Why Good Translation for Your Online Content Is So Important

Posted On December 5, 2019By TranspanishIn Languages, Translation Buyers, Translations/ 1 Comment

In an age when more business is done online instead of face-to-face, writing correctly has never been so important for making a good impression. In today’s world, writing using the correct grammar and avoiding silly spelling mistakes is as key to coming across well online as having a firm handshake in the analog business world.

The Importance of Writing Well Online

Whether you’re writing an email, updating a blog on your website, posting on social media or writing a report, good writing will always help whatever your needs. This is a fact that businesses today are well aware of, leading to an increase in the popularity of proofreading services and software, which reflects the importance of writing well in the modern age. In fact, according to one study by BBC News, even just a single spelling mistake can cut sales in half, with Oxford University’s Professor Dutton adding that it can “raise concerns over trust and credibility.”

Writing well isn’t just about knowing the do’s and don’ts of grammar, it’s also about expressing yourself in a way that will appeal to your audience, be they readers of your website or customers of your products. It is for these same reasons that good translation and localization is important, and finding a translator who can convey your message naturally through good writing is crucial when pursuing a multilingual audience.

Good Writing Needs Good Translation

Even if you write well in one language, poor translations into another will likely cause misunderstandings and make a poor impression, coming across as uninterested in the language or their custom. Good translation is, like good writing, about showing respect and doing so will help improve your reputation and make a good impression on the reader. If you take the time to get a professional, accurate translation, then it shows you have respect for the language while also avoiding misunderstandings that could prevent you from reaching your potential. In some circumstances, spending a little extra on having a skilled translator can hinder confusion that could potentially even lead to lawsuits.

Don’t Skimp on Translation

Good translation isn’t just about the writing itself. This is something that is often misunderstood and a reason why many businesses choose to cut corners and rely on machine translation tools alone. Good translation is also about localization and knowledge of the target culture as well as the language, being able to adapt the copy to suit the needs of the target market. For example, if you write in English in an informal, friendly manner with lots of colloquialisms, translating these directly into Spanish using an automatic translation tool would be highly confusing. In these circumstances, localization is about being able to adapt content for the target market and in this example, it’d feature the use of Spanish colloquialisms.

Using a machine translator or even a human translator who either isn’t a professional or fully aware of cultural differences can have negative effects on your content, and this will very likely lead to mistakes that could cost you clients.

It’s very important to not only write well in the first place but when translating to another language, to make use of a professional translator who can not only translate your text but adapt it, making it suitable for a local audience.

Top Ten Untranslatable Words for International Translation Day

Posted On September 30, 2019By TranspanishIn Languages, Translations/ 2 Comments

Every year, on 30 September, people around the world honor the art of translation with International Translation Day. It marks the feast day of St. Jerome, the patron saint of translation, who dedicated over two decades of his life in the 4th century to translating the Bible into Latin. Of course, there are often difficulties in translation and St. Jerome himself was no exception, famously translating the Hebrew for radiance as horns, which led to many depictions of a horned Moses. In the spirit of International Translation Day fun, this article takes a light-hearted look at one of the most interesting topics in translation: untranslatable words.

Here are a few of our favorites:

German – Vorführeffekt

The wonderful thing about the German language is how it easily forms compound words to create the most suitable words for even the most niche and specific feelings. Vorführeffekt literally means “the effect of being in front of someone” and refers to when you try to show somebody something but you can’t because they are watching you.

Yaghan – Mamihlapinatapai

Coming from the Yaghan language, an indigenous tongue in Tierra del Fuego, mamihlapinatapai refers to the look between two people where each wishes that the other would begin an action that they both want, yet they are both reluctant to initiate themselves. It can also refer to an unspoken understanding between two people. Words like this, and many others, highlight the importance of preserving endangered languages around the world as they are a portal into the human experience.

Finnish – Kalsarikännit

This oddly specific word is an example of the joys of the Finnish language, one of the oldest in Europe with eons of collective stories to tell. This word here, for example, refers to getting drunk alone at home in your underwear.

