Localisation

Striking the right tone with your clients

Localising a document involves far more than translating the text into another language. Typographic particularities, standards, units of measurement and specialist terms must also be adjusted to suit the cultural identity of the target market; such as names, titles or figures of speech. Ethical/religious standards and taboos, images, symbols and colour combinations must be acknowledged and adapted accordingly so that the documents are favourably received and their contents fully understood by the target groups.

For example, when advertising cars in China, one should avoid having the number 4 on a number plate where at all possible. This is because of the similarity of its sound with the Chinese word for “death” and hence “accident” or “misfortune”. It is better to use the number 8 because it implies fortune and success. This is also because of a similarity of sounds. In this case, with the Chinese word for “becoming rich” or “achieving prosperity”.

Ongoing research and adaptation is also needed due to the ever-changing legal, economic and industry-specific circumstances of the target market. Teamwork in our company enables experience to be pooled and constantly increased.

Use our experience to speak your client’s language!