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Lokalisierung Mitsingen
Dieser Eintrag ist in Französisch und Englisch verfügbar.
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Localisation sing-along
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Localisation is about adapting a product to a foreign market, taking account of both the technical constraints of the medium (web interface, application, software, etc.) and the destination country. Music producers were pioneers in this field and, when marketing Anglophone hits abroad, were already considering commercial and cultural elements to be transposed in the translation (recognise what this is? It’s called ‘marketing strategy’).
In the 1960s, few were the fans of American music who spoke English: although captivated by the fresh beat of new hits, they had no idea what the lyrics actually meant. Yet, for several thousands of copies of a record to be sold, everyone had to at least remember the chorus easily.
As selling was the most important thing, lyrics were adapted without much care for staying true to the original version. The only constraint was the music. We could call it extreme ‘transcreation’.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Let’s take the example of the song If I had a Hammer. Composed in 1949 by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, it was originally a protest song in support of the American Progressive Party. Not surprisingly, the track didn’t yield much success when released in the United States.
The lyrics preach justice, love between people and freedom.
“When I’ve got a hammer, and I’ve got a bell
And I’ve got a song to sing all over this land
It’s a hammer of justice, it’s a bell of freedom
It’s a song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land”
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The reference to a bell may seem obscure to the French public, since it is both an allusion to the bells rung at plantations to punctuate the working day of slave labourers and a biblical reference, reused by Martin Luther King in his famous « I have a Dream » speech (thanks to Poisson Rouge for this info).[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width= »1/2″][vc_column_text]Personally, I prefer Peter, Paul & Mary’s version
However, it was Trini Lopez’s version which – with its far lighter, more upbeat rhythm – went gold in 1963. Given this success, European producers were eager to offer the hit to the indigenous youth of Europe.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width= »1/2″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_video link= »https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWTDcP9Y5E »][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width= »1/2″][vc_column_text css_animation= »top-to-bottom »]In France, it was Claude François who took the plunge. French songwriter Vline Buggy’s version is devoid of any hint of protest: May ’68 was still far off for the French and Claude François (affectionately known as Cloclo) decided to use this song to celebrate family life, believing he would sell more records with a consensual ditty than with the original’s refractory lyrics. The ‘pop’ youth of the Sixties enjoyed the swinging melody of this typically French-styled hymn to family gatherings… the record sold well.
All sung scrupulously dressed in suit and tie:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width= »1/2″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_video link= »https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8grVC-YO8M »][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_tabs][vc_tab title= »French » tab_id= »1389606814-1-30″][vc_column_text]Si j’avais une cloche
Je sonnerais le jour
Je sonnerais la nuit
J’y mettrais tout mon cœur,
Pour le travail à l’aube
Et le soir pour la soupe
J’appellerais mon père
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
Oh oh, ce serait le bonheur[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_tab][vc_tab title= »English » tab_id= »1389606814-2-34″][vc_column_text]If I had a bell
I would ring during the day
I would ring during the night
I would ring with all my heart
For the early morning work
And for the dinner
I would call my father
My mother, my brothers and my sisters
We would be happy altogether[/vc_column_text][/vc_tab][/vc_tabs][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width= »1/2″][vc_column_text css_animation= »top-to-bottom »]One might think it was a mistake to overlook the original message. Yet, in this specific case, we are not transmitting a vision or value, but a melody adapted to the tastes and values of the target audience. In Italy, for example, the protest aspect was no longer political, but personal. The hammer, symbol of fraternity for Seeger, is brandished with belligerent intent by Rita Pavone, seeking revenge on her rival by striking a blow to her head. In 1964, young people in Italy, as in France, were more interested in dancing than anything else!
The success of this version, written by Sergio Bardotti, was so complete that even today, generations born well after ’64 are able to hum the first verse at the very least.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width= »1/2″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_tabs][vc_tab title= »Italian » tab_id= »1389606814-1-30″][vc_column_text]Un colpo sulla testa
A chi non è dei nostri
E così la nostra festa
Più bella sarà.
