It has never been quicker or easier to generate a translation. Take the approved English draft, pop it into a trusted AI, and, if you really want to go the extra mile, have it copy-checked by a local-language editor. You can have something ready to go within the hour.

And that might prove effective. Your intended audience may appreciate all that the effort. Or not.

Which leads to this anecdote from Bruce Daisley’s Make Work Better newsletter. It highlights why an emotion that plays well to a US audience doesn’t always land with UK audiences. Worse still, with the Dutch. We’re some way off a global monoculture.

The piece then links to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer.  It says that 70% of respondents were unwilling or hesitant to trust someone who has different values, facts, problem-solving approaches, or cultural background. The report confirms what many feel: that we are more insular and cynical.

For advocacy marketing, I don’t read this as ‘American stories for American audiences, Dutch stories for the Dutch’. And it’s not that all translations are always bad. I see it as a reminder we need to work hard to find common connection, while being mindful of local preferences. And that requires more than words; it needs action.