Welsh – Hiraeth

Some words are of such importance to a culture that they can even embody it and while Welsh has many unique words like cwtch (a cuddle or a safe space with a high degree of comfort), hiraeth embodies the Welsh attitude. It is akin to an incredible homesickness for a home you cannot return to or maybe never even existed in the first place. It is also often used when talking about Wales’ past in a romantic manner.

Korean – Han (한)

As with Welsh and hiraeth, han is described as a typical Korean characteristic, which is unsurprising considering the area’s history. Han is a state of simultaneous sadness and hope. It’s an unresolved resentment against injustice, a sense of helplessness in the face of overwhelming odds and a desire to seek revenge and justice.

Spanish – Sobremesa

While we all know the feeling of many of these words, only a few languages have defined them. The Spanish language’s sobremesa is a perfect example of this, the time after having eaten a meal spent talking to those with whom you have eaten. Not to be confused with Portuguese sobremesa, which means dessert.

Tagalog – Gigil

Gigil is again something many of us would have felt and this is often described in English as “cute aggression”, or the intense desire to squeeze something cute.

Spanish – Empalagar

As the desire to eat something sweet seems unrelated to the desire to eat due to hunger, it’s not too surprising that the Spanish language has developed a useful term to refer to the different states. The verb empalagar here refers when a food is too sweet and it makes you feel sick.

Georgian – Shemomechama (შემომეჭამა)

Like German, the way the Georgian language works allows it to create highly specific words that can’t really be directly translated, which helps to give it its difficult reputation. An example of this is shemomechama, which refers to when you didn’t mean to eat something, but you ate it anyway, like eating with a full stomach.

Brazilian Portuguese – Cafuné

This beautiful term refers to the act of running one’s fingers through a loved one’s hair, which can be applied to people and pets alike.

Do you know any more unusual untranslatable words? Let us know in the comments.

The Rise of Spanish as a Second Language

Posted On September 19, 2019By TranspanishIn Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ 2 No Comments

With 21 countries listing Spanish as an official language, and with it being a de facto language on nearly every continent, there’s a good reason to learn it. With 577 million speakers around the world, Spanish is the second most spoken language on earth, after Mandarin, and this figure is only set to increase. Not only is this due to a general rising global population, with the population of many Spanish speaking countries and communities set to rise, but also due to an increasing number of people studying Spanish.

While the English language is still the world’s most studied language by far, Spanish is a contender along with French and Mandarin for the second-most widely studied language with 21.8 million learners in 107 countries according to the Cervantes Institute. Most of these learners are in the US (8 million), Brazil (6 million) and France (2.5 million), with significant interest in countries like Italy, Côte d’Ivoire, Germany and the UK. This increase in learners has led to an interest in who exactly these close to 22 million people are and why they have chosen to learn Spanish. Obviously, the decision to learn a second language is often a personal choice and as such, there are many different reasons for learning Spanish depending on the general characteristics of countries.

Take the UK for example, where there are 519,000 Spanish learners. While the UK has traditionally favored French and German as second languages to study at school, there has been an increased preference for Spanish, in part likely due to a desire to communicate and interact with people while visiting or moving to the UK’s preferred holiday destination: Spain. While there is no doubt that many in the UK study Spanish for holiday reasons, it is also recognized as many as being a very important language for the future, according to the British Council.

The importance of Spanish as a global language in terms of employment, business and diplomacy also contributes to its popularity in many countries as Spanish is widely spoken and as such highly popular among certain professional circles. Similar patterns can also be seen throughout Europe in countries like Germany and Ireland, with a mix of cultural, tourist and business interests factoring into the equation. It is also interesting to note that Spanish is generally regarded as being an easy language to learn for English speakers, which may partially explain its prominence.

