French-Arab campaigns: successful adaptation beyond translation

Article prepared with artificial intelligence assistance. The sources and method are indicated in the text.

A common promise, several ways to say it

The starting point is a reference document that sets out the benefit, proof, conditions and mandatory elements. The formulation can vary to maintain the intention. Thus, a literal translation is not the only criterion of fidelity. The person who adapts must understand what the message must do and what cannot change. This clarification avoids arbitrating only on a vocabulary preference at the last step.

Specify the language use

The word "Arab" is not sufficient to describe the expected registry for all projects. The brief must specify the contract, the public, the context and the persons responsible for the validation. The decision on the registry must not be automatically inferred from the supposed age or origin of a public. A team can use artificial intelligence to explore formulations, then have relevance and understanding examined with project-specific skills.

Reread the composition, not just the text

The W3C documents the difficulties associated with mixing the directions of writing, especially when numbers, a Latin mark or an address appear in an Arabic sentence. For the communicator, the control must be on the final rendering: punctuation, order, separations and readability. The text validated in a document may be altered when it is incorporated into a visual, page or subtitle. Therefore, it is necessary to read again after composition and after export.

The bilingual validation grid

Accessibility is part of quality

A creation can be correct linguistically and difficult to read. Contrast, text size, duration of display and subtitles must be examined according to the medium. W3C WCAG resources provide benchmarks for digital content; they do not constitute an automatic certification of a campaign. The test must look at the concrete result, including the mobile versions and information only carried by color or image.

Practical case: a fictitious limited-time offer

A fictional sign prepares a two-language advertisement for a promotion. The team keeps a unique sheet of the offer and adapts the formulations in own compositions. It controls the dates and reading sense on each export, then asks readers to reformulate what they understand. This exercise reveals a more useful ambiguity than a simple question of aesthetic preference. The test responses must be located: they do not represent all market audiences.

Organize returns to keep a reliable version

Each correction must specify the version, problem and decision taken. A common nomenclature avoids re-introduction of an old text when adapting.The local rereading deserves a place in the planning and an identified person. Only one person cannot validate all the registers and sensitivities of a region. The role of the agency is to gather the necessary eyes and preserve arbitrations.

What AI can usefully assist

It can help prepare variants, a checklist or a comparison of mandatory elements. It must be used on authorized data and under the conditions appropriate to the project. Its result remains a proposal to be examined. The expected value is a clearer process and better identified omissions, not the disappearance of editorial or creative responsibility. The approach of this guide is a proposition of the Le Fils de Pub.

Sources and method

• W3C, localization and internationalization
• W3C, bidirectional text and HTML
• W3C, WCAG 2.2

The recommendations and grids of this article are proposed by Le Fils de Pub. The constructed examples are indicated; the advertisements and results attributed to an organization remain those of this source. Article prepared with artificial intelligence assistance.