Saremo noi soli
E saremo tutti amici:
Faremo insieme i nostri balli
Il surf il hully gully
Che forza sarà…[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][/vc_tab][vc_tab title= »English » tab_id= »1389606814-2-34″][vc_column_text]A strike to the head
To all those who are not one of us
So our party
Will be all the better
We’ll be amongst ourselves friends one and all:
We’ll dance together
The surf and the hully gully
It’ll be great…[/vc_column_text][/vc_tab][/vc_tabs][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The main point to remember is that when you entrust the localisation of your website to a professional, you’re not just asking that person to simply translate the text word for word, but to adapt it to the foreign user’s perception. This not only requires in-depth knowledge of the culture addressed, but also prior semantic research and a tailored strategy for each country, even if it means making drastic changes to what’s on offer for certain markets.
I’ll leave you with some of the other international versions of If I had a Hammer for your enjoyment. Let me know which your favourite is!
El Martillo (Espagnol)
Se eu tivesse um martelo (Portugais)
Hätt’ ich einen Hammer (Allemand)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Entry with Post Format « Video »
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The Native Guy
From time to time, a quote of ours is declined because the customer decides to handle the translation “in-house”.
Aside from the fact that a translator is a professional in his or her own right who could only really be replaced by another translator, this choice primarily reveals poor management of human resources within the company.
As a result, translations are allocated to a foreign employee who is assumed – by his or her exotic nature – to be gifted with excellent writing skills and flawless spelling in his or her native language.
Yet, we all know that the mere fact of being born in a particular country and having studied at university level does not necessarily mean a person knows how to write well. French, German, Spanish, but also English and Italian, are languages often persecuted by company executives. So why trust someone without a literary background to do a translation? That’s right, I do mean literary background. You can be fairly sure that a person will write well in his or her native language if he or she has studied literature (the question remains whether that person will be able to understand and convey the source language message without cumbersome phrasing). But I will swear my life on the fact that if the person has, for example, a language degree, he or she will be incapable of correctly translating even a short press release.
Even this very post – written by my fair hand in French – has been proofread by my colleague Laura, a French translator. Nor have I attempted to translate it into English myself (merci Jazz!), even though I am a translator… and bilingual to boot.
Let’s say though that there is “a native guy” in your company who is perfectly bilingual and can give Balzac, Shakespeare or Goethe a run for their money, translation is highly unlikely to be included in his job description. You are therefore forcing a person who is supposed to be focusing on other objectives to devote time and energy to a task for which he will not be evaluated and which prevents him from doing his real job. It takes a lot of time to do a good translation, and even more so when it’s not your line of work. That poor marketing director, webmaster, engineer, salesperson or secretary is bound to rush this complicated task in order to be shot of it as quickly as possible. The translation won’t be checked by anyone anyway (because if there were someone capable of evaluating translation quality within the company, the job would be entrusted to a translator, not the first available native speaker). The end result will be sloppy, not only because you need years of study and experience to produce a good translation, but as it’s presumed that any old person knows how to translate, the translation will be considered and treated like a minor task.
So here is how communication, at the very heart of the company’s concerns and budget, finds itself taking last place in the development plan as soon as the target audience happens to be across the border.
Still think you’re right to handle translation in-house?
VSB: Verbalising Sorrows in Business
I have something to confess… I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to the idea of shutting down my business.
Managing a company alone, alternating between the roles of translator, project manager, salesperson and accountant, with no one to turn to for advice, or any organisation offering help, is often a tough ride. Add to this the fact that large multinationals in translation are renegotiating contracts with their translators every six months, reducing rates on the pretext that we’re going through an economic crisis, and you will agree that the whole thing leaves a lot to be desired.
I told myself I was gifted in my field of translation and interpreting project management, but that it wasn’t enough to become a « true » entrepreneur who knows the “tricks” of the marketing trade and can build useful relationships at business owner clubs, for example. Also, lowering my profit margin instead of paying translators less to ensure good final quality whilst remaining competitive… it’s not really what I would have been taught at business school either.
