Month: August 2013

Free translations?!

Don’t deny it, at least once you have visited a free translation tool such as Google translate or Bing (see also my post on translation tools). Even as a professional translator I’ve been there – I often find myself using Google Translate, when I have to figure out what a certain word is called in Greek or what a Greek word means.

However, when it comes to creating a good image or website in multiple languages, then you have to think twice, before using a free translation tool to translate the context.

Good or bad Language?language

First of all, if you want to look professional, then don’t have pages with bad language. By bad language I refer to incorrect use of words, sentences that don’t make sense to a native and language that obviously has been translated directly or by a machine.

How often have you come across a homepage or email, where the language was so bad, that you immediately lost all trust in the sender, because it seemed unprofessional or untrustworthy?

Yes, we all make mistakes, you’ll most certainly also find minor mistakes on my homepage, but there is a difference in how the mistakes come across. If it’s just a few typing errors or general bad language. Even in the newspapers you can find typing errors. Some people even make a sport of finding errors in papers.

A good image might cost a littleimage

Secondly, if you don’t posses the language skills yourself, get a professional/native to do it or at least proofread it. It might cost a little to get a job well done, but in the end your image will benefit.

Just have a look at my post on translations gone wrong, I sure hope these mistakes haven’t been made by professional translators! A good translator isn’t one that only knows the language in which they translate between, but also the culture, habits etc.

Not just a spoken/written language

Thirdly, all professional translators have to go through a wide range of topics in order to earn their degree. It’s not just enough to know the language as such, as already mentioned above. Just to name a few topics; politics, culture, economy (both inland and for companies), law, knowledge of businesses and what is included herein.

By choosing a professional translator you therefore get a person, who possesses a wide range of knowledge and who knows, how to acquire the right information/knowledge in order to secure high quality. Many translators specialize within certain topics, either by choice or interest.

That being said, you might also come across some good autodidact translators, who either work within the field of the sought expertise or have a great interest in the subject.

The BIG picturebig picture

Finally, always think about the picture you want to send the receiver. Do you want to compromise quality and get a quick solution that might end up cost a lot more than expected?

Translations gone wrong

Advertisements Gone Wrong In Translation
 translationgonewrong_1

I recently came across this post on advertisements gone wrong in translation, which I found worrying – Just think about the consequences a translation gone wrong can have, not only meaning-wise, but also image-wise. Read the examples below to see the mistakes, if not only to have a laugh:

  • Coors put its slogan, “Turn it loose,” into Spanish, where it was read as “Suffer from diarrhoea”.
  • Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick”, a curling iron, into German only to find out that “mist” is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the “manure stick”.
  • Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.
  • In Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan “finger-lickin’ good” came out as ” eat your fingers off”.
  • The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, “Salem — Feeling Free”, was translated into the Japanese market as “When smoking Salem, you will feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty”.
  • When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what’s inside, since most people can’t read English.
  • Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.
  • An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope’s visit. Instead of “I saw the Pope” (el Papa), the shirts read “I saw the potato” (la papa).
  • In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into “Schweppes Toilet Water”.
  • Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” translated into “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”, in Chinese.
  • We all know about GM’s Chevy Nova meaning “it won’t go” in Spanish markets, but did you know that Ford had a similar problem in Brazil with the Pinto? Pinto was Brazilian slang for ” tiny male genitals”. Ford renamed the automobile Corcel, meaning “horse”.
  • Hunt-Wesson introduced Big John products in French Canada as Gros Jos. Later they found out that in slang it means “big breasts”.
  • Frank Perdue’s chicken slogan, “it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken” was translated into Spanish as “it takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate”.

    translationgonewrong

  • When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, ” it won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you”. Instead, the company thought that the word ” embarazar” (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant”.
  • The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as “Ke-kou-ke-la”, meaning “Bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”, depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent “ko-ou-ko-le”, translating into “happiness in the mouth”.
  • A few years ago, in the American Midwest, some people decided to show off their new “real” Mexican restaurant, named Chi-chi’s to some visiting Californians. Upon seeing the name on the marquis, the Californians started to laugh. When asked why they were laughing, they explained that in Mexican Spanish, “chi-chi’s” literally means “titties.”

Communication: Saying yes or was it no?!

Hi again,

today you get a shorter and less nerdy blog post than the last few. It’s going to be all about communicating. Even though it’s over a year ago since I moved to Cyprus, I still smile and think about the language differences whenever I hear the Greek word “vaí” (nai) – meaning yes.

yesno

If you were in Denmark and heard the word “næ” (nai) it would have a very different meaning, namely no. Imagine which confusion this would create in a communication situation, if you automatically presumed it had the same meaning!

