If you see a beer advertisement, and it says “Suffer from diarrhea”, it does not give you a positive image of pleasant and fresh tasting beer. However, it was exactly what happened to the Coors beer advertising campaign. The catch copy “Turn it loose” was translated in Spanish as “Suffer from diarrhea”. American Airlines’ catch-phrase “Fly in leather” was appeared as “Fly naked” in Spanish in their ad campaign. A similar disaster was, the American Dairy Association’s catch-phrase “Got Milk?” was translated in Spanish as “Are you lactating?” no wonder they weren’t really successful in Spanish-language market.
Although non-professional and free translation software can be handy for “grasping the gist” of some words and phrases in Spanish, if you are serious you need an accurate professional translation, particularly if the finished translated product is going to represent your organization or business. Translating language is extremely complicated and complex work, and free translation software cannot deliver high quality translation even if the phrases are simple.
Bilinguals=translators?
Not surprisingly, just because you can speak both Spanish and English, doesn’t mean you are instantly qualified to be a translator. Translation disaster can happen when a company employer presumes that Spanish speaking workers, such as Hispanic Americans are able to translate professionally. For professional translation, languages, source and target, are equally important. Someone who is fluent in Spanish and English may know a certain English word, but when they translate it into English, they need to be familiar with common usages of that word and know the intent of the phrase in order to provide correct translation.
Quality Spanish translations
Most surprising fact is, you can see so many poor quality Spanish translations around when the budget priced professional translation services are available. Just think about what could happen if some words are incorrectly translated in a medical or legal document. Are you puzzling why your Hispanic marketing activities never provide results? Could customers be confused by what they hear and read?
Professional translation cost
Getting a superior quality translation is a crucial decision for your company to achieve marketing success in the long run. Generally speaking, a high quality translation rate is $0.12 – $0.24 per word in average, and that is a small cost if you think about it can lead you to a successful marketing campaigns.
It is important to maintain a positive image of your company. Therefore next time you require Spanish translation for your business documents or marketing materials, contact a professional translation agency and ask them to get the job done so your campaigns will not look like amateur works.
If you have questions regarding your Spanish translation, contact Apoling Solutions for professional certified translation services.
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