Given that more people speak English as a second language than as a first, it’s essential to craft clear, compelling English copy for global audiences. What’s more, internationally optimized English is a key step in preparing texts for translation and preventing errors down the road.
Let’s go over everything you need to know about machine translation vs. a professional English-Swedish translator, so you can make the right decision for your translation needs.
It’s important to ensure translated Swedish materials aren’t just high-quality, but also digital-ready. Swedish customers today expect brand interactions that are user-oriented, keyword-optimized, and transparent.
Crafting compelling marketing copy is a must for swaying potential customers. As companies work to persuade audiences in new regions, they will require professional marketing translation to achieve a high impact.
Word-for-word translation just doesn’t cut it for marketing copy. To achieve effective Swedish translation of marketing materials, professionals must have a deep understanding of the target audience, brand voice, local phrasing and SEO. Here are some top reasons to choose a professional for your next English to Swedish marketing campaign.
Swedish translation of marketing materials is a highly specialized skill that focuses on wordsmithing language to be clear, persuasive and high-impact. Some typical types of English to Swedish marketing materials include:
Digital marketing materials such as websites, digital ads, and social media campaigns are essential for companies looking to expand their customer base in new locations.
Choosing a non-professional to translate your marketing materials could quickly become costly. While it may seem more budget-friendly for an internal bilingual employee to translate the marketing copy, often this individual doesn’t have specialized translation skills. This could lead to translated marketing copy that:
Ultimately, ineffective Swedish translation of marketing materials could result in poor campaign performance, low engagement metrics, and overall reduced revenue. In contrast, a professional marketing translation can boost results all-around for a successful product launch in Sweden.
A professional Swedish translator can take your marketing campaign to the next level. Let’s take a look at how professional translators maximize marketing copy to get results.
1. Deep understanding of the target audience
Professionals know their target audience like the back of their hand. They’re mindful of regional dialects, cultural sensitivities, current affairs, and other aspects of your campaign’s audience. They’re able to optimize the copy with local humor, customs, and phrasing, so that it resonates with local audiences.
2. Ins and outs of brand voice
English to Swedish translators also offer high-quality writing skills, so that they can incorporate the tone of your brand voice and maximize the message with excellent wordsmithing. Professionals know how to leverage a brand style guide in order to translate copy with the right voice.
3. Ability to craft natural phrasing
Professionals also focus their efforts on copy that sounds organic and is persuasive to potential customers. This starts with crafting English to Swedish translation that elevates natural phrasing – including vocabulary, idioms, humor, and more – so that local users feel at home.
4. Expert SEO research
Finally, professionals know how the target audience searches online and have obtained skills to optimize SEO in the copy in order to match their search habits. They perform expert, locally-focused keyword research so that potential customers land on your company’s product during relevant searches.
Choosing a professional English to Swedish translator for your marketing materials is a necessary step for winning over Swedish users. Without a professional to optimize your message, your marketing campaign may get poor results.
To ensure your next English to Swedish marketing campaign is a success, get in touch with me. As a professional Swedish translator, I have extensive experience in marketing translation/transcreation and a proven track record in getting top marketing results for companies. You can even check out marketing translation case studies that I’ve worked on.
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It only takes 0.05 seconds for users to get a first impression of your website. As you launch into the Swedish market, you’ll need flawless website translation to impress potential customers from the very first second – literally.
For your Swedish website launch to succeed, users must begin their customer journey in their native language. Without seamless translation, potential customers won’t feel confident that you can deliver on your product or service. Worse yet, their user experience may be negatively impacted.
Let’s go through the top considerations for achieving a website translation from English to Swedish that truly adds value for your customers in Sweden.
Website translation best practices include providing culturally appropriate content for the target audience. You’ll want to use phrasing that sounds natural and select examples that make sense for Swedish culture.
For example, in Sweden, we’re not very familiar with terms such as “home run” or “mile high,” so they would sound odd in a website translation. This also goes for images, icons and other visuals. It’s important that the full online experience is culturally relevant to the consumer.
International and local SEO is key to crafting content that’s seen by real Swedes. Your international SEO strategy should include keywords that Swedish users actually type into their preferred search engines.
English-Swedish linguists that specialize in translating websites know how important researching different types of keywords can be for attaining a high reach and Google ranking. Professionals like me can help with translating SEO for the Swedish market, as well as SEO-related copy such as meta descriptions, URLs and more.
Related: 10 SEO tips for web localization
Understanding which pages of your website will be translated can help focus your priorities and cut your budget. Do you have any products or services that you aren’t selling in Sweden? Then there’s no need to translate these pages.
