Many articles have come out recently showing that the language, or languages, we speak may affect how we think and how we interact with others. AAAS recently reported on a study that showed that English speaking people tend to talk about actions, while German speakers talk about the beginning, middle, and ends of events. Furthermore, German speakers seem to focus on the "outcomes of people's actions," whereas English speakers focus on what the person is doing in the moment. When researchers studied bilingual speakers, they showed that the person viewed actions differently, depending on which of his languages he was speaking, seemingly demonstrating that language does affect perception.
The AAAS article also cites that different languages seem to lend themselves to focusing different attention on objects, so that Japanese group by material not shape and "Koreans focus on how tightly objects fit together." An article in Harvard Business Review discusses how people plan for the future differently based in part on how the language they speak deals with present and future tense constructions. Those whose languages have similar ways of constructing present and future tenses do more planning for the future than those who speak languages that have different structures for present and future tenses. Other researchers say that some of these findings may be evidence of cultural differences, as opposed to language differences. Whether language differences affect cultural outlook or vice versa is really a chicken or the egg question. And the answer may not really matter. What does matter is for us to realize that people who speak a different language may also approach problem solving differently or place emphasis on different aspects of what they see. Such differences could be really helpful if harnessed correctly in group situations. Looking at problems through different view points and examining issues with different ideas of what is critically important and what is not important leads to productive discussions and better and more creative problem solving.
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You’re ready to expand your company internationally. You’re working hard to get your website up and running and figure out the tax code and shipping procedures, but have you given enough thought to the cultural differences between the U.S. and your new market?
Different languages, aesthetics, and values all create challenges to your expansion efforts, but by adjusting your marketing strategy to fit local markets, you can provide your company with a competitive advantage. Read our guest blog on the Boston Chamber of Commerce's website to learn 4 strategies that will help make your company successful internationally. If you've localized your website for your international markets, you've taken a good first step toward tapping your global customer base. But online competition is becoming fiercer and your marketing has to get even more sophisticated in order to compete effectively. As this Multichannel Merchant article reports, in countries outside of the U.S. there are (gasp) other popular search engines besides Google, and they use different algorithms to serve up top search results. For example, if you're marketing in China, you'll need to optimize for Baidu which has nearly 60% of the market.
Additionally, you need to pay close attention to your SEO terms. Hire a professional translator to ensure that you correctly translate your key words and ask them to think broadly about what words the local market uses. In the same MCM article, they cite a French example where a chocolate sweet roll is usually called a pain au chocolat, but in the southwest it's called chocolatine. You'll encounter the same issues in Latin America, where English words translate very differently depending on country and region. For example, green beans can be translated to habichuela, chauncha, vainita, or ejote depending on the region. If you happen to be peddling green beans, the SEO words you choose could have a huge impact on your search ranking. Think about the U.S. market. In some areas you would order a sub sandwich, but across the country we also have hoagies, grinders, heroes, and spuckies. If you use the wrong term for your market, you won't get nearly so many customers. If your product is trendy, you'll have to be even more aware of what terms local consumers use. Keep a close eye on social media for each market and adapt your strategy to the local terminology.
This Ted Blog explains how hard it is to translate humor into different languages. Bilingual comedienne Maysoon Zayid's presents a challenge for translators as they try to relate her jokes in Dutch, Japanese, and even Czech. Reading it will help you understand the lengths to which translators must go to accurately convey humor in another language. Critical to successfully translating humor is that the translator must have mastery over the target language and a deep understanding of the culture so that he can pull relevant, if slightly different, cultural references to translate the essence of the joke.
Each video can be used in many different marketing channels, giving you potential for a great ROI. Some places to post your corporate videos include:
The best time to start localizing your videos? Before you even begin. Decide which markets you're going to target and then be sure to write a script that works in all of those locations to minimize rewrites and changes.
