Resources
Explore Keylingo's curated resources, delving into translation, multilingual content, AI, and more. Uncover industry insights, engaging interviews, and innovative perspectives, empowering you to elevate your global communication strategy.
Follow us on LinkedIn!
Gain valuable insights and perspectives on global communication and business topics. Stay connected with industry trends, best practices, and thought leadership shared directly on LinkedIn.
Strategic resilience in shifting global markets
Latin America has become an indispensable partner in the global transition, driven by energy innovation, AgTech, and nearshoring. Success in these high-stakes hubs requires turning economic complexity into opportunity through precise, localized communication that speaks the language of local regulations.
Driving global alignment through audio content
Moving beyond simple text translation to high-impact professional dubbing is a critical lever for scaling enterprise knowledge. In global training and engagement, cultural pacing and precise tonal alignment are what transform standard video into an authoritative, native brand experience.
Fueling the AI economy with linguistic assets
High-quality, human-verified multilingual data has become the ultimate bottleneck for culturally fluent AI models. In the evolution of machine learning, specialized data curation and expert linguistic validation are what transform raw content into the high-stakes training assets that power global intelligence.
Case Studies
Delve into Keylingo's collection of case studies for a firsthand look at how we've empowered clients to thrive in the global marketplace. Explore real-world examples showcasing our tailored solutions and our clients' success stories in thriving international markets.
Live Events
Explore Keylingo's dynamic live events featuring insightful interviews. Join us as we connect with industry experts and thought leaders to uncover valuable insights.
Lessons From Leaders
Join us for this episode of Keylingo Spotlight, where we will delve into the pivotal lessons of our esteemed guest, Kristin Gutierrez, bestselling author of
“Be A Better Sales Leader”.
Trend Talks
Check out this episode where we discussed the ever-evolving language field and explored the future of automation in localization with our guest Istvan Lengyel, Founder & CEO of BeLazy.
Trend Talks
Delve into our first episode featuring Diego Cresceri, a seasoned entrepreneur and CEO & Founder of Creative Words, a leading language company based in Italy.
Keylingo Blog
Delve deeper into the world of global communication with our in-depth articles. Discover a wide range of topics, including industry insights, data-driven research, and practical strategies to help you navigate the ever-evolving business landscape.
Business Translation Services: Explaining American Thanksgiving
American Thanksgiving is a holiday like no other. While many countries have a festival of thanks during the year, only the United States has a national day called “Thanksgiving.” In fact, Americans celebrate for four days in November, from Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) through Sunday. (Canada also has a Thanksgiving Day in October, but it is optional for Atlantic provinces.)
Explaining the implications of Thanksgiving to non-American clients can be complicated. It’s easy to describe its origins, the story of the Pilgrims and the generosity of the American Indians, as well as the concept of gratitude for abundance and a bountiful harvest.
After that, it get more challenging.
What should clients from other countries understand about Thanksgiving?
- For most people, it is four days of no work. It’s one of the few times during the year when there are no deadlines. Projects are put on hold, office emails slow to a trickle or stop altogether, and the likelihood of reaching an American during this time is slim.
- While early celebrations primarily gave thanks to God, Thanksgiving has become a secular holiday for most people. There may be a prayer before dinner, but religion does not play a major role any longer.
- People intentionally overeat. Dinner has a standard menu, including eating a turkey. Each family has its own favorite foods, but common dishes include mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, at least one vegetable dish, and cranberry sauce. The traditional dessert is pumpkin pie.
- For many Americans, especially the males, watching football occupies much of the weekend. Football games begin on Thanksgiving afternoon, and continue through Sunday.
- Christmas shopping officially starts during this weekend. Stores continue to creep up on opening times; in 2014, some stores will open at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. Part of the weekend shopping includes big sales and markdowns to lure customers.
- In recent years, many businesses experience a slowdown for the entire week of Thanksgiving, even into the early days of the following week. Employees take time for family travel or extended vacations.
- The New York Stock Exchange is closed on Thanksgiving Day. It also closes early the following day, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.
