Effective Localisation
HOW DO YOU ENSURE THAT LOCALISATION IS CARRIED OUT EFFECTIVELY?
IPSUM AGENCY LTD ADMIN - JUNE 16, 2017
One message does not translate directly into another language or culture

A DOCUMENT OR PIECE OF MARKETING CONTENT WHICH HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY LOCALISED WILL APPEAR AS IF IT WERE ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN THE TARGET LANGUAGE. LOCALISATION CAN ALSO BE CLASSED AS “CULTURAL SUBSTITUTION” WHEREBY THE “CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEM OR EXPRESSION” IS REPLACED WITH A “TARGET-LANGUAGE ITEM WHICH DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME PROPOSITIONAL MEANING BUT IS LIKELY TO HAVE A SIMILAR IMPACT ON THE TARGET READER” (BAKER, 1992:31). IT COULD ALSO BE ARGUED THAT A SUCCESSFUL LOCALISATION PROJECT DEPENDS ON THE AMOUNT OF LEEWAY THAT IS AFFORDED TO THE TRANSLATOR.

A marketer who has a command of another language into which the text/content will be translated is clearly going to be more effective and valuable to a business as they will ensure that the content is suitable for the target audience. Relying on a translation company outside of your business to understand and accurately represent the specific nuances or details of your product could prove costly. Adjusting the product specifications or the production of an equivalent product is also essential. However, this should be carried out at a product development stage. The localisation of a financial product will also include the provision of the necessary information required from a legal and regulatory standpoint in order to be suitable for the new target audience.

Translators will often face a number of issues when translation technical financial content which may or may not be understood by the marketer or marketing department. There are linguistic, physical, business and cultural issues as well as technical issues.

Physical issues can be described as a modification to the product, an example (not related to finance in this instance) is related to the automobile industry and the requirement to have either right or left hand drive cars depending on the target market.

Business and cultural issues can be described as items specifically relating to the target market, such as local currencies and contact details.

Technical issues in the context of financial marketing content would relate to compliance regulations or national or international legislation.

According to The Localization Industry Standards Association’ (LISA) these small details “often make the difference between a product that is successful in a market, versus one that is frustrating for or even rejected by customers” (2007:14).

When briefing into a translation company any such marketing content, marketers would do well to better understand where a translator may struggle with such small details within the text. If anyone has any questions relating to this I would be happy to provide further insight and guidance.

As a final thought on this, my view is that it is so important to have local market knowledge, understanding of the cultural differences and also how to speak to the target market in their own language to gain acceptance.

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