Over at MarComments, the Harding Marketing marketing communication blog, this post about avoiding a world of trouble when translating brochures and other marketing materials, with which I couldn’t agree more.
I would also add the following tips:
- Simple, concrete, active sentences are not only easier to translate, they often read better, too. I refer back to The Elements of Style from time to time for a refresher.
- In addition to the culture-specific clichés, metaphors, etc. mentioned in the post, I would also add that visuals need to be vetted for “culture neutrality” as well.
- Along the same lines, tying visuals to plays on words, slogans, etc. is playing with fire, as translators may have to resort to awkward workarounds to make the chosen visuals work in a different language.
- I would also suggest making sure the translator has access to the final page layouts with visuals, headlines, etc. All too often businesses have the content translated in simple text files, leaving the overall coherency of the document (visuals plus language) to chance. A professional translator is a key resource person in making sure it all hangs together properly.
- And, finally, have your translator approve the final page layouts before going to print to make sure all punctuation and typography has been localized correctly.
