franklyfluent Launch is Loud and Clear

To coincide with its official launch this week, creative translation agency franklyfluent has produced a series of colourful illustrations revealing the extent to which cultural idioms can get lost in translation.

The five pieces (IDIOMASCOTS) have been sent to friends and clients of the company and to highlight the value and skill of creatively sensitive translations, a service that the new agency provides to ensure brands are fluent in all relevant markets.

Each of the IDIOMASCOTS, designed by Genevieve Edwards, is accompanied by a literal translation of the foreign phrase, as well as a more natural and fluent creative rendering. For example, the Slovenian saying ‘300 hairy bears!’ is an English equivalent of ‘holy moly!’ while another reveals that the French cousin to ‘flogging a dead horse’ is ‘combing the giraffe.’

Below, franklyfluent founders Jordan Woolley and Catherine Barr (pictured, above) tell us more about their new venture, including why they think there’s a demand for their business, how they aim to break down barriers and why they chose to launch with their cutesy IDIOMASCOTS.

Tell us a bit about your new company, frankyfluent…

We specialise in translating creative ideas, helping brands sound like natives in markets all over the world. We interrogate the idea behind the words, giving our copywriters the proper ammunition to artfully craft it in their own native tongue while staying true to the core of the creative idea.

Why do you think there’s demand for a company such as this in the industry?

As ex-agency folk ourselves we both felt a need in the industry for a more creative approach to translation. Too often adaptation is just an afterthought; the best outcome in those scenarios is an average literal translation of the original words. The worst is the brand coming up red-faced and apologetic.

Tell us about your launch campaign and why you chose to make some noise about your opening in this way?

We really wanted to fly the flag for well-crafted creative translations, and the thoughtfulness and skill that goes into producing them. For us, the IDIOMASCOTS are food for thought – cultures communicate in such rich and varied ways even when it comes to just simple, daily expressions, which clearly has enormous implications for brands if they want to sound native in all their markets. It’s something that most of us don’t have much cause to think about on a day-to-day basis, but brand guardians have that responsibility.

In a globalised world, how important is translation in the communication of ideas?

Hugely so. Brands rightly spend a lot of time and effort in the pursuit of meaningful engagements with their audiences. Neglecting to speak to them in their own mother tongue or – worse – sounding like a Google translation when you’re trying to befriend them can be downright embarrassing and potentially damaging for brands’ reputations.

How did you research the idioms used and why did you choose the ones you did?

Luckily for us, the world’s languages are an overflowing pool of colourful expressions that paint their own weird and wonderful pictures when you hear the literal meaning of the words. Both coming from language backgrounds we’ve heard a lot of weird and wonderful idioms, but didn’t realise we’d only just scratched the surface… Our team of copywriters and proofreaders contributed their favourites, and we then set to the task of choosing five that we had an instinct would illustrate beautifully, sticking to the theme that animals sell, of course.

How did you go about finding the illustrator for the character designs?

We approached a few people that we knew, but really fell in love with Genevieve’s style and her enthusiasm for the project. Stylistically, she totally nailed the simple, graphic, vibrant feel we were after. She’s also a Japanese-speaker and language graduate so was just as excited as us to raise the issue of creative translations being properly treated.

How does the campaign reflect your values and practices as an agency?

We hope the IDIOMASCOTS give a sense of the creativity that’s at the core of why we started franklyfluent – for us, they marry a curiosity for the way different cultures communicate with a passion for creativity and craft in communications. And this is really what we strive for in all the work we deliver.

What do you hope the industry takes away from the concept of your campaign?

We want to get people thinking about what goes into a translation – the likes of Google Translate simplify the process in many people’s heads, but it needs to be treated as a real creative process if you want results.

What sort of clients and accounts will you be targeting with your business?

Invariably the brands and agencies that approach us get what we’re about and see why it’s important to treat translation with care. Any communications that come into contact with consumers tend to deserve this treatment, whether it’s a website, a leaflet, or a full-blown ATL campaign; so I suppose that makes for a pretty wide playing field!

You can find out more about franklyfluent’s services, from translation and transcreation to creative copywriting, editing and cultural consultation here.