Keys to successfully hiring Finnish<>English translation services
Advertising and communication agencies have very specific needs when requesting translations from Finnish or into Finnish. 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 (Finland, in this case) and how words are used.
A good advertising translation is paramount to expanding your target audience of Finnish-speaking users. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Remember these tips when translating your marketing content from or into Finnish:
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 Finnish, think about which markets you want to reach. Only Finland…? Or maybe into other territories with large Finnish-speaking communitites? Always consider the local and dialectal variations of Finnish 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 Finnish or into Finnish will attract potential buyers.
Consider all types of publications
There are many ways to enter local Finnish 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 Finnish and start publishing articles about products or services can be a great way to reach thousands of readers in Finland.
One option is to start a profile on a social network such as Twitter or Instagram, and specifically target Finns. You can also start an email marketing campaign targeted at Finnish!}-speaking countries. Remember to always include these new communication formats in your English-Finnish strategies.
Translate and localize (i.e. culturally adapt into Finnish)
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 Finnish, we may need different translations for each region or country (Finland).
A good localization in Finnish helps us solve these problems: from everyday expression to date formats, weight units or forms of address used in Finland, etc.
Take every aspect into account
In an advertising translation into Finnish, not everything is text. Remember that there are also graphics, presentations and drawings that can be important to attract the attention of your Finnish-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 Finnish 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 Finnish or vice versa.
Do not limit your imagination
When looking for translations in Finnish for your advertising content, your initial idea in English may not work when translated into Finnish.
It is important to maintain consistency throughout the campaign: it is what will identify your brand, company or product in countries like Finland… Remember that a literal translation of an English witty expression will most probably not work in Finnish.
Throughout the translation project, always think about which types of Finnish-speaking users your campaign is targeting. Be open to new ideas so your message does not get lost in translation.
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A quick overview of the Finnish language
Finnish belongs, together with Estonian and Hungarian, to the Finno-Ugric language family.
Despite the considerable differences with Hungarian, the relationship is evident from the phonological, morphological and syntactic characteristics, the common principle of vowel harmony, the agglutinative structure of the language and the absence of a grammatical gender, as well as from the complex case systems (15 in Finnish and 17 in Hungarian).