Brand Management Blog
Language requirements for conferences in Quebec
A recent project that crossed our desk has presented us with an interesting issue: language requirements for conferences in Quebec. We do a good amount of translation into Canadian French and have written about our experiences and the various regulations around the...
Chinese phonosemantic naming
In our work with linguistic screening of new product/company names that need to be evaluated by speakers of other languages/cultures, we are often asked to screen those names by a Chinese speaker but instead, we recommend Chinese phonosemantic naming. Because Chinese...
Priorities for Canadian French marketing translations
If you're looking for Canadian French marketing translations to expand to the Canadian market, you've come to the right place! The Canadian market is not entirely homogenous to the US market, and as large retailers have experienced in the past, it takes quite a bit of...
International food packaging translation: a recipe for success
International food packaging translation is a bit like following a recipe: it must include the necessary ingredients in the correct proportions and prepared in a certain way. These “ingredients” will vary by market, which is a lesson that European grocery giant Tesco...
Marketing translations: some common challenges
In the same way that a marketing campaign requires targeted creativity, marketing translations are typically an exercise in creative strategy. Elements like idioms and plays on words can make an ad or awareness campaign entertaining, attention-getting, or memorable....
Brand name evaluation for international markets
The importance of brand name evaluation for international markets may not be evident until it’s too late. Take Facebook’s decision to change its name to Meta. Hebrew speakers were quick to poke fun at the fact that “meta” is the feminine form of the adjective “dead,”...
Marketing translations in Spanish: avoiding common pitfalls
Four major questions that often come into play when doing marketing translations in Spanish are 1) Which variant of Spanish? 2) Is the audience one person or more than one person? 3) Should formal or informal address be used? 4) Which gender markers are appropriate,...
An Introduction to French Translation for Advertising in Canada
In this post, we will turn our attention from French translation for food packaging to French translation for advertising in Canada. According to Statista, the Canadian advertising market ranked tenth on the global scale in 2016. Clearly plenty of companies see the...
French Translation for Food Packaging for Canada
Official Languages and French Translation for Food Packaging for Canada Even though Canada has a complex linguistic makeup, there are guidelines that clearly outline requirements for French translation for food packaging for Canada. Both French and English are...
Spanish Website Translations and Personas
Spanish website translations involve a lot of moving parts. The translations themselves are obviously a significant aspect of the project, but there’s also the question of design. Do you want your English and Spanish language sites to look identical except for the...