better languages can translate food packaging into any major language. Translators are always natives of the target languages, and have previous food label translation experience. Translating a food label can be quite different to other forms of translation, in that there may be both marketing aspects and required wording for legal compliance.
Food label translation and legal compliance:
We will translate using translators who will produce a faithful translation of the original text, but we do not advise on compliance in the sense that the client needs to ensure that they have met legal requirements of the target market or markets. Within the European Union, food labelling requirements are broadly similar country to county, but there can still be country specific requirements. Please remember that we are giving a translation of the original text which you supply. This means that if an ingredient is missing in the original text, or wrongly labelled, it will also be wrongly labelled when translated. The key to avoiding this kind of problem, is to make certain that you are happy with the source text before translating. We work for legal compliance companies, and can refer clients on for specialist compliance advice if required.
Marketing aspects of food label translation:
It is important to be aware that very country specific references or plays on words are not likely to work when the text is translated. If you are including marketing concepts or ideas within text for translation, we need license to be quite free in the way of expressing the idea within the translations. Sometimes the border between compliance and marketing can be quite thin. For example with a product containing the word “slim” in the title in English, it will be necessary to establish the slimming properties of the product.
Localisation of food label translations:
Localisation is the process of adaptation to a local market, with food products there can be important localisation issues which aren’t necessarily about translation. For example supplying food products containing alcoholic ingredients or meat which is not Halal, is likely to be inappropriate for an Islamic country. These are not strictly translation issues, but they are important in supplying to a given target market, no point in us supplying an Arabic translation for a product which either won’t be bought, or will not receive an import licence and will get stopped at port of entry.
Another localisation issue which is more directly about translation, is how to convey the nature of the product. For example if you were selling English ready meals, we have national dishes like “Shepherds Pie”, how do you convey the name in the target language? It will translate, as most languages will have a noun for the word “shepherd”, the problem, is that selling the product in England, most people will know what the product is, but to someone unfamiliar with English food it will be meaningless. A descriptive title such as “pie made with minced beef and topped with mashed potato”, won’t sound quite as appealing to the customer. A good compromise can be to give the name in English, treating it like a brand name, which we wouldn’t normally translate, and also giving a descriptive title in the target language. Popular foods may become known by their original name and the word become adopted in the target language, for example Paella is a Spanish dish well known in England, and the name appears in the English dictionary, so you would find the dish named as “Paella” on an English restaurant menu. Even this approach is not foolproof however, because the adopting country may vary the recipe. For example in the UK we tend to refer to an omelette with almost anything added, as “Spanish Omelette”, whereas the Spanish dish “Tortilla de patata” is a very specific dish, made with potato and onions. The key to translation success here, is to use specialist translators, familiar with up to date terminology in both markets, so that they fully understand the source text, and the target market. Context is also very helpful, pictures of the product are very helpful to translators when they are working.
Foods and medicines
Please also consider that different countries may classify products differently, for example what is a food because it is a dietary supplement in one country, may be classed as a medicine in another, with different regulatory requirements.
Proofing and checking artwork
We can check print proofs and sign off artwork for any translation we supply. We charge separately for this based on the amount of time needed by the translators, but it is extremely important.It is easy to underestimate the risk of layout problems for artwork teams who are preparing text for a language they don’t speak. We have had examples of cut and paste errors for example with a wrong piece of text inserted, or even a wrong language. This would be obvious to the translator on checking the artwork, but wouldn’t be very apparent to the design team. There can also be style issues, with different punctuation and layout requirements for different languages. This works best with teamwork between the translation provider, and the artwork team.
We can check artwork we haven’t translated, but this can often prove problematic. For example, there could be a good reason why the English text and the target language don’t match and shouldn’t, such as where there is a country specific legal requirement. If artwork is single language in the target language, then we can only check the translation if we have the original, though we can of course check that the language reads correctly and is free of typos etc.
In order to take advantage of this service, you will need to provide a low res pdf of the finished artwork. Clearly the text will need to be readable!
Typesetting food labels
We can provide typesetting in most languages and formats, separate quotation on request. There are particular issues in most design programmes when working with right to left languages. For example we normally have to typeset Arabic using the Middle Eastern version of Illustrator and provide it as an Outlined EPS or print ready PDF for most of our clients, as they don’t have the capacity in-house. The problem is that the standard version of Illustrator corrupts Arabic script making it unreadable, the same occurs with all right to left languages including Hebrew, Farsi, and many Indian languages.
