Cow Parsley or Hemlock?

Anthriscus sylvestris or Conium maculatum? 

It's in a foreign language. How can you tell? 

Ask a professional.

A recent newsletter in my inbox bore a flower picture. Cow Parsley or Hemlock? I immediately recognised that important identifying features were outside the crop marks. Important considerations can distinguish a professional’s vigilance and expertise in translation as in botany.

Clients are sometimes tempted to take short cuts with translation - either by using an amateur or by using unedited machine translation. When past translations are regurgitated without human intervention, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the reformed translation will be harmless. It may look like cow parsley, but poisonous hemlock may be lurking beneath the surface. Consult the history books about Seneca’s slow suicide.

The translation equivalent of hemlock could mean a slow brand death. Unedited machine translation on your website may be harming your brand imperceptibly. Cultural history and its implications are not always apparent to a non-native speaker’s eyes. Your potential client may take a dim view or even be offended. Clients don’t always tell you – they just go elsewhere.

There’s another nasty in the botany world: Giant Hogweed. It’s a non-native species with toxic sap. It causes nasty burns and scarring.

Your use of non-native speakers for translation may not kill your brand. It may just burn or scar it badly. Don’t risk it. 

Always use a professional translator. A native speaker with subject expertise is the best option for a healthy, enduring brand.

Karen Andrews is a French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She holds an MSc in Scientific, Technical and Medical Translation with Translation Technology. She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, Society for Editors and Proofreaders, Society of Authors and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators. She can also offer your brand the value of over 15 years' expertise and experience in global marketing. 

Dinosaur Christmas and Arrival

Following on from the previous post on Christmas shop windows, I look at a coordinated Christmas advertising campaign.

I first became aware of the Coach premium handbag campaign on my Christmas lights tour of London. I took the picture below of their New Bond Street store's Christmas window. The minimalist look and the cheeky miniature dinosaurs caught my eye. I noted the brand's 75th anniversary written on the window. Seventy-five seems a bit young for a dinosaur.

Just days later I found myself at Westfields Shopping Centre in London's Shepherd's Bush. The fabulous Christmas decorations stand out - and so do two huge cut-out dinosaurs.

A red stegosaurus propped up the bar for the adults.

A huge T-Rex captured the attention of children. They dragged parents with them to the side of the Christmas ice rink.

Screens play an advertisement at the Westfields rink-side. Rexy the mischievous dinosaur has the starring role. She knocks other dinosaurs over like a stack of dominoes. She dances and wiggles enthusiastically like a dog wagging its tail. She spots an open window and makes her escape up the road.

The ad plays over and over again. I noticed how restarting from a blank screen recaptured my attention more readily than a continuously playing ad. The huge screen overhead also plays the Coach Christmas ad. Here it alternates with a lingerie ad and a static version of Huawei's Don't Just Snap.

Wherever you look there seem to be more dinosaurs. The festive singing from the ice rink's stage draws your attention to Rexy in the ad playing above their heads. There are dinosaur stickers around the edge of the ice rink and on columns.

As I came down an escalator elsewhere in the centre, I saw Rexy playing on the screen in my direct line of sight.

Dinosaur footprints on the floor lead to a pop-up Coach store at the rink-side, with the main store just a little further on.

Westfields is an example of a modern lifestyle shopping centre. It boasts a wide range of restaurants. (My personal recommendation? Try the deliciously fresh Lebanese food inside the centre. You can't beat their fresh apple juice crushed from apples selected right in front of you).

The cinema on the top floor has a wide choice of films. As I waited for my film, I looked down at the ice rink. Was that Rexy on the other side? For an extinct dinosaur, he certainly gets around. Not bad for a brand supposedly in decline.

I went to see Arrival. This film has captured the attention of linguists. A linguist saves the world. People keep predicting the demise of translators and interpreters. Like Rexy the dinosaur, we have spirit and staying power. 

Who knows what lies ahead? Linguists might actually save the world in real life. 

If only we could have our own coordinated marketing campaign.

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in marketing and project management.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.

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.