The US, with 8 million Spanish learners, has the largest number of Spanish learners on the planet. With over 40 million Spanish speakers and major communities of Mexicans, Cubans, Colombians and Puerto Ricans, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, with 88% of primary schools with language programs teaching Spanish. Massive parts of the US, including California, New Mexico and Arizona, were all also once under Mexican control and as such, there is a large Hispanophone influence on such states. This population of Spanish speakers is only predicted to increase and by 2060, it’s predicted that the US will be the second most Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico.

However, as in many other countries, the similar aspects of tourism (in this case primarily to Mexico), being a global language of importance to business and diplomacy and perceived ease all also affect the number of Spanish learners in the US. Considering the demographics of the US, there are also many Spanish learners who may want to better understand their compatriots in their native language or even learn the language that was spoken by their ancestors, with some in the growing Hispanic community having lost their language.

Considering its position as a global language, Spanish was ranked as the fourth most powerful language in 2016 and this looks only set to increase. With increasing online importance as the second most widely used language on Facebook and Twitter and the third most used language online, added to the Spanish-speaking cultural powerhouses of countries like Spain, Mexico and Argentina, and increasingly the US too, Spanish seems to be a language of the future and a language well worth studying for so many reasons.

With all this in mind, Spanish is an obvious language to study and engage in for cultural, business and personal reasons, as well as a clear favorite language for study among English speakers who don’t need to learn the current international lingua franca.

How Latin America’s Indigenous Languages Are Under Threat

Posted On August 21, 2019By TranspanishIn Languages/ 2 No Comments

Latin America is one of the most linguistically diverse places on the planet but like so many other places around the world, vast swathes of its indigenous languages are under threat of extinction by global languages like Spanish and Portuguese. Brazil alone risks losing a third of its nearly 200 languages by 2030. Meanwhile, in Mexico, almost two-thirds of its 68 languages are at critical risk of extinction, a trend seen across Latin America.

This creeping extinction threatens to erase thousands of years of history through discrimination, forced displacement, and the rise of technology that sidelines these indigenous languages. With 43% of the world’s languages being endangered and one-fifth of Latin America’s indigenous population already having lost their native tongues, UNESCO has declared 2019 the Year of Indigenous Languages to raise awareness of their importance to human heritage.

Despite some success stories, like Nahuatl, Quechua and Guarani, many indigenous languages face difficulties.

After being called pinches indios (damn Indians) by her schoolmates, a young speaker of the Mexican indigenous language of Kumiai, Josefina Meza, described how she thought her fellow pupils were trying to be her friend. Until she understood what they were saying. The abuse of those who spoke indigenous languages like Kumiai led to people starting to avoid speaking it and today, decades after this story, only 381 speak it.

Stories like this can be found throughout Latin America, leading to accusations that not enough has been done to protect these indigenous languages and their immeasurable value to human heritage. Shame or fear of speaking a language through discrimination is just one of the many tools used in linguicide; political ignorance is also often to blame. “Our languages don’t die, they are murdered,” announces Mexican Mixe speaker Yasnaya Aguilar to the Mexican Congress as she blames discriminatory education, health and justice systems for the threat to languages like hers.

Even in indigenous languages that are relatively widely spoken like Quechua, simple oversights can potentially endanger them. In 1996, the former Peruvian congressman Jose Linares was involved in a program to implement new technologies in 12 schools. The problem, however, was that the programming language used, Logo, was only in Spanish while one of the schools was majority Quechua. Determined for the children to learn in their native language, Linares worked with a team to translate it into Quechua, an example of a modern initiative that helps languages to survive. Since then, he has created a new Quechua dictionary with new scientific and technological terms that once made such technology limited to the Spanish language.

Through a mix of historical and legal discrimination, abolition and failure to adapt to the modern world, languages die. Latin America has been a linguistic battleground for centuries, and since the Spanish and Portuguese conquests, the linguistic scenery changed forever with major languages like Nahuatl and Quechua even taking a back seat to the new official languages. The languages were even officially banned in 1770 by Carlos III, the King of Spain. Despite this, some 600 survived, albeit with many severely under threat.

