Many companies translate their site and campaigns once they're working well in one language, thinking they're simply switching languages. The result often sounds just off enough to weaken trust, without anyone quite knowing why. The difference between translating and adapting explains why.
Translating isn't adapting
A literal translation stays true to the meaning of the words. An adaptation stays true to the intent and the effect you're going for — even if that means rewriting the phrasing entirely. A pun, a cultural reference or a humorous tone that works perfectly in one language can fall flat, or even feel out of place, once translated word for word into another.
So the right question is never "how do you say this sentence in the other language?" but "what effect is this sentence producing, and how do we produce the same effect in the other language?"
Tone doesn't carry over as-is
French professional writing tolerates, and sometimes values, a certain formality and longer, more constructed sentences. English business writing, by comparison, generally favors conciseness, short sentences and a more direct tone, even in fairly formal B2B contexts.
A French text translated as-is into English often reads as too wordy and ceremonious to an English-speaking reader used to a more direct style. Conversely, an English text translated literally into French can come across as abrupt or careless to a French-speaking reader.
Cultural nuance matters more than the language itself
Based in Divonne-les-Bains, on the border with Geneva, we see this daily: a message that works for a Swiss or international audience doesn't always land the same way for a French audience, even when both share the same working language. References, price expectations, attitudes toward self-promotion or formality vary by market, well beyond the simple question of language.
Adapting a message, then, isn't just about picking the right words in each language — it's about understanding each audience's implicit expectations: what reassures, what convinces, what might instead create distance.
What must stay identical, no matter what
Certain brand elements must remain rigorously identical across languages to preserve recognition: the brand name, the visual identity, the overall structure of the offer, and the core promise. It's the words and the tone that adapt, never the identity itself.
A simple method to get it right
- Write the core message in its original language, clearly identifying the intent and emotion you're going for, independent of the exact wording
- Hand the adaptation to someone genuinely bilingual in the professional context you're targeting, not just in everyday language
- Have the result read by someone discovering the text without knowing the original version, to check it reads naturally on its own
- Check brand consistency (name, overall tone, promise) between both versions, without looking for a word-for-word match
A good bilingual strategy never simply duplicates content into another language. It builds the same level of rigor in both, accepting that the words change so the effect stays exactly the same.