You can translate words, but not perspective.

Marketing communication and brand slogans cannot be directly translated from one language to another. Though the words translated mean more or less the same thing, what cannot be translated is the power behind the statement.

This is because the power of meaning is an intangible construct and thus open to interpretation from the individual receiving. Amongst similar national cultures it is more likely that groups of individuals will interpret information more similarly, but the further apart the dimensions of the national culture, the more likely it is the power in the meaning may be lost or misconstrued.

“666” in the West this is not an overly positive message, whereas in China it is symbolic of good fortune and luck. This is an example of the difficulty in navigating perception, not translation, a statement which is literally the same but can be interpreted completely differently.

When I arrived at OPPO I was assured I was in good hands because of the great company culture, “BenFen (本分)” . So what is BenFen(本分), well to be honest with you, I cannot explain, this is because the power in the statement cannot be translated. Effectively it means “do the right thing”, apparently, or at least that’s what someone told me when they struggled to explain the meaning. This is an example of loss of meaning within a translation.

As the semantics of language gives meaning to the social world. Therefore, if the language, or structure of language, changes, our relationship to the social world might change.

Marketing Implications

When writing marketing communications or statements for an overseas market, the essence of the campaign can be the same, however the translation does not need to be literal. This is because a completely different statement with a different meaning might invoke the same feelings. So though the tangibility of the statement may differ, what cannot be measured is subjective to interpretation, and yet that interpretation is more similar amongst those with more similar national organisational culture.

I personally think that a good slogan in western part of the world should either be so simple the striking nature of the statement can easily be translated or have latin origin – given that French, Spanish, and English share latin roots. A slogan rooted with latin origin enables the marketer/brand manager to elaborate meaning or double entendre.

Nevertheless, creating a campaign or slogan is a tricky business, and I do not think there’s any clear advice that anyone can give, it’s neither an art or a science, and don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Consider the target audience, and use natives, not those that understand the language but those who implicitly understand the culture as well. Empirical data from surveys is not enough, as semantics are crucial to the reliability of data; words obligate different connotations in different languages, introducing variance into measurement.