#FRENCHTRANSLATIONTIPS - N°10

Technology is amazing but I don’t believe machine translation will ever replace human translators. Below are a few things I have done for my clients lately, which Google Translate or Deepl could never do:

💡 I spotted an incomplete sentence in the source text ("Brand new hotel nestled between the city center and"). That incomplete English sentence was the first thing clients saw on the hotel website.
✅ I let the agency know. Their reply: "Thanks so much for spotting this, we truly appreciate it and we have sent it to the client".

💡 I spotted mistakes in the source text ("compliment" instead of "complement", "comfortable group" instead of "comfortable grip"). Because the words "compliment" and "group" actually exist, a machine would translate them as they are, incorrectly.
I also came across the typo "ulitmate": a machine would be unable to recognise the correct word and would just leave the misspelt word untranslated.
✅ I let my client know. Their reply: "Thanks for adding the English proofreading too!"

💡 An Amazon listing had been supressed because the title was slightly too long once the client added sizes and colours to my translation. I reworked the title so it would fit within the character limit and help the listing be reinstated by Amazon.
✅ My client’s reaction: "Thanks for resolving so quickly, much appreciated."

💡 The keyword "casserole" was given to me to use in an Amazon listing for a casserole pot. However the word "casserole" is a false friend: in French, it describes a saucepan with a handle, whereas a casserole pot would be called "cocotte", "marmite" or "faitout", depending on its size. I let my client know that the keyword would be misleading and they agreed to swap it for something which would describe the product more appropriately.
✅ Their reply: "Great feedback/spot! Thank you. Let’s change the target keyword to xyz".

💡 I noticed that the text below two images had been swapped (image for product A was above text for product B and vice versa) in the UK Amazon listing I was translating, which was incorrect and confusing.
✅ I’m still working on this project but will make my client aware of the error when I deliver it next week.

Professional, human translators have your back and will go the extra mile to ensure the success of your translation project. Would a machine do that for you?