Since the Portuguese conquest, more than 1,000 languages have disappeared in Brazil, where indigenous language rights were only relatively recently recognized in 1988, leading to efforts being made to document and preserve these endangered languages. Although there may be recognition of one’s right to speak an indigenous language, it is still difficult, nigh on impossible with the rise of globalization, to actually entirely live one’s life in it.

Despite the critical situations facing many languages in Latin America and around the world, globalization and the rise of technology can actually be a tool to help keep languages alive. Take the Irish and Welsh languages for example, which less than a century ago many were predicting would die out. Today, with the help of governments, technological adaptation and apps like Duolingo, people from all over the world have taken an interest in their languages. With this proven potential for success, hopefully the same can be done to help preserve the hundreds of threatened languages in Latin America and share their stories with humankind.

What Steps Should You Follow to Get a Successful Translation?

Posted On August 7, 2019By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers, Translations/ No Comments

Feeling overwhelmed by the translation process? Don’t know how or where to start?

One of Transpanish’s priorities is to educate customers so that they get the best translation service without any unpleasant surprises that could jeopardize their project.

That’s why we’ve come up with the following tips to help you make the right decisions for getting a successful translation.

Planning ahead matters

Plan your translation schedule in advance. A professional translator usually translates around 2,000 words per day. A translation agency can double that number and can also translate higher volumes, but translating large volumes of content in a short amount of time may cost more than you might expect. Bear this in mind when considering the text that you’re going to get translated and when establishing deadlines.

Ask yourself what goal you intend to reach with your translation. Supposing that you’re translating into Spanish, is there a specific region or country you’re looking to target? Or would you prefer a neutral Spanish translation that can be understood by all Spanish speakers?

Write for translation

If you haven’t written the source content yet, write it with translation in mind. Keep it simple and avoid idioms if possible. Write error-free copy and have it proofread before you send it for translation. You’re much more likely to get a quality translation if the original text is well written.

Provide reference material

Make sure to provide the translation agency or translator with all available reference material. This could include any past translations you were satisfied with and any glossary containing your company’s key terms, whether it’s bilingual or not. The more the translator understands your company’s tone the better.

Ever previously worked with a translation company and had it all go wrong? Be honest about it with the translation agency you’re hiring. Tell them about the problems you faced. If you have any examples of a bad translation that was done for you in the past, it might be a good idea to show them. This could even help a translation agency in choosing the right translator for your project.

Translation vendor selection

You might be wondering whether you should use a freelance translator or a translation agency. Maybe you’re even considering having your bilingual employee translate your documents.

But bear in mind that you pay for what you get.

Your Spanish-speaking employee, for example, might seem like a perfect option but it really takes much more than just speaking a language to translate documents accurately.

There are excellent freelance translators on the market but can they manage large-scale projects, and will you need to end up having to pay for another translator to proofread their work?

If you’re looking for a comprehensive service solution that can manage the entire process for you, you’re going to need a translation agency.

The standard will be higher as they have a quality assurance process that usually includes an expert proofreading. By the way, do remember to find out if a proofreading by a second translator or linguist is included in a translation service. Many companies offer different “quality levels” and they might even offer machine translation services at a cheap price. So remember to read the fine print of what is being offered and ask all the relevant questions.

Formatting

It’s important to format your document for translation. Are you getting a brochure translated? Bear in mind that some translations, such as translations from English to Spanish, end up having 15-30 percent more text than the original. This means that some arrangements, such as reducing font sizes, might need to be made to the final document.

If you’re translating a PDF, decide whether you’ll be doing the formatting on your end. If you request the translated document to be formatted, you’ll need to provide the source files (e.g. InDesign, PowerPoint) or the format will need to be recreated, which might result in a major expense.

Translating a large volume of content? Make the most of translation memories

If you’re translating high volumes of text with repetitions (sentences or segments repeated within one or more documents), it’s worth learning about translation memories.

