Translation errors severely damage branding image, even big brand giants like Mango

Posted On March 12, 2013By TranspanishIn Languages, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Sloppy translations, or translations that are hastily authorized without being sent through a strict screening process based on lots of research and managed by reliable, language professionals, can destroy a business’ reputation. Even Mango, Spain’s fashion giant, isn’t safe from the dangers of translation errors.

Last week, Mango made worldwide headlines thanks to an incredibly foolish translation error related to the term “esclava” in the promotion of a new line of jewellery in France. “Esclava,” meaning “slave,” is also a common Spanish term used to describe a particular style of bracelet. Problems arose, however, when the term was used in promotional material in France. The phrase is not understood or accepted on any level in France as a fashion reference to bracelets.

Over 4,000 people joined in with a social networking petition, campaigning against Mango and its insensitive, inappropriate use of the term “esclava” when promoting its new line of jewellery in France. The petition went viral via Twitter thanks to a number of French associations, including SOS Racisme & Cran, actresses Sonia Rolland and Aïssa Maïga, and the influential activist, Rokhaya Diallo.

“Esclava,” a perfectly acceptable term referring to a style of bracelet in Spain, created instant and widespread anger amongst members of the general public, so much so that “boycott Mango” soon became a trending topic on the Twitter network. Mango was left with no option but to address the public directly, accept full responsibility for the terrible error in the translation of its marketing campaign and make immediate changes to the way in which its products were being marketed in France.

Mango’s reputation suffered a huge blow within a very short space of time because of a small, but hugely important error in translation. Contextual knowledge, cultural understanding and professional language skills are essential for all kinds of translations, large or small. Multinational companies are at risk just as much as smaller businesses are. Foolish mistakes are made all the time. These mistakes can be costly and can irreversibly damage the reputation of any company on a large scale. This is particularly true now more than ever, thanks to the power of the Internet.

Screenshot of Mango site selling the controversial bracelet

Make sure your translations are executed well and that your team of translators are experts in what they do. Investing more time and money in your translations is always worth the extra expense in the long run.

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Translating your website to promote your business

Posted On February 13, 2013By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

A business website is more than just a mode of offering information about your business, and it’s more than just marketing a product or service. Your website also communicates authority, or legitimacy, if you will. The internet is full of websites representing fly-by-night companies. Making sure that your site doesn’t seem like one of those is essential to ensuring that it truly fulfills its purpose and potential to help your business grow.

These days, not only are businesses increasingly going international, but customers are too. Today’s customers no longer require that their service provider or the manufacturer of a product be right down the road, or even in their own country. This offers a plethora of new opportunities for businesses. But reaching those audiences often means communicating with them in their own language, on their own terms.

As a result, website translation is no longer the sole territory of large, multi-national conglomerates. It’s relevant to any business that wishes to grow by capturing that global potential. Yet many companies go about translating their website in a way that is ultimately counter-productive.

That is, they run their content through a translation tool like Google Translator, and call it done. Or, what more and more companies are starting to discover, they go to a freelance site like oDesk or Elance and offer bargain basement rates for anyone who claims to know a language, to translate their site. To be sure, freelance marketplaces are full of qualified workers, including translators. But using them as a cheaper, easier alternative to going with a professional agency has definite drawbacks.

First, localization is an important aspect of translation that software tools often miss, as well as less-than-professional translators. Marketing history is full of incidents in which one mistranslated word of an ad campaign left an entire country either laughing or horrified at what was inadvertently communicated. This hurts credibility and causes people to miss the real message you’re trying to send about your business. But there’s also the issue of really connecting with the audience that you’re trying to reach. Translation is more than linguistic adaptation, it also communicates to your audience that they are valued customers. So sending the right message, with the right understanding of the target language’s terminology, etc. is essential.

Finally, translating your website and reaching out to a larger, global audience means setting your company up for the long term. When economic conditions or other factors temper your domestic market’s interest, you’ll have another area to focus resources and build your brand. Naturally, getting the right message across in other countries is equally important as here at home.

