Particularities of each culture

At Terralíngua, we take the cultural context of the target audience into account and know that translation also includes adapting content to the country in which it will be published. It is of little use if a translator has an excellent understanding of the linguistic structures of a language without awareness, involvement and a deep knowledge of the culture where that language is spoken.

Each region of the world has its own cultural references and Terralíngua professionals take this into consideration during the translation, localization and publishing of texts for a local audience.

In the United States, for example, the imperial measurement system (feet, inches, miles, pounds, etc.) is used instead of the metric system, which is almost universally adopted elsewhere. When translating a text from American English to Brazilian Portuguese, it is essential to adapt it appropriately or risk communication that is impaired or simply does not work.

Idiomatic expressions are another example of adjustments which need to be made. The English expression “to fall head over heels” could be literally translated as something like “to fall with the head above the heels.” This literal translation does not carry the meaning of the expression in English (which means “to fall in love”) and is therefore incorrect.

In addition to adapting text ​​on a linguistic basis, adjustments should also be made during publishing. Take the case of a multinational pharmaceutical company that on launching a new product internationally, attempted to avoid translation problems by using illustrative figures to explain the benefits of the product. The left figure showed a sick patient, the middle figure, a patient taking the medication and the right figure showed the patient well again. The United Arab Emirates was one of the markets in which the campaign was launched. However, they did not anticipate that the Arabic speakers in the country read from right to left, and the graphic material used was not suitable for the Arab culture.

The layout artists at Terralíngua always strive to familiarize themselves with the target audience for the material they produce in order to ensure that it is culturally effective.

With a view to meeting the needs of its customers worldwide, Terralíngua professionals have excellent knowledge of their source language and are native speakers of the language into which they translate. They demonstrate a deep understanding of the two cultures involved as well as a command of aspects related to the receipt of technical and scientific texts, communication context and cultural values​​. This gives them the confidence and autonomy to decide whether to adapt the translation or not. In other words, they know when to depart from the structure of the original text in order to produce a more meaningful and functional translation in the culture of the intended country, without changing the essence and ideas presented in the original work.