If you were selling a car, would you want your slogan to insult people’s genitals or tell them that this car is a quick way to die? These mistakes have happened due to improper editing and internationalization. With so many free machine translations out there, it could seem like translators are out of work. This is inaccurate, as machine translation cannot understand the many intricacies of language and therefore cannot offer the quality type of work a human translator can.
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Is Quality Important in a Translation?
In the age of so many free translating apps, people are tempted to use these free apps to translate their text. However, having an unchecked translation can go from being either a hilarious mishap, humiliating mistake, to a catastrophic event. No matter which of these situations it falls under, it will always make the message source seem a little less professional and accountable. Quality matters because it tells the reader that the message is worth investing in and reliable. A message that has not been properly vetted for quality and is treated in a lazy manner tells the reader that the message is not important.
An awkward or incorrect translation implies that perhaps the message is self-serving or limited to people who will take any bread crumb as factual truth. When we try to get the cheapest or fastest translation done, many times we end up paying for this misstep by losing clients or missing out on a valuable audience.
When Should You Care About Quality in a Translation?
If your message is important due to its content, possible outcome, personal validity to you or any other number of reasons, then quality must be important to you as well. The original text or audio must be combed through for grammatical mistakes, fact checking, discrepancies and fallacies. Likewise, the translation must be treated with the same eye to detail to make sure that the messages reach audiences without a hitch. Should the translation of the message cause readers to pause and doubt, that tiny instance may lose you a possible client or reader. In the era of “fake news”, people want to feel like they can trust the source of every bit of information they get.
Perhaps you are trying to spread information that might help others by educating them or warning them, consider the importance of this information being something that people feel like they can count on. Maybe you are the author of a novel, and want thousands of readers to be able to access your story. However the translation is clunky or makes no sense so they don’t get through the book, don’t recommend it, or worse yet they leave a bad review on your website.
Mistakes Can Be Costly
One example of a mistake made by AI vs human is not knowing when to adequately translate to the formal “you” in languages that use it such as Spanish or French, vs the informal “you”.
There are a few historical translating mistakes that have been the cause of great embarrassment to not only businesses, but entire countries.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter visited Poland only to have three terrible accidents happen within one speech with the wrong interpreter. The first mistake was when Carter said he wanted to learn about the Polish people’s desire for the future. His translator, however, accidentally mis-translated and told the Polish people that the President desired them –sexually. When Jimmy Carter said “I left the U.S. this morning”, his translator mis-translated that into “I left the U.S. –never to return again.” The third strike was when the president simply said he was happy to be in Poland which the interpreter mis-spoke again to say, the president was happy to grasp at Poland’s private parts.
As if those mistakes weren’t enough, when he later used another interpreter, the new interpreter translated nothing at all, as he couldn’t understand the President’s accent. These were all the mistakes of two unqualified interpreters, and yet Jimmy Carter became a punchline for the Polish for some time after that.
While these were all mistakes done by the interpreter, there are many translating mistakes that big brand names have made. An airline once translated their slogan, which promised enviable upholstery, “Fly in Leather” into Spanish. The slogan in Spanish however, ended up meaning “Fly Naked.” Another Spanish blunder was when the now famous “Got Milk?” slogan was accidentally translated to a phrase that meant “Are You Lactating?” Colgate released a toothpaste in France that was simply called “Cue” which in French is a more vulgar word for butt. Not necessarily something you’d like to brush your teeth with.
In the automobile world, there have been other unfortunate mistranslations. Mercedes-Benz entered the Chinese market with a car that was simply known as “Bensi” which in Chinese means “rush to die.” Quite an unfortunately morbid slogan for a car. In another bizarre mistranslation was when Ford released the Pinto in Brazil, which in Brazilian Portuguese means “small male genitals”.
These are just some of the mistakes that have been made by huge brands who have the money to spare on trustworthy translators that would get them the quality translations they deserved. It is hard to know why these mistakes would be made in such an unavoidable way but understanding why they happened can be a cautionary tale for people with a message. For one, it is not only important for a translator to understand how to transcribe something into another language, understanding localization and globalization are also a necessary step. This, along with having a contextual understanding of contemporary language and being a good writer are all parts that make up a good translator. Add an editor or two, and a project manager to the team, and you’ve got yourself a well-oiled translating machine that can offer you the quality you need.
What Is the Difference Between Quality Assurance and Quality Control in a Translation?
Some companies will guarantee the quality of the work, however a slight change in vocabulary might change the aspect of the quality.
What is the difference between Quality Assurance vs Quality Control? Simply put, Quality Control affects the product while Quality Assurance affects the process. However, getting familiar with these differences can assist in knowing what to ask to vet a company regarding their editing process.
5 Dos and Don’t’s to Ensure a Quality Translation
Here are some ways to increase the chance of having a quality translation.
1. Don’t use AI.
Under no circumstance use machine translation alone as your source for a translation. You need a native speaker to check for errors, consistency, contextual and cultural accuracy, as well as an editor to give it a final look.
2. Do hire a business.
While freelance translators can be effective, it is easier to hold a business accountable. Not to mention a good business model includes an entire project team. Investing in a business instead of a lone translator will more easily ensure quality.
3. Don’t rush.
Unless it is completely unavoidable, do everything possible to make sure that the translation has the time it needs to be done. Asking that a large translation be done overnight is sometimes impossible and there is a larger risk of the quality being lower.
4. Do pay for quality.
Don’t go for the cheapest or free option. While the market is competitive and people will do everything possible to get a job done, knowing your worth means pride in your work. Going to the cheaper option often times means getting low quality work.
5. Do be consistent.
If you are a business or person that is constantly releasing information that you wish to translate, it is better to have a business that can cater to all your language needs and constantly do the work for you. This way, you know you can trust the work quality to be consistent.
Last Quality Thoughts
Knowing more about the behind the scenes of a translation and what quality to expect aids in finding the right translation business. However, quality is not limited to translation, and should instead be something we take pride in with everything that we do. Communicating with strategy is an art and a science, and one that should be regarded and treated with the respect it deserves.
For quality work, contact Paladria to learn more about how we support you every step of the way so that you can be sure that the job being done is treated with respect. Quality assurance and control isn’t just a thought for us, it’s a practice.
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