Customer Name: İspak Esnek Ambalaj Sanayi A.Ş.
Customer Sector: Flexible packaging
INTRODUCTION
İspak, a subsidiary of Kibar Holding and one of the leading flexible packaging manufacturer, commissioned us to translate their 2022 Sustainability Report from Turkish into English. As a language service provider, Dijital Tercüme is specialized in sustainability report translations. This is one of the benefits resulting from the inherent requirement for both global and local organizations (and, of course, translation offices are no exception!) to create action plans and publish guidelines, addressing various environmental and social issues from climate change, carbon neutral, green economy to creating a “sustainable” working environment within the organization, and these organizations must have comprehensive knowledge and awareness about the sustainability concept from every aspect if they wish to exist on a global scale today. Before undertaking the project, a preliminary analysis was carried out to gather necessary resources, e.g., UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, etc. and review the company’s website to better understand its brand identity. 17 SDGs, both in English and official Turkish equivalents, were compared to create a specialized term base in multilingual format and uploaded to the database. Next, a style guide was created in line with the company’s tone and voice used in their marketing communications with their customers and stakeholders. In addition to disclosing their economic, social, and environmental performance to stakeholders, sustainability reporting also provides a great opportunity for global companies to emphasize their corporate values and brand identity to their customers as well as a powerful way to start a conversation with stakeholders in a more transparent and honest manner. Global companies must ensure that their sustainability reporting complies with both global reporting standards, including the GRI Standards, and domestic market requirements to address the target audience.
CHALLENGES
- The company’s sustainability report follows the GRI Standards and also includes the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The terminology to be used must be consistent with the official reference documents as well as global standards and regulations. The Standards consist of Universal Standards, Sector Standards, and Topic Standards. Under GRI 2: General Disclosures, the company provides organizational details which include messages from the CEO and the General Manager. A different approach should be adopted for these messages. Rather than verbatim translations, transcreation strategies are used to convey these messages to the target audience.
- The report contains a great number of references to local initiatives, governance bodies, social responsibility activities, often in the form of call to action and mottos to support the brand image. One particular example is “WE” mindset, which represents a sense of togetherness and the power of sharing across the company and aims to strengthen employee and stakeholder engagement. A considerable number of CSR projects undertaken by the company also contain some version of WE in their name and require inserting word plays to convey an equally powerful message in the target language.
- The source text provided by the client is accompanied by document comments, containing more detailed information and suggestions for revision in the future. This is particularly helpful to gain insight into the mind of the author and create a consistent target text as well as complying with the revision requests of the client in the future.
- As part of performance reporting, some milestones, KPIs, and statistics are disclosed, which contain figures, tables, units of measurement, currency units, etc., and such information should be consistent throughout the target text.
- There are references to various national and international institutions and organizations, including some associations, NGOs, and non-profit organizations as well as their initiatives and regulatory documentation. The names of such organizations should be translated in an accurate manner.
- The report lists some global awards granted to the company for their performance in sustainability and taking action against climate change. Particular attention should be given to translating such awards as originally used by respective organizations.
SOLUTIONS
- The GRI Content Index provided at the end of the report was used as reference to ensure consistency of the terminology throughout the report. The terms contained in the GRI Standards published by the Global Reporting Initiative were used in an accurate manner. In line with the term base created at the beginning of the project, necessary transcreation and localization strategies were adopted depending on the context. For instance, the messages from the CEO and the General Manager were translated in a more creative manner to facilitate communication with the target audience and clearly signal the message that the senior management of the company is highly invested in transparent reporting to stakeholders, which strengthens the brand image.
- As mentioned earlier, “WE” mindset is emphasized in various initiatives and projects undertaken by the company. For example, “WE Are Equal” motto is used in the context of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion policies and training activities. Such slogans have a powerful way to convey the message across and beyond borders. Special attention was given to including this “WE” phrase in all related messages in the target text to give the same effect.
- Style guides specifically created for the project were used in translating facts and figures often found in the Highlights sections throughout the text to ensure consistent use of units of measurement.
- Disclosure of KPIs included references to various management systems related to energy, waste, etc. and applicable regulations were reviewed to use the correct terminology.
- Names of organizations, both internal and external, were used consistently throughout the target text. In some cases, English translation of local associations is also given to provide clarification to the target audience.
- In general, a specialized term base and glossary entries were used to further customize the target text. This will also be helpful in future revisions of the report, which is implied by the comment sections contained in the document.
SOLUTION ELEMENTS
- Leveraging a specialized translation team, subject matter expertise, and quality assurance processes in every step of the way from preliminary analysis until the final delivery to the client.
- Using a highly specialized term base and up-to-date terminology in the context of global reporting.
- A good understanding of the client’s requirements and accommodating the special requests of the client.
- Extensive research into national and international legislation, e.g., regulations, directives, guidelines, standards, etc., and effective use of reference documents for comparison.
BENEFITS
- Assisting the company in the disclosure of its economic, social, and environmental performance in line with applicable global standards to ensure transparent communication with its stakeholders and the public in general.
- Demonstration of a strong brand image consistent with the corporate values, vision, and mission of the company, which also serves as powerful marketing communication towards potential customers in international markets as non-financial reporting, including sustainability reporting, becomes a new paradigm in today’s world.
- Supporting the company in its sustainability journey by acting as a medium to convey a clear, consistent, and concise message tailored to the target audience.
