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Insuring that your English language media avoid embarrassment and motivate customer interest and action

"When I think of this profession (translating) I think of priestly, tireless dedication to getting it right."

Emma Donoghue

 

"Übersetzer sind als geschäftige Kuppler anzusehen, die uns eine halbverschleierte Schöne als höchst liebenswürdig anpreisen: sie erregen eine unwiderstehliche Neigung nach dem Original.

Goethe

 

"Native speakers long away from the daily usage of their mother tongue adopt the language patterns of the culture which surrounds them. It shows clearly in their work. Their English translations start to sound curiously German......a condition which their German speaking clients usually miss."

T. Brown

“Translation is the art of failure.”

Umberto Eco

All of the excerpts below are clearly the work of  translators who are not native English speakers. Some are likely also not experts in the subject matter. Every one of these translations passed through an internal audit procedure and even so, errors were missed leaving readers confused or, as in the last example, amused.

The examples below are interesting because they are typical but more subtle.  

All of these quotations would sound strange to a native English speaker; none would have gotten by one of our auditors. All of them failed in their purpose.

From a multibillion dollar German  corporation:

"At the Berlin location our company provides with XX press-fit zones an innovative solderless connection technology for the demands of the automotive supplier industry. While nowadays the majority of the components are still processed with conventional soldering techniques, the press-fit technology holds without a doubt the future of the automotive sector."

From the promotional literature of a major international German Trade Show:

"Every two years experts, suppliers and customers from all over the world meet each other to exchange and to discuss current trends and developments in the field of  xxxxxx technology. At the international trade fair for xxxxx technology besides the wide range also high-end xxxxx technology for the economic production of functional parts and components is offered."

From the first paragraph of a German company's website:

"More than 270 people work day for day at our locations in KXXX and our branch offices in KXXXXX, and Ulm to ensure that this stays this way."

 

From a mid-sized German music company:

"Highlight of our company history was winning the German Musical Instruments Award competition in 20XX, beating off 21 wooden instruments."