It’s not only words that can create confusion and misunderstandings, when communication with another culture and/or in another language. You always need to be careful, when doing business with other countries. It’s not always enough knowing the language, you also need to know the culture and not least the business culture.

Cultural differences

Some cultures uses their hands a lot when they speak, which is a problem if you only communicate online or via phone. It can therefore be a good advice to meet with the other part personally and beforehand make sure that you know how to behave and how to interpret the other part.

Some cultures, e.g. Finland often do business while socializing, whereas Germans like to separate the matters. There is no better way of doing business, it all depends on the eyes that sees and which custom we are used to. Therefore its always advisable to know the traditions and way of doing business are, before entering a partnership.

Learning by doing

After a very short time here in Cyprus I quickly learned that even though a Cypriot says that he/she’ll call you back, then don’t expect it to be true – in some cases you have to call them back your self, and that several times to make sure you have an appointment or to follow up on a matter. This mostly goes business wise – haven’t had any problems with my friends not calling back! You should think that it would be important to call a possible client back, if you want to make money, not necessarily in this culture.

Coming from a very structured culture, where timetables and deadlines are important and moving to a country, where things are more relaxed take time to adapt to – and vice versa for that matter! I do, however, enjoy the more relaxed way of living, just not when I need things to happen more quickly!

An example here of: A friend of mine opened a restaurant, but had to shut it down due to some legal issues, which she thought was taken care of. Then she decided to start all over. To open any kind of business in Cyprus you need a lot of licences a.s.o. She has, however, had a lot of difficulties getting everything ready in a short period of time, as you need to go many different places to have them done, then there are the limited opening hours (and not least the closing of most public offices in August) as well as the problem of time – it can take a lot of time just opening a business bank account, especially after the crisis hit Cyprus.

How do they do?

As the example shows then you need to get the right contacts in order to have everything done properly, also to save time and money – but everything takes time here. So if you consider opening a business in another country or even your own, it’s always good to get in contact with a professional business that knows what they are doing. It also doesn’t hurt for you to study the culture and rules regarding having a business in the chosen country, just to make sure everything is done right.

Luckily it’s a strong friend, who still believe in fighting for her goal. You never know when you get burned, but we all live and learn, and you never know if it’s the right solution until you have tried.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better” – Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)

German grammar: Prepositions & Cases


cat-prepositions-imageGerman prepositions

In my last blog post I wrote about German adjectives’ inflections, in which I also shortly mentioned German prepositions. This post will therefore be about German prepositions and which case they take.

A preposition is “a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to some other word in the sentence”(1) and it links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. Prepositions are placed before the article, adjective and noun and tell the position of the noun/person etc. Both in German and English the prepositions are flexible and there isn’t always an equivalent in the other language as most languages have their own way of expressing a relationship.

The 3 cases

In German the prepositions take 3 cases: Accusative, Dative and/or Genitive. This means that each preposition take an object in Accusative, Dative or Genitive – some prepositions even have two cases to choose from, which I’ll get into later. If you want to master the German Language you need to practice the prepositions and which case each preposition take – you can of course  always look this up in a dictionary, but knowing most of them will save you time writing/translating.

Prepositions with Accusative

When I first learned this string of words, I learned it as a rhyme: durch, für, gegen, ohne, wieder, um, kannst du nicht die Akkusative, dann bist du wirklich dumm! There are, however, more prepositions than those 6, which take Accusative:

Durch through, by
Für for
Gegen against, for
Ohne without
Wider Against, to, towards
Um around, for; at (time)
Entlang along, down -This preposition however goes after the object: Sie geht den Fluss entlang./
She is walking along the river. (1)
Bis until, to, by –Bis is technically an accusative preposition, but it is almost always used with a second preposition (bis zu, bis auf, etc.) in a different case, or without an article (bis April, bis Montag, bis Bonn). (1)

Prepositions with Dative

These prepositions take the Dative case:

Aus from, out of
Bei at, near
Mit with, by
Nach after, to
Seit since (time), for
Von by, from
Zu at, to
außer except for, besides
Entgegen Against, contrary to
gegenüber across from, opposite (can go before or after its object)
gemäß according to, after, subject to
nächst Next to
samt Together with, along with
zuwieder against

E.g. Er trank aus der Flaschen – he drank from the bottle

Er wohnt bei seiner Grossmutter – He live with his grandmother

  Two-way-prepositions: prepositions with Accusative/Dative

 

An at, on, to
Auf at, to, on, upon
Hinter Behind
In in, into
Neben beside, near, next to
Über about, above, across, over
Unter under, among
Vor in front of, before;
ago (time)
Zwischen between

A two-way-preposition take either an object in Accusative or Dative case all depending on the situation.

