IKEA, a Swedish premium company almost everyone around the globe is aware of. But one thing that many people do not know? How they either cleverly used translation to build a strong marketing campaign, or overlooked the most basic requirements to cater to newer markets. Make or break? Here’s what they did.
The English slogan that the Swedish furniture giant used for its campaign said,” Create your perfect night’s sleep.” But the Arabic translation? It said, “The same as written, but in Arabic.”
This mistranslation was later updated. Whether it was an overlooked mistake, or a well-thought campaign, it definitely made the campaign for IKEA in Bahrain.
Translation, as an industry, is a very subtle component of the value chain. Small things, from the translations on the manuals for electronics, to the very essential document translations for multinationals, translations form an integral part of our daily life.
Which brings us to the million-dollar question, what exactly is translation? Of course, there is the daily google translate service that we all use, but what does it exactly entail, and what does it imply?
It is the process of converting a message from one language to another. The process generally involves striking a balance between translating literally, and maintaining the true essence of the context in which the message was curated.
It is one of the most fundamental functions and requirements of any business. Corporations can most definitely not enter an international market without understanding what the customer speaks, for language forms one of the most significant parts of a person’s identity.
The translation industry has a projected TAM (Total Addressable Market) size of USD 46.22 B by 2028. It is an industry with immense promise, and one that will last for years to come, even with the advent of AI.
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