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Translation
agencies say they can do it: take effective marketing copy
written in German and turn it into effective English language
marketing copy. After all, that’s what a translation
agency is for… Isn’t it?
Well,
that’s the theory at least. But all too often, the
way it actually works in practice is rather different.
Multinational
companies rightly invest a lot of time, effort and money
in making sure their marketing copy is as good as possible.
In the majority of cases, they pay freelance writers to
create marketing copy in the language of each of their local
markets.
They
end up with marketing copy that is tailored to, say, the
German market: written in German, by a German, it is dedicated
to helping push further sales within Germany.
But
what happens when one of your best, most rewarding –
and most eye-catching – stories is told in a German
case study? Obviously, you need to get that message out
there to people of different nationalities.
Your
organisation might be well known for a particular product
or service in Germany, but you want to broaden your sales
by raising your profile in the UK or elsewhere in Europe.
The
‘traditional’ approach to translation
Traditionally,
multinational companies needing German-English translation
services have taken what seems like the obvious step: employing
a translation agency to translate German language marketing
copy into English.
It
seems simple. And it is. But the fact is that the money
spent doing that is often just wasted.
In
a world where image is everything, it’s vital that
your company gives the very best impression whenever it
produces customer-facing marketing material.
The very strength of professional translators is also their
biggest weakness. Their job is to ensure the accuracy of
a translation – not to ensure its effectiveness in
a marketing context. That’s the job of a professional
marketing writer.
A
number of Writing Machine clients in the past have paid
a translation agency to translate their marketing copy into
English. They turned to us when they realised that, for
it to work in a marketing context, the English version needed
to be completely rewritten.
Our
German to English translations cut out the middle man; clients
can come to us with their German copy and know that what
they get back from us is English language copy that actually
does its marketing job.
A
better way
In
the majority of cases, translators have powerful software
that does the main body of the translation for them. The
translator’s job is to go through and check the machine-translated
copy for errors.
Writing
Machine’s approach to translation from German to English
is different.
We actively recruit professional English language writers
who also have wide experience working with foreign languages.
As a result, our team comprises professional writers and
account managers who are also award-winning and formerly
professional German-English translators.
Writing
Machine therefore offers the language skills of experienced
linguists combined with the talent of professional marketing
writers.
What
does Writing Machine do?
Writing
Machine can take your existing German language copy and
turn it into highly effective marketing collateral for the
English language market.
- Direct mail campaigns
- Brochures
- Newsletters
- Case studies
Whatever
the copy, we take the German source material and translate
it into English. Then we rewrite it, tailored to the UK
market and the specific target audience with whom you’re
trying to communicate.
If
you don’t already have a German language version of
the collateral you want to produce, Writing Machine can
also conduct all the necessary interviews in German –
and then produce the copy directly in English.
What
don’t we do?
Writing
Machine doesn’t pretend to be a translation agency.
What we do is different. And that’s why it’s
unique.
We
don’t translate into languages other than English.
What we can do, however, is produce a high quality English
language version of your marketing collateral, which can
serve as a highly effective starting point for a pan-European
– or global – marketing campaign. That’s
exactly what we’re doing at the moment for telecommunications
giant Nortel Networks.
Writing
Machine can turn your success in the German marketplace
into a compelling, uncompromising and highly effective marketing
tool for the English language market. The result is that
you get a better deal for your marketing spend. Our track
record speaks for itself.
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