994771_466035176814133_265609445_n

When deciding on, whether a two-way-preposition has an object in Accusative or Dative you can decide so by asking either: wohin (where to) or wo (where). If it’s a motion the preposition take Accusative case, and if it’s a location the object take Dative case. An easy example to show this rule is:

1)    The boy went in the house to pick up his bag  -> here the boy moves from outside the house and into the house = motion

2)    The boy is playing in the house  -> here the boy stays at the same place, namely in the house = location.

Figurative sense

In case the two-way-preposition stands in a sentence, where it has a figurative sense, then the main rule is: auf and über always take Accusative case, while the rest take Dative case.

E.g. Sie freute sich über die vielen Geschenke (A) – She was pleased over all the presents

Prepositions with Genitive

Statt, anstatt Instead of
Während During, in the course of
Wegen Because of
Diesseits On this side of
Jenseits On the other side
ausserhalb Outside of
innerhalb Inside of
Oberhalb above
unterhalb under

 Prepositions with Genitive and Dative

Here are some of the most important prepositions that take both Genitive and Dative case. In this case it doesn’t make a difference which case you choose.

Binnen Within
Dank Due to, thanks to
Laut By, according to
Trotz In spite of
zufolge According to

Verbs with prepositions

Like in English, many German verbs and verb phrases take a certain preposition. This is a pitfall for many foreigners learning a new language, as it might not be the same preposition used in all languages, just have a look at this example: Believe in -> glauben an.

Rule of thumb is that the German verb phrase take an object in the same case as the used preposition, just be aware of the two-way-prepositions.

Prepositions Used with Verbs (Table fund in source 1)

Prep.

Verb Phrase

Example

an*

 an etw arbeiten D Er arbeitet an einem Roman.
He’s working on a novel.

an*

 an etw/jdn denken A Ich denke oft an ihn.
I think of him often.

auf*

 auf etw achten A Sie müssen auf den Preis achten.
You have to pay attention to the price.

auf*

 auf etw bestehen D Er hat auf seinen Rechten bestanden.
He insisted on his rights.

aus

 aus etw bestehen D Sein Haus besteht aus Stein.
His house is made of stone.

für

 für etw sorgen A Die Polizei sorgt für Recht und Ordnung.
The police strive for law and order.

in*

 s. in jdn verlieben A Er hat sich in sie verliebt.
He fell in love with her.

in*

 s. in etw/jdm täuschen D Ich habe mich in ihm getäuscht.
He disappointed me.

mit

 mit etw rechnen D Wir haben mit seiner Dummheit nicht gerechnet.
We didn’t account for his stupidity.

nach

 nach etw riechen D Es riecht nach Benzin.
It smells like/of gasoline.

über*

 über etw/jdn urteilen A Ich kann nicht über sein Talent urteilen.
I can’t judge his talent.

über*

 über etw verfügen A Verfügst du über einen Rechner?
Do you have access to a computer?
  NOTE: über is always ACCUSATIVE in verbal idioms.

um

 s. um etw bewerben A Bewirbst du dich um den Posten?
Are you applying for the position?

von

 von etw/jdm distanzieren D Sie haben sich von ihm distanziert.
They distanced themselves from him.

vor*

 jdn vor etw retten D Sie hat ihn vor dem Wasser gerettet.
She saved him from the water.
  NOTE: vor is always DATIVE in verbal idioms.

zu

 zu etw/jdm stehen D Stehst du zu ihm?
Are you sticking by/with him?
  * = two-way (accusative/dative) prepositions

Here you can see a list over verbs and their prepositions.

Verbs with cases

Below I’ve listed some verbs that take an object in either Accusative or Dative case. You need to be aware of some of these as the Accusative object might be missing in some sentences. There are of course many other verbs than those listed below, make sure to check your dictionary to be sure.

E.g.

Hängen + A
Legen +A
Setzen +A
Stellen +A

 

Ankommen +D
Eintreffen +D
Sich einfinden +D
Erscheinen +D
Sich versammeln +D
Sich niederlassen +D

  

Quiz

I’ve listed some links to tests, which you can take in order to test your skills in the above mentioned grammatical areas.

1)    Verbs with prepositinos

2)    Two-way-prepositions

3)    Preposition quiz 

 

Sources:
1)  About.com – German prepositions 
2)   A. Rossen – Tysk Grammatik, 3. Udgave, 2. Oplag 1998, Aschehoug Dansk Forlag A/S, pp. 122-133.