Hi! What makes you laugh whenever you walk out into street and watch some English words written mistakenly? It happens a lot when you go to the restaurants or cafes. The situations might go like these: The owners may request some jargon verbally into the advertisement companies or agencies. But the mistakes happen or occur in the writers or publishers.
It literally can be just an error. Or it is totally mistake made. So, generally we can say it is unconsciousness mistake ever made or it is totally human error double mistake.
Let’s see the examples:
- The jargon of a bakery: Fresh from the open
- The menu lists:
Ø Orenje Juice : Should be Orange Juice
Ø Friends Fresh : Should be French Fries
- Wrong translated branding sentence:
Ø KFC’s “finger licking good” into “eat your fingers off” in China
So, all the translation mistakes in advertising is back to the misunderstanding of the context. It is why when someone is trusted to translate the words, they should look thoroughly and wider concept where it will be announced or published.
It will be disadvantage both financially and on the market’s trust if the companies have to take back the products suddenly from the markets. It has big loss for all.
So, how to avoid those mistakes??
1. Don’t use translation tool
It only will lead you to incorrectness. The tool only show you one to one word translation which it will not give more contextual translation. If you only use this kind of method, you will be misleading. The solution is you can just use the simplest and clearest words to represent your products.
2. Don’t assume all native speakers are good translators
It is true that they speak English very well. But, they know little about contexts you want. The contexts are not only about the places but also the characteristics of the people, the situations, the traditions, the times, and more. And mostly the natives do not study long time about the grammatical English. So, why don’t you try to find English speaking translators from other countries also to compare the work.
3. Give clearest information to your translators
It can be your mistakes too for not giving enough information to the translators that make translation mistakes in advertising. By not having enough source of information, your translators will not be able to give broader and more understandable context of the translation.
Read Translation Gone Wrong (Funny Translation Mistakes)
It literally can be just an error. Or it is totally mistake made. So, generally we can say it is unconsciousness mistake ever made or it is totally human error double mistake.
Let’s see the examples:
- The jargon of a bakery: Fresh from the open
- The menu lists:
Ø Orenje Juice : Should be Orange Juice
Ø Friends Fresh : Should be French Fries
- Wrong translated branding sentence:
Ø KFC’s “finger licking good” into “eat your fingers off” in China
So, all the translation mistakes in advertising is back to the misunderstanding of the context. It is why when someone is trusted to translate the words, they should look thoroughly and wider concept where it will be announced or published.
Read Also 3 Types of Ambiguity In Translation and Ways to Handle the Issue. Be Aware!!
It will be disadvantage both financially and on the market’s trust if the companies have to take back the products suddenly from the markets. It has big loss for all.
So, how to avoid those mistakes??
1. Don’t use translation tool
It only will lead you to incorrectness. The tool only show you one to one word translation which it will not give more contextual translation. If you only use this kind of method, you will be misleading. The solution is you can just use the simplest and clearest words to represent your products.
2. Don’t assume all native speakers are good translators
It is true that they speak English very well. But, they know little about contexts you want. The contexts are not only about the places but also the characteristics of the people, the situations, the traditions, the times, and more. And mostly the natives do not study long time about the grammatical English. So, why don’t you try to find English speaking translators from other countries also to compare the work.
3. Give clearest information to your translators
It can be your mistakes too for not giving enough information to the translators that make translation mistakes in advertising. By not having enough source of information, your translators will not be able to give broader and more understandable context of the translation.
Read Translation Gone Wrong (Funny Translation Mistakes)
Translation Mistakes In Advertising
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Rahmatan Lil 'Alamin
