Here, at IL Consultancy, we offer translation, transcription, and language services to both local and international clients. These services are provided by a selection of trusted and experienced language experts. IL Consultancy (IL Consultancy) has been involved in the industry for over a decade and has worked on projects for major names and departments thanks to our excellent record for ensuring accurate and high-quality work. In this quick read, we’ll be providing a brief overview of our language services and how we can help you take your business to new heights.
Aside from language services, our team of experts offer editing, proofreading, transcription, and development of educational content. We also have an in-house branding team to assist businesses with copywriting, design, web development, and SEO writing. Our offering covers everything a business needs to create and deliver an effective message.
What Is Translation And Why Do We Need It?
Translation services are needed to break down one of the biggest barriers to communication: language. There are so many different languages and cultures worldwide, and businesses or individuals trying to operate on a global scale need to be able to communicate effectively regardless of what language the other party speaks. This is where translation services come in. Translation allows for communication, which is how people build relationships, how businesses grow and expand their network and how the world is connected.
Here, at IL Consultancy, we pride ourselves in being a trusted source to deliver accurate translations timeously. We use a team of highly skilled translators that hold qualifications in a variety of academic fields. This means clients’ documents are handled by translators who not only have an expert understanding of the languages involved but are also well versed in the subject matter – thus ensuring accurate and technically-correct translations are provided.
Whilst other translators, including freelancers, may be experienced in translating the language, their lack of technical knowledge regarding the subject matter may result in misinterpretation and confusion with the use of certain terms. On the other hand, our translators provide translations in South African, African and International language combinations and are backed by the South African Translators’ Institute (SATI). Our translators have experience working with the following materials:
- Internal company documentation
- Marketing & advertising material
- Legal documentation
- Financial material
- Reports Proposals
- Literature
- Educational books and terminology
- Technical documents
When it comes to documents containing technical information and terminology, translation services go beyond simply changing the language in the document. Translators need to not only translate the material but do so in a way that adapts it to the correct cultural and intellectual environment to ensure it is understood in the way it was intended to be with no barriers and errors. These factors become even more essential when applied to the translation of marketing materials.
The Use Of Language In Marketing
Marketing is one of the most essential tools in business, allowing businesses and organisations to raise awareness of their product and service offerings, attract new customers and maintain a strong relationship with existing loyal customers. For a marketing message to work, the business needs to understand its target market’s wants and needs and find an effective way to communicate its brand image, offering and message to them, and stand out against its competitors.
Language is a powerful tool in marketing, the most successful brands have catchy, memorable taglines, and marketing messages that resonate with their target audience. Whilst language is an essential and impactful part of marketing, it can also be one of the biggest barriers for businesses and organisations trying to reach a wider audience and appeal to target audiences that speak a different language.
Marketing Translation
Translating marketing messages is a challenging task for many reasons. Firstly, it is impossible to translate the words literally as the intended message will be lost and the translation will no longer make sense. Direct translation of marketing content will almost always result in awkward phrasing and confusion for the intended audience. Think about rhymes and catchphrases, what makes sense in one language may not make sense in another, especially if the rules of each language are very different from each other.
Not only do words need to be translated, but sentence structure also needs to be changed, correct genders and terms need to be followed and general language rules need to be adhered to in order to make sense to the target audience. This highlights the second point, the target audience. When translating material to another language, it is important that the translator understands the cultural nuances and preferences of the people who speak the language to ensure the marketing message is slightly adapted if necessary to convey an appropriate and impactful marketing message and evoke the intended response from the audience. If the marketing message does not make sense to the target audience that it is translated for, then it is useless. This is where the phrase “Lost in translation” applies more than ever.
When translating a marketing message, localisation is an important factor. The message does not just need to be understandable to the local market it is targeting, it needs to be appealing, and this goes beyond using the correct words. Translators need to work hand in hand with individuals versed in advertising to make important changes. Images, colours and terminology or slang words used in marketing often need to be adapted to resonate with specific audiences and a translator with knowledge of the target audience will be able to recommend the necessary changes that need to be implemented along with an accurate translation from one language to another.
