Uncategorized
Emoji in Translation
They’re all over various messaging apps and social media platforms and we all think we know what they mean. Emoji look the same across operating systems and around the world. However, the 👌 emoji may be okay with you, but don’t use it in Brazil unless you want to insult someone, because there it’s along the lines of flipping the bird. Increasingly showing up in everything from ad campaigns to legal cases, understanding what this new Emoji language means, especially across different cultures, is becoming a valuable skill.
Emoji were invented in 1999, but only came into wide use around 2011 and are now managed by the non-profit Unicode Consortium, which is responsible for the standard representation of text across all operating systems. Every year the Emoji Subcommittee of this consortium accepts new entries for consideration into the Emoji lexicon.
Just like any language, it is growing, adjusting and up for interpretation. It won’t be long before every translation company will require an Emoji translator to ensure proper localization of the world’s fastest growing language.
Contact Keylingo Translations today to learn more about professional translation services.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-25T14:00:42.271Z):
Read MoreAvoid Embarrassing Advertising Translations with Professional Services
Have you ever seen embarrassing translation mistakes on signs or advertisements as you walk around? It’s particularly common if you’re in a foreign country, or looking at advertising or copy from a product being imported from a non-English speaking country. Often, these translation errors bring all kinds of laughter – and unwanted publicity – to great products.
Recently, The Sun wrote about a new series of signs written in English with translations that are at best, hilarious, and at worst, just confusing. Some examples include:
“Do not disturb. Tiny grass is dreaming.” – Posted on fresh green grass, this sign most likely attempted to ask patrons not to walk on the grass, but instead just inspires laughs.
“Dying right here is strictly prohibited.” – Written on a restaurant menu, this bizarre message has no discernible meaning in English.
“Hand grenade.” – Posted just above a fire extinguisher, this sign is more than just a tad misleading about the best uses for this device.
“Free toilet paper. Please cherish the use.” – Posted in a bathroom, this sign has probably caused amused laughter from patrons in the stall.
“Our sweet ass.” – Written below a picture of a restaurant meat dish, this description doesn’t exactly conjure up images of delicious food to native English speakers.
Want to avoid these mistakes with your own marketing, advertising or business communications? The best way is to work with a professional translation company. While your employees might claim to be fluent in a second language, often conversational speakers make errors when it comes to grammar, syntax, and common regional slang and vocabulary. To get your translation right, contact us to consult with experienced professionals.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-25T14:00:37.075Z):
Read MoreGood Customer Service Depends on Technical Manual Translation
When you have a product that you’re going to sell to the general public, you have to remember that there are going to be multiple demographics. Some people are going to speak another language and therefore you have to explore technical manual translation services. It will ensure that the manual is able to provide the necessary instructions to English readers as well as those who speak other languages.
Make it Easy
Your goal with a product is to make it as easy as possible. Whether it has to do with construction, installation, or overall operation, a technical manual needs to be easy to understand. If there are problems with the language, it’s only going to confuse the issue.
When you opt for translation, you want to have a professional company assist you as it will ensure that none of the instructions get lost in translation.
Improve Reviews
People are going to review your product online. If people found the technical manual to be difficult to read or the translations to be poor, this is going to be mentioned in the reviews. Bad reviews are going to hurt business, and this is something that is easily avoidable.
Avoid Constant Customer Service Calls
Frustrated buyers will contact customer service because they can’t make sense of the technical manual. If you don’t spend the time translating the manual properly, you could experience a lot of customer service calls, and this is going to cost your company both time and money.
A little bit of advanced planning to get your manual professionally translated can lead to a better customer service experience for all of your customers.
To learn more about technical manual translation, contact Keylingo Translations today.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-25T14:00:31.025Z):
Read MoreEnhance Your Marketing with Toronto Translation Services
As a business, your goal is to create effective marketing campaigns. This allows you to reach more people and increase your sales. How you market matters – and Toronto translation services gives you more material to work with in terms of campaigns.
Reach More Audiences
When you use Toronto translation services, it allows you to reach different audiences than what you currently reach. English is not the only language spoken in the city and therefore you might be missing out on reaching entire communities.
Some of the top languages spoken in Toronto include:
- Cantonese
- Italian
- Chinese
- Punjabi
- Spanish
- Tagalog
Your marketing materials, such as brochures and flyers, could be translated into the different languages and ensure that the messages don’t get lost in translation. Various landing pages on your website could be translated as well, thus making the most of your web presence.
Increase Customer Retention
Many people want to feel accepted. While some communities might speak English, it isn’t their native tongue. When you release marketing material that is in their language, they see that as a grand gesture. They see you making an attempt to reach out to them and it is appreciated.
