Top five tips so your brand is never lost in translation – guest post by Gera Solutions

Many brands offer press releases in a selection of languages; often language selections are translated with the help of online translation tools. However, whilst useful as a starting point, do not rely on these tools because lost-in-translation fails are plentiful. Such errors can be amusing but are not a great look for a premium brand – even silly errors can pose a reputational risk.

So here are our top five tips:

1. If you have any knowledge of the translated language at all, read it through to see if you spot any glaring errors (and correct them!).

• Run the translated text back through your machine translation tool to see how the text now reads in the original language – is it close to the original? If there are inconsistencies then see what options the software offers in the translated text – some of the word choices available might provide a closer fit to your original text.

• Use a spellchecker- first select the text and set the proofing language to match your chosen translated text, then run a spell check. A red line indicates a possible error that probably needs to be corrected. You can usually perform a simple grammar and punctuation check too – look for the blue lines. Correcting these may require a little more fluency in the chosen language which brings us on to…

• …if at all possible, find a native speaker and ask them to read through your text. Even if they are not familiar with your brand, they can help ensure that silly errors are avoided.

• Finally, the best piece of advice we can give is to only offer press release text in a language that has been carefully edited and proofread. This might mean letting your reader make their own choice to use online translations tools if they want or need to. Most people are familiar with online services and, by leaving it up to the reader to use machine translation, errors and inconsistencies will not reflect badly on the brand. You’ll save time too!

For more help and advice on working across languages and cultures, contact us: info@gera.solutions +44 (0)772 922 7839