Sports such as football, ski jumping and boxing are enjoying increased popularity. Club membership figures and a growing trend of fan communities lead one to expect a positive business trend in the sport industry as well. To further increase the popularity of sport and the number of fans, marketing experts are engaging with new target groups outside their comfort zones. This includes the Asian audience, which is becoming increasingly interested in classic sports such as football, not least due to governments also being interested, e.g. China. European clubs have discovered for themselves the great potential of the huge number of sports fans with attractive purchasing power in Asia. The increasing club membership figures lead to greater brand awareness and consequently a potential revenue upturn. E-sport is also establishing itself as another significant area of sporting interest internationally, becoming important as a new category with its own fans, alongside mass sport – a promising trend. More than half of e-sport fans worldwide come from Asia.
The right expression is the assist: online and offline
Each target market has different target groups. But they all have one thing in common. They need to be contacted in their native languages. If cultural characteristics are also taken into account and messages are adapted to suit their needs, i.e. localised, this increases the chance of success for the sender. Many things play out transnationally in the online world as well. From the transcription and translation of video and audio files, including time coding for interviews with football players and trainers in 16 languages, or the pure-play translation of a major football league’s annual report into languages including the key sports media of English, Spanish and Chinese, high quality translations give a feeling of esteem and community. At the same time, they can serve to expand the group of international investors. Because sponsorship activities of clubs and athletes are also increasing. Translations of sponsoring agreements on an international level are essential.
Translation trend: Chinese languages – traditional and simplified
One language that is particularly in demand on the market for sport translations in the field of Digital Marketing Channels is Chinese. The focus is translation from English and German into traditional or simplified Chinese. Social media channels are especially active and fast-moving – although in China there is no Facebook, YouTube etc., but instead the Chinese equivalents such as WeChat, Weibo, Baidu, Tencent QQ, Youku, Tudou and iQiyi. Anyone who wants to captivate an international audience should use multilingual Online Community Management and adapt translations of marketing measures to Chinese communication tools. Different alphabets and sentence structures require different layout rules and need special attention.
Our sport experts are happy to advise you regarding your language needs and any technical or linguistic features that must be taken into account in terms of translation and layout.
Do you have any questions about business translations for your company?
Contact our team today.
EVS Translations UK Ltd.
+44 (0)115 964 4288
EVS Translations USA Inc.
+1 404-523-5560
EVS Translations GmbH
+49 69/82 97 99-99
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