A translation memory is essentially a database where the translation is stored as the translator works.

Let’s imagine that you’re translating six documents from English to Spanish with a total of 40,000 words, of which 10,000 are repetitions. If this is the first time the translator is working for you, the translator will start working with a computer-assisted translation (CAT) tool and create a translation memory for your project. As they translate, the sentences will be saved in the memory. When a new sentence is being worked on and the database finds a similar entry, the tool will show the sentence to the translator as a reference. This might be an exact match or what is called a fuzzy match (an under 99% match). Either way, the translator’s work will be made quicker and you’ll benefit from a time-efficient translation, not to mention consistency between your current and future documents.

Many agencies also offer discounts for repetitions and fuzzy matches so be sure to check if your translation quote reflects this discount.

Build a strong business relationship with your translation agency

If you find a translation vendor you trust, continue using their services.

This will help you get faster and more consistent translations and you may even benefit from special rates if you keep sending documents to translate on a monthly basis.

Regular clients can ask for special favors that a one-time client may not, such as translating a few sentences at a regular rate without incurring a minimum fee.

As with any project, making educated decisions is the key for a successful translation.

Still have questions? Contact us for a free quote or advice.

How US Politicians “Hispander” to the Latino Vote

Posted On June 4, 2019By TranspanishIn Latinos, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers, Translations/ No Comments

The Hispanic population constitutes the largest minority group in the United States, if one counts the population as one ethnic group, and this is only forecast to increase. As such, the Spanish language is not only an increasingly important language in the US for the country’s corporate and cultural spheres but also its politics.

In fact, in the 2020 US elections, the Hispanic electorate (32 million) will overtake the African-American electorate (30 million) for the first time. In recognition of this community’s electoral importance, and in a bid to increase the size of their audience, many politicians try to court Hispanic votes through using the Spanish language in political materials and announcements. The problem? Well, some of them aren’t very good at it for a start.

There are many examples of mistranslations and a lack of cultural understanding, including everything from gender mistakes to direct translations that make little to no sense in Spanish. Amy Klobuchar, the senator of Minnesota, for example, referred to her mother on her website using the masculine rather than the feminine.

Even Julián Castro, the only Latino presidential candidate in the 2020 race so far, showed cultural misunderstanding by erroneously referring to the United States of America as “América” instead of “Estados Unidos”, with América being used in Spanish to refer to the entire continent. All these incidents and many more are subject to criticism and ridicule, likely being a result of using services like Google Translate.

Even when politicians do use Spanish correctly, they can still come across as pandering to the Hispanic population for their vote while ignoring them outside of the electioneering season, a phenomenon that’s come to be known as “hispandering”. Some politicians offer an unequal amount of content in Spanish to what they do in English, while other candidates have tried to pander to Hispanic voters on a cultural level. A famous example of this was when the Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign published an article called 7 ways Hillary Clinton is just like your abuela, which prompted backlash with the hashtag #NotMyAbuela.

This isn’t to say that politicians shouldn’t have a go at other languages to try and expand their appeal. From Jackie Kennedy to George W. Bush, the political class in the US has long taken an interest in the Spanish language, and this interest should indeed be regarded as positive.

However, there is a difference between, on the one hand, expressing a genuine interest in a group, with a desire to show you are listening to them and value their language and culture, and, on the other hand, patronizing them by using their language as a token gesture. It all comes down to attitude.

There is an argument that, as most Hispanic Americans speak English, the aim of this hispandering is just to show that they respect their culture in an environment that can be very hostile to Hispanic Americans and the Spanish language. But even if that is all that is intended, this message would be made all the more powerful through using professional translations and experts and making genuine attempts to understand this group rather than pander to them in a tokenistic manner.

How Should Translators Approach Content Too Complex for Its Intended Audience?