This builds loyalty among current customers because of your desire to communicate with them in their native language.
Using professional translation services in Toronto is of the utmost importance. This ensures that translations are accurate. It also makes sure that the tone is correct so as not to cause insult to a particular community.
Find out more by contacting Keylingo Translations today.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-25T14:00:25.278Z):
Read MoreChallenges and Solutions to Technical Manual Translation
The specific nature of technical manuals
It is vital that the translator include all relevant information from the original to the translated document. This requires a thorough understanding of vocabulary and culture on the part of the translator. Why is this so important and tricky?
Consider an example: If a technical manual for assembling a piece of furniture says you will need a Phillips screwdriver, the translator must accurately convey the same thought in the target language. If the translator conveys a less specific thought, perhaps merely saying the user will need a screwdriver, the manual will lose much of its helpfulness to the user. Users from other backgrounds or cultures might find some items unfamiliar while others consider them commonplace. Words in the target language may simply not exist for certain items, and the translator may have to use multiple words or phrases to convey the correct meaning. This brings us to another challenge involved in technical manual translation.
Length of the translation
Often, in an attempt to accurately convey every idea present in the original text, a translator finds that the document in the target language has become significantly longer than the original. This can lead to problems for typesetters when the time comes to design the layout of the manual. Increased length can mean increased printing costs. To overcome this challenge, the professional translator must translate concisely as well as accurately. This requires a solid grasp of language, culture, and the subject matter he is translating.
Technical manual translation has special challenges, but a skilled translator can overcome them.
Please contact us for more information.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-25T14:00:19.421Z):
Read MoreExit vs Éxito – Why Accurate Legal Translation is Important
When it comes to legal documents, word choice matters. From business mergers to service contracts, the parties involved rely on the absolute power of written phrases to define their agreements, obligations, and protections. But what about when those parties speak two different languages? While most businesses are more than happy to translate legal documents for foreign associates, purchasing a direct translation program for this purpose is probably not enough. What may be clear legal meaning in one language can become a garbled mess if translated without preserving the intended meaning of each phrase.
Similar words with Different Meanings
Some sets of words are commonly mistranslated because they are spelled the same but have significantly different meanings and connotations. These understandable mix-ups can have a catastrophic affect on legal documents. The English word “exit” (to depart), for instance, does not translate to the Spanish word “éxito” (success). Though they appear to be nearly identical, there is an enormous legal difference between an “Exit Strategy” and an “Estrategia de Éxito”. This is the sort of mistake that is easy to make, but is also easily avoided by professional translators.
Word Equivalence and Syntax
The difference in syntax between one language and another can make legal translations tricky. Long, complex and deeply meaningful sentences must often be completely re-written to convey the same meaning in a new language. Word-equivalency must also be taken into account. Directly translating the word choice of one language into another may not effectively communicate the meaning of the document, as these equivalent words can serve different roles in their respective languages. It takes a fairly deep understanding of legalese in both languages to create a truly accurate and useful translated legal document.
Mistranslated documents cause more than just confusion. The consequences of functionally different translations can range from voided contracts to nasty lawsuits. Getting your legal and linguistic ducks in a row is a vital part of any multilingual legal venture.
KeyLingo specializes in professional business to business translations, so please contact us if you or your business could benefit from expertly translated legal documents now or some time in the future.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-25T14:00:12.798Z):
Read MoreWhy a Bilingual Staff is No Substitute for Professional Translation Services
There are many benefits to having a bilingual staff, but serving as a replacement for professional translation services is not one of them. Consider these 3 reasons for why your business may need to use the services of a translation agency.
Having staff who speak several languages can make your workplace more diverse, put visitors at their ease, and maybe even save lives if you’re delivering vital services to clients with limited English proficiency. However, fluency in another language is just one requirement for providing translation services. These are some of the advantages of working with a reputable agency.
Ensure quality. Professional translators often have extensive education and experience, and may have certifications in specialized areas such as the legal and medical fields. Plus, unlike working with a single staff member or solo free-lancer, engaging an agency gives you access to a team of experts who complement each other’s capabilities, and examine each other’s work.
Stay updated. Agencies have more resources for keeping up with the latest computer software and industry trends. Your staff member may be relying on what they can remember from their university days.
Save time and money. The time your employee spends on translation is time they’re diverted from their core responsibilities. That’s especially expensive when you’re on a tight deadline, and you realize that it’s taking them much longer than a professional translator to process the same material. Even more critical, if flaws in their translation damage your business reputation or cost you clients, you’ll appreciate that working with a professional agency is the better option.
Keylingo is a business to business translation company that provides timely, accurate and affordable services.
