{"id":3397,"date":"2022-07-21T18:25:06","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T02:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/?p=3397"},"modified":"2022-07-21T18:25:06","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T02:25:06","slug":"how-translations-can-explode-your-best-intentions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/how-translations-can-explode-your-best-intentions\/","title":{"rendered":"How translations can explode your best intentions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4076\" src=\"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/auerbach-intl-blog.jpg\" alt=\"auerbach intl blog\" width=\"1023\" height=\"500\" \/>Many companies use overseas agents or distributors to do their translations. You assume, because \u201cthey know our product well,\u201d that their renderings are accurate. But how can you be certain?<\/p>\n<p>Over our 30+ years, we have seen many cases where:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Agents rewrite your message to what they think it should say, not what you want it to say. This creates confusion about your brand. These changes are not cultural; they are about your promises and claims.<\/li>\n<li>Agents add or remove important sections of your brochures or manuals.<\/li>\n<li>Agents add claims for which you, not they, are liable in spite of what their contracts state. If a user dies or is injured, your trusted agent may suddenly disappear. And you are ultimately responsible.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Two cautions: Are your agents professional translators? If not, do you know whom they are using?<\/p>\n<p>Here is a real-life example from Doug Hartley of Focus Asia Marketing in Calgary, Canada:<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"color: #0d61fc;\">The excavator manufacturing company I worked for in Korea needed to translate from English into Spanish all our marketing collateral regarding an improvement in engine performance.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"color: #0d61fc;\">As the Spanish embassy was down the street, I asked if they had a good translator who could make an accurate translation. They said they did, and they translated our material. When I got their Spanish translation, I had it back-translated to English. I am glad I did.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"color: #0d61fc;\">We wanted the translation to say that with the new innovation, the firing of the spark plugs would move the engine pistons better and would result in more engine power. The translation we received was that with the new innovation, the firing of the spark plugs would blow up the engine completely, including the excavator driver.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Moral of the story: It is important every few months to ask for a \u201cback translation\u201d into English (or the source language) of your agents\u2019 versions \u2026 even if you trust that your agents know what they are doing. It is also critical to use professional translators, not amateurs or diplomats, who speak your industry terminology (as we do, of course). This is very inexpensive insurance.<\/p>\n<p>No translation will match exactly because of nuances and different ways of expressing the same concept. But the back translation will reveal any glaring omissions, changes, or mistakes that you at the home office can rectify immediately. And that is worth having no explosions.<\/p>\n<p>Please send us your files for a free back-translation <a href=\"https:\/\/imrant22.sg-host.com\/get-quote\/\">quote<\/a> or to go \u2013 with guaranteed accuracy \u2013 into any of our 120 languages.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>Philip Auerbach<br \/>\nFounder, President &amp; CEO<br \/>\nAuerbach International<br \/>\nHeadquarters &#8211; 415-592-0042 x107<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:philip@auerbach-intl.com\">philip@auerbach-intl.com<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/imrant22.sg-host.com\/\">www.auerbach-intl.com<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:translations@auerbach-intl.com\">translations@auerbach-intl.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u201c3 Decades. 2 Billion Words. A+ Accuracy. Superior Translation Services.&#8221;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many companies use overseas agents or distributors to do their translations. You assume, because \u201cthey know our product well,\u201d that their renderings are accurate. But how can you be certain? Over our 30+ years, we have seen many cases where: Agents rewrite your message to what they think it should say, not what you want&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/how-translations-can-explode-your-best-intentions\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How translations can explode your best intentions<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-newsletter","entry"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auerbach-intl.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}