Here in the US, we just celebrated Thanksgiving, a perfect time to show gratitude! As the year draws to an end, I want to reach out and thank you for your business in 2023. I would also like to wish you a very Happy New Year and look forward to continued collaboration.
I will be celebrating the end-of-year holidays in Sweden and will be out of the office from December 19th through January 3rd. Please reach out to me for referrals if needed.
Here are some areas I have worked a lot with these past few years and can help you with next year (or if you hear of anyone else needing Swedish services in these areas):
💸 Business communication, marketing, PR, advertising, copywriting, transcreation 💻 Software and website localization for SaaS, international SEO 💄 Cosmetics, beauty and e-commerce
This year I have also taken a course in UX localization, and I am currently in a 5 month training in UX Writing. I will be adding this service next year.
With this below image of Swedish “glögg” and “pepparkakor”, I also want to wish you a warm season! I look forward to working with you in 2024.
Tapping into the Swedish market can be tough. After all, the way Swedes live, shop, and search online is distinct from other cultures.
For this reason, it’s not enough to simply translate marketing materials into Swedish. To cultivate relationships with potential customers in Sweden, you need copy that’s been transformed with the Swedish user in mind – including linguistic nuance, cultural know-how, and insight into digital behaviors.
In other words, your business should rely on transcreation to get results in the Swedish market. Why is Swedish transcreation so essential? Let’s take a closer look at why you should get transcreation services to successfully reach Swedish customers.
Why Swedish transcreation is key for marketing your business
1. Transcreation focus on the user experience.
To win over Swedish users, you need to make them feel at home. Transcreation is all about focusing on the user experience, so that the target audience has a seamless experience in their native language.
2. Transcreation aims for a text that reads like it was written in Swedish.
Transcreation also gives linguists the liberty to cut, add, rephrase and change copy in order to create a text that feels like it was written in Swedish – while also aligning with your brand’s voice.
Instead of translating messaging line-by-line, professional Swedish linguists will reimagine the text so that it truly has an impact on potential customers. This ensures that any idioms, humor or language-specific phrasing is updated for the Swedish user.
So often businesses market themselves online, which involves a lot of digital elements that must be rethought for a Swedish audience.
The way Swedes search online is one of them. To create inroads with Swedish audiences, linguists must perform keyword research and optimize the text for SEO, so that it’s easily searchable by native speakers. This research often involves looking at the number of searches, search intent, clicks and competition/cost.
4. Transcreation takes into account typical Swedish preferences and behaviors.
Finally, transcreation for the Swedish market entails other essential information about Swedes. For example, it’s vital for linguists to have deep understanding of the market such as:
They are also mobile-first, with browsing and purchasing often happening on a cell phone.
The vast majority of searches in Sweden are done on Google.se, with Bing and Yahoo having only a small presence.
Overall, Swedes value transparency and might drop-off from a website if there’s fluffy content or products behind a paywall.
These insights about the typical Swedish user are included within the transcreation process. For example, a linguist may cut wording so that it displays well on mobile, or utilize SEO best practices for the Google algorithm in order to increase content ranking.
Choose a Swedish linguist with transcreation know-how
It only takes 0.05 seconds for users to get a first impression of your website. As you launch into the Swedish market, you’ll need flawless website translation to impress potential customers from the very first second – literally.
For your Swedish website launch to succeed, users must begin their customer journey in their native language. Without seamless translation, potential customers won’t feel confident that you can deliver on your product or service. Worse yet, their user experience may be negatively impacted.
Let’s go through the top considerations for achieving a website translation from English to Swedish that truly adds value for your customers in Sweden.
1. Honing in on Cultural Nuances
Website translation best practices include providing culturally appropriate content for the target audience. You’ll want to use phrasing that sounds natural and select examples that make sense for Swedish culture.
For example, in Sweden, we’re not very familiar with terms such as “home run” or “mile high,” so they would sound odd in a website translation. This also goes for images, icons and other visuals. It’s important that the full online experience is culturally relevant to the consumer.
2. Aligning With Your International SEO Strategy
International and local SEO is key to crafting content that’s seen by real Swedes. Your international SEO strategy should include keywords that Swedish users actually type into their preferred search engines.
English-Swedish linguists that specialize in translating websites know how important researching different types of keywords can be for attaining a high reach and Google ranking. Professionals like me can help with translating SEO for the Swedish market, as well as SEO-related copy such as meta descriptions, URLs and more.
3. Prioritizing What Web Content to Translate (or Not)
Understanding which pages of your website will be translated can help focus your priorities and cut your budget. Do you have any products or services that you aren’t selling in Sweden? Then there’s no need to translate these pages.
Overall, you should focus on translating high-impact copy. Does it make sense to translate certain pages for the Swedish market? Is the information relevant for Sweden? A good way to save money on website localization is to only translate the most relevant content for the Swedish market.
