Multilingual campaigns can be highly impactful in reaching diverse audiences and communities. With a few simple tips, you can ensure that the translation process is easy and efficient – resulting in materials that are just as effective in any other language as the original English.
1. Plan from the start for designed pieces
When planning for multilingual campaigns, keep in mind that the content length may vary depending on the language. Some languages don’t have a single word for the same English term while others can summarize an English phrase in a single character. For example, Spanish translations typically add about 30% more content than the original English text, while French translations add about 15%.
On the other hand, some character-based languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Arabic result in a reduced amount of text.
Once aware of the translation differences for the languages you plan to translate into, you can choose to be more elaborate or succinct to fit your layout.
When you need to translate content into many languages, a good rule of thumb is to keep your messaging simple and employ bulleted information. You can also use infographics, illustrations, and pictures fr universality and impactfulness.
Easy-to-read, aesthetically-pleasing print and digital content works well in any language!
Photos
If you are using photos of people, it’s helpful to consider changing images for each translation to better appeal to your target reader. Also – if there’s food or other cultural components like dance, you. might have to swap out recipes or those images as well. USDA does this for its nutrition education programs well.
As an example, the USDA My Plate website, not only translates their recipes, they prioritize different ones for the English and Spanish versions of the site.
2. Avoid acronyms
Keep in mind that acronyms don’t always translate well. Well known acronyms, such as NASA, are typically recognized in other languages. But creating your own to help reinforce a point can be tricky or not meaningful once translated. Additionally, you want to take care not to use an acronym that is actually a word in another language, but offensive once translated.
Sometimes, translators can adjust your acronym if it is important to include. For instance, you may be familiar with the public health stroke awareness mnemonic FAST (Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Slurred speech, Time to call emergency services). Healthcare professionals at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston recognized the gap in Spanish-speaking people not recognizing the symptoms of stroke and delaying treatment. So, they developed the acronym, R.A.P.I.D.O. in 2021, and in 2023 the acronym has been adopted by the American Heart Association.
3. Avoid plays on words
Similar to acronyms, plays on words that work in one language often don’t have direct equivalents in other languages.
For example, the NIH campaign Pregnancy for Every Body was intended to have a double meaning – both inclusivity in the pronoun and body types. However, when translated to Spanish, the play on words was lost. The campaign still proved highly effective given the approachable language and educational content.
4. Leave enough time for translation of your multilingual campaign
It can take a long time to develop high-quality content in English, so it’s important to remember to give your translation team sufficient time to deliver quality work for your multilingual campaign.
To expedite timelines, a translation agency like Alboum can assemble teams of translators to work simultaneously and have their work brought together by an editor. Professional translators can also streamline their process if they leverage previous quality translations and organizational glossaries with a translation memory tool.
Choosing a qualified translation services company also makes a big difference.
Alboum can help with all elements of your multilingual campaigns, including:
- fact sheets
- brochures
- forms
- flyers
- websites
- and more!
With nearly 100 languages available, Alboum can work with any format and also offers multilingual graphic design, as well as transcription, subtitling and video voiceover for multimedia content.
Our professional translators are experienced and familiar with our clients’ areas of focus. Alboum exclusively serves clients within education, public and reproductive health, advocacy, environmental, human services and nonprofit organizations
If you need help getting started on translation of your multilingual campaign, please reach out today.
