Kipling said, “To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life”. Today, that may be slightly outdated but even so, the lingua franca of the business world remains English. Major international bus concerns offer their websites in English. Except, sometimes, Johnny Foreigner gets it just a little wrong. Here are some examples from the bus world, each followed by Omnibuses2.0’s re-translations:
From Beulas
“This coach has been designed to aport more capacity to the passengers, the excellent general view that the Glory offers is as a result of the big visibility and the luminosity.”
“Designed to provide a higher passenger capacity, the Glory offers a bright passenger area with improved visibility”.
From Solbus
“The result of this extraordinary density in bus production is an ever-growing competition on the Polish market, a rising level of quality in the bus production, and a well-developed industry of parts and sub-assembly suppliers.”
“The Polish bus market is strong and competitive resulting in rising quality and a healthy parts and sub-assembly supply”.
From Madrid Municipal Transport
“The stops that the different MTC lines have available along their itineraries are discretionary, in other words, the user or passenger will have to warn the driver with sufficient notice if they want to get on the bus via an unequivocal signal…”
“Please give a clear signal to the MTC driver if you wish to board the bus”.
From Noge
“Last February 2008, Noge installed a biologic depuration system, using previous installation as a provisional mud storage, in which recovered mud and residual water are placed at street level to facilitate afterwards treatment.”
“In February 2008, Noge installed a street level water purification system for the treatment of muddy and grey waste water.”
From Autosan
“Comfortable Autosan buses fit ideally for short and long distances”
“Autosan produces buses that are ideal for any distance, long or short”.
From Reykjavík Bus Company
“As drivers cannot make change, you will need to have the correct fare ready.”
“Please have the correct fare ready as drivers cannot give change.”
From King Long
“King Long has remained a stable performance growth during the continuous 20 years… Up to December 2008, King Long has manufactured over 140,000 units in total, which takes up 20% of market maintenance in China and tops in the industry.”
“King Long has benefited from stable growth over the last 20 years. Up to December 2008, King Long was the Chinese market leader, building over 140,000 units, equivalent to 20 per cent of the Chinese market.”
From Ataf Spa (Florence)
“Ataf Spa remembers to the users that the service is active every day of the year until 01.50 am except for Christmas day - the bus service ends at 1.00 pm; Easter day - the bus service ends at 1.00 pm; May, 1st - Ataf Spa doesn't effect service for all day. “
“Ataf services run till 0150 every day except for Christmas and Easter Days when services finish at 1300 and May Day when there is no service.”
From Indcar
“Our effort in innovation gets a very high quality statement to our products, following the needs and requirements of customers.”
“We match our customers’ needs & requirements, and provide high quality & innovative products”.
From Caetano
“The history of this Group is made of constant victories and an accumulation of projects, aiming at the construction of a Portuguese group of international prestige.”
“The internationally prestigious Portuguese group is the result of past successes.”
From Otokar
“Navigo City keeps the driver's comfort during whole day at the traffic. You will have a wide vision with its large windscreen, heated mirrors and you will master of the road and the traffic entirely.”
“Navigo City drivers will feel refreshed even after a long day’s driving. We’ve designed heated mirrors and a large windscreen with wide vision so that you can be the master the road.”
From Autogari (Romania)
“Departs from: _______ Arrives to: _______” (route planner)
“Departs from, Arrives at”
Form Ibus (Italy)
“The agreement among nine transportation companies is allowing us to put at customer disposal a long and special experience in the working sector of the passenger transportation: many daily courses around all the national territory and over one million of passengers carried per year.”
“Nine experienced operators work together to offer passengers something special. We provide many national routes daily, carrying over a million passengers each year.”
From Traveller 21 (Hungary)
“Company Traveller 21 Ltd takes part in the public transportation in the present form since 2000.”
“Traveller 21 was established in its present form in 2000.”
From Sorrento Bus
“Seriousness, quality, experience” (strapline)
“Quality, experience, integrity”
From Solarisbus
On the other hand, this Polish manufacturer's website offers flawless translation—and a pretty slick design, too (if perhaps you ignore the dog). Highly commended. i Solarisbus (in English)
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Lost in Translation
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9 comments:
Suggest you adopt the Sorento Bus strapline as your own!
LOL, have you lost "Johnny Foreighner" in translation?
Should it be "Jonny Foreigner" or even "Johny Foreigner" rather than "Johnny Foreigner"?? Or was "Johnny" that deliberate?
Interesting that Solaris actively encourages the enthusiast as part of the sales and marketing mix. Getting other people to enthuse about your product and at no cost is quite effective. Veolia in the Netherlands do the same thing. Perhaps some websites here could benefit from that sort of input.
"Autosan" made me think the bus would clean itself up after a passenger was sick or taken short.
That Reykjavik one is a bit unfair; that isn't a mistranslation, but standard US English; 'make change' (for 'giving change') is a normal expression in the USA. And Iceland is kind of mid-Atlantic.
To be fair, "make change" is an Americanism.
It's surprising how many people believe that translation is just re-writing the exact same ideas and phrases in a different language, rather than adapting the text to the target culture. Most of the examples you quote clearly are victims of that misconception.
Solaris, it has to be said, aren't using a professional translator or a native speaker either and the translation certainly isn't perfect. But they're using someone with a degree in English who is at least somewhat familiar with the British bus industry. Incidentally, this is a long-standing reader of your blog and the person writing this comment (currently rather chuffed by the mention)...
As for the dog, I was originally rather sceptical as well but it is surprising how well it works in raising brand awareness.
A previous commenter mentioned Solaris's encouragement of bus enthusiasts: it's not something that's of no cost at all, but it's a comparatively cheap element of the marketing mix and it appears to be at least as cost effective as anything else. It's part of a wider strategy at Solaris to be open and approachable to anyone.
Half of those look like the sort of inflated corporate management-speak that we've come to expect from English companies
Form iBus (Italy)
= From iBus (Italy)
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