Originally Published PMPN January 2004

Brand Matters

Robert Sprung

Thanks to globalization and Europe’s Medical Devices Directives on local-language labeling, packaging professionals have become translation savvy.

A decade ago, the big questions were “Does anyone around here speak Spanish?” and “How can I type in Japanese?” Now, the questions are more nuanced: “Is our language process ISO-compliant?” or “How can translation be more efficient to cut time-to-market?”

In this article, we cover the impact of branding on translation. Branding has long been a centerpiece of thinking in marketing departments. It is now beginning to infiltrate sensibilities and structures in other parts of the organization. 

The lesson is that your translation is part of your brand. It is not merely a mechanical process of converting words from one language to another. If executed correctly, it should extend and strengthen your company’s image and effectiveness in foreign markets, where many U.S. firms derive more than half their revenue. 

Here are the two main implications for packaging professionals:

Translations need to be market and brand savvy. The people responsible for your multilingual labeling are translating your message to end-users around the world.

In the 1990s, the main challenge in translation was technical accuracy. This remains a formidable challenge, but the market and the service providers have become more sophisticated. Today, assuming that your translation process and quality are under control, you shouldn’t settle for technical accuracy alone. 

People used to strive for a translation that was not word for word. In today’s market, that’s setting the bar too low. The terminology your translators choose and the style of those translations are increasingly seen as a reflection of your corporate brand and ideals. Many companies claim to be customer-friendly, but their translation style is turgid and wordy. Translation companies often get paid by the word, and it shows. You’re paying a pretty penny for translation. So why shouldn’t it read as well as the original? 

There are certain English words that your company owns, or wishes to own. You should strive to achieve consistent and distinctive usage in foreign languages as well. A good translator should be up on market conditions and what language competitors are using. Smart companies are building translation style guides—often accessible on-line—to align their text with brand values.

Terminology is a valuable corporate asset. It is something you need to actively manage. Too often, due to deficiencies in process, a foreign language term on an insert will differ from the corresponding term on the package. Also, phrasing will differ between technical documentation and the corresponding marketing literature. This may cause regulatory problems and confusion among users.

Today, powerful tools can minimize these problems and help build brand-consistent translations. Your language supplier may already be using translation-memory software. In essence, all of your past translations—from packaging text to product inserts or instruction manuals—are continually added to a database. Translators are alerted to exact or approximate matches whenever new source text is added. This heightens consistency and can cut translation cost and time by maximizing reuse of approved translations. 

Education about translation memory can pay huge dividends in terms of cost, time, and image. Consider having a single translation-memory database that your entire organization can draw on. This will improve consistency over time. Don’t forget that you own the translation-memory databases, although they may be housed at your translation supplier. You should always have an up-to-date copy of this valuable asset on hand.

Copyright ©2004 Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News