Whether or not you’re aware of it, the choice of language used by the world’s leading marketing gurus is not accidental. It’s common knowledge that what is being said often isn’t as important as the way in which it is said – context, meaning and impact being affected comprehensively by the latter.
Using Local Slang to Influence International Prospects
This is something that must be acknowledged and taken into account when implementing marketing strategies and core elements therein. But if for example the decision had been made to target an international audience, the importance of context takes on a whole new meaning. Unsurprisingly, this is precisely why so many actively make the decision to ‘simplify’ their international marketing texts, not realizing that in doing so, they may also be adversely affecting their impact.
The Local Lingo
The simple fact of the matter is that working with slang from a foreign country has the potential to be both difficult and risky. It’s one thing to implement a word for word Bulgarian translation or even a highly-technical Russian translation – it’s something else entirely to get to grips with the local lingo.
Nevertheless, largely every populated region of every country in the world has its own unique take on the respective country’s language – slang and local dialect often changing radically within surprisingly short distances.
To speak like a local is to demonstrate full understanding of the locals, thus inherently intensifying the impact of any message delivered.
No Margin for Error
It’s entirely understandable why so many foreign language translation services steer clear of slang –there’s absolutely no margin for error. Fail in to your attempts to use any kind of slang or local dialect and you run the risk of a) invalidating the messaging as a whole and b) becoming a laughing stock.
At the opposite end of the spectrum however, hit the nail on the head with carefully incorporated slang and the overall impact is intensified exponentially.
Working with international slang and regional language variations takes extraordinary, time effort and commitment. Semiotic Transfer takes real pride in producing outstanding translations for all purposes, which fully take into account and capitalise on national, regional and local language variations.
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