Overall, you should focus on translating high-impact copy. Does it make sense to translate certain pages for the Swedish market? Is the information relevant for Sweden? A good way to save money on website localization is to only translate the most relevant content for the Swedish market.
Your website launch will be more successful if the translation truly enhances the user experience and allows for smooth communication between the company and the customer. Choosing a professional English-Swedish translator is the best choice to reach local clients and wow them into buying your product or service online.
To get content that’s accurately localized and tailored for the Swedish market, reach out to Swedish Translation Services. You can be confident that the final copy will be ready to reach and impress Swedish users.
Not only do I have nuanced attention to cultural and linguistic considerations, but I also have experience in web-specific needs such as international SEO. Learn more about my English-Swedish website translation expertise here.
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As the owner of a global business, you’re always looking for ways to increase your ROI and expand your reach. A lot of the time, this means adjusting your operations. But what if I told you expanding your language offerings could have an even more drastic impact on your success in overseas markets?
Would you be interested in learning more if you knew digital marketing expert Neil Patel increased his traffic by 47% through website translation? Here are few statistics that drive home the importance of professional translation and a brief discussion of what a GOOD translation means for international marketing.
We’ve all heard the translation horror stories. Pepsi marketing itself as a necromancer in Taiwan. Perdue chicken’s Spanish translations are implying that its founder was a little TOO passionate about his produce. What you’ll notice, however—even though they got stung—is that these companies persevered in their translation attempts. None of them left the market or gave up on globalization because of that. Below are some figures that explain why translation is worth it even after a snafu:
As the above figures show, making a real connection with your audience means hiring a professional translator.
While international marketing has its risks, the potential benefits outweigh the problems. If you put in the work upfront, you’ll avoid making similar mistakes in market adaptation.
Related: What is the role of translators in the localization process?
To make sure your reputation in your new market stays unsoured, you need to understand what makes a translation good. While accuracy is essential, it’s not THE most important thing.
A good international marketing effort resonates emotionally with a target group. It captures the spirit of the original advertisement or promotional campaign and contextualizes it for your new target market. In a translation, you aim to convey the original message in unaltered form. This means going as close to verbatim as possible. Marketing translation is much more nuanced than this, however. It requires tweaking and a deep understanding of your target market’s culture.
In truth, it’s very rarely a “good translation” that you’re looking for when it comes to marketing material. What you need is transcreation—an adaptation of content that maintains the tone, intent, and style of your source material without relying on a verbatim translation.
So, now you know what a good “translation” is. But what can you as a business owner do to ensure your international marketing efforts are successful? I suggest following the below tips:
Your company’s approach to international marketing will vary depending on its size and business goals. Whether or not a specific method is the right one will be determined by the specifics of the situation. But, professional translation services are a must-have for ANY company looking to do well on the global stage. Just make sure to hire a marketing specialist with knowledge of your target market, not someone who merely speaks your target language. If your company needs content that motivates people in the Swedish market, reach out to me for a no-obligation quote.
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You’d think finding a translator would be easy. You head over to Google and type something like “English to Swedish translator.” Then, you’d pick somebody whose site landed in the top three. But you’ll quickly find it’s not that simple. Finding a competent, professional translator that meets your needs feels more like wading through the aisles at a health food store. However, instead of buzz words like “organic” and “fat-free,” you’re wading through pages littered with industry-specific acronyms and accreditations. In this scenario, it won’t take long for you to stumble on a translator bandying about the word “certified.”
A certified translator is one that has passed a test demonstrating his or her skills in a specific language. The structure and content of the exams required vary widely by country and vertical. In acquiring one of these certifications, a translator affirms that he or she has the skills needed to translate professionally.
Though commonly confused, there is a difference between a certified translator and a certified translation. A certified translator has passed a quality test to prove their skills. In contrast, a certified translation is a translated document accompanied by a signed statement from the translator attesting to the completeness and accuracy of the translation. A notary public can also notarize the statement. Once a translation is certified, it becomes a legal record. Many certified translators provide certified translations.
To be considered certified, American translators must pass an exam proctored by the American Translators Association (ATA). It was first given in 1973 and serves as the only generalized translation certification in the United States. But you’d be amiss to equate generalized with easy. The exam is designed for mid-level professionals with several years of experience, and the test’s failure rate ranges from 91 to 71 percent depending on the language.