With a little foresight, you can easily create videos that dramatically increase the purchasing potential of your buyers. Take advantage of the impact videos provide to increase your visibility across the globe. So you're getting ready to expand your business overseas. Maybe that means you're opening a new office, or maybe you're planning to negotiate with a new supplier. Either way, chances are that you're going to be flying over to meet the folks on the ground with whom you'll be working. Nothing beats a face-to-face meeting. It's critical to establishing trust and good rapport. Just be sure to do your homework so that you begin on the right foot. It can be easy to inadvertently give offense if you're not familiar with the local niceties. And unfortunately, Americans are known throughout the world for not brushing up before they visit. Just a couple of weeks ago John Kerry found himself in an awkward situation when meeting French President Holland. Mr. Kerry, in a gregarious American way, tried to hug Holland and wound up in a half-kiss half-embrace. According to The Telegraph, the French media struggled to even translate the word ‘hug.’ In Japan, it’s polite to scrutinize the business card you’re given before putting it away. If you take the card and immediately stick it in your bag you've given offense before you've even begun. And in Germany, you need to make sure you're on time for your meetings, or you give the impression that you don't think your German associates are very important. Finally, take the time to learn a little bit of the language of the country you are visiting. At least be able to say hello, goodbye, how are you, and thank you. And try to learn the standard responses to each. When I moved to Boston, I quickly learned that the query "how are you" was not meant to be a conversation opener as it was in Denver. The same sort of conventions apply in different cultures. The more effort you put in to trying to understand the local culture, the better your business will grow. Increasingly the word transcreation is popping up on the internet and you may be wondering what it means. Well, building off of last week's blog, transcreation means adapting a marketing message from one language to another while keeping the tone, style, and intent the same. This generally means that marketing messages should not be translated word for word, as such a translation would result in stilted, awkward text and is likely to have diminished impact in the target market. Rather, the professional translator should read the entire text to be translated and then render it in the target language so that it accurately reflects the intentions and feel of the original.
Often transcreation will require translators to substitute different jokes, appropriate in-country slang, or modified rhymes. If your original marketing message ties into what's currently in vogue in your culture, for example with teen slang or referenced pop music, your translator will need to understand the culture of the destination language well enough to use appropriate references from that market so that the essence of the marketing message remains the same and is relevant to the local consumer. So the next time you take your marketing campaign out of country, give your translation team a little leeway to fully adapt your message to the local market. You won't get a word-for-word translation, but you will get great results. When companies translate marketing campaigns, websites, and even product manuals for use in overseas markets they walk a fine line. In addition to the straightforward translation that must occur, companies also need to adapt their materials for the local market. If the U.S. campaign features a bunch of healthy looking kids drinking milk, but in the new market kids don't drink milk, the message is not going to resonate and an opportunity will be missed. So it is essential that companies think about the local culture and how their product fits in.
Often companies need to emphasize different aspects of their products. For example, in Europe car companies may want to emphasize that they offer small, easy to park, and fuel efficient vehicles. But those same companies may need to show the U.S. market that their cars have up to date gadgets, leather interiors, and oversized sunroofs, if they are going to be successful. At the same time, companies need to find a way to be true to their brands. If their brand stands for wholesome and organic food, they need to be sure to talk about those qualities in all their markets. Otherwise, their brand will become diluted and they risk having their brand not stand for anything. The trick is to figure out what is it about your offering that all cultures want and admire--what qualities are valued across cultures that you can emphasize to create a cohesive brand strategy. Then add in those additional qualities that are unique to each country or culture. This week we were fortunate to be a sponsor of Global Business Alliance's International Business Forum, hosted in conjunction with the British American Business Council of New England.
More than 200 executives attended this informative evening to listen to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh talk about Boston's international trade ambitions and hear from industry experts Michael Klein of Tufts University and Michael Goodman of UMass Dartmouth. The room was abuzz with people discussing their overseas expansions and sharing information and advice about where the economy is headed and how best to succeed internationally. We met some great folks and had some truly insightful conversations. If you didn't get a chance to make it this year, be sure to add it to your calendar for next. It's an event not to be missed! Sometimes RABI clients wonder why we recommend that translations be proofread before submitting them to our clients. After all, the client wrote the original content, and all we need to do is transfer it to a different language. So why the review? You have put hours of hard work into getting every word right, creating just the right tone and choosing the most accurate words possible to relay your thoughts to the reader, and now you want it translated into a different language. Here’s what happens. Our translator reads your text and then thinks about how to best convey the meaning of your text in the new language. He does not translate it word for word, but translates it as a whole so that the readers of the destination language receive the same complete information as the readers of the original language, and he also pays attention to the nuances of words. Think about all the words in the English language that mean more or less the same thing as the word ‘nice.’ Perhaps: good, pleasant, okay, kind, fair, or gentle. Each of these words has a slightly different meaning, depending on context. A good translator will take care to choose the word in the destination language that most accurately corresponds to the one used in the original language and likewise, choose whole phrases based on meaning. Because this process is somewhat subjective, it is imperative that the draft then be read by another translator who double checks that the true meaning of the original document comes through in the translation. Additionally, our team makes sure we've carefully dotted our i’s and crossed our t’s, that the grammar is correct, and that there are no typo’s. So the next time you have a document translated, rather than hesitating at a round of proofreading, you should insist that it be proofread by a native speaker in the destination language to ensure that the high quality document that you produced is just as effective in the translated language. |
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