It’s about finding the version that makes your audience feel the way the original audience was meant to feel.
One of the things I hear most often is: “Can you find us the best translator?”
The answer is… maybe.
Because the “best” translator isn’t always the right one.
Let me explain:
A while ago, a client came to us because they weren’t happy with a previous marketing translation. There was nothing technically wrong with it; the grammar was correct, the terminology was correct, the meaning had been transferred accurately.
But something didn’t feel right: the copy sounded like a translation, and what the client actually wanted wasn’t a translator. They wanted someone who could rewrite the message so that it felt as natural in the target language as it did in English.
So we selected two experienced marketing linguists: both had strong backgrounds in copywriting, and understood the subject perfectly.
We asked them to translate exactly the same text. The result was really interesting.
One linguist stayed very close to the English version: elegant, professional, very faithful to the original.
The second linguist took a completely different approach: they rewrote sentences, changed expressions, adapted the calls to action and made the text sound as though it had originally been written in that language.
Neither version was wrong. They were simply written by two different people.
And just like two photographers, two chefs or two designers have their own style, linguists do too.
The client immediately preferred the second version because it reflected the personality of their brand much better.
That’s why, for marketing projects, we often suggest a short test translation before assigning larger campaigns. It allows the client to see different writing styles and choose the one that feels most natural for their audience. Sometimes we even prepare a back translation into English so that subtle differences in tone become easier to understand.
Once the client has chosen their preferred linguist, that’s where the real work begins.
We spend time gathering glossaries, previous campaigns, preferred terminology and as much information as possible about the target audience.
Who are they? How old are they? Should the communication feel formal or friendly? Should it sound premium or approachable?
These questions matter much more than people often realise.
Take Italian, for example.
A simple decision such as using Lei instead of tu changes the whole relationship between the brand and its reader.
Neither option is wrong, they’re simply aimed at different audiences.
That’s why I often say that localization starts long before the first sentence is translated.
It starts by understanding people.
Once we’ve found the right linguist and built that relationship, future projects become much easier.
The client already knows who will be working on their content. The linguist already knows the brand.
And every new campaign starts from a shared understanding instead of from scratch.
That’s one of my favourite parts of this job.
Not translating words, but helping brands sound like themselves, wherever their audience happens to be.