Why global brands can’t take short-cuts with language
The Economist’s Technology Quarterly has highlighted the struggle international brands face when expanding their global footprints online. In its report entitled “The many voices of the web,” it highlights the fact that language is very often one of the first stumbling blocks for cross-border businesses entering new markets.
Yet taking short-cuts with language – perhaps in attempt to boost cost-efficiencies within global campaigns – rarely work. Companies need to ensure that they communicate their brand values effectively in new markets, whilst maintaining the consistency and essence of their brand image. And beyond the subtle nuances of language – which necessitate genuinely expert knowledge – brands also need to understand, and respond to, cultural context. For example, in Japan the numbers four and nine are considered unlucky; the words for these numbers sound like ‘death’ and ‘pain.’ No automatic translation service in existence in today’s world can tell you this, as the report makes abundantly clear
In an attempt to solve such problems, Google and others continue to work on automatic or machine-based translation, whilst academics worldwide are focusing on more ‘obscure’ languages. But despite all this, and despite the growing availability of certain types of software to aid translation services online, the results of such experiments can be garbled. Automatic translation services are getting better but still struggle with colloquialisms and idioms. “Clever technology can help lower the web’s linguistic barriers but cannot yet eliminate them,” says the report.
Content localisation and on brand translations still require human capital: and by this we mean an understanding of cultural context, and of the platforms users in various country markets favour. The Arabic blogosphere is now ‘booming’, and there are roughly as many blogs in Japanese as there are in English. So with the online universe still turning, what’s an international brand to do?
Regional hubs, such as those we have created specifically at Freedman, still represent arguably the most efficient way for global corporations to create market-specific brands and thereby take advantage of local preferences. Such success is achievable in today’s world, despite technological barriers.
Tags: Global Brand