In today’s world of instant communication and global economy, it can be puzzling to try and understand why the United States would “shut down” for four days. Especially since the US is well known for its strong work ethic. There may not be a sensible rationale, but at least clients can be prepared, and mark their calendars.
If you’d like more information on understanding holidays, customs around the world, and how they can affect your business,today, count on Keylingo Translation to be your expert. Contact us today.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-18T14:00:46.221Z):
Marketing and Advertising Translation Tips
When providing translation services, it’s important to understand the audience who will be reading the translation in the destination language. Often, translation is used for marketing and advertising purposes. And when it comes to spreading the word about your product or service, certain qualities about the target audience have to be taken into consideration. If you have a brand name and a certain company image, you want to stick to it without turning off your target demographic.
- Young vs. old. If the audience you’re trying to reach is young, they’re more likely to respond to slang and be in touch with trends. For such an audience, it might even work to retain the same slang words that are being used in the source language or to replace them with other slang words. For an older demographic, you’ll want to keep the translation more formal.
- Cultural background. Different cultures value different things. For example, data shows that Americans are more individualistic whereas the French value politeness and etiquette. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t any polite Americans or individualistic Frenchmen out there but the two cultures are different and you have to consider what they value when translating. If it’s possible to have two different translations of the same thing but one might have more meaning for the people who will be reading it because of their cultural values, then it makes sense to go with that.
- Technologically savvy. It makes a difference whether your audience is technologically savvy or not. The piece that you’re translating may have originally been written for print. But maybe when you translate it, you’re going to use it over the internet. In that case, it would be a good idea if it were more simply written and to the point because readers on the internet don’t have the same degree of patience as readers in the print medium.
- Exposure to media. When you’re translating for a particular audience, you need to think about how familiar they are with your subject matter. The greater the audience’s exposure to media, the more knowledgeable they’re going to be about current affairs and trends and the less you’ll have to explain any references to them in your translations.
Contact us for more tips on marketing and advertising translations.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-18T14:00:41.449Z):
Understanding the Writer and the Audience When Providing Translation Services
Translation services are meant to help people understand a piece of writing. So the translator acts as a go-between, conveying what the writer wants to say to the audience. S/he is a messenger, taking the message from the writer to the audience.
However, if you’ve ever had anyone convey a message for you, then you probably know that messages can change in the process of being transmitted. It’s like a game of Chinese whispers where the phrase that comes out at the end is quite different from the one that started the process.
When it comes to translation services, things don’t have to be quite that bad because there’s just one translator. And if they are doing a good job, they’ll know that it’s important to understand both, the writer and the audience, in order to accurately convey what needs to be conveyed.
Understanding the Writer
There are many reasons why it’s important to understand the writer. Words are slippery things which can mean one thing or the other, depending on the context in which they are used. When you’re translating Ancient Greek, the word “logos” can be translated as “language” or “thought.” When you’re translating English, the word “date” can refer to a dried fruit or an outing involving two people looking to get romantically involved. So it’s important for the translator to understand where exactly the writer is coming from. This will help them to decipher the writer’s true meaning.
The examples used here are simple ones but when it comes to more complex forms of writing, like technical or medical text, it may be necessary to read more of what the writer has written in order to get an understanding of their thought and style. Even if the material being translated is promotional or marketing-oriented, it can be dependent on slang or inside jokes that the translator is unaware of. So it’s important to clarify these before providing translation services.
Understanding the Audience
This is the other important part of providing translation services. Eventually, everyone writes and translates for an audience. The aim is to reach that audience and make them understand what is being said. You want the audience to respond positively to the message imbedded in the writing. So you need to avoid slipups which can happen if the audience places a different connotation on the words being used in translation.
What is the audience like? Where do they come from? What age group do they belong to? What’s important to them? And do they use a standard form of the destination language or something slightly different? Accuracy in word usage is very important if you want the audience to respond to the translation.
