Keys to successfully hiring Croatian<>English translation services
Advertising and communication agencies have very specific needs when requesting translations from Croatian or into Croatian. Whether press releases or advertising texts, this type of translation requires not only an extensive linguistic knowledge, but also a good cultural background of each country or region (Croatia, in this case) and how words are used.
A good advertising translation is paramount to expanding your target audience of Croatian-speaking users. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Remember these tips when translating your marketing content from or into Croatian:
Know your audience
Before you start translating, decide who your target audience will be. Who do you think will be most responsive to your services or products?
Find out and limit who your target audience is going to be. In this case, if you intend translating into Croatian, think about which markets you want to reach. Only Croatia…? Or maybe into other territories with large Croatian-speaking communitites? Always consider the local and dialectal variations of Croatian and how this may impact the recipient.
Also consider the age of your audience, as this will determine the style in the translation. The more you narrow your focus by directly targeting a niche market, the more likely it is that your translation from Croatian or into Croatian will attract potential buyers.
Consider all types of publications
There are many ways to enter local Croatian markets. Expand the type of advertising and informational content to cover all of your company’s social channels.
Press releases and printed advertising material are a classic, but translating your website content into Croatian and start publishing articles about products or services can be a great way to reach thousands of readers in Croatia.
One option is to start a profile on a social network such as Twitter or Instagram, and specifically target Croatians. You can also start an email marketing campaign targeted at Croatian!}-speaking countries. Remember to always include these new communication formats in your English-Croatian strategies.
Translate and localize (i.e. culturally adapt into Croatian)
In the marketing world, localization refers to the adaptation of all elements (from design to cultural references) for a specific audience. A small change in an audience type will increase the response rate and the number of sales.
Even if two groups speak the same language, such as Croatian, we may need different translations for each region or country (Croatia).
A good localization in Croatian helps us solve these problems: from everyday expression to date formats, weight units or forms of address used in Croatia, etc.
Take every aspect into account
In an advertising translation into Croatian, not everything is text. Remember that there are also graphics, presentations and drawings that can be important to attract the attention of your Croatian-speaking users.
Changes in graphics and pictures not only affect the content, but are sometimes necessary for the readability of the translation. Sometimes we will need to make changes to accommodate the reading direction of a language (left to right or right to left), the spacing of a particular alphabet, or any features such as those specific to the Croatian language.
Always keep in mind that the space taken up by a translation may increase or decrease with respect to the original text when translating from English into Croatian or vice versa.
Do not limit your imagination
When looking for translations in Croatian for your advertising content, your initial idea in English may not work when translated into Croatian.
It is important to maintain consistency throughout the campaign: it is what will identify your brand, company or product in countries like Croatia… Remember that a literal translation of an English witty expression will most probably not work in Croatian.
Throughout the translation project, always think about which types of Croatian-speaking users your campaign is targeting. Be open to new ideas so your message does not get lost in translation.
How do you say “Croatian” in Croatian?
Croatian (hrvatski, in Croatian) is the official language of Croatia. It is spoken by around 4.8 million people in all areas of public and private life. It is estimated that around 4 million people speak Croatian in Croatia, and 5.5 million worldwide.
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A quick overview of the Croatian language
Croatian is a South Slavic language spoken mainly in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serbian province of Vojvodina. A total of about five and a half million people speak it.
The oldest texts in Croatian date from the 11th century and were written in the Glagolitic script, mainly in Croatia. The oldest text in the Latin alphabet dates from 1345. The Glagolitic alphabet was eventually replaced by the Latin alphabet in Croatia.
Until the mid-nineteenth century there was no standard written form of Croatian, but there was a lot of literature in different dialects.
The Croatian Latin alphabet was invented in 1835 by Ljudevit Gaj, a Croatian linguist, based on the Czech and Polish alphabets. Today, this alphabet is used in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. Variations of this alphabet are used for Slovenian and Macedonian.
Croatian contains many words of Latin and German origin. Many Croatian neologisms are created by combining and adapting existing words.
Croatian is closely related to and is mutually intelligible with Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin.