Translation of slogans Thread poster: Cor Stephan van Eijden
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From time to time jobs are offered related to the translation of "slogans".
A slogan can consist of 3 or 4 words but obviously I would never offer my rate per word for this type of jobs. How do you handle these offers? I know that professional Marketing and Publicity Agencies could easily charge a few thousand Euros for a slogan that would be accepted by a multinational (McDonald's for expample, just to mention a recent translation offer). How should we handle this type of offers?
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TargamaT team 
France
Local time: 16:51
Member (2010)
English to Arabic
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| Slogans & translation of slogans | Oct 5, 2010 |
I like finding and translating slogans.
However, my strategy would be to ask agency how much they offer...
I will then accept or not! This is easy...
Oussama
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Gerard de Noord
France
Local time: 16:51
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
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| Allow me to start with the answer many translators don't want to hear | Oct 5, 2010 |
I translate marketing texts all the time and - when not asked to do otherwise - also translate all slogans the documents contain. My general approach is that my translation should sell the product too. I don't charge more for parts of a translation that offer more value to my customers.
One other example: When I translate a company profile, I know many thousands will have been spent on the source text but I won't charge extra for the translation of that part of the text.
... See more I translate marketing texts all the time and - when not asked to do otherwise - also translate all slogans the documents contain. My general approach is that my translation should sell the product too. I don't charge more for parts of a translation that offer more value to my customers.
One other example: When I translate a company profile, I know many thousands will have been spent on the source text but I won't charge extra for the translation of that part of the text.
For the translation of individual slogans I charge my hourly rate. I'll offer 5 or 10 options and will perform a simple Google check to ascertain that my solutions are unique and appropriate. That's were my services end. Should I charge more than 1 or 2 hours for that?
Cheers,
Gerard ▲ Collapse
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David Wright
Austria
Local time: 16:51
German to English
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| Don't touch them | Oct 5, 2010 |
Writing slogans is imho a very specialised and highly trained skill, equally difficult and completely different to that of a translator. I always advise my clients to hire the services of such a person. I'm simply not trained to do it.
Slogan writers charge a fortune for their work in terms of price per word. A good slogan is worth a lot of money. Translations of existing slogans very rarely work.
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Simone Linke
Germany
Local time: 16:51
Member (2009)
English to German
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I've also encountered a few situations in which clients (usually no direct clients but agencies) wanted me to translate company slogans as part of the "regular" job. Normally, I immediately ask them to get me in touch with the company's marketing dept. and/or to handle this request separately (I'm ok with translating slogans but not for the same rate per word I charge for simple product manuals - that'd be ridiculous).
I've had a few situations in which the agency simply declined th... See more I've also encountered a few situations in which clients (usually no direct clients but agencies) wanted me to translate company slogans as part of the "regular" job. Normally, I immediately ask them to get me in touch with the company's marketing dept. and/or to handle this request separately (I'm ok with translating slogans but not for the same rate per word I charge for simple product manuals - that'd be ridiculous).
I've had a few situations in which the agency simply declined the request and told me to simply translate it word by word and that's it. Well, all I can say is, I feel sorry for the end client who has hired such unprofessional agencies... ▲ Collapse
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Rolf Kern
Switzerland
Local time: 16:51
English to German
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In memoriam
Agencies will pay you their minimum fee, that ist CHF 25.00 oder CHF 30.00 in this country, direct clients will pay you what you charge. This can be a multiple of the above amounts.
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| I support this idea | Oct 6, 2010 |
David Wright wrote:
Writing slogans is imho a very specialised and highly trained skill, equally difficult and completely different to that of a translator. I always advise my clients to hire the services of such a person. I'm simply not trained to do it.
Slogan writers charge a fortune for their work in terms of price per word. A good slogan is worth a lot of money. Translations of existing slogans very rarely work.
I just gave comments on the original slogan and proposed my brief catch phrases.
Soonthon Lupkitaro
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Cor Stephan van Eijden wrote:
From time to time jobs are offered related to the translation of "slogans".
A slogan can consist of 3 or 4 words but obviously I would never offer my rate per word for this type of jobs. How do you handle these offers?
Hourly rate.
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Romeo Mlinar
Portugal
Local time: 15:51
English to Serbian
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"Translating slogans" is complex. In my recent job I was given the brief about what they wish to achieve in the terms of target customers / company image.
It involves backtranslation, detailed explanation of why particular version was given, and two or more version of the text.
Translator/editor must be aware of how language works on several levels, especially about language use for the marketing purposes.
The work is usually done by transcreation/copwr... See more "Translating slogans" is complex. In my recent job I was given the brief about what they wish to achieve in the terms of target customers / company image.
It involves backtranslation, detailed explanation of why particular version was given, and two or more version of the text.
Translator/editor must be aware of how language works on several levels, especially about language use for the marketing purposes.
The work is usually done by transcreation/copwriting team, with more than one translator. Then, with the feedback from translators/editors/proofreaders/end customer an agency shapes the final version.
So, translation of slogans does not work like other texts - although some "agencies" would like us to think so. ▲ Collapse
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