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The Origin of Hashtag

Posted On February 7, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, The origin of..., Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

This week we’re starting a new blog series called “The Origin of …” In it, we’ll be discussing the origin of a new word each week, including it’s translations or adaptations in other languages. We begin the series with a word that has become widely recognized among Internet parlance in a short amount of time: hashtag.

Going Viral

Most people recognize the hashtag (#) as a symbol used on Twitter to introduce a topic or conversation so that other Twitter users may search for, follow and contribute to the conversation. Of course now it is so popular that it’s not uncommon to see the symbol pop up on other social networks as well, but without the corresponding search function. Yet the hashtag was not an original creation from Twitter’s founders. The concept was originally thought up and given its ubiquitous symbol by a user experience designer working on Google+. That designer, Chris Messina, pitched the idea to Twitter’s guys in August of 2007 as a way to organize groups on the social network, giving him the nickname “hash godfather.”

Some reports indicate that the first time the hashtag was actually used was in relation to the miraculous landing of Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in early 2009. Among the many tweets flying around in relation to the event which had temporarily taken over the country’s news cycles, one user included #flight1549 at the end of their tweet. After that it was picked up by others tweeting about the incident, and quickly went viral.

Hashtag in Other Languages

There is always the question of whether new technology terms will be translated into other languages, or simply adopted as they are. As is to be expected, the French government has chosen to introduce their own word meaning hashtag in French. That word, mot-dièse, is not a literal translation, but rather means word and sharp — as in the designation of pitch in music, represented by a symbol similar to the pound (or hash) sign but without its inclination to the right.

It should also be noted, however, that not all French-speaking countries follow the lead of France when it comes to language developments. In francophone Quebec, Canada, for example, they prefer the term mot-clic.

But just as the French have done what they usually do — declare a new word to avoid adopting the English term — Spanish speakers have also done what they usually do in these situations. That is, they adopt the word with slight variations in spelling and pronunciation, effectively making it their own. Other words related to Twitter stand as examples of this: tuit (tweet), tuitear (verb of “tweet”), tuitero (a person who tweets), etc. In the case of hashtag, the literal translation would be etiqueta de almohadilla. And while this Spanish phrase is used in some areas, others choose to simply go with the original English term, adapting it to their own accent. As with French, it just depends on the region or the individual.

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Cocoliche and the origins of a regional dialect

Posted On January 30, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Lunfardo, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ 1 No Comments

Regional differences in the way Spanish is spoken can usually be attributed to either the influence of native languages that exist in a particular area or the languages brought by immigrants that blend with Spanish to create a unique regional dialect. The Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires, as we have discussed in our series on Lunfardo words, is no exception.

Another example of a language influence is Cocoliche, which takes its name from Antonio Cuculicchio, a theater worker in the Podestá theater company established in Argentina and Uruguay towards the end of the nineteenth century. An Italian immigrant, Cuculicchio’s accent was apparently often mocked by others, giving rise to the comical caricature of a figure called “Cocolicchio”, representing a southern Italian.

Cocoliche is a hybrid language that arose from the meeting of Spanish in Argentina and Italian brought to that country by immigrants around the turn of the twentieth century. The result was a pidgin — an oral form of communication that blended elements of two languages to foster communication between diverse groups of people, in some cases simplifying the grammar and lexicon of each language.

Over time, as the Italian immigrants in Argentina spread out geographically and blended more into their new culture, Cocoliche began to disappear. Yet as it became more and more rare to hear the language spoken, per se, its remnants were left — and still remain — in the form of surviving words and turns of accent. Indeed, Cocoliche is the origin of some characteristics commonly associated with the Argentinian accent of Italian immigrants, such as the “ch” sound in “diche” (dice).

