Seasonal events like Halloween are always a great excuse to connect with your audience, whether you’re launching a new Halloween product or you just need an excuse to update your community about what you’ve been up to. There is one thing you have to think about though: how relevant is Halloween in your target audience’s country? That’s where Active Languages comes in. As you know, translation is more than just converting one language into another; it means considering the country’s culture and what Halloween means to them. Read on to find out how to avoid a nightmare marketing campaign.
October 31st isn’t just Halloween…
The Brazilians don’t celebrate Halloween, they celebrate two festivals on October 31st instead: Dia das Bruxas (Witches’ Day) and Saci Day, in tribute to a mythological Brazilian folklore character called Saci-Pererê. Saci Day has actually been described as a “peaceful resistance to Americanised Halloween culture”, which should give you some food for thought when it comes to any seasonal greetings you want to send your Brazilian community. Costa Ricans may dress up and wear masks on October 31st, but it’s not for All Hallows’ Eve… it’s actually for their Mascarada Costarricense or National Masquerade Day. Mask-making is integral to Costa Rica’s culture and people celebrate with costumes, big heads, parades, brass bands and festivities. If you’re looking to connect with your Costa Rican customer base, it may be best to avoid any mention of Halloween and focus more on their National Masquerade Day to acknowledge the culture they’re so proud of.
… It’s the day before All Saints’ Day too!
October 31st may be synonymous with All Hallows’ Eve here in the UK, but it comes before All Saints’ Day and a lot of countries celebrate it more than Halloween. For example, although American influence has made Halloween popular in Portugal, the bigger festival for them is on November 1st, Dia de Todos os Santos, when the Portuguese flock to their local graveyards to tidy up their loved ones’ resting places. Portuguese children spend the day going door-to-door to receive cakes, nuts, pomegranates and sweets for Pão por Deus (the Portuguese tradition of “souling”). Kids get sweet treats on All Saints’ Day in Austria and Bavaria too, where the tradition is for godfathers to give their godchildren a sweet, braided bun called an allerheiligenstreizel. In Hungary, All Saints’ Day is a national holiday when people use the day to pay their respects at the cemetery or lay flowers or candles at the main calvary cross at the nearest cemetery if they’re unable to travel. There are many more examples across the world of traditional celebrations on All Saints’ Day, highlighting that although Halloween is becoming more popular with the influence of American culture, different countries have their own traditions that deserve respect and recognition.
Know your audience
Another thing to consider when drafting your content is your target audience’s age. Globalisation, streaming companies and the media have brought Halloween in its American guise to the world’s attention. Let’s take Japan as an example. Disneyland Tokyo and Universal Studios Japan put Halloween on the country’s radar in the 90s and clever marketing by the likes of McDonald’s (selling Halloween fries with a purple condiment made from Japan’s purple sweet potatoes) has made it an excuse to party in Japan. However, negative press from foreigners ruining the country’s Halloween party trains in 2009 has meant Japan sees the event as a kids’ version of the traditional Obon Festival (visiting graves in August). It’s much more of a bone of contention in Russia though, where the older generation frown upon the festivities due to influence from the government and Orthodox Church. Vitaliy Molonov went so far as to say that Halloween violates Russian law and is connected to “the activities of dangerous occult organisations.” That hasn’t stopped younger Russians from enjoying Halloween though. If you have a younger audience, bringing Halloween into your marketing isn’t an issue. If you have a more mature audience though, consider just how much you want to focus your content on Halloween.
So there you have it! The best thing you can do if you’ve got any content that you’d like to translate for your international audience is to contact Active Languages. We can localise your translation so it suits the target market and flag anything that may fall on deaf ears or offend your customers. You know who to contact Active Languages!
Active Languages Translation Agency is recommended by PARIS-MOVE and by ACCORD French Language School in Paris.
