A Skilled Language Translation Copywriting Service Can Help
Whether It's a One Sentence Slogan or A TV Script, a Language Translation Copywriting Service Can Help You Translate Your Message Within Cultural Context
A language translation copywriting service can assist in sending the right message when you cross borders. Whether it's a slogan or a TV commercial ad, skilled language translation copywriting companies have helped countless companies avoid costly mistakes and, more importantly, being the butt of a joke. Back when former Pope John Paul II visited Miami, a seemingly clever entrepreneur decided to print T-shirts declaring "I Saw the Pope" to commemorate the event. Nice idea, except at the end of the day, the T-shirts ended up saying "I Saw the Potato." When the T-shirt maker translated the phrase into Spanish, he incorrectly used the feminine la papa instead of the masculine el papa. It was a mistake that could have been easily nipped in the bud if he had hired a language translation copywriting company to help him. People chuckle at the mishap now, but back then, it wasn't so funny. Miami is a heavily Catholic city. The incident offended many Catholics who didn't realize it was unintentional. And the T-shirt mishap continues to haunt the entrepreneur.
Language can be a landmine of subtle nuances. You can't just use a dictionary to be a skilled translator. You also have to understand that there are cultural aspects that impact words. Take the word "fly." Most people know it to mean "to fly" in the air. But in pop culture land, "fly" means "pretty cool" or "awesome." In linguistic terms, a homonym is a group of words that share the same spelling and same pronunciation, but have different meanings, such as a stalk of sugar cane vs. people who stalk the objects of their desires. Like English, there are many languages that have homonyms, and unless you're very knowledgeable, you may not know, as in the case of the word matador. For most Spaniards, matador carries a very strong, masculine image of someone who's brave and fearless. But if you were to run a blue-jeans ad in Puerto Rico with "matador" emblazoned on the billboard, consumers may think twice about buying the apparel. The reason is Puerto Ricans translate matador to mean a killer. Think it hasn't happened? When American Motors launched the Matador car, it flopped among Puerto Ricans, who were reluctant to buy the vehicle. The company could have easily avoided this costly mistake with a language translation copywriting service aware of the cultural differences.
