Texts commonly found in art galleries vary greatly – from practical visitor information to exhibition labels and wall panels, extending all the way to visitor brochures, exhibition catalogues and digital interactive content. All of these texts merge together to shape the experience of your visitors and the narrative of your exhibition. Besides covering the basics like opening times and house rules, such texts give visitors insights into the artist’s thought processes, workflows and background. This, in turn, enhances engagement with the artworks and artefacts on display, not to mention the setting overall.
Knowing your pointillism from your papier collé
Exhibitions often focus on a particular artist, artistic movement or technique. Take, for example, the Tate Modern’s current exhibition on Nigerian modernism, which shines the spotlight on a geographical, sociopolitical and temporal context that features techniques and traditions specific to the Nigerian narrative and that are therefore unfamilar to your average Brit. As such, the Tate Modern’s visitor content looks to explain the art forms featured – which include bronze casting, wood carving and mural painting – and clarify the political concepts infused in the artworks, such as the Négritude movement.
We mention all this to highlight that it takes well-founded expertise to explain such knowledge to the gallery audience – and the same expertise should be expected of the translator who transfers the exhibition content into new languages. In order to faithfully convey the context, the translator must be well acquainted with the subject matter and terminology involved. An arts and heritage translator who doesn’t know the difference between neo-expressionism and Nerikomi is of not much use at all. That is precisely why First Edition Translations has built up a pool of dedicated translators over the years – professionals who know their decalcomania from their décollage.
Creativity and cultural sensitivity
Technical jargon aside, translating for the arts and heritage sector also demands genuine vision and a flair for meaningful storytelling. Literal, word-for-word translations will fail to strike up the same emotions and inspiration as creative, out-of-the-box thinking. What’s more, some historical or cultural references may carry different connotations in other languages. As cross-culture communicators, translators check for phrases that could unintentionally offend or misrepresent cultural heritage and are careful in their choice of words.
With many cultural sites priding themselves on being accessible to all, museum texts often call for a balance between scholarly precision and visitor-friendly language, which equally requires creativity and a knack for words. A quality translation provider takes this into account and may lead discussions around your objectives in this respect to ensure you get exactly what you want from the translation and that the tone matches the original intent.
Museum translation services since 1981
First Edition Translations is a certified translation agency based in Cambridge, UK. Bringing over forty years of expertise in the cultural and creative industries to the table, we are a founding member of Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and part of the Association for Cultural Enterprises (ACE) – a reflection of our dedication to both our own craft and that of our clients. We specialise in translation, editing, proofreading, and typesetting for art books, exhibition catalogues, museum guides, and creative publications.
Our experience includes projects for leading museums, galleries, and publishers worldwide. We are honoured to collaborate with institutions such as:
- The Louvre Abu Dhabi
- The National Museum of Oman
- The British Museum
- Talbot Rice Gallery
- The Royal Collection Trust
- Tate Modern
- The Van Gogh Museum
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- The National Gallery
- and many others.
Whether it’s fine art monographs, design books, or leaflets, our expert team ensures every project captures the essence of your vision and speaks authentically to global audiences. We have seen the positive impact that high-quality translations have on footfall in the arts and heritage sector. If you’d like to explore how we can help elevate your organisation’s status and visitor numbers, simply reach out to our multilingual project managers at enquiries@firstedit.co.uk.
Whether it’s providing an editor conversant in transliterated Arabic and classical Persian, translating verse from Armenian or rendering a text in Uzbek braille, First Edition have been up to any task we have thrown at them. Their work is of the highest standard, their service personable and flexible – it would be fair to say that we are not quite sure what we would do without them.