The key to effective marketing messages across a variety of languages is having the right translator, someone who is an expert in the source language as well as the target language, with knowledge of the subject material of the marketing message and an understanding of the target audience’s cultural nuances.
Marketing Translation Mistakes
Businesses are warned over and over about the important factors mentioned above that need to be considered in marketing translation, but often the same mistakes are made that cost the business money and potential customers.
Literal translation: This is one of the most common mistakes, businesses take their original marketing message and translate it directly into another language without considering how the sentence structure or meaning is altered, the translation simply doesn\’t make sense. This is one of the biggest reasons marketing messages are misunderstood and leaves the intended audience confused. Google translate can be used to translate words but is not accurate when it comes to language rules and sentence structures so should never be considered an option for translating marketing messages.
Ignoring cultural nuances: Too much attention is paid to translating the words, and not enough attention is given to what the translation means culturally. Different cultures have more than language differences, they often have different preferences and cultural views. By not properly observing cultural nuances, the business may promote a translated marketing message that the target audience finds inappropriate or offensive. This would put the business in a negative light, hurting its reputation and losing its targeted audience.
These mistakes are easily avoidable by conducting proper research into the target audiences and hiring a translator that is experienced with translating marketing messages and is familiar with the culture and preferences of the intended target audience.
Marketing Translation: Sticking To A Schedule
Perfection takes time, but time is a luxury in the marketing and advertising industry. Our team at IL Consultancy strives to produce translation and language services of the highest quality. We want to ensure that our projects are completed and delivered in a timely manner without compromising on essential proofreading and fact-checking to avoid errors and misinterpretations that could potentially harm a business\’s reputation.
There is nothing more frustrating than delayed or broken communication, and this has a negative effect on both parties involved in communication. Business pitches and written communications need to flow swiftly, delays could be the difference between making or losing an important deal. Slow translation services can stall entire brand campaigns, which cannot proceed until their messaging is translated into the relevant language, a delay could make an entire campaign less effective.
Currently, the market is saturated with adverts which serve as serious competition for companies or brands trying to make their voices heard. There is a constant battle to cut through the clutter and to put marketing efforts out in the right place and at the right time to grab the attention of their intended audience. The rise of digital marketing and social media has seen brands rushing to jump onto relevant trends, and in these cases, time is of the essence.
Businesses are almost always competing with each other to push out relevant and impactful messages that highlight their brand in a positive light and draw in more customers because more customers equals more profits. A business may have an innovative thought-provoking marketing message in one language, but need it translated into one or more other languages to expand its reach to different target audiences, this is where having their marketing materials translated quickly and efficiently is essential, and serve a company’s interests for many reasons, which include:
A wider audience reach
A marketing message available in more than one language means it can be broadcast to a wider audience in a shorter amount of time. Spreading a marketing message in multiple languages is essential in today\’s global market where companies need to keep a competitive edge and benefit hugely from communicating to a global market instead of being limited to their local market because of language barriers.
Brand consistency
A brand needs to carry a consistent message across all its marketing channels, and this includes the aspect of language. No matter what language they speak, audiences being targeted by a brand or company in their language need to receive the same message that was conveyed in the original marketing text, which is why accurate translation is essential.
Time to reach the market
In the marketing world, time is money. Marketing materials need to be translated in a timely manner to ensure that they can be launched in time. This is essential for companies to jump on opportunities without facing delays and stay ahead of their competitors.
Why Choose IL Consultancy?
The IL Consultancy combines the power of experience and expertise to provide a wide service offering to both local and international clients and has earned a spot as one of the top translation and transcription companies in a fiercely competitive global market thanks to a consistently high-quality work ethic. Clients who choose to use IL Consultancy can expect quality service, with work completed timeously by translators with qualifications in the right subject fields.
IL Consultancy maintains its place as a top choice for businesses in the translation and language market by offering competitive pricing for their fast marketing translation services with the understanding that businesses need to keep costs under control whilst at the same time sourcing trustworthy and reliable agencies to take on projects.