The location of a business center in the world draws the attention of the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and other destinations. Given that there are more than 200 nationalities in the UAE living and working in the country, the brands have a difficult task of designing their marketing communication with care to cut across languages and cultures. Here, there is marketing translation and transcreation. The terms are used interchangeably; however, the two terms are applied differently and have different outcomes. It is critical to note that the choice of the strategy is significant in defining the success with which the brand can ignite the interest of a multilingual population of Dubai.
Businesses are normally confronted with the challenge of making sure that the message they are communicating to is consistent and acceptable to the different cultures. To understand what is more appropriate, it is important to understand what is meant by translation and transcreation, the role of each of them in the marketing communication and how the specific environment of Dubai ought to contribute to the choice that will be made between the two ones.
This is what marketing translation in such a heterogeneous market as Dubai implies.
Translating advertising texts of a different language can be referred to as marketing translation or rather, the process of translation wherein an original message of a certain language is translated into a different language with the same implication. It is most effective when clarity and consistency are paramount such as brochures, corporate profiles and product description or promotional guides. It is aimed at preserving the original meaning of the text under translation besides rendering the translation into the foreign language sounding much more natural.
In Dubai, marketing translation helps any business company in any business to communicate with the residents and expatriates. Using the example, one may discuss such a case as companies that translate the English content into Arabic language to address the local requirements or address the Emirati listeners in a more efficient way. Similarly, the businesses provide services to South Asian expatriates and global expatriates by translating the contents into languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Russian or Mandarin languages.
However, there are no boundaries in marketing translation. Precise translation or even word-majority translation may miss emotional or cultural delights that drive an individual to a branding campaign. Translation may not be enough in instances of establishing a good connection with the audience, especially in the case of multilinguals such as Dubai in which the meaning of tone, humour, images and culture are ambiguous.
The Transcreation Role in the delivery of culturally sensitive marketing.
Transcreation is far beyond translation. It is a process that entails retrieval of marketing contents in a manner that evokes the same emotional response and brand impact in the target language as it does in the original. In most cases transcreation conveys the message fully, and preserves the intent, style and also brand name.
Transcreation proves particularly helpful in investing in a campaign that relies on creativity or emotion or cultural symbolism Dubai is a multicultural setting; therefore, transcreation can be of much use in this scenario. There should be transcreation rather than direct translation slogans, taglines, ad scripts, social media campaigns and brand narration etc.
A transcreator puts cultural norms, humor, idioms, values, and behaviour of users of the target audience into consideration. Taking an example, a really fantastic metaphor in the eyes of a western audience would not translate into an impression in the eyes of Arabic speakers and a joke would really work with the South Americans would really fail in Europe. These aspects are transcreated so that the message is not only grammatically correct but it also has meaning in relation to the culture. Transcreation can help the brands to build closer emotional connections with different audiences, since it adopts the influence rather than the literal meaning.
Translation/Transcreation dilemma in the Multilingual Market of the city of Dubai.
This decision is determined by the reason of market translation and direction of the tone. Businesses should be sensitive to communication goals in Dubai as a special case of a multicultural environment. Principled, educative, legally regulated information, in the first place, should be translated into easily. The information provided in the translation offers consistent and accurate information of products, services and processes which are well trusted and clear to the customers.
Transcreation on the contrary must have the contents to either inspire, persuade or differentiate a brand. Dubai is an emotional focused competitive market place in both the hospitality sector, beauty and luxury sectors and retail sector. The brands that are very dependent on storytelling, image and brand personality, transcreation will yield better outcomes as it can be culturally tailored, but then it will not dilute brand identity.
The two approaches are also inclined towards co-existence in the same marketing approach. In re-wording its advertisement campaigns, slogans and social media messages, a company can convey the information about its product worldwide by translating product manuals and contents of its web sites. This is a moderate manner in which the brands might be accurate and culturally valid simultaneously.
Why it comes in especially handy in the instance of Dubai and why Transaction is extensively used by its followers.
The people and customers of Dubai are of various origins and their cultural requirements and even the preferences of communication are different. The same powerful strong message in English may not create the same impact in Arabic and the concept that has gained the reputation necessary in the Western markets would have to be significantly altered towards the South Asia or Middle Eastern regions.
Transcreation knows that there is a complexity of Dubai culture. It helps in ensuring that a marketing message is not only understood, but it is also appreciated. It can involve revisions of the references, fresh conceptualizing of the puns, and even the total reversal of the plot altogether to the targeted audience. Transcreation gives the brands the opportunity of being heard in the city where innovation, style and creativity are effective and hence they must appeal to the people in a language that has the perception of being authentic and relevant.
This is particularly necessary in such fields such as medical care, education, banking services and state communication where a cultural misconception may lead to confusion or distrust. Investing more in the emotional rather than linguistic honesty, transcreation saves brand image, as well as draws more attention.
Conclusion
Dubai is a multicultural and multilingual city, which makes effective communication a challenging and compulsory quality of the business prosperity of this city. Marketing translation and transcreation are both significant in the process of composing the manner through which the brands reach people, yet the purpose of the two is different. Translation is also explicit, stable and accurate which most befits informational and controlled content. The transcreation, in its turn, provides emotional response and cultural relevance which is imperative to creative campaigns and brand communication.
Most companies in the Dubai market have reported the best performance when the combination of the two strategies is used. The awareness of the time to translate or transcreate has allowed the brands to communicate to diverse audiences without much effort and simultaneously relate to them in a manner that is culturally sensitive. The right linguistic strategy should be applied when a city relies on innovation and internationalism to achieve the success of marketing.
