Creativity: the challenges of translating from Italian into Arabic (part 1)

The challenges of creative translations from Italian into Arabic: culture, language and adaptation strategies

Translating creative, advertising and marketing texts represents one of the most complex challenges, since it requires to localise and adapt the translated text according to the target audience.

This is even more true when translating from Italian into Arabic because of the range of Arabic variants available according to the target country (read our previous articole: ) and of the peculiar features of the Arab cultures, which are very different from the Italian culture.

We have already talked about the challenges of translating technical, financial, medical and scientific texts (Technical translations into Arabic).

Here we look at advertising translations, with some practical examples.

The cultural context: why a literal translation is not enough

Arabic is the official language of 22 countries, but each country has its own dialect and unique cultural specificities.

Indeed, an advertising message that is effective in Egypt or Libya may not be as effective in Morocco or Algeria and you have also to keep in mind what may or may not be culturally appropriate in an Arabic country compared to Italy.

A practical example?

An Italian company launching an advertising campaign for a beauty product with images that show a woman’s body too much might encounter resistance in more conservative countries such as Saudi Arabia compared to Lebanon or the United Arab Emirates.

Linguistic adaptation

Marketing campaigns often rely on word play, rhymes or cultural references that are difficult to transpose into any foreign language.

An Italian slogan may lose its impact if literally translated. Instead of making a simple translation, the translator must thus recreate the message in a way that has the same emotional and commercial effect on the target audience.

Let’s look at some practical examples of advertising campaigns that required to adapt their message in various ways, including linguistically.

The added value of a native speaker translator

A professional native speaker translator who knows the specific characteristics of the Arab world and culture acts as a real consultant since the translation requires much more than just translating words.

Let’s look at a practical example.

The famous slogan ‘Red Bull gives you wiiings’ was translated in Saudi Arabia as ‘Red Bull gives you energy’, not because the word ‘wings’ doesn’t exist in Arabic, but because the General Commission for Audiovisual Media – the media regulatory body in Saudi Arabia – could have rejected the ad.

Indeed, the idea that a drink could ‘give you wings’ could be considered misleading and potentially deceptive.

Only a professional translator who knows the topic and target culture can suggest a correctly adapted and localised effective translation of the slogan. A machine translation would simply translate it literally.

Keep reading >> part 2