Risks in freight
Parcel tongue
Skilful translation is an essential part of having the right packaging from both a legal and marketing standpoint, says Linda LaCombe, regional business manager for Australia at Australian Export Translation Service (www.aetstranslation.com.au).
What considerations should exporters make with regard to translating their packaging?
- Quality of translation: The translation must be both accurate and culturally appropriate for your target market. This requires experienced native-speaker translators and a rigorous quality-checking process.
- Usability: Some languages expand when translated, so may require more space than English to present the same information.
- Legality: Packaging needs to comply with relevant legislation in the target country. This may require translation of key product characteristics and other consumer information.
- Appearance: It’s important to note that font styles that look good to English speakers, for example, may not be attractive to Korean, Japanese or Chinese readers.
What are some of the legal consequences of having the wrong translation for packaging?
Incorrect translations on packaging can cause products to be refused entry into a country or to be rejected by the distributor. Incorrect product information could also leave you open to legal claims through non-compliance with consumer laws or liable for damages resulting from the misinformation.
What are some of the marketing consequences of having the wrong translation for packaging?
Poor translations on packaging will damage customer perceptions of the quality of your brand and reduce their trust in your product. Because packaging is often viewed before purchase, poor translations can stop a purchase from taking place and severely impact your sales.
How can exporters ensure they have the correct translation for their packaging?
The most reliable way to ensure correct translation is to use a well-established professional translation company. They will have the resources, quality controls and experience to ensure translation accuracy and appropriateness. A good translation company can also look after typesetting for you, particularly important when dealing with many Asian and Middle Eastern languages with non-Latin alphabets.
Having your distributor review and approve the packaging prior to printing and shipping is also sensible, provided you ensure the distributor doesn’t propose any translation alterations inconsistent with your product or legal requirements.
It’s important to seek advice on the information you need to include on your packaging and finalise your text and design before you begin the translation process. Changes made after the translation process are more costly than changes made before translation.
Allowing sufficient time for translation, typesetting and quality checking of your packaging (ideally, at least one to two weeks) will give the best chance of a high-quality result.
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