Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde? The Strange Case of Medical Marketing Translation

DR JEKYLL
OR MR HYDE?
THE STRANGE CASE
OF MEDICAL
MARKETING
TRANSLATION
Erin M. Lyons – BiomedNouvelle © 2014 – FIT 2014, Berlin

“With every day and from both sides
of my intelligence, the moral and
intellectual, I thus drew steadily to
that truth by whose partial discovery
I have been doomed to such a
dreadful shipwreck: that man is not
truly one, but truly two.”
- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

PART I:
UNDERSTANDING MEDICAL
MARKETING TRANSLATION
Is this untranslatable?
Building a marketing mindset
What kind of translator
are you?

PART II:
MEDICAL MARKETING
TRANSLATION PRACTICUM
Inter-linguistic wordplay
and puns
Ad-speak, neologisms
and buzzwords
Brand-specific
proprietary terms

WHAT IS
MEDICAL
MARKETING
TRANSLATION?

MEDICAL MARKETING
TRANSLATION
TECHNICAL
EXPERTISE
INSPIRED
MESSAGING

THE POWER,
PERSUASION AND
EFFECTIVENESS
OF A MESSAGE
ACCURACY
DEVELOP CREATIVE FLUENCY

THE EU PHARMA INDUSTRY

KNOWING YOUR
LANGUAGE MARKET

“PHARMERGING”
MARKETS

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER (DTC)
** Only 2 nations currently permit DTC **
(USA & New Zealand)

THREE TYPES OF DTC
DTC
Product
claims
Reminder
advertisements
Help-seeking
advertisements

DTC EXAMPLES IN THE PRESS

CONSUMERS OF ALL AGES

DIRECT-TO-PHYSICIAN (DTP)

AN AUDIENCE OF PHYSICIANS

CREATIVE
TRANSLATIONS
TO CONVEY
SCIENTIFIC
MESSAGES
“We’ve Got Your
Back”

WHAT KIND OF
TRANSLATOR
ARE YOU?

Reading and understanding
the source text
THE CHALLENGES
Transferring the
source meaning
Writing the target text

Where does the profile of
the perfect translator fall?
✗
Risk-taking
Capitulating
Prudent
Perseverant

AS A PROACTIVE TRANSLATOR…
TAKE
STRATEGIC
DECISIONS
UPSTREAM
TAKE
DECISIONS
OF DETAIL
DOWNSTREAM

BUILDING A
MARKETING
MINDSET

ASK YOURSELF:
Is this compatible with
[restriction X, Y, Z]?
What borrows from/builds on existing
industry/cultural references?
What is memorable?
What is credible?

WORKING WITH MULTIPLE LAYERS
OF COMMUNICATION

IS THIS
UNTRANSLATABLE?

A RARE CASE OF
MEDICAL
MARKETING THAT
IS EASY FOR THE
TRANSLATOR
TO SWALLOW

WHAT IS “UNTRANSLATABLE”

FROM EARLIER…

NOW, LET’S TRANSLATE
How would you
translate these
for your language
combination(s)?
Would
transcreation or
new copy work
better?

UNTRANSLATABLE CATEGORIES
Inter-linguistic wordplay
and puns
Ad-speak, neologisms
and buzzwords
Brand-specific
proprietary terms

INTERLINGUISTIC
WORDPLAY
AND PUNS

TRANSLATING
PUNS AND
IDIOMS:
A DELICATE
OPERATION

Arabic ‫ﻱيﺥخﺍاﻁطﺭر‬ ،٬‫ﺏبﺍاﻝلﻥنﺍاﺭر‬ ‫ﻱيﻝلﻉعﺏب‬
English to play with fire
French jouer avec le feu
German mit dem Feuer
Italian giocare col fuoco
Portuguese brincar com fogo
Russian играть с огнем
LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE
CORRESPONDENCE

CAT GOT
YOUR
TONGUE?
A stretch in
English, this
pun seems
virtually
untranslatable

The pun on
“cat” is aimed
at showing a
drug capable of
treating both
indoor and
outdoor
allergies
There is formal
equivalence but a
lack of dynamic
equivalence

SOLVING THE “CAT” PUN?
Can a more banal (no pun)
translation be used?
Do multilingual versions need to stand
up side by side?
Can the visual be replaced for
an equivalent, rather than
literal pun?

AD-SPEAK,
NEOLOGISMS
AND BUZZWORDS

Marketers love to invent new
words (neologisms) to make
their products stand out
ALL ABOUT THE BUZZ…
Sometimes words are used in
novel ways (ad-speak)
Other expressions build on
buzz in the medical field

DIVERGENCS IN AD-SPEAK

A CLOSER LOOK

BRAND-SPECIFIC
PROPRIETARY
TERMS

A CLASSIC CASE…

ANOTHER EXAMPLE…
Varying degrees
of effectiveness
in translation

EXAMPLE 1

YOUR
TRANSLATIONS?

EXAMPLE 2

EXAMPLE 3

EXAMPLE 4

EXAMPLE 5

EXAMPLE 6

Erin M. Lyons
elyons@biomednouvelle.com
www.biomednouvelle.com
QUESTIONS?

Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde? The Strange Case of Medical Marketing Translation

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