Because of the globalization trend, any human translation agency that’s worth its salt must offer both translation and localization services to its clients. For many a business, localization and translation are nigh-synonymous to each other in terms of global advertising. To illustrate, let’s discuss several popular localization techniques when it comes to accommodating a promotional campaign from one culture to another.

The Graphic Adaptation Technique

Our first example of a well-crafted international advertisement implements a localization technique called “graphic adaptation”. This tactic uses an advertising framework that’s based on localized imagery as much as translated copy. In a poster for a Tuscany-based perfume company catering to an Arabic audience, the localizers transformed the ad’s framework by adapting the background image in accordance to the socio-cultural environment of the target audience.

The “Italian”-based ambiance of the original perfume ad was replaced in favor of a more Mediterranean “street scene”. This simple yet deliberate change helped a lot in selling the product in accordance to the host country’s tastes. Just like how a human translation expert would maintain a balance between original message and cultural adaptation to form a pragmatic professional translation, a translation service offering localization assistance would also do the same in terms of image selection.

As the saying goes, “When in Rome, do what the Romans do.” The replacement of the original Tuscan iconography with that of images and pictures (cafes and terraces) that the Arabic consumers are more familiar with isn’t simpleminded pandering to the consumer base at all; it’s instead another form of translation that succeeds in communicating the intended message by creating another instance that the audience would more readily identify with.

Symbolism, Iconography, and Localization

In regards to the symbolism represented by the imagery of the localized ad, translators must know what to retain or what to change. Just because localization has become quite popular, it doesn’t necessarily mean that faithfulness to the original context should be abandoned altogether. In the above example, the French and Arabic versions of the same perfume ad retained the female protagonist at the center of the image and the perfume bottle at the bottom right corner of the poster. The main character’s smile is still present, and so are the extras. It’s the same message, but it uses a different approach to present it.

Tragically, most translation services misinterpret localization as a carte blanche to change everything in an ad, as though they were the ones doing the marketing department’s job. That’s a big mistake. Comprehensibility of the original message is still their main goal, but with the added caveat of using cultural context to deliver that message; nothing more, nothing less.

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A properly conveyed and translated message will allow people to have a nigh-universal comprehension of the original content, localization obstacles be damned. Then again, failure to address personal or cultural interpretation can and will result in misunderstandings, faux pas, unfortunate implications, and hilarious gaffes. To illustrate, here are some of the most heinous translation mistakes made even by industry biggies:

• Professional translation or no, there’s really no excuse for turning the Salem Cigarette tagline of “Salem; feeling free” into the long yet tragically entertaining, “When smoking Salem, you’ll feel so relaxed that your mind will seem empty and free,” in Japanese.
• A Miami-based American t-shirt company tried to take advantage of the Spanish market during the Pope’s visit there, but instead of their t-shirts stating, “the Pope” or “el Papa”, it instead read “the potato” or “la papa”. Big difference.
• A translation service was able to botch up the KFC slogan of “Finger-licking good” and turn it into the horribly transliterated “Eat your fingers off” message in Chinese.
• How did Parker Pen’s ads go from “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you” to “It won’t leak in your pocket and impregnate you”? One word: embrazar (to impregnate); the company thought this meant ‘embarrass’ in Mexico. Well, they definitely were once the ad came out.
• Human translation companies everywhere have all probably heard about the story of Gerber selling its “baby food” to Africa, which confused the natives because companies usually put pictures on the label of what’s inside, so they thought it was “baby food” in the most literal sense of the term. The prejudiced and nigh-racist tall tale’s truthfulness is highly suspect, but its message of bad translation still rings true.
• Here’s another one from China. Pepsi’s promotion that asks people to “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” ended up becoming the creepy and bizarre “Pepsi resurrects your ancestors back from the dead” in Chinese.
• Remember the Chevy Nova’s tagline that got translated into “It won’t go” in Spanish markets? Ford one-upped their competitor’s gaffe by selling the Pinto to the Brazilians. Unfortunately, “Pinto” was Brazilian slang for “Tiny Penis”, so Ford eventually renamed their infamously dangerous car into “Horse” or “Corcel”.
• The “It takes a strong man to make tender chicken” slogan of Frank Perdue was corrupted into the bestial and iniquitous “It takes an aroused man to make chicken affectionate” in Spanish.

While it’s all well and good for translators to practice translating context based on a whole discourse instead of concentrating on translation techniques applied on a word-per-word basis, it’s even more important for them to be aware of the socio-political, religious, cultural, and locale-exclusive mores and norms of the intended market.

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One Hour Translation is the world’s fastest professional translation service. One Hour Translation provides Fast, High Quality Expert Translation service on a 24/7 basis thanks to a community of over 8000 certified translators from all over the world.