Your website launch will be more successful if the translation truly enhances the user experience and allows for smooth communication between the company and the customer. Choosing a professional English-Swedish translator is the best choice to reach local clients and wow them into buying your product or service online.
Get in Touch for Professional English to Swedish Web Translation
To get content that’s accurately localized and tailored for the Swedish market, reach out to Swedish Translation Services. You can be confident that the final copy will be ready to reach and impress Swedish users.
Not only do I have nuanced attention to cultural and linguistic considerations, but I also have experience in web-specific needs such as international SEO. Learn more about my English-Swedish website translation expertise here.
Winning over Swedish software customers starts with getting the language right. Though many Swedes know English, they expect software to be in Swedish in order use of it effortlessly and productively.
Considering that Sweden is a hotspot for technology, it’s especially critical to localize software and IT services for the Swedish market. As you prepare your English to Swedish localization strategy, here are some key points to ensure a flawless software launch in Swedish.
How to localize software for the Swedish market
Software localization is distinct from other types of content because of the impact it has on the user experience. Localizing software isn’t just about wordsmithing the language, but also ensuring a seamless experience across the technology. This may involve software-related content such as:
Software/user interface
Help screens, instructions, menus, shortcut keys
Software manuals
License agreements
Legal and security disclaimers
Warranty arrangements
Marketing material and packaging content
Cultural related content
… and more.
For Swedish users to strongly connect with the software, the experience must include clarity, ease of use and cultural fit – every click of the way.
1. Build an English-Swedish localization strategy
Your English-Swedish localization strategy starts with leaning on experts. Be sure to work with Swedish linguists with experience in software localization (like me!). Together, you can start putting together robust strategy documentation, including a Swedish style guide, SEO checklist and localization processes/timelines.
2. Create localization-friendly English texts
Before localization even begins, you can prepare by writing localization-friendly copy. It’s much more difficult to “correct” English texts downstream in the localization process. Ideally, you can write and edit texts in English that are clear and avoid culturally-specific wording.
3. Plan early for your software localization launch
Sweden is a hub for cutting-edge technology, which means localization from English to Swedish can’t be an afterthought. Incorporating Swedish software localization early in the process can help you get high-quality localization outputs, instead of rushing to meet your launch date.
4. Remember on-screen formatting and visual differences
English and Swedish read quite differently on the screen. For example, Swedish is typically longer in translation and requires Swedish characters, which make your technical internationalization efforts vital.
In addition to these formatting differences, you should take into account how images, icons and more should be localized. As part of the localization process, find culturally-strong imagery for Sweden so that it gets optimal results.
5. Follow software localization best practices
Software localization requires a close relationship to your tech team. For one, they’ll need to prepare the code for localization and create a repository for multiple languages. What’s more, you should work with them to use the best localization tools so that your processes are as automated as possible and it’s easy to get stakeholder feedback along the way.
6. Do UX research in Sweden for 100% success
The main goal of software localization is to build an ideal user experience. To make sure you meet that goal, UX research is recommended before you launch your software product/service in the Swedish market. You don’t need a huge budget for UX research to get insights for improving your localization of certain areas or features.
Boost your Swedish software localization efforts
As you get started with Swedish software localization, you can use these key points as a guide. Remember that any successful localization strategy requires hiring an expert language partner that can handle the challenges of software localization with clarity and nuance.
Get in touch with me to learn about my experience with software localization from English to Swedish and how we can work together to build a robust strategy that gets results. You can even check out these software localization case studies to see my expertise in action.
One way to make the concept of quality assurance easier for linguists is to divide it up into four parts: administrative quality, linguistic quality, business quality and cultural quality.
International quality standards focus mostly on administrative quality, since it is the easiest to measure. Linguistic quality is the most important for language professionals. Business quality is defined as the relation to the customer, and cultural quality is when a translation speaks to the end customer/reader.
All four types of quality assurance are important for linguists and warrant further investigation. Here we’ll look at these four types and tips for translators to enhance quality every step of the translation process.
Four Types of Quality Assurance
Administrative Quality
This entails all routines for handling translation projects, inquiry, offer, order confirmation, translation, control/check, delivery, invoicing, follow up, archiving.
Linguistic Quality
This can only be achieved if you: – Only accept projects that are within your expertise – Have access to suitable, current reference material – Use relevant tools that increase quality, for example translation memory and spell checking – Proofread the end result carefully
Business Quality
This type can only be achieved if you: – In advance check with the customer what they want/what is needed – Deliver a product that fulfill the terms agreed upon
Cultural Quality
This means that you’re: – Are thoroughly familiar with the cultural context of the source text – Translate the text based on the cultural environment of the target language so that the text will have the same meaning
What Can a Translator Do for Quality Assurance?
