Ciao, friends, colleagues, travelers, summer is here and my next trip is booked – but more on that next time…. 🙂

Airport

Just in case you spotted it right away: “beautifaul” is right. 

I have added it to my favorite word creations, and it’s straight from a recent assignment about – you guessed it – beauty! Faul means lazy in German and you, too, can be beautifaul this summer! After a thorough edit and re-translation of this European client’s corporate brochure I am hopeful that they realize now that any translation attempts by self-professed English-speakers (“I schpeaken zee Englisch”) and untrained and non-qualified “translators” (I have an aunt who can translate this) may produce awkwardly hilarious end-results. Then again, I’m not holding my breath, either, if you know what I mean 😉

Sometimes a family or staff member of a potential client, who happens to schpeaken zee Englisch (or in this scenario the other target language) uses an online translation software to produce very entertaining results. A few weeks ago a major international real estate company emailed a text “for fine-tuning and minor editing” that was clearly the result of a machine translation. I particularly enjoyed the “free yourself form” (release?) and the suggestion to “water yourself” (no comment). When we quoted a re-translation rate, they jumped ship and I am assuming are now using this text to sell a million dollar property… hmmmm….

Here is why I will always have work: translation is a learned and practised art and craft; translation software can’t think; and effective communication in text and in word is becoming more, not less important with globalization.

Your thoughts?

Signing off for today,

Your Traveling Translator