Keys to successfully hiring Swedish<>English translation services
Advertising and communication agencies have very specific needs when requesting translations from Swedish or into Swedish. 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 (Sweden, in this case) and how words are used.
A good advertising translation is paramount to expanding your target audience of Swedish-speaking users. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Remember these tips when translating your marketing content from or into Swedish:
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 Swedish, think about which markets you want to reach. Only Sweden…? Or maybe into other territories with large Swedish-speaking communitites? Always consider the local and dialectal variations of Swedish 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 Swedish or into Swedish will attract potential buyers.
Consider all types of publications
There are many ways to enter local Swedish 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 Swedish and start publishing articles about products or services can be a great way to reach thousands of readers in Sweden.
One option is to start a profile on a social network such as Twitter or Instagram, and specifically target Swedes. You can also start an email marketing campaign targeted at Swedish!}-speaking countries. Remember to always include these new communication formats in your English-Swedish strategies.
Translate and localize (i.e. culturally adapt into Swedish)
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 Swedish, we may need different translations for each region or country (Sweden).
A good localization in Swedish helps us solve these problems: from everyday expression to date formats, weight units or forms of address used in Sweden, etc.
Take every aspect into account
In an advertising translation into Swedish, not everything is text. Remember that there are also graphics, presentations and drawings that can be important to attract the attention of your Swedish-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 Swedish 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 Swedish or vice versa.
Do not limit your imagination
When looking for translations in Swedish for your advertising content, your initial idea in English may not work when translated into Swedish.
It is important to maintain consistency throughout the campaign: it is what will identify your brand, company or product in countries like Sweden… Remember that a literal translation of an English witty expression will most probably not work in Swedish.
Throughout the translation project, always think about which types of Swedish-speaking users your campaign is targeting. Be open to new ideas so your message does not get lost in translation.
More languages…
More language services in Swedish:
Can we help?
Get a quote for your Swedish translation
A quick overview of the Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language spoken by about 10 million people in Sweden (Sverige). In 2007 there were 290,000 native speakers of Swedish in Finland, and 2.4 million speakers as a second language. It is estimated that in 2010 there are about 300,000 speakers of Swedish in countries other than Sweden or Finland. Many of them live in the United States, United Kingdom, Spain and Germany, and also in other Scandinavian countries, France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and Australia.
Swedish is closely related to Norwegian and Danish, and its speakers often understand each other.
Finland was governed by Sweden from the 12th century until 1809. During that period, Swedish was the main language of government and education. Today, Finnish and Swedish are official languages in Finland.
There used to be Swedish-speaking communities in Estonia (Estland). About a thousand of these Swedes emigrated to southern Ukraine after Estonia became part of the Russian Empire in the 18th century. There they built a population known as Gammölsvänskbi (Old Swedish Town), which is now part of Zmiivka (Зміївка). Very few people still speak Swedish in this area. During World War II, other Swedish speakers fled from Estonia to Sweden. Only very few people in Estonia still speak Swedish today.
Between 800 and 1100 AD, an ancient northeastern dialect known as Runic Swedish was spoken in Sweden. It was written in the runic alphabet. It differed only slightly from the ancient Nordic dialect of Denmark, or runic Danish.
The two languages began to separate during the 12th century.
Swedish first appeared in the Latin alphabet in 1225 in the Westrogoda (Äldre Västgötalagen), the legal code used in the province of West Gothland (Västergötland). The language of this text is known as Early Old Swedish (klassisk fornsvenska or äldre fornsvenska), which was used until about 1375. Grammatically it was much more complex than modern Swedish.
Between 1375 and 1526, the language of Sweden was known as Late Old Swedish (yngre fornsvenska). It had undergone a grammatical simplification and a change of vowels, and by the 16th century it had more in common with modern Swedish. During this time, the Swede borrowed many words from Latin, Low German and Dutch.
The translation of the Bible into Swedish in 1526 is considered the beginning of modern Swedish. It helped to establish a consistent spelling for Swedish, although the spelling used in the translation was not entirely consistent. For example, the letters ä and ö were used instead of “æ” and “ø”, and “å” replaced “o” in many words.
The modern rules of Swedish spelling were created by the author Carl Gustaf af Leopold, on behalf of the Swedish Academy (Svenska Akademien). His proposal was published in 1801, and finally adopted by the Academy in 1874. The spelling was reformed in 1906, and the reform was only fully endorsed by the Swedish Academy in 1950.