10 Common Translation Mistakes You Should Avoid
Creating content for your company is a time-consuming, meticulous process that is critical. You put in a lot of time and effort to create content that is both relevant and memorable to your target audience.
Once you’ve perfected your material, you may be ready to have it translated. Making the decision to translate your content into one or more foreign languages is an important step toward reaching a larger audience — and it has the potential to transform your business! When you’re finished, double-check your translations to ensure they match the quality of the English text you so carefully crafted. Translation errors create a negative impression and diminish the purpose of translation.
There are two types of errors: objective and subjective.
Objective:
Misspellings and text omissions are examples of this. There can be no debate about whether a translation lacks a header or whether a term is correctly spelled. These errors are considered objective.
Subjective:
When it comes to subjective errors, there may be as many different ways to do something as there are reviewers. Choosing between synonyms is one example of a difficult task. In English, for example, both “car” and “automobile” exist. They both mean the same thing, so choosing between the two is a matter of taste — or style.
The following are ten common translation errors that can wreak havoc on your content:
Mistranslations
This type of error has the most serious consequences. Language is extremely adaptable, and there are numerous ways to express the same concept. However, a translator may make an error in a sentence, resulting in a mistranslation. Such an action can occur as a result of a translator’s lack of subject expertise, misread homographs (words spelled the same but with different meanings), or simple human error. These errors can be avoided if the translations are proofread by a second (or even third) linguist.
Type of Error: Objective
Not Examined Reference Materials
Assume you’ve been doing business with the same translation company for a long time. In that case, they’ll almost certainly have a substantial Translation Memory (TM) database for you, which the linguists will consult while translating. Glossaries, style guides, dictionaries, product information, and corporate background are also available. When a translator fails to check the reference materials, it can be painfully obvious. Because the translators will be less familiar with the original text, their translations will be less professional and consistent.
Subjective type of error
The Style Guide Is Not Being Used
In addition to reading level, style decisions such as professional vs. informal tone, whether to translate proper names or not, and how to treat measurements (metric or imperial) are all critical. These factors must be considered before delivering your content to your translation vendor.
Subjective type of error
Spelling, grammar, and syntax errors
Translation errors will stand out regardless of whether the reader is familiar with the original English content. Spelling, syntax, and grammatical errors in translation will make your content look amateurish and sloppy, which is most likely not the image you want associated with your company.
Error Type: Objective
Glossary and Terminology Inconsistencies
Your organization has its own culture. You most likely have a unique way of referring to items related to your company, whether you choose specific terminology intentionally or evolve spontaneously. If that precise, recognized vocabulary isn’t used, it can stand out, send the wrong brand message, and even make people uncomfortable.
Subjective and objective errors are both types of errors.
Table of Contents, Index, and Footnotes Errors
Internal references, such as tables of contents, indexes, and footnotes, are usually required to understand your document. Readers must refer to them within the document to find the information they seek.
Error Type: Objective
Incorrect Hyphenation and Line Breaks
Justified text is a formatting option that distributes content evenly across the page’s margins. In English, such a move frequently results in hyphenated words that span two lines. There are several restrictions on where the term can be broken; for example, the hyphen should not be placed in the middle of a syllable, as this makes reading the text difficult!
Error Type: Objective
The capitalization is wrong.
The capitalization rules differ significantly between languages. In English, for example, proper names and titles must always be capitalized. German, on the other hand, is an example of a language with very different capitalization rules: in German, all nouns must be capitalized. Capitalizing the first letter of a word can change its meaning!
Error Type: Objective
Typos and improper spacing
Flying fingers are prone to mistakes. In document translation services, a space between words is sometimes missed, or an extra space is introduced where it isn’t needed. These errors are easily detected by spellcheck, but not all languages have this feature! Somali, for example, does not have a standardized dictionary. This implies that there is no spellcheck, which allows more of these errors to slip through the cracks.
Error Type: Objective
Incorrectly spelled names
Your identity is inextricably linked to how you spell your name, and when someone misspells your name, it can feel like a personal insult. When the source and target languages do not share an alphabet, name spelling becomes more difficult.
Type of Error: Both Objective and Subjective
Irregularities (text not translated)
Everything in your English materials was included for a reason — removing something could have a significant impact on the message! To ensure that your message is conveyed correctly and effectively, keep an eye out for omissions in translation services.
Error Type: Objective
Everything your company communicates with its target audience in English and other languages should be consistent with your brand message and image.
You can avoid the common translation pitfalls outlined above by working with certified translation services, ensuring that your materials are checked, and being aware of the specific ways translations can be difficult.
Are you looking for a dependable translation service provider? Don’t look any further. Multilingua Institute provides high-quality translations. We provide quality in exchange for your trust! With a global pool of over industry-leading localization services in over 250 languages.
