Translators are like glue

 

Applying the glue behind the visual c. Patryk Kosmider

Professional translators are like glue... invisible glue. 

The aim is to make the join between two cultures as seamless as possible. 

It is easy to underestimate the value of a wordsmith's contribution to a marketing campaign. You don't see all the deliberations over the right term, tone or phrasing. Yet, without a translator's considered input, even the most brilliantly creative visuals can fall flat... or worse.

A pharmaceutical crisis
The importance of the glue reminds me of my first job at the UK sales agency of French glass manufacturers' Saint-Gobain Desjonquères. I worked for the pharmaceutical bottle division. 

One day, a buyer at one of our major pharmaceutical customers called urgently. Labels would not stick to our competitors' bottles. They had changed the coating specification.

It was a nightmarish situation for our customer. The production line was down and wasting money. Product was ready, but without viable containers. Orders were stacking up.

I arranged for the urgent delivery of all our existing factory stock. I also booked urgent new production runs with my French colleagues. 

I don't remember the exact figures now. I do remember dispatching millions of extra bottles to a very grateful customer that year.

The crisis came about because of poor bonding between the coating, glue and label.

Tales of woe  
The internet is littered with tales of woe because someone has cut corners with translation. Some brand-damaging stories are still shared decades later (as my old story above). Social media spreads these tales faster than ever before.

Choose the best
Many translators love to share these stories as examples of what can happen without their professional services. Personally, I prefer to try and demonstrate the positive. However, it isn't easy to see the glue when the bond is good. It is easy to think an alternative, cheaper solution might work ... until a crisis strikes.

Don't come unstuck. Stick with a professional translator.

Skating on ice

I arrived between sessions and stood at the side of the Christmas ice rink at Somerset House.  The ice machine renewed the ice for the next session. The man in the cab leaned over to watch carefully as he steered round.

As the machine left the ice, they opened the double doors to the cautious, enthusiastic crowd on the opposite side. All out for fun on a winter's evening.

Some stumbled onto the ice.

Some tottered around without actually falling over.

Some skated well, but wary of straying from the edges.

Two figures stood out. Both skated confidently through the middle of the ice rink and clear of the tottering throng.

The first was obviously proficient. She demonstrated her experience and ease on the ice. Nothing was obviously missing until I watched the second girl more closely.

The other girl skated as if unaware of the ice beneath her boots. She could have been on dry land.

She had a professional's beautiful white boots. Always important to have right tools for the job.

Most of all she had natural grace and style. Poise. Like an Audrey Hepburn on ice.

The importance of the right tools for the job

Translation is a lot like skating on ice. You have to skate a careful line between two cultures.

Machine translation can deal with some types of work. It can give you the gist of a subject. However, like the ice machine, it still needs the eyes of a driver to ensure a thorough job over the ice. A professional to make sure that there are no unsuspecting pitfalls. No broken bones on the ice.

The enthusiastic crowd remind you of some bilinguals operating in the translation field. Or the cousin of the friend of a friend who sometimes offers translation as a "bit of a sideline". It's fun. A hobby.

When you select your translator, you want someone with the right skills, experience and tools for the job. You want a professional.

Your translation must be fit for your business domain and purpose. No good choosing a rugby player for the ice; any more than an ice dancer for a rugby match.

Transcreation is like ice dancing for marketing translations.

You don't want an ice skater who stays too close to the edge. Too literal.

You want a translator who will skate a skillful line through the middle. With grace and poise.

You want your copy to dance and sing. You want your brand to stand out from the throng.


Please call or email Karen to discuss your transcreation or copywriting projects. All contact options are detailed above.

Cultural understanding: a safer world in female hands?

“Everyone speaks English”. There is a tendency for the Americans, British and Irish to dominate meetings. Meeting styles and etiquette vary from country to country.  Silence does not always mean agreement. Attempting to learn another language teaches you respect for those who confidently or bravely speak yours at the very least. Listening with cultural sensitivity is the most important skill of all.

A thaw, please?

It is precisely because I have studied other languages and cultures that I am uneasy about the rhetoric from the US towards Russia. Threats only hasten another Cold War or worse. We need a thaw on the Russian side for dialogue. Was it not a Russian who won enormous respect in the Western World for initiating the end of the Cold War? Why as we approach the 100^th Anniversary of the First World War, do we appear to be on a slippery slope towards the Third? Why can’t Putin and Obama have a fireside chat like Gorbachev and Reagan?

We all have loved ones

Are we going backwards? Is there a lack of cultural understanding here? Despite cultural differences, it is important to remember that the other side have loved ones they really care about too. Today, every world crisis beams the dead, dying and distraught live into our living rooms. We see the suffering of the Syrian children and displaced refugees in our homes.

In any crisis, it is important to remember that wounds can take generations to heal. Children learn at their grandfather’s knee of past crimes and injustices. I remember how my own grandmother spoke with vitriol about Germans. During the Second World War, she defiantly stated that she preferred the comfort of her own bed to that of the Anderson shelter. "The Germans could bomb her in her bed if they were going to". Yet, my fiery Welsh grandmother could not hate the German exchange student who visited us decades later. Ingrid was a child like any other - no different to her own grandchildren.

Rhetoric and misery

Heavy-handed political rhetoric can come back to haunt us. That is not to say that we should appease a murderous foreign leader. We know the lasting misery caused by the Holocaust, and ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and Rwanda. Old wounds have come back to haunt Ireland this week. When will Israel and Palestine achieve lasting peace?

I am surprised that the first African American US President would make jokes about his Kenyan roots. Ghanaian Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, speaks English, French and several tribal languages. Barack Obama apparently speaks none.

I was appalled to read that the US President has jokingly made reference to the missing Malaysian plane. How insensitive. Those poor families from China and other nations may wait years to know the true fate of their loved ones.

I remember the Swiss Air Disaster of 1973. At the time, I lived in Axbridge, Somerset (UK). Forty local children lost their mothers. The suffering and repercussions lasted long after the Media scrum had left the village square. They were able to bury the dead in Somerset at least.

My own mother could have easily have been on that shopping trip to Basle. My best friend’s mother was one of just 37 who survived out of 140 on the flight. I still remember how we listened in numb shock for further news on the radio. We didn’t wait as long as the distraught relatives in Malaysia. We all remember seeing a family friend on TV. The newly widowed father of three young girls wandered in shock among the coffins. The Swiss were very generous, but our local community was devastated.

Unprofessional humour

In recent weeks, I have been astounded by some of the rhetoric and cultural faux pas emanating from Washington. Self-deprecating humour is common in Britain and America. However, it is regarded as unprofessional elsewhere. I am lucky to live in a democratic country. In Britain and America, we can question the behaviour of our leaders. So Mr President, I do not believe that the leader of the Western World should act like a stand-up comedian on camera. The eyes and ears of the world are always on you. As you joked, they were still retrieving children’s bodies from the South Korean ferry disaster.

Quiet female diplomacy

While the rhetoric is flying over Ukraine, a British woman is working more quietly and effectively for peace in the world’s troubled spots. She may not be a polyglot or full of rhetoric, but respect for other cultures and quiet tenacity behind the scenes can take you far. Catherine Ashton has risen from a Northern working-class background to become the much respected, first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission.

Progress is slow in the world of diplomacy. It can take generations. It can also be destroyed in an instant. If we want more peace in the world, it seems that we need less rhetoric and more women in high positions.