Marketing Translation is so much different from technical, legal, and medical translation. While accuracy is important for all types of translation, getting the verbiage perfect is extremely important when it comes to Marketing. Powerful words sell. The truth is that most translated marketing material out there is not powerful. It’s just average, so it’s not going to convert as well as a company’s standard promotional material.
This article is going to focus marketing translation and show you 4 important facts about it. When it comes to technical material, then average translation might work but with marketing, anything less than amazing is going to fall flat.

Marketing Translation is Completely Different

Well the first thing is that marketing copy is created with very specific goals in mind. Those goals can include introducing a brand or simply describing the benefits of a new product or service. It’s usually written to motivate the audience into taking action. Again, powerful words are what motivate consumers. Only through powerful words will you achieve the desired outcome.
Marketing translation requires the professional to take further steps to ensure that the message is being kept intact. Marketing also requires you to have strong writing skills and a lot of creativity. Those two traits are what a translator must possess in order to effectively translate your sales copy. That means that technical translators might not be as successful at marketing. So the biggest difference is that technical translation focuses on the logical meaning behind the text while marketing translation is focused more on the meaning and tone behind the words.

Sales Copy Often Contains Metaphors

Copywriters use metaphors to grab the attention of their audience. These are often hooks that are designed to pull in potential readers. They are what create memorable and appealing sales copy. That’s why copywriters are in such high demand. However, the problem comes when a translator doesn’t understand the concepts of the language being translated. Sure, they might know the words but do they truly understand the metaphors behind them. The truth is that what might be a funny pun in one language could be extremely offensive in another.
There is no need to sacrifice creativity though. Marketing translation can help you bring your copy to life in other languages. Professionals will keep cultural considerations in mind while delivering the same level of copy as the original piece.

Imagery Can be Lost Through Technical Translation

Powerful sales copy will create imagery that sparks emotions and delivers a brand’s message in the most memorable way possible. So the choice of words, images and style are all important when presenting your marketing to the world. The problem is that these elements can actually backfire if used poorly. What might be happy in one culture could be depressing in another.
In fact, Gerber fell victim to this exact problem. As most of you might know, their products have a picture of a baby on the label. However, in a lot of African cultures, it’s customary to put a picture of what’s inside of the package on the label. Since many people in that same market can’t read, they believed that Gerber was selling babies.

Here are some examples of poorly translated ads.

Cultural Blunders

This is probably the biggest mistake when it comes to translation. Tradition, religion, and culture all should be considered when writing sales copy. Only those who have a firm understanding of the language can translate in a way that meets this important demand. In fact, even a brand name can cause a problem in other cultures.
For example, Puffs made the mistake of using their U.S. brand name in Germany but the word “puff” has a very negative commutation there. I won’t say what it means (you can look it up), but it’s pretty bad. Had they brought on a marketing translator, then they would have avoided the problem.

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