11 Translation Secret Tips to Boost Content Quality

You are currently viewing 11 Translation Secret Tips to Boost Content Quality

There is a flood of content on the web and more new content is being added to it every day. But how many of these are worth reading? Are they original? Do you think that curating content from here and there, then re-arranging and rewriting an article in your own language with all that information makes it original? If you think so you are completely going wrong. Content is original when it speaks about things that are nowhere spoken yet on the web, solves the pain points of the audience, brings in new ideas and gives leadership. Life of Human beings remains the same so remains their worries, problems and pain points. Certainly, new kinds of problems and situations emerge in our lives every day. So, the topics of discussion to an extent of 75% remain the same. While addressing the repetitive topics you must bring in new ideas of handling and solving them to make life better and also must bring in solutions for new challenges of life in order to claim to be an original content creator. The magic of original content is something that will work for you. To reach & engage communities speaking other languages with your original content, get them translated by a reputed translation company who have the knack in research, has experience in cross-cultural studies, are aware of international geopolitics, participate in social meet-ups of the target language-speaking community, have well understanding of the reading and understanding proficiency of the target group, knows both widely used formal and informal language of the target language audience, have knowledge of a variety of tonalities and can choose the most appropriate one to achieve the intent of any content and last but not the least he must also have in-depth knowledge of the services and products that are pitched through these content. We will discuss in detail 11 secret translation tips to boost content quality.

  • Go Beyond the Source Content while translating

The source content is primarily prepared for a specific language group. It is not advisable to translate it for another target language group without making alterations. The integrity of the content in translation must be kept intact but it should be customized individually for each language-speaking group. That will add a localized flavor to the content. The translator must be informed that he has the freedom to do such modifications and customizations to achieve the best results in each of the different language speaking audiences.

  • Imbibe the relevant cultural aspects while translating

Other than giving importance to local dialects, the cultural aspects of each community should be addressed properly and the translations must be results of well-researched cross-cultural studies. The benefit of this is that the audience will feel belongingness and will gradually feel emotionally and culturally attached to your brand.

  • Shift from Formal to Informal Language wherever necessary

Audience in one community may be more comfortable reading content written in formal language whereas content written in informal language may be more common and acceptable in another community. This is a very important aspect to be considered while translating content in multiple languages. The translator must be a native speaker of the target market and must know what form of language to be used to target his native community.

  • Acquire insights from Social Meet-ups and apply them

It is very important to understand the changing trends and points of interest of every community before translating content to target them. When a translator often meets the target community and catches up with them on different occasions he becomes aware of approaches he must adopt while translating content for that particular target language-speaking group. This adds an edge to the translated content over the content published by your competitors.

  • Use different Tonalities to achieve different Results

Content is just not ideas put into words. It is a medium of communication. In every communication, there are various tonalities used. Each tonality targets to achieve a particular result. Based upon what result the content is intending to achieve the translator should switch from one tonality to the other.

  • Give the maximum time in Research

Research is very important both for you and your translators. It gives all the insights necessary to remain informed and updated. People who are well informed and updated coupled with their talents in languages can communicate better than those who are not well-informed and updated but have good communication skills. This is because communication renders a message and the message must be always an updated one. To increase efficiency in translation research is the first among the priorities.

  • Consider geopolitical factors while translating

The influence of geopolitical factors shapes up minds and lives of communities. The source content might be interesting and engaging to a particular community but not necessarily it will be interesting and engaging for another community. Therefore, geopolitical factors of any community must be considered while translating content to serve them.

  • Customize language to match Audience Literacy Standards

Swahili is a widely spoken language in the major section of the African markets. It is spoken in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Somalia, Zambia, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Approximately 50 million people speak this language. When you target this language group you must consider their literacy standards in order to translate the content that is intelligible to them. Whereas when you translate the content for the Korean speaking community you have to match up to their literacy standards to be regarded as appealing content. Thus, every translation must take care of the literacy standards of the target market and use language accordingly to get the best results.

  • Add Humor to spice up the translation

Humor is generally loved by one and all if not in the form of sarcasm and irony. The nature of humor differs from community to community. Japanese is one of the most humorous people. They love to laugh even at silly stuff at times. American Humor usually concerns aspects of American culture and depends on the historical and current development of the country’s culture. The French love to joke about subjects that would scandalize Americans. British humor is shaped by the relative stability of British society and carries a strong element of satire aimed at “the absurdity of everyday life”.

It is clear and evident from the above paragraph that the parameters of humor are different for different communities. A source document in French when translated into English for targeting the American target market must not translate a joke in French to English. An American will never like to read something that scandalizes them. It is the case with every community. Humor must be used in content but while translating special care must be taken to fit the target language audience.

  • Make reading fun by using illustrations

An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process. Illustrations make content easily graspable. Since these are visual explanations you have to be specifically fussy over it while using them in translation. The illustrations used in source content must be replaced with more appropriate illustrations that interest the target language group.

  • Change Images wherever necessary

It is not advisable to use images of source content in the translated content. This is primarily because of the difference in the impact of those images on different communities being different. For example images of winter do not create a positive impact on the British whereas Arabs in the Middle East would love to feel the coldness of winter and such images will impact them positively.

Use images according to preferences of geographical locations that will create a positive visual impulse in the mind of the audience and entice them to read your content translated in their language.


Evie HarrisonAuthor Bio: 

Evie Harrison is a copywriter and content writer who works at Dar Al Marjaan Translation services. She specializes in email marketing, ghost blogging, and content marketing.
Author Email:  [email protected]daralmarjaan.com 

11 Translation Secret Tips to Boost Content Quality

Understanding eCommerce | Digital Media Services to Grow Your Business