So I attended a CGPME [General Confederation of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises] meeting last week, hoping to get some advice. What a surprise it was to discover that this feeling of loneliness and despondency was common among all business owners, even those with 20 years’ experience and a hundred or so employees! All complained of having to deal with increasingly late payments and banks that no longer offered overdraft facilities. They have all had to invest their personal assets to buffer cash flow; all have recruitment and business development problems, and none felt they had any representation at government level.
Like most SME entrepreneurs, I invested my own money into my company and had to resort to personal loans to advance funds and deal with late payments from customers with a turnover at least one hundred times higher than my own, sometimes forgoing my own salary because banks and government agencies find it risky (and mostly pointless) to help a small business. That said, since founding Fairtrad two years ago, I have issued purchase orders for more than 110,000 euros and given work to over 200 people. Frankly, as a one-woman VSB I think that, proportionally, I contribute more to the country’s economic effort than companies who seek public funds to build a new factory and then relocate a few years later, leaving the State with the task of cleaning up the site and finding work for those left unemployed.
I find that large companies – apart from employment blackmail – don’t really have much to offer. Having a huge turnover and many employees does not guarantee quality or reactivity, nor does it guarantee better value for money given that VSBs/SMEs enjoy lower operational costs and focus their efforts so as not to waste their human and material resources.
We need to start thinking differently and valuing networks of small, reactive operators with roots in society, who offer products that meet real demands and have a capacity for immediate adaptation and flexibility, instead of leaving it all to large multinationals whose sole aim is to attain economies of scale. If I compare my offer with that of large, quoted translation agencies, not only am I in the same price range, but I can also guarantee better quality and pay my colleagues more because my operating costs are lower – the number of contributors varies depending on the size of the project. I can guarantee a truly customised service as I am in fact the only contact person and, like any VSB, I am obliged to meet my customers’ expectations. I do not have access to the exclusive agreements reserved for large accounts and any future orders depend directly on customer satisfaction for every project.
Last week was indeed one of introspection for I also had to write up a presentation of Fairtrad for Etika Mondo, an association of which I am a member, as well as 1 % for the Planet. I had to reassert the values that prompted me to set up a fair translation agency and my commitment to working ethically; it is a great venture, I do have to say. I realised that I’m not as alone as I thought and that others do share not only my problems but also my ideals. The world is changing, and it’s up to us to decide whether for better or for worse.
So, for now, I’ll hold on strong.
A small gallery
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- Nulla consequat massa quis enim.
- Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu.
- In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo.
- Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi.
Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim.
Fairtrad 2013
Fairtrad now has a network of over 500 professional linguists.
The most sought-after languages include French, English, Italian, Spanish, German, Korean and Chinese.
Over the last two years, we have had the pleasure of working for: 1ère Position, Areva, Axalot, Axance, BT Paysages, CBM Automotive, DRS Avocats, eBay, FerrariGroup, Filhet-Allard Maritime, FloraQueen, Huawei, Lawington, le coq sportif, the French Ministry of Ecology, Nespresso, Objectif Prod, Obalys, Paris Attitude, Polyspot, Renzo Piano, Royal Caribbean, SCAU Architectes, SMABTP, Solaire Direct, Sophie Kamoun Communications, Systra, Terre Majeure, Traveltainement, Usabilis, Vizona, Watermill, and more…
We have provided translations in the following fields: architecture, civil engineering, automobile spare parts, nuclear waste processing, e-commerce, legal (standard and certified translations), fashion, marketing, luxury, change management, IT, construction, insurance, solar panels, press kits, clinical trials, user tests, dermatology, cosmetics, retail, technical manuals, subtitling and tourism, among others.
A big thank you to all our colleagues for their work and to all our customers for their business. Here’s to another year together!
Lokalisierung und die Rückkehr des Faschismus
Dieser Eintrag ist in Französisch und Englisch verfügbar.