Posted On April 30, 2019By TranspanishIn Spanglish, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers, Translations/ 1 Comment

Language can be hard at the best of times, but paradoxically at the times when communication is the most important, all meaning can be lost in jargon for the average reader. This is a common phenomenon in fields like the civil service, finance and health care, all of which affect every person on the planet. However, they often involve highly complex terms and concepts that will leave many of those who rely upon these services scratching their heads, having a detrimental impact on their lives.

This problem is exacerbated by language issues, possibly caused by learning difficulties, a lower level of education or not being a native speaker of a language. This matter of needing to bear your audience in mind is a familiar issue for many translators, with this being a topic that affects all languages.

A recent study for the American College of Radiology analyzed 134 Spanish-language imaging-related patient education articles from Radiologyinfo.org and found that while most adults read at an eighth or ninth-grade reading level, and organizations like the American Medical Association advise materials to be at a maximum of a sixth-grade reading level, the average article was written at a 12^th– grade reading level. This is common in other medical specialties.

This complexity has very real and potentially very dangerous consequences, depending on the audience. A lack of understanding of personal health materials is associated with an increase in both hospitalization length and frequency, an increased rate of complications and higher health care costs, made all the worse in the case of the aforementioned study by US Hispanics having the lowest health literacy among all racial groups in the USA, with even the AMA’s reading recommendations likely being out of reach of many.

So, what should medical translators do in these sorts of instances? Should a Spanish translation intended for those who have lower reading levels reflect the reality? Or should it mirror the complex language in the original source document? This question is ultimately one of a matter of document intention and audience. If a document has highly complex language and involves very technical terms for an expert audience, then simplifying the language may not only lead to a loss of content, but it could also be interpreted as offensive. However, it is both a writer and translator’s job to bear the audience in mind and the solution to this issue lies in a dialogue between the two.

If a translator is working on a Spanish translation for a clinic or health care institution and knows full well that the document is for public consumption and that the language is too complex, then the translator should raise this issue with the client. Then, they can work with them to put things into as plain language as possible while maintaining the message behind the document that is so crucial to the wellbeing of the audience. While a medical translator may know the “correct” translation of a technical term in such instances, it is worth considering a simplification or the use of dialect words (such as Spanglish terms among US Hispanics) if it conveys the message in a clearer manner. The goal of this translation is to speak to its audience and to do this successfully with a hospital document for the average patient, keeping the original complex language may actually hinder the goal.

While this is indeed a topic for hospitals and the writers of public medical documents to consider, as there is still clearly an issue with clarity in their original language, translators should avoid copying source document mistakes, confusing audiences and risking hazardous outcomes. To do this, a dialogue between hospitals and translators is key – both have to know their audience and content and help each other to do so, helping them to successfully provide documents from which patients can actually benefit.

Future of the Spanish Language Debated in Córdoba: Rival Congresses on the Spanish Language

Posted On March 26, 2019By TranspanishIn Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

From the 27^th to the 30^th of March 2019, the Argentinian city of Córdoba will see academics, writers and language enthusiasts flock to it for the 8th International Congress of the Spanish Language (VIII Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española, CILE). Some 250 writers, academics, experts and professionals from all over the world are coming to the city for discussions centered around the theme “Latin America and the future of the Spanish language: Culture and education, technology and business”, debating the future of the language in Latin America and its use and challenges in a changing world.

However, the prestigious CILE, backed by renowned Spanish institutions like the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and the Cervantes Institute, isn’t in Córdoba alone. From the 26^th to the 29^th of March, something of a counter congress is being held by the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities at the National University of Córdoba, arguing that language is a human right and its development in Latin America doesn’t need the royal backing of Spain or its approval on the “correct” use and course of the language.

