Korean Translation Tip: A Surprising Aspect of Character Limitations in Korean Translations

I’ve been developing my skills in online marketing lately, which recently included earning a Google Adwords Individual Qualification [EXPIRED LINK REMOVED: https://uz9.25e.myftpupload.com/korean-translator/] . This effort brought to my attention an aspect of Korean character limitations that I hadn’t considered carefully before.

Since Korean translation [EXPIRED LINK REMOVED: https://uz9.25e.myftpupload.com/] is my gig and the Korean search engine Naver commands 70%+ of the Korean search market, I’ve done some online marketing studying there, too.

When I started working on Naver, I learned that the headline of a Naver ad is allowed a grand total of 15 characters.

What?!?… Google gives you 25!

But here’s the thing… Each Korean “character” contains 2-4 Korean “letters” so this actually allows more space for including meaning than Google….

Unless….

You’re trying to advertise in English on Naver…

… and then you’re up a creek with only 15 letters!

Best-Practice Tip – When you have us handle your English-to-Korean translation [EXPIRED LINK REMOVED: https://uz9.25e.myftpupload.com/english-to-korean-translation/] project where there are limitations on the number of characters permitted (such as video subtitling), you don’t really have to worry very much. In fact, within the same Korean character limitations as English, we can write to our heart’s content in Korean.

Steven Bammel

Steven S. Bammel is president and chief translator/consultant at Korean Consulting & Translation Service, Inc. A graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington (B.B.A. Economics) and Hanyang University (M.S. Management Strategy), Steven has worked for over twenty years in Korean business and translation. | more about Steven

You may also like...