Lost in translation – how poor translation could damage your brand

Is using AI without human oversight putting brands at risk through mistranslations? Here we examine the pitfalls of cutting humans out of the loop.

by Eleanor Page

We’ve all seen the example of ‘Let’s eat, Grandma’ versus ‘Let’s eat Grandma’ as a cautionary tale of the importance of good grammar, or the gangster panda who ‘eats, shoots and leaves’. Unsurprisingly, precise translations are equally significant – not just in the preservation of innocent older ladies or monochrome bears, but in ensuring the credibility and accuracy of written content.

When working with any language, it’s essential to have a thorough knowledge of terminology usage and cultural and regional differences so that we can communicate without causing confusion or negative associations. In a global marketplace, it is crucial to adapt your content with care and sensitivity to successfully market to your chosen audiences.

There are many examples of unfortunate mistranslations within global marketing. KFC’s slogan ‘Finger-lickin’ good’ was initially translated in China to mean ‘Eat your fingers off’. A memorable example that I encountered while browsing a recently translated website was a fabric shaver, or ‘debobbler’, being advertised as a ‘nipple remover’ (ouch!). In 2020 Amazon’s Swedish website was bedevilled by a series of badly translated product descriptions. Even a correct translation can cause issues if the cultural nuances of a word’s contextual meaning aren’t fully understood. The Scandinavian vacuum cleaner company Electrolux marketed their products to English-speaking audiences with the slogan ‘Nothing sucks like an Electrolux’ – a catchy rhyme, but with a negative alternative meaning. These examples will have a negative impact on the perception of the brands, derailing marketing campaigns and causing costly setbacks.

With the rise of artificial intelligence, everyone has easy access to increasingly sophisticated machine translation tools. And at Websters we use various tools to enhance productivity, always with experienced human oversight. But how much can we rely on them? Using an online translation tool, I translated lines from three famous poems into other languages and then back into English. Here are the results:

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams > Walk slowly because you walk on my dreams.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? > Would you liken yourself to a summer’s day?

April is the cruellest month > April is the hardest month

This demonstrates how easily translations can start to lose their original meaning, as whether a word is an accurate synonym relies so much on the context and the author’s intentions. The emotional tone and subtleties of meaning can be completely lost, creating text that doesn’t have quite the same message or impact as the original.

Linguistic experts are crucial to communicating the correct and most effective message. An expert will understand local terminology usage, with its nuances and connotations. Rather than implementing a word-for-word translation, they can localise the content, conveying the meaning and spirit of the source using a natural style that feels tailored to the audience, helping to build greater credibility and connection. At Websters we use our network of over 400 in-country linguistic specialists to write, translate and review your content. This ensures quality is not something you need to worry about.

Contact Websters to find out how we can help you.