Translate Your Brand With Caution
Brand recognition is a critical element of success for any company today, both home and abroad. That target audience includes more than just those who speak English. Foreign language-speaking customers also evaluate your brand based on the material you’ve provided in their languages. To ensure you maximize your investment in translation and avoid embarrassing translation errors, here are three ways to help you effectively reach all of your prospects.
1. When searching for a translator, find one that ensures the use of professional translators, along with a quality-control process to guarantee that your translation is accurate.
2. Your translator should understand your goals, your markets and your clients to provide the best possible strategy for your translations. This approach can save you money and frustration in the long run.
3. If you have qualified, native-speaking staffers, let them have input during the translation process. They may be able to provide valuable insight into terminology that best represents your company.
Notorious Foreign Language Disasters
Ignore these tips at your own peril. Check out what some companies did in translation below.
* The American Dairy Association’s (ADA) huge success with its campaign, “Got Milk?” prompted it to expand advertising into Mexico. It was soon brought to the ADA’s attention that the Spanish translation read: “Are you lactating?”
* When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather, first-class seats in Mexico, the slogan “Fly in Leather” was translated as “Fly Naked” in Spanish, a very literal translation.
* Kellogg’s had to rename its Bran Buds cereal in Sweden when it discovered the name roughly translated to “burned farmer.”
* Pepsodent tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asia by emphasizing that it “whitens your teeth.” The company later learned the local natives chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth because they find it attractive.
* The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, “Salem — Feeling Free,” translated in the Japanese market to: “When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty.”
Companies budget a great deal of time and money toward creating a brand. Ensure your brand is used consistently and carefully, and make sure it’s protected from legal challenges and misrepresentation. Prepare documentation to govern the brand’s use. Scour all advertising materials that appear in public to make sure they comply with your branding requirements. Provide a consistent impression of your brand to customers. That impression can translate into tangible value for a company — both in assets on a balance sheet and customer perception. In many cases, the same level of attention isn’t given to materials translated into another language, but it should.
Steven P. Iverson is president/CEO of Iverson Language Associates, which provides technical translation services for companies that have a need to communicate business-critical information in any language. For more information, contact him at steve@iversonlang.com.
