Localisation for a target audience
In some cases, simply translating a text is not enough. For example: a municipal authority is taking an important decision that has consequences for its residents. They need to be informed about it, but it isn’t enough to simply send them a policy document full of complex terminology. Instead, it is important to formulate a text that enables all residents to understand what has been decided and the consequences, including if the text has been or is going to be translated.
Another example is the medical package insert. Not only is it hugely important for this to be understood (and understood properly) by everybody, the translation is often also a statutory requirement. The package insert is full of medical ingredients, dosages or side effects. Incorrect or unsafe use of the medical product, resulting from sloppy or ambiguous text or translation, can have very serious consequences. To avoid this at all times, it is essential to refine the package insert so it is aimed at the target audience and is therefore comprehensible for everybody.
Another round of work on the text
Wilkens Translation Agency helps with the translation of your texts but can also do an extra round of writing. We ensure the text is translated and, if necessary, adapted to seamlessly connect to your target audience. Depending on the situation, we sometimes adapt the original text before translating it.
In addition to government communications and medical package inserts, we frequently see localisation becoming relevant to commercial texts. For example, a text that persuades a Dutch-speaking person from the Netherlands to choose your product or business does not always have the same effect on someone from, say, Germany or even Flanders.
Speakers of different languages typically have different preferences for how they like to be addressed, for example. This is why in commercial texts in German translation we always bear in mind that most German-speaking people prefer to be addressed in the more formal grammatical form of ‘you’ (Sie). When localising from Dutch for the Netherlands into Dutch for a Flemish target audience, we take into account the subtle linguistic differences between the two.
Localisation by subtitling
Subtitling into another language is a textbook example of how text is geared to the target group or audience. If you take a text and literally transcribe it, using the translation as subtitles, the subtitles would be much too long for the target group to read in time. Efficient and correct subtitling therefore involves much more than just translating the spoken text.
Count on Wilkens Translation Agency
You can obviously do the work yourself or ask a colleague to look at the text. Alternatively, you can leave it to us.
Wilkens has professional translators and writers for virtually every language combination. They can put themselves in the position of the recipient of your information and therefore know better than anyone else how to make your information clear and comprehensible to everybody. The translator or writer that we select for you will discuss your text and your target group with you, in order to achieve a perfect result.
Are you curious to find out what we can offer you? If so, please contact our staff and ask about the possibilities. You can also request a no-obligation quote.
The advantages of Wilkens Translation Agency
- Understandable for any target audience thanks to an additional round of writing
- From medical package inserts to commercial texts
- Localisation by subtitling
