Most companies won’t admit this, but they’re actually burning cash on translation mistakes that could have been easily avoided in the first place.
Literal translation mistakes can cost businesses millions annually. We’re talking about companies that went viral for all the wrong reasons, all because someone thought mere word-for-word translation was sufficient. The companies that are winning in global markets have already realized that cheap translation isn’t exactly cheap after all.
The translation industry is exploding, and it’s predicted to hit $33.9 billion by 2029. If you’re still gambling with literal translation, you’re missing the entire point.
Here’s why direct translation is ruining your global image, and how you can fix it before it’s too late.
What Is Literal Translation?
Literal translation is simply taking words from one language and replacing them with dictionary equivalents, without considering cultural nuances, context, or even communication goals. When phrases are translated literally, they miss the point that you’re trying to convey to your audience.
Here’s what happens when you translate literally:
The German saying Das ist nicht mein Bier becomes that’s not my beer when translated literally, when in fact, what it really means is that’s not my problem. The literal version wouldn’t make sense to your English audience.
Similarly, when KFC’s famous it’s finger-licking good slogan was translated literally into Chinese, it became eat your fingers off. This quickly turned the slogan from something delicious to something highly disturbing for its consumers.
Most marketing teams spend months crafting the right message so that it sits well with their customers. Literal translation can destroy all that hard work within minutes.
But the phenomenon doesn’t just apply to marketing copy. Legal documents, customer support materials, manuals, and product descriptions are all just as important.
Why Literal Translation Is Risky for Global Businesses
The reality is stark and concerning. Literal translation creates a lot more problems than it can solve. Here’s why it’s so risky:
Miscommunication with Customers
When marketing feels unnatural, the product instructions are unclear, and customer service communications are confusing, your customers won’t stick around to figure it out. They’ll simply bounce to your competitors who are already communicating clearly in their language.
Cultural Insensitivity or Offense
Your business’s success in the global market depends on cultural nuances, and any misstep could damage your market entry. Symbols, numbers, and colors all carry different meanings across different cultures. When you’re literally translating, these very important factors are overlooked and can turn your brand message into something offensive and even inappropriate.
Damaged Brand Image or Reputation
Marketing translation errors can spread like wildfire on social media. Brands that cut corners when it comes to translation can quickly become targets for public criticism.
When the Swedish company, Electrolux, landed in the American market, their slogan Nothing sucks like an Electrolux didn’t quite sit well with the audience. That’s because ‘sucks’ actually means poor quality in English. Recovering from translation errors can be quite expensive and, not to mention, embarrassing!
Lost Sales or Customer Trust
Ironically, poor translation almost always performs worse than no translation at all. A recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, half of the 572 senior executives that were interviewed admitted that content that was lost in translation had halted international deals for their companies.
Industries with high stakes often see dire consequences with translation fails. Mead Johnson, for example, was forced to recall around 4.6 million cans of baby formula in 2001 because the Spanish instructions on the side of the packaging were wrongly translated. This mistake cost him around $10 million in sales.
Take, for example, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, HSBC, a multinational banking and financial organization. When their Assume Nothing campaign was wrongly translated to Do Nothing in several countries, they had to spend over $10 million on rebranding their entire campaign.
When you’re ignoring translation, you’re losing customers, market shares, and the competitive edge that once kept your customers coming.
How to Avoid Literal Translation Mistakes
The key to avoiding these costly mistakes is to treat translation as a strategic business function instead of a cost center that you need to minimize.
1. Hire Professional Translators with Industry Knowledge
Working with professional translators means they can transfer the meaning of your text effectively. Not only do they understand the cultural context, they’re also well aware of market expectations and the technical requirements needed for your content to scale with the global market.
The upfront cost is high, but it helps you avoid costly disasters down the line.
2. Use Localization or Transcreation for Marketing Content
For marketing content to convert, it needs to inform, persuade, and engage. Localization helps you maintain brand consistency while adapting your message to the local market. Transcreation goes a step further. It recreates content to trigger the same emotional response across different cultures.
3. Develop Brand Glossaries and Style Guides
Your brand’s integrity hinges on consistency across all translated materials. A helpful way to go about this is to create a glossary for all approved translations for key terms, brand voice guidelines, and cultural considerations for every target market. Always keep this document updated and accessible to everyone involved in the process.
4. Don’t Rely Only on Machine Translation
AI translation tools are helpful, but relying on them completely is a grave business mistake. Sure, they’re handy for internal communications and even initial drafts. However, for customer-facing content, machine translation often falls flat. A good rule of thumb to follow is that as long as customers are reading the content, it needs to be handled by a professional, human translator.
5. Set Up Review Processes and Involve Local Teams
Your translation workflow is only as good as the checkpoints you implement to keep your translated content in check. From the very beginning, make sure to get reviews from native speakers, ask your local team for feedback, and test the content on a few customers so you can identify potential problems.
As your business evolves, so should your translation. Product updates and new features need to be constantly updated as well. The businesses that are crushing it plan all this from the very beginning, to prevent quality degradation over time.
Stop Gambling With Your Business’s Global Success
Literal translation builds a false economy.
Most business owners think they’re saving money by direct translation. What they’re actually doing is pre-paying for disasters to happen. Every dollar you save actually costs you a lot more in damage control, lost sales, and reputation to repair that you spent decades building.
The companies that are making it big in the global market aren’t smarter than you. They’ve just figured out that translation isn’t a cost you need to minimize; it’s a strategy that can help you dominate internationally. While you’re cutting corners, they’re investing in what actually matters: communicating like locals.
Your business will succeed or fail based on one simple thing: whether or not your customers understand and trust your message. The math is quite simple. You either pay for quality translation now, or pay a lot more to clear up the mess later.
There’s no middle ground.
If you’re ready to stop bleeding money on bad translation. EC Innovations can help. Our team of cultural experts and translators understands what most people don’t; translation is a lot more than just words. It’s your fighting chance to win international markets.
At the end of the day, the question isn’t whether you can afford translation services. It’s whether you can afford to continue losing your customers to your competitors and leaving money on the table.
Contact us today to start winning.
