In this article I have told you about the 5 characteristics that must have a translation that enhances your Cosmetics, Beauty and Hair care products and helps you to sell them.
I have just come across a clearly wrong translation and want to tell you about it right away, so that you are warned of the mistakes your current translation agency might be making.
The original text, in Italian, was as follows (I replaced “XXX” to the name of the company, which, for fairness, I prefer not to make public):
“Ricerca e Innovazione sono la missione di XXX,
che si concretizza nella scelta di materie prime
eco, equo e bio sempre all’avanguardia,
nella messa a punto di formulazioni fortemente innovative,
nelle collaborazioni universitarie che aggiungono
competenze professionalmente avanzate
e che si affiancano alle risorse interne.
Tutto questo si traduce in un plusvalore tecnologico
che XXX mette a disposizione dei suoi Partners.”
Here is the text translated into English (be careful with the bold translation!)
“Search and Innovation are the mission of XXX
that is concretized in the choice of subjects first
echos, equitable and bio always to the state-of-the art one,
in the debugging of innovative formulations strongly,
in the university collaborations that professionally
add competences advances and that they place
side by side him to the inside resources.
All this is translated in a technological plusvalore
that XXX makes of his Partners available.”
If you are familiar with the language, you will immediately be struck by glaring errors.
Let’s see some!
RAW MATERIALS translated with SUBJECTS FIRST
The word “subjects” has been translated into
of “school subjects” (subjects)
and the word “first” as cardinal number (prima).
The correct translation would be: “raw materials”
ECO translated with ECHO
The term “eco” is used in the Italian text
as an abbreviation of “ecological”; instead
was translated into English with “echos”
which means “echo” in the sense of “return of voice”.
STRONGLY INNOVATIVE FORMULATIONS
translated with INNOVATIVE FORMULATIONS STRONGLY
Here we find an incorrect terminology choice
(strongly instead of highly)and a wrong
construction of the sentence (the adjective in English
precedes and does not follow the noun! )
The correct translation would have been:
“Highly innovative formulations”
ADDING ADVANCED SKILLS
translated with THAT PROFESSIONALLY ADD COMPETENCES ADVANCES
Here the mistakes are not counted.
We are in the presence of wrong terminological choices
(competences instead of skills), wrong grammar
(advances instead of advanced) and construction of the wrong sentence
With inversion of all the terms that make it up.
The correct translation would be:
“that add professionally advanced skills”
PLUSVALORE translated with PLUSVALORE
This term has not been translated at all
with its English correspondent: “asset” or “added value”
It is easy to realize that this kind of mistakes on marketing materials seriously undermine the credibility of a serious company in foreign markets.
Not to mention the fact that they literally blow away every investment made in creating effective texts in the source language and making marketing materials graphically attractive.
Unfortunately, these are very common mistakes because all translation agencies carry out work in every type of sector and do not know the specific language of YOUR sector, HAIR & BEAUTY.
This awareness has led us to WE TRANSLATE BEAUTY to specialize only in translations for Cosmetics and Hair Care. We are not only fully familiar with the languages, but also with the specific language and technical terminology used in the Hair&Beauty sector.
If you are curious about how we work and want to know whether you are sending translations that match your company’s name to foreign markets, ask for our free consultation of Translation Specialists in the Hair&Beauty sector.
Write at info@wetranslatebeauty.it and our secretary will contact you to make an appointment with me immediately.
Good marketing… well translated!
Katiucha Boncompagni
CEO We Translate Beauty
www.wetranslatebeauty.it
