Chinese manufacturers find themselves in a difficult position: when working with foreign markets, they face significant risks over which they have little control. This means they must make every effort to protect their business. Of course, the price and quality of the product itself play the most important role here. But today we want to talk about a less obvious risk when exporting, which can entail completely unexpected large financial losses. Import bans, loss of customers, a high percentage of unsold products, and even lawsuits — all as a result of... poor translation.
The quality of translation is a factor that manufacturers of technological goods typically consider last. But the times are changing. European countries are imposing increasingly strict requirements on the quality not only of the product but also of the accompanying translated documentation. People will pass up even the best deal if it’s advertised with a seemingly discriminatory slogan. A good translation will attract loyal customers and growing profits. A bad one will bring only scandals and losses at the most inopportune moment. This might be hard to believe, but experience leaves no doubt.
Every self-respecting manufacturer ensures that the quality of their products meets high safety standards. But are you ready to ensure the same quality of the accompanying instructions? Trying to rush through the translation of technical documentation and cut corners financially can lead to non-trivial accidents.
That’s exactly what happened once in Germany. A company producing bread makers stated in the instructions that the device might emit steam during normal operation. But in the English version, the word “steam” was translated as “smoke”. This resulted in incidents of buyers of defective bread makers being poisoned by the toxic fumes of their burning machine because they trusted the instructions and didn’t turn it off.
For the manufacturer, this translation error led to serious costs. They were obliged not only to compensate the victims but also to pay for the removal of the unsold goods from the country and their subsequent disposal.
This is not a problem that any of us want to face. Unfortunately, when it comes to translating technical documentation, every company faces risks. In some industries, up to 10% of workplace incidents occur due to language factors, including poor translation. And the more high-tech the product you produce, the higher these risks.
The explosion at the Texas City refinery in 2005 is just one example of a terrible tragedy caused in part by language errors. As a result of the explosion, 15 people died and 180 were injured, and the destroyed property and compensation to victims cost the company 3 billion dollars.
When entering European markets, you will likely encounter CE marking. It is mandatory if you plan to sell certain types of product in the European Union, such as electronic devices or medical equipment. To obtain this marking your product must pass rigorous testing for compliance with EU standards.
These standards apply both to the quality of the product and its instructions — and it’s the translation for the importing country that is evaluated. If these translated instructions could be misinterpreted in some way by the user, this is considered a defect just like a bent casing or missing part. In the worst case, your shipment might not be allowed through the border at all. The product you’ve already invested in will be stuck in warehouses while you painstakingly refine — or completely redo — the translation of its documentation.
What is a good translation according to the EU standards?
In addition, the instructions may fail the check due to poor design and layout. Text must be arranged on the page so that it is unquestionable which illustration it refers to, and sections concerning consumer risks must be written clearly and highlighted with a certain formatting. To avoid missing anything here, it’s worth giving the job of translation and layout to a team of professionals (for example, ours).
Translation is particularly important when it comes to selling consumer goods. The fact is, buyers are more likely to choose a brand that speaks to them in their own language. Nothing touches you like your own native language, and this simply must be taken advantage of in marketing. A memorable and evocative name and slogan are no less important than well-designed marketing materials and the intensity of advertising. As you may know, Western brands have repeatedly gotten into trouble trying to enter the Chinese market. Just recall the unsuccessful translations of slogans for KFC (It’s finger licking good!), Pepsi (Come alive with the Pepsi generation) and many more. For such massive global brands, the failure of a single marketing campaign is not critical. But for a small or niche manufacturer, it could bring them to the brink of bankruptcy. In addition to direct losses from wasted advertising costs, they will also lose profits from potential consumers who they scared away with their poor advertising.
Adapting slogans for Western countries is no easier. In the markets of Europe and both Americas, poor-quality translations are associated with cheap mass-produced goods; such goods have a reputation for breaking quickly, and tarnish the user’s image and status. If you translate from Chinese using Google Translate or ChatGPT, you might find yourself in an extremely unpleasant situation — for example, using a taboo or offensive word in the slogan or even the brand name. Unfortunately, even if someone checks the translation, they may miss such words. When studying a foreign language, obscene vocabulary and slang are rarely given much attention, even in specialized educational settings. Therefore, the choice of translator should be taken very seriously. You need to make sure that you’re working with an experienced professional who is constantly developing their skills and who will recognize any risky language.
Sometimes, a selling slogan or name differs from an unsuccessful one in subtle ways that only a native speaker can be aware of. The meaning of symbols differs from culture to culture: for example, in one country, a bird cherry might symbolize spring and youth, while in another it’s a harbinger of decay. And a word that seems neutral to a foreigner may turn out to be the nickname of a famous person, the title of a movie, or a reminder of some important historical event.
Toyota faced a situation like this when it was preparing to introduce its Avalon car model in the Australian market under a new name: Toyota Centaur. They were just about to launch when it was discovered that “Centaur” was also the name of an Australian hospital ship sunk during World War II. You would agree that a national tragedy is not the best association for a new product. The company was fortunate that an Australian employee noticed this and managed to convince the management to abandon this name in the local market.
As you can see, releasing a product in a foreign market with a translation made by a non-native speaker can lead to unexpected costs (or even disaster). And relying exclusively on Google Translate, Baidu, or ChatGPT is simply reckless. However, translation is not a cheap process. So how can you protect yourself from mistakes without breaking the bank?
To launch a product in a new market, you’ll need the services of a qualified translator. Moreover, for marketing materials (and in Europe, for manuals for electronics and various other products), the translator should be a native speaker of the target language with a deep understanding of the importing country’s culture and commonly used phrases, legal terminology, and even slang. And in the case of technical documentation, the translator must know the particular country’s requirements for translating specialized terms.
If you work in several different industries or plan to enter markets in multiple languages, a single translator won’t be enough. Of course, you could allocate company resources to find individual employees in each country, train and manage them. But even then, you can’t be completely sure of the results because quality control should also be handled by specialists native to the countries you're exporting to.
By turning to a translation agency that has been working internationally for decades, you can avoid paying to search for employees or redo translations after negative reviews. Such companies value their reputation and will become your reliable partners for years to come. Selecting high-class specialists and managing processes is what agencies do best.
In its 30 years in the translation business, Logrus IT has handled a wide variety of tasks. Our accumulated experience enables us to analyze your specific case and recommend only those services that are truly necessary to achieve your business goals. In some cases, the help of a professional translator is essential. In other cases, you can get a good enough result with machine translation and subsequent proofreading by a specialist — with a pleasing price tag, too.
Logrus IT will save you both money and time. With us, you can translate documentation, marketing texts, or website interfaces — and that's just a fraction of the areas we cover. Our specialists use the latest tools which can automatically translate fragments previously encountered in your company’s text. This significantly speeds up and reduces the cost of the translation process. Logrus IT also provides services to check the quality of the final text — including for software translation — its cultural appropriateness, and even the layout.
Our company prioritizes long-term collaboration, which is reflected not only in our prices but also in the high level of service we provide. One of Logrus IT’s offices is located in Chengdu, where Chinese and European employees work side by side — this helps us effectively cooperate with both clients in China and contractors in other countries. We strive to ensure that your business successfully communicates with customers around the world, and we do this with consideration for your budget.
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