The presence of the two congresses not only raises key questions facing the Spanish language, but also society in general and how these changes are reflected in society. This CILE, promoted by the government of Argentina as well as the RAE, ASALE and Cervantes Institute, promises a discussion on the Latin American future of Spanish, the rise of digital technology, the economic value of Spanish, the challenges of cultural industries, linguistic tourism, translation, linguistic fusion, teaching the Spanish language and literature, and the importance of clear legal language, among many other topics. Among the guests present will be the writer María Teresa Andruetto, Nobel prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa, King Felipe VI of Spain and Mauricio Macri, the President of Argentina.

The royal aspect of the CILE and the somewhat authoritarian approaches of the RAE and the Cervantes Institute to the Spanish language, such as stipulating the use of official Castilian forms to be considered “native”, have been interpreted as a little patronizing, and in this spirit the I Encuentro Internacional: Derechos Lingüísticos como Derechos Humanos en Latinoamérica (First International Conference: Language Rights as Human Rights in Latin America) is being held by the National University of Córdoba to argue that the use of the language is a human right, not something to be controlled by Spain with Spain’s approval on defining the language. Spanish should be inclusive of the international nature of the language, varying enormously from place to place. It isn’t just dialects that many believe the likes of CILE overlook in their approach, but also the polemical gender issue in the Spanish language and gender neutrality in a gendered language, such as using the gender-neutral ‘e’ instead of the feminine ‘a’ and masculine ‘o’.

It is around this topic of inclusivity that the interesting issue of censorship also arises: should a language be changed to prevent offence? Should offensive words be removed to make Spanish more inclusive? In essence, the next few days will be filled with debate on issues that affect language and how they mirror issues we see in a rapidly changing society, such as staying up to date in the language, inclusivity and by that token discrimination and to whom does the Spanish language belong if not its half a billion speakers around the world.

VIII Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española – Program and Activities.

I Encuentro Internacional: Derechos Lingüísticos como Derechos Humanos en Latinoamérica – Program and Activities.

Translating Genericized Trademarks

Posted On March 21, 2019By TranspanishIn Languages, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers, Translations/ No Comments

Language is constantly changing and adapting to suit its environment. One noticeable example of this is in brand names for new technologies or products becoming used as a generic name for any similar product whether they were produced by the brand or not. From trampoline to cellophane, words that were once specific brand names have entered everyday language to refer to general products, a process that continues today with the likes of the term photoshopping and googling. However, the introduction of these terms is not universal to all languages and can provide potential problems for translators, not to mention lawyers and marketers. This article highlights several notable examples of brand names that have been generalized and how to approach translating these so-called genericized trademarks.

Notable Generic Trademarks

Dig a little into the subject and there’s a surprisingly large number of words that have made their way into common use that were once brand names. These include Velcro, which is trademarked by Velcro Companies and refers to, instead, the “hook-and-loop fastener” system – a term that is almost never used in common speech to refer to the system.

Similar examples include:

A Zimmer frame to refer to a walking frame (with the Zimmer frame specifically belonging to Zimmer Holdings).
A Taser to refer to an electroshock weapon instead of one created by Taser International. It is, in fact, an acronym for a fictional weapon: Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle. This has created the verbs ‘to tase’ and ‘to taser’.
A Hoover to refer to a vacuum cleaner instead of one created by Hoover Company. This has also become a verb synonymous with ‘to vacuum’.
Rizla instead of tobacco rolling papers, with Imperial Brands’ Rizla papers being the world’s most successful rolling paper brand.
Coke can be often used to refer to all Cola in the UK, not just Coca Cola, while in some parts of the southern US, Coke is the generic term for all soda.
PowerPoint to refer to all slide shows or presentation programs, instead of exclusively the slide show presentation program developed by Microsoft.
A Zeppelin to refer to rigid airships (with Luftschiffbau Zeppelin being a leading German airship company founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin).
Photoshop to refer to all photo manipulation instead of the program by Adobe. It is commonly used as a verb ‘to photoshop’ or ‘to shop’ to mean digital photographic manipulation.