1. Only accept jobs within your area of expertise/specialization and only translate into your native language. 2. Use CAT-tools to avoid omissions and eye mistakes and to keep the formatting. 3. Never hesitate to contact your customer for clarifications. 4. Find another translator to co-operate with for second proofreading when needed. 5. Always read the clients reference material and use their glossaries 6. Know the target audience for the final product and translate for this audience. 7. Understand the objective of the translation project; is it informative text, ad copy, brand identity…? 8. Use Translation Quality Assurance software if available. These are able to decrease the number of mistakes and improve the overall quality, even if they cannot detect everything, or detect too much/the wrong things. 9. Proofread carefully.
Even More Tips to Increase Quality Assurance
1. Avoid rework by translating each phrase as if the translation were to be published immediately. 2. Keep a list of dangerous words that you often mistype, but that a spell checker cannot detect. 3. Run the spell and grammar checker. Before doing this though, select the entire document, set the language to your target language and make sure that the checker is fully active. 4. Learn study and comply with target-language typography and punctuation rules. I have noticed that this is one of the most common mistakes among newer translators. For example in US English you write $3,000.00, but in Swedish it is written USD 3 000,00. 5. Never use the “Replace all” command 6. Proofread by comparing with the source, but also by just reading the target text to check that it “flows”. 7. Check headers, footer, graphs and text boxes. These are easy to miss; even CAT-tools can miss them sometimes.
Last but not least, read in your target language often and take continuing education classes at conferences, universities, translation associations etc.
I found these definitions very useful. It is easier to work on quality assurance if you can break it up into these aspects and follow them. What do you think? Do you have a system for quality assurance?
I know you all probably know what all these terms mean, but the definitions I found for translation, localization, internationalization and transcreation were very interesting. The first three terms were taken from Wikipedia, but transcreation did not exist on Wikipedia yet, also that interesting. They are all very dear terms to me, so here you go:
Translation is the comprehension of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text, likewise called a “translation,” that communicates the same message in another language. The text that is translated is called the source text, and the language that it is translated into is called the target language. The product is sometimes called the target text.
Translation, when practiced by relatively bilingual individuals but especially when by persons with limited proficiency in one or both languages, involves a risk of spilling-over of idioms and usages from the source language into the target language. On the other hand, inter-linguistic spillages have also served the useful purpose of importing calques and loanwords from a source language into a target language that had previously lacked a concept or a convenient expression for the concept. Translators and interpreters have thus played an important role in the evolution of languages and cultures.[1]
However, localization and internationalization is not separated, which I think they should be. Here is the joint definition: In computing, internationalization and localization (also spelled internationalisation and localisation, see spelling differences) are means of adapting computer software to different languages and regional differences. Internationalization is the process of designing a software application so that it can be adapted to various languages and regions without engineering changes. Localization is the process of adapting internationalized software for a specific region or language by adding locale-specific components and translating text.
The terms are frequently abbreviated to the numeronym i18n (where 18 stands for the number of letters between the first i and last n in internationalization, a usage coined at DEC in the 1970s or 80s[1]) and L10n respectively, due to the length of the words. The capital L in L10n helps to distinguish it from the lowercase i in i18n Some companies, like Microsoft, IBM and Sun Microsystems, use the term “globalization” for the combination of internationalization and localization.[2][3] Globalization can also be abbreviated to g11n.[4]
Lionbridge has a good explanation of the difference between the two: Internationalization readies your product for global markets and ensures it can be localized easily. It is the designing and re-engineering of a product so that it can be localize easily for global markets. It is important to complete internationalization before localization begins; otherwise, you may need to reengineer your product in parallel with localization.
Transcreation is perhaps such a new word that Wikipedia has no definition yet. Here is one definition I found:
Transcreation: Adaptation, mainly used in drama contexts, is defined as “
the ‘freest’ form of translation” and one where “… the SL [source language] culture [is] converted to the TL [target language] culture and the text rewritten” (p. 46).The idea of rewriting a text to adapt it to the norms of the target culture, to the point that little trace is left of its source, seems to be at the root of transcreation, too. Nowadays often used in advertising and the media, transcreation is a portmanteau word made by combining together translation and creation, in order to emphasise the considerable amount of creativity required in the process. (From http://www.airy-eel.blogspot.com)
Based on the previous blog you are hopefully convinced that hiring a professional translator for a translation job is the right way to go. But how can you tell whether you have found a professional translator or not? Here are some details to pay attention to.
A professional translator is:
– Educated in both source and target languages
– Translating only into his/her native language and is proficient/bilingual in the source language
– Specialized in a few specific subject areas, that usually are closely related to the translator’s background
– Someone with several years of experience in transferring messages from one language to another, either through education and/or work experience
– A good writer
– Experienced in both cultures of the target and source languages
– Passionate about his/her profession and loves to convey the content and intent of the text as exactly as possible to the target language, with appropriate style and terminology.
– Giving attention to detail
– Courteous, reliable, respectful, honest, responsible, and competent.
Did I forget anything? Do you agree? I would love to hear what you think.