The ATA exam is an open-book, proctored test that takes roughly three hours to complete. Once completed, skilled translators review the submissions and grade them based on:
As someone who’s certified by the ATA, I have an insider’s perspective on how it works. First, I do believe the test is valuable. It gives translators a way to differentiate themselves in industries where other credentials, such as OSHA certifications or medical degrees, are not required. It also shows clients that the chosen language professional is dedicated to their craft. In an uncertain world full of charlatans and wannabe translators, certifications offer peace of mind. Furthermore, many professional agencies and organizations make certification a pre-requisite for entry.
But, as ATA testing is only available in 27 languages, it isn’t something every translator can get. It’s also not a foolproof indicator that one translator is better than another. After all, nothing about my skillset changed just because I passed the ATA’s exam for English into Swedish certification. Certification is not a magic wand nor a boot camp—just a way to testify to your existing skillset. Many experienced translators have flourishing businesses, and provide quality translations, without a certification.
Certification is something you’ll want to consider when hiring a freelance translator. It’s proof that they can translate passages accurately and possess ample experience in their field. But know that their experience, portfolio, and record of customer service is far more critical. So, I’d look at those first and use certifications to break ties between otherwise equivalent translators, To learn more about the qualities you should look for in a good translator, click here.
Now that you know the difference between a translator who is certified and one who is not, you are better equipped to choose your next translator. By focusing on their skillset and ignoring the buzzwords, you’ll have an easier time spotting true professionals—ATA certification or not. If you’re in the market for a Swedish translator and want someone who’s certified, click here to contact me.
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We all know the horror stories that come from “hiring” Google Translate to do your translations or relying on low cost firms to get the job done. That could be why Pepsi once became a tool of necromancy in China and Schwepps advertised itself as “toilet water” in Italy. Such mistakes can frighten off thousands of customers and drastically reduce sales in the process. Today, we’ll be looking at 14 other common translation pitfalls, mostly internal, that can stagnate your company’s global growth and reduce translation efficiency:
Once all the costs have been sorted, you will be asked the most important question: Why? While not pausing to consider your end goal may get you translating quickly, it will result in a localization plan that’s disjointed, aimless, and lacking demonstrable results. Present, maintain, and adhere to a goal driven plan.
While security is important, it’s vital that information be shared with other stake holders: sponsors, project managers, software designers, and web designers. To promote greater engagement, ensure each person understands his or her role in the translation process. This will ensure you avoid some of the most common translation pitfalls.
Designing a marketing plan based solely on language and country of origin would result in something overly broad, disjointed, and irrelevant. As a result, audience engagement would suffer. Make certain that your localization plan includes plans for market penetration and accounts for your target audience’s customs, trends, and values.
You’re not the only business going global. Benchmark yourself against the competition and adjust your marketing positioning strategy accordingly. Doing so after you’ve entered a market wastes resources and may leave you unprepared to face the competition.
Don’t think of website translation as an all or nothing approach. Doing so will either force your company to absorb a large upfront expense or delay your launch until resources appear. Consider providing your multilingual audience, at first, with a scaled back version of your content. As time goes on, you can add features, web pages, and services.
Don’t treat all markets the same. For some markets, your Mexico-centric press release means nothing. Allocate your workflows to prioritize the most important pieces, for the most vital markets. In doing so, you’ll lessen the workload and better justify your company’s investment.
Go beyond the website and work to provide your international customers the complete brand experience. For mobile markets, you should prioritize application localization.
The translation industry is not known for its clarity. When starting your hunt for a translator, it’s advisable to add “translation transparency” to your search criteria. This will give you a clearer understanding of fee structures and just who you’re working with and help you avoid common translation pitfalls.
You need to create a team that focuses on managing, measuring, and improving, your translation results. You should be able to quantify your average turnaround time and failure rate. Data grants you a subjective window into how your project is progressing from month to month.
Don’t even try to run a translation project out of your inbox! Find a modern collaboration space you, and the translator like, and stick to it. This will cut down on translation time and make it easier to stay on track. Additionally, as you can easily keep track of project milestones, you’ll be able to see where jobs are getting stuck and quickly determine the source of any delays.
A lack of meaningful dialogue is at the core of many unsuccessful translation projects. Provide your translation team a clear process for relating questions and suggestions to your team.
Don’t let your translation team work blind. If the company permits it, supply your vendor with a mock-up of your website beforehand. Granting them visual perspective helps to limit judgment calls regarding page formatting and semantics.
If set up with the proper technology and software in place, localized content could be something that earns your company compound returns. Select a translator that offers a translation memory tool. That way, you’ll never have to translate the same page twice.
Translation is not a project; it’s a process. Listen to your analytics and follow the tides of the evolving media. Never let your localization work become mundane and dry. Never stop experimenting.
For professional translations into Swedish, please contact Swedish Translation Services.