Potential Problems for Translators

For understandable reasons, companies often fight hard to prevent their brand from becoming a generic term. The Velcro legal team has even created a music video complaining about the use of the generic term Velcro. Some companies have been more successful in the prevention of their brands becoming generic terms, such as Nintendo who spread the use of “video game console” instead of a “Nintendo”, which now sounds antiquated and out of touch.

With this in mind, some brands may become incorporated as genericized trademarks in some languages while others may not. There is also the issue of culture and which products have been marketed more successfully in an area. For example, the generic untrademarked term “ramen” is used in the US to refer to instant noodles, while this is often referred to using the genericized trademark “Pot Noodle” in the UK, so even in the same language complications can arise as to what is being referenced. These issues can complicate translations for translators who are unaware of what is actually meant by the trademark, leading to possible misunderstandings and mistranslations. For instance, in Mongolia, the term “Canon” is used to refer to photocopying, named after the brand, but if this term were to be translated literally into English due to an insufficient level of cultural knowledge on the part of the translator, there could be problems in regard to whether they are specifically referring to the brand.

How to Translate Genericized Trademarks

As with most translation issues, there are a few strategies that can be used depending on the translator’s aim. If the cultural context is important or perhaps if there is no equivalent term in the target language, an explanation may be necessary. However, often times these terms are just used without people being aware that they are referring to a specific brand. In these instances, the brand name becomes a synonym rather than a new term, so Hoover – now essentially a synonym for vacuum cleaner in English – should be substituted with the non-trademark name vacuum cleaner when translating into another language.

In short, generic trademarks are an issue to be aware of when translating and care should be taken considering both the context and the intention of the piece. When possible, for clarity’s sake, translators may want to consider avoiding their use unless it sounds unnatural to do so.

Understanding Translation Memories

Posted On January 28, 2019By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ 1 Comment

Dig a little into the world of translation and it won’t take long until you come across translation memories (TM) and computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools. These should not be confused with automatic machine translation tools like Google Translate; these are tools to aid human translation and can help translators in their work, reducing their rate and taking less time, helping clients receive their translations faster and at a cheaper rate.

What is a Translation Memory (TM)?

A translation memory is a database that contains translation segments, such as sentences or paragraphs, that have been previously translated. They contain the source text and the target text in pairs known as translation units and are often used with CAT tools for large projects where text can be repeated. These memories are developed as a translator or team of translators translate, or they can be created by a client to aid the translator.

In cases where there are large quantities of text with near identical copy, such as product listings, these can be used to quickly apply translations in multiple instances thus allowing the translator to provide a discount for fuzzy matches (matches that may be less than 100% perfect). When needed, the translator reviews each 100% match segment and makes sure that the matches are correct while taking the context into account.

How can they be used?

While translation memories and CAT tools can be useful in all sorts of translations, they are best applied in cases of repetitive, technical text with specialized language – think a product manual rather than a novel. The translator or client creates a translation memory, providing translations of segments of the source text parallel to the target text, thus making large projects much quicker.

According to SDL Trados, a giant in the world of CAT tool software, recurring phrases and statements can make up more than 40% of copy for texts including websites, sales tools, product documentation and more – that’s a huge percentage and so it’s no surprise that appropriate use of CAT tools and translation memories can lead to quicker turnaround and potential discounts.

What are the benefits of using a CAT tool?

Translation memories and CAT tools have myriad benefits, first and foremost being the reduction in workload for translators. This means that translation costs can be far lower for texts where there is a large amount of identical copy, with many companies offering discounts to reflect this repeated content. Another benefit is the quicker turnaround, with the software remembering the translated material and identifying where the same segment is later used in text.

The accelerated process also means that translation style is more likely to be consistent throughout so a phrase that could be translated multiple ways is only translated in one consistent way throughout. The software also ensures that every part of the text is translated, while also maintaining consistency among multiple translators in their style if it’s a particularly large project.

In short, translation memories and CAT tools can make translations cheaper with budgets adjusted for their use, not to mention making translations more consistent and quicker, helping both the translator and their client to get the best out of the technology.

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