Italian family arriving in Buenos Aires

Some cocoliche words:

 

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A Call to “Erase” Racism from Spanish

Posted On January 28, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Uruguayan Musician Rubén Rada supports the campaign

A new campaign is picking up steam to eradicate instances of racism in the Spanish language. The contentious phrase, “trabajar como un negro” (“to work like a black person”), is unifying musicians, famous athletes, and officials in a call to Spain’s Real Academia Española (RAE) to eliminate the phrase for being discriminatory and outdated.

The RAE is a royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language including its lexicon, grammar, orthography and other linguistic aspects. The institution received an open letter signed by several figures which was then published and disseminated around the Spanish-speaking world by various media outlets.

The phrase has roots in the history of African slavery on the continent, and is sometimes compared to the expression “to slave away” in English. Proponents for its eradication from common speech argue that it recalls a time of discrimination, inequality and subjugation which Uruguay — and the Spanish-speaking world as a whole — would best leave in the past. They also argue that removing it from the Spanish language would help break the cycle of using pejorative language in reference to certain ethnic groups.

The petition can be viewed at http://www.borremoselracismodellenguaje.com/s.php. Those who would like to add their name to its list of supporters can also sign the petition at the same web address.

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Understanding the Hispanic Labour Force

Posted On January 23, 2013By TranspanishIn Latinos, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

As the largest ethnic minority group in the U.S., Hispanics constitute a significant and growing percentage of the workforce. Many of these workers are involved in the construction and landscaping industries, though they are present in just about every industry and region of the U.S. As such, it’s important that employers understand the complexity of cultural differences which they present in order to effectively manage their team of workers.

 

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To begin with, Hispanics immigrating to the U.S., even on a seasonal basis, are not a homogenous group. Coming from more than 20 different countries, they present distinct cultural habits and expectations. Some of them are educated and some are not; some speak English while others do not. A worker who comes from a rural area with little formal education and no knowledge of English, for example, may show exceptional creativity and problem-solving abilities. So the Hispanic labour force represents a heterogeneous group that a manager would do best to try to understand in order to effectively navigate.

However, it is natural that language plays a significant role in managing Hispanic workers, due to the primacy of communication. The idea that immigrants coming to the U.S. should learn English is not only limiting for business purposes, it is also limited in perspective in many cases. For example, it is sometimes the case that a Hispanic worker does not know how to read or write in their own language, making it a significant hurdle for them to learn a new language. But even those with formal education, many report that English is simply a very difficult language to learn. Managers who recognize these limitations are better prepared to accommodate them — providing safety manuals in Spanish, for example, or video tutorials with images, or illustrations to clarify company standards.

Accommodating language difficulties, as such, can go a long way in preventing injuries and even fatalities on the job, in addition to familiarizing Hispanic workers with safety precautions that may be nonexistent in their countries of origin.

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The Meaning of the Lunfardo Word ‘Gamba’

Posted On January 22, 2013By TranspanishIn Lunfardo, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Argentine Spanish is strewn with words and colorful phrases from Lunfardo, a rich vocabulary born on the streets of Buenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. Now considered a fixture of the Spanish language in Argentina (especially in and around Buenos Aires) and Uruguay, linguists cite the use of Lunfardo as a defining characteristic of the Rioplatense dialect. Add a dash of Argentine flavor to your Spanish vocabulary with the Transpanish blog’s ongoing feature highlighting some of the most frequently used terms in Lunfardo.

 

What does gamba mean?

As with many Lunfardo words, the origin of ‘gamba’ is dubious at best. However, it does have a documented history which elucidates its presence in modern Argentinian parlance.

We can begin with it’s equivalent in Italian, also ‘gamba’, meaning leg. The Italian term fits with its usage in Argentinian Spanish in the common phrase “haceme la gamba” — referring to someone who is helping or has good intentions. Similarly, it’s verb form in Italian, ‘gambettare’, is along the lines of to avoid a conflict — as one who helps a situation may do. This usage often comes up in the context of football (American soccer). That is, a player who handles the ball in such a way that a member of the opposite team cannot steal it.

