Let's say you have the tagline "Unlocking Value Through Integrated Supply Chains". Okay, this may not seem like a tough nut to crack, but try coming up with something snappy. It's harder than you might think. So what do I normally do?
First, I try coming up the basic concept (or proposition, if you want to split hairs). So I might write “We Interconnect All Your Logistics Operations So You Don’t Have To And Can Make More Money In Your Core Business.”
It’s not snappy. It’s not supposed to be. It just gives me a starting point in English. By absorbing the ideas, I spend less time trying to translate the word "unlock” and more time developing a native-sounding solution. Once I've gotten the basic concept down, often the ideas really start flowing. And the best thing is that these ideas sound American.
If that doesn’t work, I often start having fun with (or maybe making fun of) the tagline. Bear with me here. I may write, “We Want To Take Over Your Company. We Totally Rock And Everyone Else Sucks. We Will Send Your Stuff To, Like China And Stuff."
I’m not disrespecting the tagline. All I’m doing is reasserting my personality so I can write something creative and express an idea that I’ve thought. This is really good if I’m working on a high-pressure job for a high-profile client. I let off a little steam and realize, hey, it’s just another job. And haven’t I done plenty of these before? And wasn’t I happy with the results?
One last thing: I always write out my ideas. They won’t do any good in my head. I have to see it black on white, right next to the real text. Only then will these two techniques work their magic.
Let me know if you try them out - and if they work!
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6 comments:
I promise I'll try that the next time a client tortures me with a deadpan written brochure. I'll let you know if it worked. ;)
Excellent advice - one that I have been advocating for decades.
In fact, it is how interpreting works, and the same process can also be applied to translation (as a starting point for a first draft).
This approach helps to avoid literal translations and focus on meaning, rather than words (which are really completely unimportant for translators, believe it or not!).
Sonja: Please do!
Mystery Poster: I actually don't think it has as much to do with conveying the meaning. In ad copy, the meaning takes a back seat to connotations and associations.
In translating ad copy, you have to make these intuitive leaps, which you can't if you're trying to reproduce something.
I think of it more as a launchpad for free association. Once you've started, you can free-associate until you find something truly native that a native speaker would have come up with.
I just hope you're charging by the hour, seeing how you're doing it the "long way round". But you're right, it's certainly a very effective approach (though then they come back to you and say it's not close enough to the German...)
Talking about taglines, there's a nice one in this weekend's FT. You really have to grin before you throw up:
"China brings 'panda diplomacy' to bear on Taiwan"
Ouch...
You're right, it's all about free association and getting the right combination of words, and going around it a roundabout sort of way often brings great results. I sometimes find, however, that clients are a bit scared of the results obtained using this technique; I've been told a few times that they'd rather I "stuck to the text" more. Honestly, how dare they get in the way of inspiration and pure style?!
Hi Celine - differentiating between adaptation and translation has been useful to me.
What is described above is adaptation - best used for copy and marketing. Sticking slavishly close to the source is great for tech translations.
Gisela
http://translationfound.blogspot.com
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