The Importance of Context From a Translator's Perspective
Accurate translation is more than simply transferring words from one language to another. Communication conveys meaning; without it, you might send a different message than intended. For example, many words in the English language have multiple meanings, and we use context in phrases or images surrounding those words to understand what words mean fully.
Unfortunately, it's easy to forget to pass on those contextual clues when translating different texts from one language to another. Lack of context during translation can lead to errors undermining your localization efforts.
Context in Marketing
Only 26% of internet users speak English. Online marketers who don't translate campaigns to other languages reach about a quarter of their target audience. However, poor translations can be even more troublesome, and that can jeopardize clear marketing and product messaging.
Context provides clues that communicate the meanings behind translation, helping to ensure a message is shared across language barriers. Marketing campaigns require companies to find ways to convey information in a small space or a short time. The content must be engaging and informative enough to attract attention to sell a product.
Meeting these qualifications in your mother tongue is challenging enough. Add another language, and your campaign can quickly fall apart. Even without mistakes that lead to confusing or embarrassing results, nuances lost in translation can mean slogans miss their mark or taglines are misinterpreted. Translators need more than the source text to communicate a marketing message successfully. Organizations see better results when they share the entire idea of the campaign. Then, they convey the full context of the message.
Communications in the digital era bring more opportunities to attract a global audience, but they also introduce more room for error in translation. Similarly, digital content requires correct code to work correctly and text to fit in limited UI space, and these efforts need additional context for clarity.
Context in Translation for Software Localization
Websites, apps, games, and SaaS programs depend on different types of code and graphics to convey messages. When introducing software products to a global audience, software localization processes can adapt the software to the culture and language of an end user. The entire process includes translation and design changes to make the software look and feel natural to the target user.
Translation failures can lead to poor user experiences or programs that fail to work correctly. In software localization, context doesn't just encompass the meaning or intent of a message. Without context, translation in dialog boxes, error messages, help files, status messages, license agreements, and menu items can lead to miscommunication and limited function.
Reimagining the Process
While the software is written in programming code designed to communicate with hardware, the code also uses keywords that include everything the user will see on the screen. These words are separated from code for translation in software localization. However, when the keywords are translated and plugged back into the original code, there's no guarantee everything will work properly.
Without context, it won't. Character limits, homonyms, and assumptions can affect translation. A translation from English to German will mean a code string overlaps with other commands because German is longer than English.
Similarly, directly translating a single word on a clickable button won't fit into the same space. While you might switch from text to icons to avoid translation confusion, these elements also require context. Some symbols are rude in other countries (like a thumbs up), and some simply have no universally recognizable meaning (like a mailbox with a red flag).
Most often, translators receive lines of text for translation in documents or spreadsheets with little or no context regarding their use. Words can be correctly translated without context and still lead to poor outcomes.
Tips for Proper Context in Translation
Providing context to translators about the software can significantly improve the outcome of the finished product. By including information about how the finished product works and the intention behind the words, you can share ideas that can more easily be translated to match other languages and cultures.
These tips help you provide essential types of contextual information to translators along with text, so you can get the result you're looking for.
Share Reference Materials
If you still need to get the actual product for the translator, reference materials can provide essential context for accurate translation. For example, software user manuals, websites, charts, and videos that describe how the software works can help add context to the text. By offering multiple sources with explanations about their relevance, you can provide essential context to improve the translation.
Insert Comments and Annotations
Short notes can also help share enough information to ensure a more accurate translation. Glossary terms, slogans, taglines, and straightforward explanations can be provided in comments or annotations about specific text strings. If you're unsure whether the meaning might be lost, an added comment can clarify your intentions.
Provide a Style Guide
Marketing campaigns and software products include brand identification factors like industry-specific terms and brand or product names. These features may translate differently than some other types of content. Collecting this information into a style guide can help convey special meanings and avoid misinterpretation.
A style guide is a glossary that includes identifying factors like brand and product names, industry-specific terms and jargon, slogans and taglines, and relevant abbreviations. Providing as much information as possible can help you ensure a more consistent brand message across all languages.
Include Visual References
Visuals can immediately reference where text will be located on a screen. Screenshots, illustrations, and videos of the product can clarify how and where specific words and phrases will be used. Include comments, highlights, and directions when possible to improve clarification. Translators can clarify instructions when they have visual references alongside other educational materials.
Provide Product Training
Product training can give translators all the information about a product before translation even begins. A clear understanding of how the product works offers a glimpse into how users will see and use the text to be translated. Product training can occur in person, over the phone, through user manuals, or with training videos. Education should include the following:
How the software serves users
Market performance
Project expectations
Important terminology
Ensure you provide a communication method to allow your translator to ask relevant questions and share comments.
Without context, words are just words. All too often, those words may not convey the meaning you want them to. But by providing translators with context, you can share ideas behind marketing and the purpose behind action text. These critical components will make all the difference in your finished product.
VTQ is a publication created for people interested in thinking globally.