Posts Tagged ‘translation’
“Bugs that Crawl” Tractors
Bad things happen when graphic designers and other non-linguists take it upon themselves to become translators, as illustrated in the recent article "Irony: Magazine mistakenly adds Google mistranslation to article about translation." According to A Short Course in International Marketing Blunders by Michael White, the tractor manufacturer [...]
Irony: Magazine Mistakenly Adds Google Mistranslation to Article about Translation
A regional business magazine added a creative design element to an article I wrote about translation. Ironically, that design included a translation error generated by a machine translation program, and the article, titled “Lost in Translation,” became self-descriptive... Read the rest at "Irony: Magazine mistakenly adds Google mistranslation [...]
Crowdsourcing is Not for Everyone
If your company can motivate crowds of volunteer translators to work for you unpaid, then congratulations, you are one of the few. Read the following excerpt from "Can companies obtain free professional services through crowdsourcing?" to see if your company has that special something. Just remember that even these volunteer crowdsourcing [...]
Downplaying Linguistic Ability Can Sometimes Be to Your Advantage in Business
It is a saying well-known to most Americans — “Nobody likes a show-off.” Resisting the urge to flaunt your language skills can sometimes be a strategic benefit, and a measure of modesty may earn you a better impression. The benefits of such modesty were exemplified in the aftermath of a disastrous 2009 German-to-English translation error. [...]
Garbage In, Garbage Out
The axiom "garbage in, garbage out," abbreviated GIGO, applies to translation in a number of ways. As illustrated by the following example from "Machine translation can bring blunders, successes in international business," it is worth the time to ensure translation glossaries, translation style guides, translation memory databases, and also [...]
Magazine Translation Article Ironically “Lost in Translation”
A magazine's art department added a design element to an article about translation. Ironically, that design element included a translation error generated by a machine translation program. The article "Lost in Translation: Preserving Brand Strength in Foreign Markets," by Globalization Group vice president Adam Wooten, appears in the February [...]
Coca-Cola Preserves Brand Strength in China
Coca-Cola thought ahead to preserve brand strength in China, as related in article, "Lost in Translation: Preserving Brand Strength in Foreign Markets" by Globalization Group vice president Adam Wooten in the February issue of Utah Business Magazine. Marketing managers often laughingly relate how Coca-Cola allegedly committed a huge blunder when [...]
Bite the Wax Tadpole
One of the world's most famous translation blunders is often incorrectly attributed to Coca-Cola. In fact, it was the fault of careless shopkeepers who translated Coca-Cola's brand name without permission when Coca-Cola was not moving fast enough to keep up with demand. Read more in the article, "Lost in Translation: Preserving Brand Strength in [...]
Project Manager: Chinese & French
Globalization Group is seeking a project manager for French and Chinese projects Manage French and Chinese linguistics for translation, develop and implement project plans for client; manage time and resources to complete translation and localization projects. Establish and maintain strategic contact with international client base. [...]
Can Companies Obtain Free Professional Services through Crowdsourcing?
Twitter launched a Twitter Translation Center Monday in an effort to obtain volunteer translation services from users and localize its user interface into other languages. For years, Facebook and other companies have also been turning to users for volunteer translation in what is often called “crowdsourcing.” These high-profile examples have [...]