Entering a market with different language requirements necessitates a well-developed SEO strategy designed to fully exploit market opportunities. A 2014 study by the Common Sense Advisory, 85.3-percent of respondents the availability of pre-purchase information in their own language as a critical factor when it comes to buying items or services. Regardless of if you call it multilingual search engine optimization, or geolocational targeting, mindful SEO localization can alter both site structure and design. Please see our 10 web localization SEO tips on how to maximize the results of your localization project:
While similar, it’s a mistake to think of the as equals. straight translation of your text typically brings a lower ROI than a translated, and localized, version of your web content. To make your content truly attractive to non-English speakers, you’ll need to bring an SEO expert on board that can make your new content attractive to both potential clients and foreign search engines.
Create a keyword list for all the pages you’d like to translate and have them translated separately. When that’s done, ask an SEO expert to localize the list for you. The result will be a highly-targeted version of your keyword list that will perform exceptionally well in your given market. Once you have the list, you can optimize to your heart’s content.
Be careful in selecting pages you wish to translate. Some of your content may be outdated and inappropriate for a successful localization strategy. Additionally, to avoid duplication issues with search engines, avoid copying original language pages to the local website; use links or redirects instead.
Create a global glossary for your keywords and specific terminology. Share this document with all of your offices, and stakeholders, so that appropriate, language-specific versions of these words can be found.
While some website elements may be hidden from visitors, such as META and TITLE tags), it’s important to also adjust these items to local requirements. You should also take the time to consider whether you wish to localize your URLs, or create a sub-domain of your original website. Many companies choose to indicate language changes in the URLs text.
Train your local teams on using the resulting website and encourage them to create up-to-date local content. Develop a brief editorial guideline to ensure all resulting pieces reflect your organization’s morals and culture. This will help to boost your SEO ratings.
The location of your company’s servers gives search engines a good idea of your location. In the age of the cloud, this typically becomes a non-issue. Consult with a local SEO expert to ensure that’s the case.
The best way to show language choices on your site is a simple, localized dropdown. Using flags, as some companies might, can result in confusion for polylingual nations. Detecting the browser’s language, and automatically selecting a localized version of your site, presents its own pitfalls. Regardless of your chosen method, make it simple to choose and switch between languages.
Localize everything you can; this includes your applications, data feeds, and social media content. Also, be sure to register for all local directories and services.
Update your sitemap to include the localized version. Consider creating a new, local version for anything being run locally. You should also consider creating a new footer to hold links to all your international websites.
By following the web localization seo tips above, you’ll help your business to stand out in search engine results and make a smoother transition into new markets. Tess Whitty and Swedish Translation Services can help you localize your website for the Swedish market.
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Successful web localization efforts require careful planning and execution. If done correctly, your investment will result in a notable ROI and boost your organization’s global image. In this piece, we’ll look at six fundamental website localization tips that make it easier for both you and your chosen translator to get the job done:
Before you begin shopping for a quality translation and localization specialist, you need to get to know just who your audience will be. If your site’s typically visited by Swedish speakers, for example, you’d add little value by choosing to translate your website into Japanese. To gain better insight into the countries and languages you should focus on, make use of statistics’ tools like Google Analytics or Alexa.
Poorly translated content can create bad impressions and foster customer confusion. While utilizing automated tools like Google Translate can save money, the resulting piece will reflect the price tag. Choosing a reputable, human-based translation company, such as Swedish Translation Services, will give you your best chance at localization success.
Don’t rely on e-mails, or clunky manual processes, to get the job done. Find a company that can give you the cutting edge in efficiency. Any efforts to create a collaborative space, or simplify data transfer, will pay off in the end. Also, consider selecting a translation vendor that offers up-to-date memory tools. By doing so, you’ll avoid translating the same content, into the same language, multiple times.
A user should not have to be Sherlock Holmes to uncover the translated version of your website. Make it easy to determine and switch between the languages you offer.
A picture can be worth a 1000 words. Therefore, not localizing your images to match your new website can be worth dozens of lost customers. Make certain all images have appropriate translations and that they have been adapted to fit the needs of the end user. Additionally, make certain that links, headers, and titles don’t break when users switch between languages.
No matter what language a customer chooses, they should be offered the same user experience. Make certain that all interfaces account for changes in the length of certain words and phrases. By ensuring your foreign customer has a great experience, you’ll be telling them one thing: you care.
By adhering to the above website localization tips, you’ll give your company a better chance at higher profits, more overseas customers, and an obstacle-free translation process If you’re looking to break into the Swedish market, and need a translator who checks all the above boxes, contact Tess Witty at Swedish Translation Services.
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