How many times have you been on holiday overseas and chuckled at a notice or advert in a hotel, restaurant or bar that has been translated into English badly? Funny mistakes that turn a simple message into gobbledegook or something much more hilarious are commonplace when translating messages into English, simply because of the huge and diverse vocabulary that English has acquired over the ages. Many words that sound the same have very different meanings indeed and anyone who tries to cut corners with a cheaply done translation into English is likely to end up with bloomers and blunders.
It works both ways of course. Anyone who has to translate a marketing slogan, message or even a whole website into another language from English because they have gone global with their product is likely to make exactly the same mistakes in reverse unless they are prepared to spend the money on a professional translation service that is embedded in both cultures and languages.
Most mistakes are made simply because of a lack of awareness of just how important it is to use the language style that the buyers understand and appreciate. Whole web pages can be found on the internet detailing the sort of classic mistakes that even major companies like Pepsi Cola and Nokia have made in the past. It’s not just a matter of reading how a marketing error is laughed at in the very place you are targeting to sell your products, it is just not worth it financially.
Good marketing is a mixture of clever psychology, smart images, cultural and social awareness and appropriate language. Get any one of these ingredients wrong and the marketing cake might just refuse to bake correctly and your sales figures remain in the doldrums, while the savvy competitor or competitors that took advantage of knowledgeable marketing translation services leap frog ahead.
