When translation works, your audience should never even notice it’s there. Instead, your content feels entirely native to everyone who reads, views or watches it and the message you’re trying to get across resonates perfectly with every audience, as it was originally intended to.
When translation fails, though, it overshadows everything and causes all kinds of reputational damage to brands and businesses. This is what your translators work so hard to avoid and here are six challenges they need to overcome on every project.
#1: 100% accurate translations
This is the target for every team of translators but reaching that 100% benchmark is not easy. In fact, many linguists will tell you that 100% accurate translations are impossible because any given sentence could be translated in different ways, depending on the context, interpretation of different translators and of various other factors – a number of which we’ll be looking at in the rest of this article.
What you can’t accept, though, is objective, undeniable errors: mistranslations, grammar mistakes, typos or literal translations that carry an unintended meaning, for example. The first thing you need from translation services is the peace of mind that the highest level of accuracy will always be achieved with your language projects.
#2: Non-translatables
No matter how skilled your team of translators may be, there are certain aspects and nuances that do not easily translate into other languages. For example, words like “awkward” encompass connotations of embarrassment, discomfort and uncertainty that can be challenging to convey accurately in other languages.
It could also be more complex idioms and expressions like “tomaten auf denaAugen haben” in German, which means “you’ve got tomatoes on your eyes.” Whereas the understood meaning is you’re not seeing something as everyone else does. In this case, the translator needs to decide how to capture the same meaning in a way that resonates similarly with audiences of other languages.
In certain scenarios, “tomaten auf den augen haben” could be translated as “looking through rose tinted glasses” in English – but not always. The German expression is only used for physical objects, not concepts, while the English alternative always implies your impression is more positive than it should be.
#3: Words with multiple meanings
Another problem translators run into on every language project is words and phrases containing multiple meanings. For example, in English “fish in the sea” and “fish on our plates” is called the same thing: fish. Whereas Spanish speakers go fishing for “peces” and eat “pescado” in restaurants.
It works both ways, too. In Spanish, the verb “esperar” can be translated as “to hope”, “to expect” or “to wait”, depending on the context. Of course, there’s a big difference between expecting something to happen and hoping it will –and an even bigger difference in the case of waiting for something.
#4: Context is everything
When language can have multiple meanings and direct translations don’t cut it, context is everything. Your translators need to understand the intended original meaning of your content and this can be particularly difficult when they’ve only got text files to work with. So it’s important to provide relevant context where it’s needed and work with your translators on this a little bit to understand where context is important.
For example, when translating a TV debate into French, the way in which participants address each other will depend on the gender and perhaps even the age of people they are talking to or about. If you’re translating this same debate into Japanese and Korean, too, then the age, occupation and social standing of each participant can drastically change the way people address and talk to each other.
Without being aware of this type of information and background of participants, it will be impossible for your translators to know which pronouns, articles and verb endings to use.
#5: Creative language
Creative language poses a significant challenge in translation projects, as we often depend on linguistic devices such as metaphors, puns, similes and idiomatic expressions to convey meaning effectively.
However, these devices often do not directly translate into other languages, and attempting literal translations can result in confusion and questioning of your intended message.
We’ve already talked about having tomatoes on your eyes but there are countless examples:
“Do?e maca na vratanca”
This Croatian expression literally translates as “the pussycat will come to the tiny door” but means something more along the lines of “what goes around comes around” in English.
“Det är ingen ko på isen”
Translate this Swedish expression directly and you’ll end up with “there’s no cow on the ice” but you would actually be aiming for something closer to “there’s nothing to worry about”.
Slogans in particular often feature creative wordplay and subjective meanings, making them challenging to translate effectively. One notable example of a slogan translation mishap occurred when Coors introduced its “Turn it loose” campaign to Spanish-speaking markets, inadvertently conveying a message associated with “suffering from diarrhea.” This highlights the importance of transcreation for conveying the intended message in creative marketing contexts where literal translation may not suffice.
#6: Tone and style
Maintaining the original tone and style when translating content from one language to another can be challenging. It is crucial to ensure that a vibrant and dynamic marketing campaign for example does not lose its energy, ‘grip’ and excitement in a translation that turns it into dry, impersonal language, despite being technically accurate.
Similarly, a user guide for medical equipment should avoid slang and informal language to maintain professionalism and clarity. Consistency is paramount here, and translators must consider how the translated content resonates with each audience while upholding technical accuracy in their technical translations.
Nobody says translation is easy, but it’s often much more demanding than people realise—until it goes wrong. The repercussions of poor translation can be detrimental to marketing campaigns, brand integrity and may even lead to legal consequences. Therefore, it is imperative to prioritise quality translation services when expanding your business to international markets.
At translate plus, we can help you achieve this and ensure cultural resonance and local relevance in your translated content and key messages. Get in touch with us to discuss our language services.
