Chinese Marketing Translation: Everything You Need to Know

Translation brings cultures closer in an era of globalization; marketing translation is crucial to any business’s go-to-market strategy. 

Nonetheless, there are a number of difficulties inherent in translating marketing content. Subpar marketing translation can produce a negative impression which translates into a brand’s poor image or even blocks the brand from the target market. Meanwhile, mistakes are more commonly seen when translating high-context cultures such as Chinese.  

In this article, we will talk about Chinese marketing translation and how it can help you effectively reach your target market. Let’s begin!

Benefits of Professional Chinese Marketing Translation 

Marketing and communication in Chinese-speaking markets is vastly different from the western world. With various areas that share commercial and cultural ties with Han Chinese people, the Sinophone market can be challenging for foreigners and overseas companies to navigate.

As a result, marketing translation efforts that are direct translations and neglect local thinking often fail, wasting precious time and resources.

Thus, Chinese marketing translation is critical if you want to navigate this particularly nuanced culture. Here are reasons why you should work with reliable partners on Chinese marketing translation to enter your target markets.

• Properly connecting with a nuanced audience. The Chinese-speaking audience is large and has immense potential to bring tremendous business. To tap into this promising market, however, we must deal with the relationship between the language and the culture; successful marketing translation work has to factor in multiple cultural contexts such as guanxi (關係) and group dynamics.
• Developing brand awareness in a new demographic. Working in a new business environment often means that you need to start from scratch, so elevating brand awareness through your marketing efforts is an excellent way to set a good foundation.
• Boosting ranks in the local search results. Chinese SEO offers a massive potential to increase your traffic. Therefore, it is essential that your marketing efforts are well-translated and SEO-aligned.
•  Marketing laws and regulations. International brands need translation partners who are knowledgeable in laws such as Advertisement Law, Consumer Protection Law, and Anti-Unfair Competition to prevent legal mishaps and misunderstandings with the Chinese-speaking market. Keep in mind that guidelines from the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center (CIIRC) can also affect online marketing strategies.

Taiwan is another indispensable part of the market with its own language usage and marketing regulations. For instance, translated documents in the foods/supplement industry must comply with regulations on food and medical efficiency. Tobacco and alcohol businesses have also been facing tighter regulations.      

Things to Bear in Mind About Chinese Marketing Translation

Breaking into a new market is a very exciting moment,  but one of the things that companies often neglect to do is make a contextual translation of their marketing material—not just directly-translated copies. 

This is because there are plenty of additional factors you need to consider for the target audience, especially a Chinese-speaking audience; working with a professional marketing translation service provider can help reach the goals. Below are some crucial points:

• Legal compliance

For example, the legalities surrounding marketing in China are well-known for being as different as it is unforgiving. All it takes is one complaint from an experienced consumer or a competitor, which could trigger a costly external investigation even if you didn’t make mistakes on purpose.

Thus, you must ensure that your marketing material always aligns with Chinese Marketing Laws. Simply put, all marketing materials must be truthful. Information such as imagery and messaging can not mislead buyers. In China, using words such as “one of the best” or “one of the leading” can trigger investigations into your claim by the relevant authority.

As in Taiwan, limits are set for marketing materials targeting certain audiences, such as consumers of cosmetic products and children. Products should also not exaggerate their effects. For instance, McDonald’s Happy Meal used to be offered with toys but has been prohibited since 2016 in Taiwan. The enaction took place because Happy Meals were considered ‘not suitable for long-term consumption by children’ by the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation. 

• “Literal Translations”

Marketing material shouldn’t be translated directly word-for-word. It needs to be adapted to the local context to resonate with the audience, and you can’t do that with just simple translations. In such a scenario, translations that are too literal, though without any informational error, could be “mistranslations.”

Transcreation is one of the methods that could help you better adapt marketing translation. It is the process of adapting a text to local cultures and trends while preserving the essential integrity of the original text. Transcreated texts also provide greater leverage to brands and boost their chances of getting their content accepted by the target audience.

• Metaphors, idioms, puns 

Figures of speech do not translate directly from English to Chinese, and while there will be contextual or cultural equivalents, they’re not going to make sense if you translate every word. This means you need a more involved and adapted form of marketing translation.

• Image and colors

You can’t just repurpose marketing media from your original campaigns to your Chinese marketing translation efforts. While black-and-white portraits of company leaders might fit in the original design well, your senior Sinophone audience might associate these photos with coffin portraits. 

This demographic has a different culture with different color symbolisms and graphic sensibilities, so your media needs to be adapted to it. 

• Cultural context and preference

Translation accuracy is more than just choosing the right words, it is also about ensuring the reader perceives your messages in the way you intended. 

Chinese culture in media is highly divergent from other cultures, and if you want to market effectively, your material needs to be adapted to become more culturally sensitive. This means that your marketing material needs to be fine-tuned for cultural sensitivity and to align with the preference of your target Chinese-speaking markets.

• Tone and style

The tone and style of your messaging need to be adapted to the norms of your audience while keeping the messaging and call-to-action intact and on-brand. For example, in order to make marketing copy more conversational, personal pronouns like ‘we’ and ‘you’ are commonly used. But it is recommended that second-person pronouns (‘you’ or ‘your’) are used in at least 80% of the copy and first-person pronouns  (‘we’ or ‘our’) in no more than 20%. Doing this prevents businesses from casting any wrong impression such as arrogance, especially toward a senior audience.

Things to Consider When Choosing Marketing Translation Services

Richard Montanez, the self-proclaimed creator of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, knew the importance of adapting things from a different culture into the current one. He dreamed up the flavor of Cheetos from Latin American spices, which he adapted for the greater American taste.

Similarly, you need to adapt your marketing translation material to the new demographic you’re trying to penetrate. This is why you need professional translation services when you’re reaching a new demographic, but not just anyone will do. Here are some things to consider in your decision-making process:

1. Do your homework. Make sure that you work with those who are able to provide marketing translation services that could handle the relationship between the language and the culture, as well as meet all relevant regulatory compliance. 
2. Consider quality. Aside from legal compliance, you should also evaluate the quality of their work—Do they know the target audience well enough? Do they get the cultural contexts right? Do they use updated terms? Are they creative enough? Additionally, you should see whether they can deliver the tone, style, and meaning that your brand desires.
3. Evaluate risk and needs. Project management is critical to the success of any marketing translation projects and initiatives. To ensure that a marketing translation project is completed successfully, you need to evaluate all risks involved and develop contingency plans. It’s also helpful to have a dedicated project manager who will be solely responsible for the project from start to finish. 

Engage Your Audience through Proper Marketing Translation 

Translating your marketing material is more than just word-for-word translations; you need to be able to adapt your marketing material to the cultural context of the demographic you’re trying to reach.

For expert marketing translation services, look no further than Linguitronics. At Linguitronics, we adopt a human-driven approach and top-of-the-line technology to deliver your marketing messages to your target demographics. Contact Us Today for top-notch marketing translations for your target markets!
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