market, intellectual property protection and sustainability. The agreement will drastically reduce or even eliminate customs duties, so according to the European Commission’s estimate, this could mean customs savings of up to 4 billion euros per year for European exporters. In addition, the agreement has a separate chapter dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises, as the aim is for smaller companies to find real business opportunities.

“Entering the international market is a complex process that often requires six months or a year of conscious preparation,” emphasizes Beatrix Tóthné Szili, a translation strategy expert at Hunnect, who has trained in international projects. “Anyone who is seriously considering this long-term opportunity should start looking into the steps to take now. I would say a minimum of a year for preparation, before the business can overcome all bureaucratic obstacles, possible company registrations and permits”

– adds the expert.

Stereotypes and cultural gaps

Professional translation has a trust-building function, which is essential for long-term business relationships. For example, machine translations, which are becoming increasingly common in the digital space, are not just aesthetic errors, but also pose a serious trust risk for companies entering foreign markets.

“Poor language quality means a serious loss of prestige. If someone wants to be taken seriously in the international market, they simply cannot afford to be unpretentious” – says Krisztián Király, CEO of Hunnect. “Localization begins where simple translation ends.”

According to the expert, classic stereotypes also exist in the European market, which should not be ignored when planning a business.

“India is an even bigger challenge. To cover about 80 percent of the country, knowledge of 11 different languages ​​and different cultural characteristics is required. At the same time, the basic principles of entering the international market are the same in all target markets, whether it is Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria or even more distant regions. Without understanding local cultural differences, the local relevance of the product or service, knowledge of the regulatory environment, ensuring language compliance and a conscious introduction to the market entry, there will be no success”, explains Krisztián Király.

The English language as a bridge

Hunnect has been present on the international market for more than twenty years. As a professional translation agency, it has primarily provided services to foreign partners and international translation agencies, so the focus of its operations has so far been on global cooperation.

“The basis for stable operations is provided by native speakers who immediately signal if communication is off-target. A business relationship can fail even due to a poorly adapted company name or the subtle nuances of spelling and punctuation,” cites Beatrix Tóthné as an example. “There have been cases where a seemingly innocuous product name has a completely different meaning in the target market.”

For cost-effective global expansion, Hunnect recommends the “pivot” method used by global companies.

“The most practical thing is to first translate all the material perfectly into English and then move on from there. It is easy to find an English-Chinese or English-Indian translator, but it is not certain to find a Hungarian-Albanian translator who also knows about pumps.”

Professional translation is sometimes literally a safety issue. Krisztián Király emphasizes that companies have a serious responsibility on both the export and import sides.

“It is also in the well-understood interest of someone who imports, for example, a piece of machinery, that the subsequent users can handle it in a way that prevents accidents from occurring due to a bad description.”</