Contact us to talk more.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-21T14:01:16.527Z):
Read MoreTechnical Translations: Going Back to the Source
When Evansville, Indiana-based Mead Johnson Nutritionals recalled 4.6 million cans of baby formula it was not because the formula inside the can was bad – but rather the translated Spanish formula for mixing with water on the outside of the can was.
According to an Associated Press article in The Savannah Morning News, the company warned that the incorrect instructions could lead to “serious health problems and even death.”
How does this happen, one might ask? It’s more common than you might think. The International System of Units – or SI – is the metric system used in science, industry and medicine. But when a product is marketed and sold to the consumer in the United States, measurements are often converted from the laboratory into the more familiar US standard of pounds, tons, gallons, cups and teaspoons.
The problem begins when these measurements are converted back into metric without going to the original lab-sourced calculation. Since miles and kilometers are not the exact same distance and tablespoons and milliliters are not the exact same volume, rounding up or down when converting from one standard to the other is required. Go back and forth a couple of times, rounding up or down, and the calculation is now nowhere near what the original formula was.
You can get all of that right and still run into other problems in technical translation services that have nothing to do with measurements. A maintenance manual for an HVAC unit might include instructions to loosen bolts, take apart the filter compartment, clean everything with high pressure water, reassemble the compartment and replace the filter. Huh? In this instance, the term “replace” could mean “rinse clean the filter and put it back” – or it could mean “install a new filter.” Going back to the source – the manufacturer – is the only way to be sure.
Avoid your own can of worms: No matter how large or small the project, translations are always a team effort and the customer is an integral part of the team. A good project manager on the translation side of the equation will flag issues and clarify with the customer in advance of sending the document out to the industry expert translator. Conversely, the customer will recognize that a professional translation team periodically needs clarification and the customer will be ready to provide feedback in a timely manner. An open line of communication between customer and translation team ensures that the intent is unambiguous, accurate and on time. That’s why going back to the source is a formula for success in avoiding costly mistakes, embarrassing news stories and sometimes legal liability when translating technical documents. Contact us for a review of your technical document and find out if it needs editing before sending it out for translation.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-21T14:01:10.506Z):
Read MoreDon’t Trust AI: Use Humans at a Translation Company
You might have heard that artificial intelligence is improving. Services like Google Translate make it easy to copy and paste text in a box online and get a full translation in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, these translations have a reputation for being laughably bad.
But new artificial intelligence has some people reconsidering artificial translation. In November 2016, a new, advanced translation service from Google Translate showed improved translation results in 16 different languages. The new results have understandably impressed people around the world.
Whatever progress artificial translation has made, a recent competition between Human and AI translators shows that artificial intelligence still has a ways to go. The competition pitted professional human translators against three AI translation services. In the competition, all of the entrants had 50 minutes to translate literature and non-literature passages from Korean to English. Two professional translators judged the results, not knowing whether human or machines did the translations.
The results did show some promise for the advanced Google Translate, the highest scoring AI software with a score of 28 out of 60. However, the human professional translators defeated them by a landslide, with 49 out of 60 points.
AI translation services might help laypeople quickly get the gist of a document, but the services still have serious limitations. They miss key slang and proper names, and often they miss even basic grammatical tenses in the translated languages. With more sophisticated types of translation, such as technical science terms and legal documents, the problems grow exponentially. For a strong translation, using a professional, human translator remains the only way to get the job done.
Contact us to receive sophisticated, human done professional translation services in a wide variety of languages.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-21T14:01:03.847Z):
Read MoreSuccessfully Globalize Your Business with Translation Services
With the internet and social media becoming more popular every day, the physical boundaries of our world start to seem smaller and easier to cross.
Doing business in other countries used to involve expensive phone calls or plane flights, but in our modern world, talking with colleagues over internet voice services and creating a business website and blog is easy and inexpensive.
A globalized world makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to open find clients and sell goods to customers all over the world. But all the world shrinks, the language gap still persists. By 2050, only 5% of people worldwide will speak English as a first language, and about 25% of the population speaks at least some English. To truly reach at least three-quarters of the population, you’ll need to globalize your business in multiple languages.
Business News Daily interviewed translation experts about doing businesses in the global economy. These experts, and we agree with them, say that poor quality language translation will give prospective buyers in that language a less positive view of your services. This is of particular importance if you have a business in a technical or specialized field. To succeed in this type of business, you need to ensure your language sounds professional and correct in other languages.
One of the most important tasks for your business is to identify your target audience.
From there, you can identify the countries your top customers will come from, the languages they speak, and the type of positions or interests these customers have. A professional translator can then translate your business’ website, blog, and other business materials using the technical language and local dialect most used by your base.
Contact us for translation service help that will increase your business’ potential reach and sales around the globe.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-21T14:00:56.868Z):
Read More