However, the word takes on an opposite meaning in its usage in the Spanish expression “meter la gamba”, similar to the expression “meter la pata”. Both of these expressions of course mean to screw something up, more or less — the polar opposite of helping a situation, and sometimes at odds with having good intentions. This last meaning perhaps stems from the latin usage of the term ‘camba’, as in leg, referring to that of cavalry.

Another, unrelated usage of the Lunfardo term is in reference to money: 100 pesos or other currency in use, to be exact. ‘Tres gambas’, for example, might be 300 pesos.

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Language Barrier Linked To Worse Diabetes Control

Posted On January 20, 2013By TranspanishIn Languages, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

The ability to receive effective health care and follow recommendations is contingent on open communication between doctor and patient. Barriers to communication not only hurt the doctor’s ability to understand what is ailing their patient, but they prevent patients from understanding treatment options and, often, how to implement them. Indeed, health-related problems are some of the most costly effects — both in terms of costs to society and personal costs — that come from language difficulties.

People involved with the healthcare industry have long been able to identify the problem. But what has been less clear are the scope of the problem and it’s immediate consequences. A recent study has shed some light on these questions, conducted by researchers at UCSF and the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. Their study analyzed the ability of Latinos with limited English skills to adequately manage and control their diabetes. The findings were surprising.

Among Latino patients with limited English abilities, those who saw doctors for their diabetes which did not speak Spanish were twice as likely to have little or no control over their blood sugar levels than those whose doctors spoke Spanish. In addition to highlighting the huge discrepancy in how these patients were able to handle their disease, the study was also able to draw a clear and direct connection between doctor-patient communication and the ability of patients — in this case, diabetes patients — to receive effective health care.

As the largest minority in the U.S., the Latino population has one of the highest rates of diabetes of any ethnic group. In addition, roughly 14 million adults in this group speak English less than “very well”. It should also be noted that as far as ailments go, diabetes is a very complex and relatively difficult-to-manage disease to begin with. Among these patients in particular, access to Spanish-speaking doctors and information translated to Spanish could have a tremendous effect on patient outcomes.

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Spanish Is Second Most Used Language On Twitter

Posted On January 18, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

According to Spain’s Cervantes Institute, Spanish has officially become the world’s second most used language on Twitter after English. With the most speakers of any language globally, Chinese is in third place. And while China does have its own version of Twitter, Weibo, it is undeniable that Spanish is currently seeing a growing presence on the internet in general.

Transpanish

With more than 500 million Spanish speakers worldwide, and counting, the language currently occupies the place of third most used language online. And even with that, it is estimated that roughly 60% of Latin Americans still have not joined the web. In the non-digital world, the Cervantes Institute reports that the number of people learning Spanish globally is witnessing an 8% increase year on year.

Much of that growth is taking place in the U.S., which is estimated to have the largest Spanish-speaking population in the world within three or four generations, but it’s also happening in Asia. Indeed, the demand to learn Spanish in China currently far exceeds teacher availability — resulting in many applications to learn it being rejected. The Asia-Pacific region as a whole is seeing an increase in Spanish language instruction spurred by economic growth and close ties to another region making strong economic gains — Latin America.

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Meaning of “la migra”

Posted On January 8, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  2 Comments

Following the last post on US Border Patrols, we’re taking a look at a term widely used in immigration contexts – La Migra. The term is more often heard in states along the border with Mexico than any other region of the U.S., although it can be heard just about anywhere that Spanish slang is used.

Image source: http://www.zazzle.com

A derivative of the Spanish term migración (migration) or related to migraciones – the offices dealing with immigration issues in Spanish-speaking countries – the term has become shorthand for both agencies and individuals that deal with immigrants and immigration. Both the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agencies can be referred to as La Migra, as well as the personnel who work for them, including immigration officers and agents who perform inspections of cars crossing the border or in search of illegal immigrants in places of business.

While the term is not only used by immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, if you hear La Migra come up in conversation, chances are someone is complaining about an encounter with immigration officials – much the same way a person might complain about having to deal with the law.

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