Translators Without Borders: Caugh Into Your Elbow

Translators Without Borders is a non-profit organisation that offers language and translation support for humanitarian emergencies. With the global pandemic further highlighting the language barrier that exists for some of the world's poorest regions, making health advice accessible for as many languages as possible is an ongoing battle. That's why TBWADublin is launching a new campaign to help Translators Without Borders raise some much needed funding. The creative consists of a series of short videos and static posts for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The idea plays off words that share the same spelling across two different languages (homophones) and then shows how the word vastly differs in meaning through the use of bright and engaging illustrations. This sets up the campaign message to show viewers that “With Covid-19, accurate translations can mean life or death”. Though colourful light-hearted visuals, the campaign illustrates how easily a message can be misinterpreted and draws attention to how important accurate translation is in a crisis. TBWADublin aims to shed light on those parts of the world that don’t have access to vital information, from non-English speakers to people living in poorer, less developed countries. The language selection is based on the variety of visual differences between languages. Contrasting English with Bangla or Arabic script helps drive home how even a simple message like “wash your hands” can look so different across the globe.