It is no secret that the complex environment of marketing and communication requires respecting very specific rules and adapting, creatively and carefully, what has been learned in other fields. If your website requires translation into another language, it is not enough to hire native speakers of that language, because for your product or your company to successfully connect with your audience, you will need professionals who know both the CULTURE of the country where that language is spoken, as well as the RULES of Marketing (traditional and digital).
But there is no point in coming up with a fresh and original campaign if, because you did not have a specialized translation that takes into account the peculiarities of the language and culture, you end up with a real mess in your hands that frustrates your possibilities of internationalization.
Some people think that in order to translate a website or launch an effective international marketing campaign, it is enough to translate the texts into the language of the target audience. This is not the case. Not at all. Only a translation specialised in marketing and communication can make the difference between success and failure.
Transcreation in Website Translation
In order to properly translate an advertising campaign, it is not only important to know the myriad of anglicisms and specific marketing and communication terms, such as rebranding, benchmarking or retargeting . Knowing the environment in which we operate will also allow us to choose appropriate vocabulary, specialized terminology, or when to translate or not a certain concept.
Wouldn’t anyone think of translating “Trending topic” as “ trendy topic ”, “ influencer ” as “ influential person ” or even “marketing” as “ marketing ”? These may be correct translations, but will they make the recipients of the message frown in bewilderment and start taking small steps back away from your brand? Don’t doubt it.
Therefore, whether the campaign is aimed at the local market or its objective is internationalisation, translators and copywriters (another term with its own identity) must have specific training in marketing and advertising, as well as always being up to date with the latest trends. To do this, it is very important to have a terminological base that is always up to date, which will facilitate the translation process and increase its quality exponentially.
Translation involves interpreting the meaning of a source text and then producing a new text, equivalent to the original but in another language. The goal of translation is to be as faithful as possible to the meaning and style of the original text. This is sufficient when the purpose of the text is merely informative. However, when the goal is to produce an emotional effect on the recipient, literal translation is insufficient because it does not take into account the characteristics of the audience and the social and cultural environment where the message is to be used.
In order for the message to have the desired emotional effect on the audience, to persuade and move them to action, we need to approach the content creatively. Trans means “beyond”, “through” or “change”. We need to produce something more than a literal translation, since a translation that is stuck to the original text would not work. The play on meanings, the idiomatic phrases, the sensory effects and the symbolic allusions would be lost in translation. Transcreation allows us to recreate the original content and adapt it to the new audience with originality and creativity. This is a more complex process than translation and in this process several factors come together, in addition to the excellent linguistic command of the source language and the target language.
To properly translate a website or advertising campaign, you must take into account:
- The characteristic cultural features of the audience you want to reach.
- The effect that the texts, messages and slogans of the website or advertising campaign wish to achieve.
- The characteristics of the product or service you want to position/promote/sell.
- The personality and attributes of the brand itself, and
- The personality, attributes and messages already positioned by the competition in the target markets, among others.
Research as a fundamental tool
Marketing appeals to emotions, to the visceral part of consumers, trying to awaken that tingling sensation that makes them pay attention. These emotions are different for each age group, culture, region of the world, social status, education, and so on.
That is why it is not enough to be a good translator, but you have to be immersed in the culture, idiosyncrasies and customs of the target audience to whom the campaign is directed. And all of this from the empathy that allows you to understand the client’s needs; from among all the possible translations for a phrase, you must choose the one that resonates most in their hearts.
So much so that the subtext – the message that is intended to be conveyed – often takes precedence over the literal translation of the words, from which we can get very far away. Here, of course, transcreation comes into play, where it is not only necessary to carry out a translation process, but to combine it with creative writing in order to create attractive and persuasive content.
Translators as exponents of marketing
This emotional factor we have just talked about is what makes the human component essential for carrying out an adequate translation in the world of marketing and advertising. The nuances and empathy that a professional translator is capable of working with can hardly be achieved by a machine translation. What’s more, blindly trusting machines can have effects that are as hilarious as they are disastrous.
If there is one thing translators have due to the nature of their work — in addition to an unbeatable knowledge of languages — it is high research, writing, reading comprehension and creative writing skills. These skills are of utmost importance in the development of marketing campaigns, and it is not surprising that they are a gateway to other sectors related to communication.
As we have seen, translation in marketing goes beyond moving from a source language to a target language. It requires a freer and more creative translation process, where literary style, the use of idioms, jargon or colloquial language adapted to the context are much more present.
When it comes to digital marketing, we must also take into account that SEO positioning will be conditioned by very diverse demographic and geographic variables. An identical text written in different languages, or even the same text in different countries that speak the same language, will not have the same impact.
This requires adaptation work and, if you want things to be done properly, you will need translators specialised in marketing.