Translation and marketing are today two sides of the same coin given the great production of content and the need to make that content reach different cultures through different languages.
Translation has existed since ancient times and implies the transmission of information from one context to another, since these contexts handle different information codes. These codes, in addition, are grouped around a language that can be oral or written.
The problem is that when we talk about context and language, we also talk about culture and even worldviews. There are more than 500 million people who have Spanish as their language, for example, counting Spanish-speakers in countries such as the United States, Brazil and Italy.
What “banana” is said differently among Spanish speakers? Yes, among the different names are: banana, cambur, topocho, banana banana, murrapo, etc.
But neither the bananas, nor the specific translation in Spanish, are the subject of this post and how do you do to place a business in other contexts and languages.
A spoiler: marketing will help you do it and this post will help you understand it!
1. Digital Marketing and translation: an opportunity
To understand what translation means in digital marketing, we first have to talk about marketing and its characteristics in the digital or web sphere.
Digital marketing or content marketing consists of all those actions, decisions and strategies that place a value proposition or product, highlighted on the web and thus help sell it.
Within digital marketing we can highlight the , which supposes a structure based on a funnel and where the fundamental thing is the attraction of people using rich contents (audio, video, text, image) so that they know you, your business, your brand. and your product.
After they get to know you, it is easier and more likely that they will decide to buy the product or solution that you offer them.
This is one of the premises of Inbound marketing or content marketing. In the past, marketing was developed from a model of almost chasing and hunting buyers. Vendors went door to door trying to sell a product, approaching people at their jobs, at the supermarket, at restaurants.
Inbound marketing or content marketing has another proposal, that of attracting people to become potential buyers, and after a day, buyers. This is the type of proposal in the digital context, which is very different from that of the physical or offline context.
Ana explains more about DIGITAL MARKETING: what is it and why use it? in this Tips
However, attracting people or, in terms of digital marketing, is not something that comes from nowhere. It comes from the richness that you offer people from materials that can be from articles on a blog, to valuable publications on social networks, through advice in videos, classes such as webinars, ebooks and many other contents. This is where translators come in!
And where does the translation come in here? Well, with so much material being produced, in a context without geographical borders, there are many job opportunities for translators.
The translators will be able to build the bridges so that these materials can reach other places and be read in the language of the people of each locality and with that, the Digital Producers will have more people interested in their products and that means more clients and more sales. . If you are a translator, you will have more work, clients and income.
But you need to know and learn about this context. Here I leave you this.
2. Translation and marketing: the online world
When we think of translation we think of that phrase “traduttore traditore” that places the translator as a traitor, because many times he can transform the original text into another text and some authors can feel betrayed in their ideas. But let’s be frank, there are things that make sense in a culture and other things that don’t.
Can you imagine talking about how beautiful, bright and diaphanous the snow is and the impetus of the narwhals (similar to a whale with a horn) for a person from the Middle East or the Caribbean?
At this time, the translator will have to make decisions about how to get the message of the author or content creator to the target audience.
Only this puts the translator at another level in the process of transforming the original content into content in another language for a target context. When the message is changed, transformed or converted from one language to another, it is usually said to be a translation.
For example in
- Spanish we say Thank you, the translation to
- English would be Thank you (and here we already see a difference, they are two words), in
- French is Merci and in
- Portuguese, for example, is Obrigado (but be careful, because this word changes according to gender, in masculine it is said obrigado, but in feminine it is said obrigada).
Do you see how things get complicated with a simple word? And we don’t even talk about the different ways to say thank you in each language.
Here are some tips to uncomplicate the way to translate content for the web.
If you are a content creator or translator for digital marketing content, keep in mind that your texts will be read in other languages and across devices, so:
- write short paragraphs
- Take into account the
- Linear structure of the text or video (beginning, middle and end)
- Write in a simple and uncomplicated way sentences.
- Be personal, that generates engagement.
These tips are not the non plus ultra, they are just some suggestions, with experience, these skills are refined.
3. Location: a matter of empathy
Localization is a slightly more complex process than translation, because it is not just about the meaning of words and their structure in a sentence. It supposes understanding the referents of some content, that is, what it means for the person beyond what is written.
This implies a deep understanding of both the source culture and the target culture. I put here an example of translations from English to Spanish.
An example: “It’s raining cats and dogs” A person with knowledge of both English and Spanish will know that the best translation is not “It’s raining dogs and cats” and neither is it “It’s raining a lot”, although the latter can work.
Localization has to do with being able to place the message like the natives and specifically people from a specific town, city or region say it best.
For example, if you are talking to people from the Caribbean, you could say “a downpour is falling”, but if you are thinking of a different location, you can say “a stick of water is falling”, “the sky is falling”, it is “raining”. buckets”, etc.
That way you manage to conquer and win over the people who read or consume your content. With more people loving your content and well engaged in what you publish, you will have more chances and possibilities that they acquire the product you offer them.
There is a localization post on that can help you better understand this process, even if you are thinking about how to hire a professional with this qualification and what you should take into account.
Look at an example of localization of our blog:
In Spanish:
Look at the buttons and the sidebar. Also the size of the sentences and the paragraph.
In English:
Here some buttons disappear because they are not part of the strategies. Also look at the way to place the title.
In Arabic:
Here the differences are not only in the bars and titles, but also in the image. The cup of coffee is common to all three images, but the pet on the bed is not. Hair color and beard shape also change.
4. Copy: between persuasive writing and seductive translation
Copy is the diminutive for and it is about writing persuasive texts based on specific strategies that allow you to sell, register or subscribe to a product.
So far we understand each other well. The stones of the road begin when we want to sell a product and we create a piece of copy using something like the scarcity “few days left”, “five places left”, “this offer is for a limited time”.
A translator for digital and marketing content must know what type of text they are translating and, if it is a persuasive text for sales, they must also know what type of structure is best and what mental trigger is being used.
With this knowledge and skills, the professional will be able to better translate and localize the content, achieving the objective that is not necessarily a sale, it can be going to a landing page, clicking on a button, opening a folder, downloading material, leaving an email. .
Here are some examples of copy from our educational events promotion page: .
Note that the examples highlight the usefulness, the special price, the specificity of the transformation and the personal form of the message in Spanish here at , which was a translation from Portuguese.
Those are some copy keys that can help you think when translating. In the same way, all the voices are in the second person singular, you.
5. UX writing: writing, translation and marketing for the web
UX writing is about writing texts for the web, taking into account the experience of those who read (users), web architecture, accessibility, design and what we call .
Many translators and localizers are hired to translate web pages, for this they can use some tools called CAT Tools for its acronym in English (computer assisted translation).
Either way, the translation and localization process must deliver a result that can be understood in the target language.
The translation professional must understand how information works on the web and what the user experience is like on it, how they act when they see an image and, even more, how they assimilate an image accompanied by a text, or what is the best way to create a call to action or , which are those little messages on click buttons.
A golden advice is to think of the text as an image. The first thing we see when we open a web page are its images, in fact we see the text as a company for an image before knowing what it says.
For example, we often use excerpts of comments as social proof in our emails, but sometimes they are quite long comments and we want the person to focus on a phrase in the comment.
We can make a print and edit it so that we highlight the part that interests us with a box or arrow, as in this example:
When you translate for the web, remember that you do not always have all the space you would like to place the translated message, so you should think about harmonizing what you write with the image and the available space.
Look at the following examples:
See how the image brings information; the title, in bold, another; and the text…
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