
Los ejemplos de mala traducción abundan en publicidad
Paula Di Dio, Research Strategist at Cultural Edge Consulting wrote an article in Media Post entitled: The Exotic Accent (Mark): Avoid Puzzling Your Audience, where she highlights that even the smallest grammatical error could lead to devastating consequences. “Efforts to reach a multicultural audience lie not only in creativity and innovative social media approaches, but also in linguistics. The correct use of language is key when conducting market research or introducing a new product to the market” she said. For Di Dio, translation is a professional endeavor, and an accent mark in the wrong place, or simply absent, conveys the wrong message. She explained that even the most innovative surveys, if plagued with grammatical errors, create the wrong atmosphere and do not facilitate a sense of engagement among the target audience. “In addition, they may measure the wrong sentiment or attribute by not capturing the true intent of the questionnaire.” She mentioned an example of mistranslation during the last presidential campaign. An unofficial Bernie Sanders ad in Spanish – originally written in English- circulated for a few weeks, in the ad the senator’s qualities were listed: progressive, honest and committed. “But if you incorrectly translate the first of those adjectives as ‘continual’ instead of the correct translation for the word ‘progressive’ (progresista, not progresivo in Spanish) you undermine opportunities to connect with your stakeholders” she explained. Di Dio also mentioned another example with the South American tea yerba mate, which she has seen often misspelled as Yerba matè (sic) in hipster coffee shops or in locally advertised packaging in some grocery stores. The grave accent (slanting downward) is a property of the French language, not Spanish, this could be interpreted as a strategy to add value by way of exoticism. “Exoticism is not a strategy that either encourages tolerance towards other cultures nor embraces cultural differences. The end consumer is likely to see right through it.”
BlackVan Films: El mercado hispano tiene un lenguaje propio muy marcado