Absolute Translations Saves The Day: Feedback

Feedback by Absolute Translations’ reviewers on a translation sample of approx. 500 words

Norwegian

–         Everything I’ve read sounds translated and some of it might as well have been translated using Google Translate. The language is Norwegian, but the syntax is English. [Norwegian examples provided]

–         Simple errors that should be easy to avoid, like: [Norwegian examples provided]

–         Phrases that look like they’ve been translated by Google, like: [Norwegian examples provided]

–          A truly skilled translator would never use the word “ufordervet” to translate unspoiled nature/landscapes, as “fordervet” actually means spoiled (rotten) as in food that’s gone bad.

–          The quality of the translation as a whole is way below what would be acceptable for a commercial text, and my suggestion is that the client has someone do the translation again from scratch rather than correcting the current translations. I think the result would better and the cost lower.

Danish

–          The translation is too literal, it’s a word for word translation resulting in unidiomatic Danish.

–          It has many style errors and spelling errors.

–          Let’s hope the client decides to have another go at this.  The quality of their English web copy differs quite a lot.

Traditional Chinese

–          Inappropriate wordings such as 體味, which evokes the imagination of body odour.

–          Mistranslations such as 13個標誌性網站. Original says 13 iconic stops along the way, translation says 13 iconic websites.

–          The translation is too literal and needs to be polished extensively to be marketing-worthy.

Simplified Chinese

–          The translator misunderstood the source text in places and as a result it will need to be completely re-translated.

–          The translator seems not a skilled Chinese writer as some of the sentences are just plainly grammatically incorrect.

Korean

–          Unfortunately I had to re-translate the whole thing.  Some sections were too literal and translation-like (therefore comic…). [Korean examples provided]

–          Some transliterations of place names are incorrect. [Korean examples provided]

–          Some expressions are too literal to be marketing materials (not enticing, but rather scaring people off)

Japanese

–          The style of this translation lacks enormously. Like the English source, the Japanese translation should provide exciting and positive images of traveling, and it’s not.

–         The translation is too literal and the word choices are not creative. The text sounds immature and therefore risks giving Japanese visitors an impression of incompetence. [Japanese examples provided]

–          Imperative or prohibition type sentences tend to exude negativity and this translation may not achieve the desired result, i.e. encourage visitors to book your holidays.