Problem:\u00a0Over many of our 34 years, we have provided translations into many EU languages for Dentsply, the world\u2019s largest dental supply firm. Whatever implements go into your mouth or occupy dentists\u2019 exam rooms likely come from Dentsply\u2019s divisions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
One day after we had delivered a multilingual instruction manual, our client liaison called wondering why the original English had four bullet points while the Danish version had five.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Our quick review discovered that Dentsply\u2019s Danish distributor added a claim that the US office knew nothing about.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Solution: Dentsply was totally correct reverting to us. In many cases, reviewers \u2013 overseas suppliers, distributors, sales reps or others \u2013 add to, subtract from, or modify the translated versions. While reviewers may culturally adapt the text \u2013 which our professional linguists also do \u2013 they should not be changing the translations without their main office\u2019s permission.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Reviewers\u2019 edits, however well intended, leave the client company exposed to lawsuits if any claims are disputed. Our job is to:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
a) assume that the HQ knows how they want their products presented; and to<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
b) translate the original text as faithfully as possible.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
In our experience, clients should NOT rely on overseas offices to translate, because:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
- \r\n
- they can insert or omit claims that the client is liable for; and because<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
- distributors in different countries can translate the same term inconsistently.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Do you want brand uniformity or brand confusion?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Should One Size Fit All?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Problem:\u00a0Also years ago we were asked to translate the menu for Jelly Belly, a maker of jelly beans. The menu was small and simple — around 35 flavors to go into many languages. But some of our translators refused, saying, \u201cNo self-respecting Dane would ever eat a popcorn-flavored jelly bean.\u201d [Problems with the Danes again!] The Hebrew and other teams also objected to other flavors for similar reasons.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Solution:\u00a0While we advised Jelly Belly to acculturate its flavor menu for specific countries, ultimately, the client wanted all 35 flavors for all countries.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Unqualified Reviewers<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Problem: The Diamond Industrial Saw company asked us to translate its manual into Spanish. We delivered on time and the client printed the manual for its Mexican distributor. Weeks later the client came back to us irate; the distributor rejected the manual due to spelling, grammar and word-usage mistakes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Solution:\u00a0When we compared our version to the distributor\u2019s version, we quickly learned why: Miguel had injected lots of changes to our translation without the client asking us first to verify that his edits were correct. And who was Miguel? The saw company\u2019s Mexican warehouse worker with at best a 5th\u00a0grade education.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Only clients\u2019 qualified native-speaking linguists who speak the needed technical terminology should review translations. And then, always send any edits back to us for final approval. We have no problem with clients\u2019 preferred (often in-house) terminology. But we will ensure that the edits contain no amateur spelling, grammar or punctuation errors. After all, how many Americans can write English sentences correctly?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
AI translation programs also make mistakes, both comical and serious. When accuracy is required, only our kind of hybrid AI + professional-translator editing will produce precision.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
BLOOPERS<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
These bilingual examples wonderfully illustrate unqualified or amateur translator mistakes:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
- \r\n
- Sign in a Turkish lavatory translated as, \u201cPlease help us save water. Press Flush button twice.\u201d<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
- Sign in a Mexican lavatory translated as, \u201cIt is forbidden to trow nothing down the toilet.\u201d<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
- Sign in an Indian airport translated as, \u201cEating carpet strictly prohibited.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
When you want your manuals, contracts, courses, websites, videos, etc. done correctly, please contact\u00a0Auerbach International<\/a>\u00a0for a\u00a0free quote<\/a>\u00a0from or into our 120 languages.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Thank you!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-2.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nPhilip Auerbach
Founder, President & CEO
Auerbach International
Headquarters – 415-592-0042
https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging<\/a>
translations@auerbach-intl.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since these disconnects can happen to you, advanced warning can help prevent them: Potential Liability and Brand Confusion Problem:\u00a0Over many of our 34 years, we have provided translations into many EU languages for Dentsply, the world\u2019s largest dental supply firm. Whatever implements go into your mouth or occupy dentists\u2019 exam rooms likely come from Dentsply\u2019s… Continue reading Dentists, Jelly Beans, and Saws: Don\u2019t let this happen to you<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"brizy-blank-template.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bloopers-branding-and-mis-translations","category-newsletter","entry"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20795"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21364,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20795\/revisions\/21364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}