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ADVERTISING TRANSLATION

Advertising Is the Engine of Commerce!

Ukraine’s cooperation with Western and Eastern countries involves import transactions. A lot of companies are dealers of Western corporations and represent them in Ukrainian market. Foreign companies provide marketing materials including advertisements to promote their products which require professional translation services. Advertising materials should not be translated word by word, what is more, in some cases it is absolutely inadmissible. A literal translation may weaken the message of the slogan, and even more – it may have an adverse effect — non-acceptance of the goods by the target audience.

Nothing Should Be Ignored When Translating Advertisement…

For this reason, an translator of marketing materials should not only be a highly-skilled language professional but also know the mentality and language peculiarities of certain social groups and classes, understand the mechanism of advertising making and use the vocabulary which associates with common promotional concepts such as “the best”, “ideal”, “your choice”, etc.

Slogan is a Battle Cry!

Advertising slogans – are aggressive yet not annoying calls aimed to stimulate people buying certain products. A slogan should be brief, informative, memorable and strongly related to the brand it promotes.

All these should be considered by a professional translator of advertising slogans. In doing so he or she should preserve the message of the slogan.

  • Look at Johnnie Walker slogan: «Born 1820 — Still going Strong!».
    The literal translation into Russian: («Рожден в 1820 и до сих пор крепчает») is boring and has no the meaning of the original.
    Why not try and translated it like this: «Начиная с 1820 года – обошёл весь мир!» — not a word by word translation yet strong! In this case a target audience grasp the idea of international success of the brand.

Mistakes in Translation of Advertising Slogans

In some cases, an advertising slogan may remain in the language of the original.
Remember this: «Volkswagen. Das Auto»? This slogan read in German in a Russian commercial is associated with German quality. The translation is not needed, it would be even harmful.

There are other examples. Mitsubishi starting from selling Pajero jeeps in USA had to change the name of the vehicles sold in US market to Montero.

The thing is that there is a sizable Spanish population in the USA, and “Pajero” (pronounced in Spanish as Pahero) means “a worthless fellow” (to be decorous). Men are the target audience for jeep advertising so the company had to change the product name. This is an Example of a Translator’s Excellence.

Sometimes using frankly ambiguous expressions in translation may lead to people’s denying the advertisement which involves costs and damages the brand image.

Contact Professionals!

Saving on a professional advertising translator may in the end cost your company a sight of money!

Contact Professionals and Expand Your Business!

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