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Business Translation Services and Popdance

How business translation services and localisation helped a dance company expand into global markets.

Rolling out an established brand in new countries needs careful planning, so Popdance’s (https://popdance.co.uk/) founder and chief leg warmer-wearer Sue Wybrow contacted Atlas for some cultural and localisation advice.

Popdance teaches adults, teens, children and tots fun dance routines to pop music from the 80s, 90s, 00s and current tracks. It’s a chance to let your hair down, get active, and have some fun.

The original brand has expanded to include Popdance Fit,  Popdance Kids, and Popdance Parties, among others. And it looks like they’ll be going worldwide.

“When I first contacted Atlas Translations, I thought we’d just translate the whole website into all the languages needed. Atlas recommended that we look carefully to see exactly which pages we needed, and to bear in mind that we may want to re-write it a bit so that it is more “local” – what Atlas calls localisation – so that the reader in Hong Kong or whichever country sees text that is meaningful for them.”

Sue

We recommended only translating small, key sections of the English website to keep costs down and ensure the content could be controlled and updated more easily.

We also suggested it would be a good idea to research the cultural context of target markets to find out what life is like for children in these countries. Key questions that needed to be answered included: Is there a similar or comparable kids’ party culture? Do children do after-school clubs? Are there organisations like Brownies, Beavers and Scouts?

We were delighted to help Sue with her plans for Popdance world domination!

These are some of the things we will consider when localising any texts:

Spelling: American/Australian English versus UK English

Meaningful cultural references: What works well in the UK may need a different reference for another country

Colloquialisms and idioms: These may have different translations in other languages

Cultural and social differences of individual countries that use the same language: European Spanish vs. Latin American Spanish

Numbers, measurements, and dates: Units of measurement, weight, currency, and date formats would be converted to those used in the target country

Creative representations: Pictures, icons, symbols and colours that may have different meanings associated with them in the target country

Relevant photos: Photos are always a great way to appeal to a market, but localisation should be used to avoid negative associations with specific aspects of religion, culture, etc.

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