Our small yet big world is home to over 7 billion people, 3800 cultures, 4300 religions, and 6900 languages! With such a great amount of distinction and differences, one cannot be expected to keep a track of every variation, hence making us prone to honest mistakes. However, a mistake cannot be perceived as just a common human error, when a lot is at stake! Yes, we are talking about mistakes made during translation that created a significant amount of complications, because unless you have EZ by your side, a lot can be lost in translation!
Now, are you wondering how a small mistake can make such a huge impact, that we are inspired to write an entire article on it? If yes, let us have a look at some of these translation errors that got etched in history, so that next time you know where to seek solutions!
- The catchphrase mix-up of HSBC HSBC or Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Corporation is a global bank, one of the largest in the world. Considering a bank corporation so big, it would seem quite obvious that everything done here would go through multiple checks before releasing it to the public eye; as we all know public eyes are quite sharp! However, this grand corporation hit a big roadblock because of a small error in translation and the story goes somehow like this: In 2009, when HSBC was localizing to expand its reach in various global markets, their catchphrase also had to be translated. But, mistakenly, the innovative catchphrase of HSBC, “Assume Nothing” was translated to “Do Nothing”, not just in one, but many markets. This change of catchphrase changed the persuasive marketing campaign pitch that HSBC had originally intended, to something whose rectification required spending millions of dollars! The entire strategy was rebranded in the markets that were affected by this mistake! Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?
- The interpretation mistake by Jimmy Carter’s translator As we all know, the position of the President of the United States is quite powerful, and so each of them goes places with an intention to make nothing but the best impression, and the same was the case with Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter (president of the United States from 1977-1981), was traveling to Poland for some work in 1977, and his Polish translator Steven Seymour got a few words mixed while translating and interpreting the words of Mr. Carter. So, the story goes like this: Mr. Seymour was translating directly to Polish, the words spoken by president Carter in English, and he translated a few sentences like “when I left the United States” to “when I abandoned the United States” and “desires for the future” to “lusts for the future”! This mistake might have gotten a few laughs from the audience but President Carter was quite humiliated.
- Drop in the temperature of the Cold War because of a translation error This is another story of an interpretation mistake by a translator, which received a huge uproar from the public, so there is a chance that you might know of this instance already! In 1956, the US and Soviets were at the height of their cold war, when something happened to make it even worse, that too because of a translation error: On November 18th, 1956, the correct interpretation of the speech by the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was crucial, but it did not happen. The premier had intended to criticize capitalism and said in his speech that the Soviets would outlive the capitalist system of the United States, for which he used a Russian idiom that went like, “we will outlast you and live to see you buried”. This idiom was translated in English to mean “we will bury you”, which came out as ominous and America thought of it as a threat for a Nuclear attack before the misconception was cleared! This necessitates analyzing the need for non-contextual transliteration and contextual translation, which is clearly understood by the interpreters at EZ!
- Japan’s confusing translation error In 1945, the end of World War II was near and a meeting of the allied leaders was scheduled in Potsdam where the terms for Japan’s surrender were discussed and drafted to the Japanese government. What followed afterward was a grave translation and interpretation error: When the government of Japan received the terms of surrender, they were taking their time to weigh the options but the Japanese press needed answers for how the government would respond. The government responded to the press with the word “mokusatsu” which has two meanings, ‘no comment’ and ‘we are ignoring them with contempt’. Now, for the Japanese media, the word meant ‘no comment’ while the Americans, ignoring the context, went with the second translation and influenced their decision to use the Atom bomb on Japan. Thankfully, this misconception was cleared, but taught us the lesson on the importance of context which has the capacity to wreak havoc!
- The strange medical translation error The medical translation error is an unparalleled, high-profile translation error that occurred in 1980. This translation error will tell you the necessity of medical translations : An 18-year-old man named Willie Ramirez was carried to a hospital in South Florida by his friends and family. As the family did not speak or understand English, they tried to explain to the hospital staff in Spanish that Willie had food poisoning, by using the word “intoxicado”. The hospital staff without any thorough knowledge of Spanish translated the word to mean “intoxication” and thought that Willie was suffering from a drug overdose. Without even confirming whether that is the case, the hospital treated Willie for drug overdose and he was paralyzed due to the delay of appropriate treatment. This small mistake cost Willie his whole life and the hospital lost around $71 million as the family filed a lawsuit against the hospital! Translation errors can indeed cost a lot of money!
Takeaway from others’ translation mistakes
One could think of translation errors to be insignificant, but as you can see they can create a significant amount of impact! Translation experts at EZ know the unsaid rules of translation by heart, which is why they can provide Consistently High-Quality Translation Services with their native level of proficiency. As a part of the suite of business support services offered at EZ, our consistent and contextual language translation services are offered at a pace that is Faster Than the Fastest. With the help of our globally positioned subject matter experts, we are Available Round The Clock, so you can reach out to us any hour of the day, and we will be more than happy to assist you!
