Use GenAI Not to Translate But to "Trans-Create".

Generative AI can transcend mere translation; it can revolutionize content strategy for international markets.

Last month, I rented a house in a quaint vacation town in Türkiye. Before departure, I wanted to ask a series of questions to the property manager to make sure I had everything I needed. While I'm a native Turkish speaker, I've lived most of my life in the U.S., so I used Generative AI to "translate" my questions to Turkish. What I got back instead was mind blowing. It didn't just translate, but recreated my questions with a clear understanding of the local culture. For example, when I asked whether there is a grocery store nearby, GenAI posed the question with 2 different words that describe different grocery store types we have in Türkiye. Grammar and word choices were impeccable, as if these questions were posed by a local visitor from the region.

GenAI Can Understand Context and Adapt to Different Linguistic Nuances. Its Accuracy in Translation is Growing.

In today’s fast-paced, global market, understanding and adapting to diverse languages and cultures is not just an advantage—it's a necessity.

It’s not just about translating words but conveying the right emotions and cultural references, making your content feel local and relatable.

Unlike MT (machine translation) models, generative AI can adapt cultural references, idioms, and humor to be more relatable and appropriate for each target audience. It can adjust voice and tone of content to suit different cultural contexts. It can make text more formal or informal, adjust reading levels for different age groups, and adapt it for different demographics. It can shorten text to fit in platforms where space is limited, like UI of an app or a PDF document with graphs, text and images. Further, you can optimize text to increase its translatability.

Real-Time Adaptation and Scalability

With GenAI, scalability becomes effortless. You can now adapt your content strategy in real-time, catering to evolving market trends and consumer preferences across different regions. This flexibility ensures your brand stays relevant and engaging, regardless of geographical boundaries.

Your Brand, Your Voice

When leveraging AI for translation, effective training on your own content is crucial to ensure it captures your brand's essence and voice accurately.

OpenAI and others made it quite easy to tap into their GPT systems (Generative Pre-trained Transformers) to translate content with a simple API call. However, note that the "translator" you are using is trained on generally available content and not your specific brand voice. To keep a consistent global voice, you will need to train it on your own content.

Always Keep Humans in the Loop

Don't try to replace humans with GenAI; empower them with its efficiencies and creativity. Your marketing and language professionals can get so much more done in quicker timeframes if you enable them with the ever-evolving capabilities of Generative AI. The human element remains essential, as it's the synergy between human ingenuity and AI's efficiency that truly transforms content strategy.

Conclusion

As we step into an era where borders are becoming increasingly blurred, the role of GenAI in content strategy is becoming more prominent. By understanding and adapting to cultural nuances, GenAI not only breaks language barriers but also builds bridges connecting brands to their international audiences more effectively than ever before.