Advertising translation: a job for creative minds

Advertising translation plays an increasingly important role in our daily lives, as we gain access to a growing number of imported products. In addition, the export market continues to grow, which means that we may also need it in our business.

If there is one thing that characterises advertising, it is the way it sells and therefore a literal translation is not enough. That’s why, when we have to adapt slogans to make them work internationally, what we do is a transcreation. Of course, there are always companies that overlook this point and make a real mess of things.

What is advertising translation?

Advertising company translation refers to rendering the texts of advertisements, catalogues and other formats that are intended to be sold in other languages. So far, it sounds rather unremarkable. But don’t be fooled.

Translating for advertising is not a straightforward job. In fact, translating for advertising is highly complex, as we need to ensure that the original message is not lost due to the language and that it produces the same effect as the intended one.

Therefore, professionals who translate this type of content must have complete control over the wordplay and cultural references used to translate them to the new market.

 

Advertising translation features

Context is crucial when it comes to creating an advertising campaign. Just think about it and you will quickly realise that we cannot sell the same 5-acorn-fed cured ham in Spain as we do in China or Saudi Arabia.

However, the target culture is not the only issue to be taken into account. We will now take a brief look at the main features of this type of translation and the impact they can have on our work:

• Culture at the heart of the message: advertising works by using everyday resources so that customers quickly associate the product with a problem or situation they are familiar with. Therefore, if we want to translate our ads, we must think about which references will be understood in other countries. For instance, it would be pointless to use a well-known actor only in Spain as a lure to sell in the UK. The same goes for the message!
• Highly creative texts: to adapt an advertising text to another language with the target references, we usually need to transcreate it. This is why the translator has to have a creative approach.
• Content layout: although translators do not necessarily have to deal with design programmes, the format of the text is important to keep in mind. One way of working on this aspect is to offer a galley proofing service once the client has prepared the relevant layout. Depending on the location of the text, we may use shorter or longer sentences or more flamboyant words than others.

 

Advertising translation: communication and culture

If you want to translate your advertising campaign effectively, professional translators will provide you with support. After all, a literal translation will not work.

For any advert to work in another language, it must be localised and rewritten. This means that we do not do a translation, but a transcreation, which adapts the content to the target language and culture.

Obviously, this job is not easy and cannot be left to just anyone, no matter how much they “know languages”. Just take a look at what happened a few years ago to Tuenti. The company’s failure to transcreate its advertisements, opting for a simple and poorly done translation, led to it being smashed against the windows of the Barcelona metro. “Claro, d’allò més lo normal.”

Tuenti’s blunder: the worst advertising translation

“¿D’allò més lo nooormal? Sí, sí, d’allò més lo nooormal.” What is this expression supposed to mean? Basically, this is the translation of “lo nooormal”, the hook of the original advertising campaign, written and devised in Spanish.

In this campaign, where translation and advertising seem not to have gone hand in hand, at least in the case of Catalan, it is based on the insight “Que te devuelvan lo que es tuyo, es nooormal” (They give you back what is yours, it’s nooormal). And yes, we are with them 100% that getting back what is yours is quite normal.

What is not so normal, considering the great importance of localisation in a field such as advertising, is that the people at Tuenti have neglected the transcreation of their promotional content into Catalan in this way.

Not only have they left a Spanish “lo” in the middle of the most important sentence of the ad, but the hashtag of the campaign, #QueTeDevuelvanLoQueEsTuyo, has been kept in its perfect Spanish wording, as you can see in the main image of this post. We have a poorly translated slogan, translated literally and where is the cultural adaptation of advertising translation? A hashtag in a language other than that of the target market… You name it, all the ingredients for disaster.

 

Advertising translation as an international business card

What are the consequences of overlooking advertising translation like this? The first is that the translator’s mind goes wild; the second is that criticism arises among potential consumers in the target market; the third is that the brand’s prestige declines; the fourth is that sales drop… And so on and so forth.

When major brands invest more in visibility than in localising the translation of their advertising campaign, all they achieve is a negative impact, which is the opposite of what they intended. If you want to reach the hearts and, let’s not kid ourselves, the wallets of consumers in a new market, you have to build trust. This can only be achieved with localised and culturally intelligent promotional strategies and content.

To do this, you can count on advertising translation professionals, such as those at Ontranslation, for example. Or do you want to be like Rajoy and end up “getting lost”?