Translation and Social Media: The Dos and Don’ts

by Louise Taylor, Guest Contributor

​Social media has become a major player in communication across many countries and cultures.  Interestingly, despite Facebook originating there, the country with the largest number of Facebook users is no longer America. India now boasts 294 million Facebook users as at October 2018, according to Statista. By comparison, the United States has 204 million users, with Indonesia in third place with 131 million Facebook users. The United Kingdom has a mere 39 million Facebook users.
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The multilingual social media journey of translation.

The prevalence of social media means that if you plan to reach an audience, you’ll need a strong translation company or translator to handle social media translation for you. To help guide your multilingual social media journey, we’ve put together a few dos and don’ts of translation and social media.

Internet Languages and the Need for Social Media Translation
Once upon a time, everyone assumed that English would come to be the official written language of the internet. English would operate as a sort of “common tongue” of the digital age. And in many areas, English has become a “bridge language,” as Quartz called it. But Quartz also reported that many languages are getting their own time in the spotlight, thanks to technologies that make it easier to communicate with specific audiences. With many websites now in non-English languages, translation services are becoming increasingly necessary.

According to Statista, English is still the most common language used on the internet. As at December 2017, it accounted for a 25.4 percent share of internet users. However, Chinese is catching up, at 19.3 percent, while Spanish sits at 8.1 percent. The fact that English is only used about a quarter of the time further highlights the need for translators or translation agencies.   

Much of the time that people spend online is on social media sites. Globally, people spent 135 minutes on social networking sites per day in 2017. Most social media sites allow you to post in different languages, but their built-in translation tools (if they exist) often leave a lot to be desired, meaning that human translation skills are essential for brands looking to connect with people through social media. Since language diversity is now a large part of the modern digital landscape.

The Dos of Social Media Translation            
When it comes to social media translation services, there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way. Here are some of the right ways to do social media translation:  

• Use a reputable translation company

You’ll want to make sure you go with a great translation company. Translation can be a difficult task, accounting for cultural differences as well as making sure the language and style of the text stay natural-sounding. Look for a professional company with plenty of experience. The last thing you want is to pay for a translation that ends up sounding clunky, doesn’t translate the original message properly or doesn’t take cultural sensitivities into account.    

• Localize your adverts

You’ll also want to focus on your social media advertisements by using marketing translation. Many adverts have little in the way of text, but strong localization services can make sure that your ad is reading well across all languages and cultures. Most of us have heard of one or two ad translation mishaps, like Coca-Cola’s brand name translation into Chinese, which read “bite the wax tadpole.” Translating advertisements may also include SEO translation.   

• Use a translator with specialist knowledge of your sector

You should also make sure that your translation agency has strong knowledge in the sector you work in. Many professional terms need to be translated in very specific ways. Someone who doesn’t have your industry’s knowledge is going to have a hard time producing a translation that sounds as natural as it should.  

By choosing the right translator, you can make sure you’re following all of these tips for good social media translation.

The Don’ts of Social Media Translation 
There are several shortcuts you should avoid while engaging in social media translation. Again, a good professional translation service can help you avoid these errors.

• Don’t use machine translation

As handy as Google Translate and its ilk can seem, such machine translation engines still have a few kinks to work out. The internet abounds with hilarious Google Translate fails, complete with its own hashtag: #googletranslatefails. After all, no machine can yet capture the nuance of culture and language in the way that a human translator can.   

• Don’t make assumptions about audiences in other countries

Audiences from other countries can view things quite differently based on their culture, so a good translator will know as much about a culture as its native language. A good translator will also know that they can’t assume they know how other people see the world based on stereotypes. A great translation shows sensitivity and nuance.   

• Don’t use the same translation for every social media site​

You can’t just copy and paste translations across all sites. Each social media site has its own individual style. For instance, Twitter is more text-based, Facebook posts do well with accompanying graphics and LinkedIn posts should sound more professional. A translator can help customize these messages in other languages.    

As you can see, there are many cultural and stylistic points to keep in mind when handling translation and social media. Make sure you source solid localization services to navigate these intricacies.    ​

Author Bio:
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Louise Taylor has spent a large part of the past decade thinking, talking and writing about translation. She works for Tomedes, a translation agency working with business clients based all over the world.

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