Keys to successfully hiring German<>English translation services
Advertising and communication agencies have very specific needs when requesting translations from German or into German. 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 (Austria, Germany, Switzerland, in this case) and how words are used.
A good advertising translation is paramount to expanding your target audience of German-speaking users. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Remember these tips when translating your marketing content from or into German:
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 German, think about which markets you want to reach. Only Austria, Germany, Switzerland…? Or maybe into other territories with large German-speaking communitites? Always consider the local and dialectal variations of German 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 German or into German will attract potential buyers.
Consider all types of publications
There are many ways to enter local German 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 German and start publishing articles about products or services can be a great way to reach thousands of readers in Austria, Germany, Switzerland.
One option is to start a profile on a social network such as Twitter or Instagram, and specifically target Germanophones. You can also start an email marketing campaign targeted at German!}-speaking countries. Remember to always include these new communication formats in your English-German strategies.
Translate and localize (i.e. culturally adapt into German)
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 German, we may need different translations for each region or country (Austria, Germany, Switzerland).
A good localization in German helps us solve these problems: from everyday expression to date formats, weight units or forms of address used in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, etc.
Take every aspect into account
In an advertising translation into German, not everything is text. Remember that there are also graphics, presentations and drawings that can be important to attract the attention of your German-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 German 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 German or vice versa.
Do not limit your imagination
When looking for translations in German for your advertising content, your initial idea in English may not work when translated into German.
It is important to maintain consistency throughout the campaign: it is what will identify your brand, company or product in countries like Austria, Germany, Switzerland… Remember that a literal translation of an English witty expression will most probably not work in German.
Throughout the translation project, always think about which types of German-speaking users your campaign is targeting. Be open to new ideas so your message does not get lost in translation.
How do you say “German” in German?
German-speaking countries, with almost 100 million speakers, account for almost 6% of the world economy. Of these speakers, almost 70% have access to the Internet. German (Deutsch in German) is an official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland...
More languages…
More language services in German:
Can we help?
Get a quote for your German translation
A quick overview of the German language
German was formed during the migration of several peoples and became part of the Germanic language family.
The term means "belonging to the people" and refers to its detachment from Latin, as the academic language, and Welsch, the popular Romance language. As a written language, German first appeared in a document, at the end of its last evolutionary stage (more than 1000 years ago), written in Old High German (750 to 1050).
The intermediate stage, Upper Middle German and Lower Middle German (1050-1500) is characterized by the loss of the final and intermediate vowels ("nd"), the beginning of diphthonging (formation of the double vowels: "au", "ei", "eu") and also by partial monopthonging. With the eastward expansion (colonization), the first attempts to find a written, supra-verbal form of High German emerged.
In the most recent stage, New Low German and New High German, a written language of High German was formed in the east (Elbe region) and spread throughout the German-speaking area thanks to the translation of Luther's Bible ("Sächsisches Kanzleideutsch") and the invention of the printing press. The New Low German became, during this stage of evolution, a dialect.
In general, there are three dialectal groups of German: Low, Medium and High German.