Keys to successfully hiring Serbian<>English translation services
Advertising and communication agencies have very specific needs when requesting translations from Serbian or into Serbian. 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 (Serbia, in this case) and how words are used.
A good advertising translation is paramount to expanding your target audience of Serbian-speaking users. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Remember these tips when translating your marketing content from or into Serbian:
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 Serbian, think about which markets you want to reach. Only Serbia…? Or maybe into other territories with large Serbian-speaking communitites? Always consider the local and dialectal variations of Serbian 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 Serbian or into Serbian will attract potential buyers.
Consider all types of publications
There are many ways to enter local Serbian 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 Serbian and start publishing articles about products or services can be a great way to reach thousands of readers in Serbia.
One option is to start a profile on a social network such as Twitter or Instagram, and specifically target Serbs. You can also start an email marketing campaign targeted at Serbian!}-speaking countries. Remember to always include these new communication formats in your English-Serbian strategies.
Translate and localize (i.e. culturally adapt into Serbian)
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 Serbian, we may need different translations for each region or country (Serbia).
A good localization in Serbian helps us solve these problems: from everyday expression to date formats, weight units or forms of address used in Serbia, etc.
Take every aspect into account
In an advertising translation into Serbian, not everything is text. Remember that there are also graphics, presentations and drawings that can be important to attract the attention of your Serbian-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 Serbian 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 Serbian or vice versa.
Do not limit your imagination
When looking for translations in Serbian for your advertising content, your initial idea in English may not work when translated into Serbian.
It is important to maintain consistency throughout the campaign: it is what will identify your brand, company or product in countries like Serbia… Remember that a literal translation of an English witty expression will most probably not work in Serbian.
Throughout the translation project, always think about which types of Serbian-speaking users your campaign is targeting. Be open to new ideas so your message does not get lost in translation.
How do you say “Serbian” in Serbian?
Serbian (српски / srpski in Serbian) is the official language of Serbia. After the break-up of Yugoslavia, Serbo-Croat, defined as the common language of Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Montenegrins, was officially divided into three languages whose speakers understand each other: Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian.
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A quick overview of the Serbian language
Serbian is a South Slavic language that is mainly spoken in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and Macedonia by about 9-10 million people. It is official in Serbia, and it is the main language of the Serbs.
The Glagolitic script was initially used to write Serbian since the 11th century. It was later replaced by the Cyrillic script, and the modern Serbian Cyrillic script was designed in 1814 by the Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić, while the Latin Serbian alphabet was invented by the Croatian linguist Ljudevit Gaj in 1830. Serbian is currently written in the Cyrillic and Latin scripts, both of which are officially recognized, although Cyrillic became the official alphabet of the Serbian government in 2006. Literate Serbs are able to read and write their language in both alphabets, and media organizations often choose to use one or the other.
Until the mid-19th century there was no standard written form of Serbian, although there was a lot of literature. In 1850, a group of Serbian and Croatian writers and linguists decided to create a standard written form based on the widely used Štokavian dialect.
The modern Serbian literary standard developed from this written form, which was the official language of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1918 to 1991. After the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991, distinct written and spoken languages began to emerge in the different countries that made up the former Yugoslavia.