Contact us for more information about providing the best possible translation services.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-18T14:00:36.575Z):
How to Avoid Embarrassing Translations by Considering False Friends and Slang
Unfortunately, there’s no way to learn how to translate well except by making mistakes. Fortunately for us, however, the history of translation contains so many blunders that we don’t have to make them ourselves. We can learn from the mistakes of others. Some of the funniest and most well-known translation mistakes happen in the marketing and advertising field. They become well known bloopers because a large number of people are exposed to them. If you’d like to avoid this type of notorious publicity, you can do so with translation services that are aware of the need to study past translations and learn from them.
Parker Pen
Everyone’s heard of Parker pens, especially if you sign your name with a fountain pen. Of course, the disadvantage of carrying fountain pens is that they tend to leak. Well, Parker Pens tried to reassure its Mexican customers that as far as their pens were concerned, “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you.” However, the Spanish word “embarazada” actually means “pregnant” and not “embarrassed.” So what Mexican audiences heard was, “it won’t leak in your pocket and get you pregnant.” We should hope not! What we can learn from this is that it’s important to stay away from “false friends” or words that sound alike without meaning the same thing.
Electrolux
Electrolux is a Swedish brand which makes vacuums. They advertized their product in the United States, saying “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.” If you’re American, then you probably understand why that’s not really saying something good about Electrolux vacuums. If you’re not, then you might be interested in knowing that in the US, saying something “sucks” means that it’s repellent or disgusting. Strong words for a vacuum cleaner! What we can take away from this is that it’s really important to consider slang in the destination languages when making a translation.
Coors
The Coors beer slogan is “turn it loose” which, in English, can mean “don’t hold back” or “have a lot of fun.” However, when this was translated into Spanish, it became “suffer from diarrhea.” Obviously, no one wanted to turn loose the insides of their bowels! So it probably came as no surprise that this slogan didn’t really work. Once again, this example illustrates the importance of understanding slang, this time in the source language. You can’t take the words in the source language literally and translate them into the destination language. You have to consider what they mean when they are used colloquially.
Contact us for more ways to improve your translations by considering the history of translation.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-18T14:00:31.663Z):
A History of Translation Services: The Treaty of Kadesh
One of the most famous translations in the history of translation services occurred around 1259 B.C. and was called the Treaty of Kadesh. It was signed by the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II and the Hittite King Hattusili III. Unfortunately, the treaty didn’t lead to peace between the two nations right away but it is still significant to us today because it’s the oldest surviving peace treaty in the world. A version of it is displayed at the U.N. headquarters in New York City.
Not only is this treaty significant because of its political ramifications, it’s also important because it’s one of the most famous translations in the world. Two versions of the treaty have been found, one in Egypt and one in present-day Turkey, where the capital of the Hittite empire was located. In Egypt, the treaty was preserved through engravings on the wall of Pharoah Ramesses II’s mortuary temple in Thebes. In the Hittite empire, it was engraved on baked clay tablets.
The treaty stated that both parties would henceforth be at peace and that this peace would continue among the coming generations, including the children and grandchildren of both sides. It also stated that prisoners taken by the opposite side would be repatriated and that each side would come to the help of the other if they were attacked by outsiders.
The interesting thing about the treaty from the point of view of translations is that the Egyptian version and the Hittite version are slightly different. The Hittite version doesn’t directly say that the two sides have been at war for a while. Instead, it uses evasive language, saying, “as for the relationship between the land of Egypt and the Hatti land, since eternity the god does not permit the making of hostility between them because of a treaty valid forever…” In contrast, the Egyptian version is blunt and direct, asserting the necessity of the treaty because the two sides have been at war.
This goes to show how, since ancient times, the same problems have existed in translation. Sometimes, it’s impossible to state the same thing in two different languages. The words to do so actually do not exist! So a translation can be made but it will sound slightly different. As long as the translation conveys the meaning of the original, it doesn’t have to be word-for-word. It’s also a good idea for translations to take cultural backgrounds into account. This was, no doubt, the reason why the versions adopted by the Egyptians and the Hittites were different.
Contact us for translations that account for these challenges.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-18T14:00:26.387Z):
Four “false friends” you never want to mix up in translation.
Providing translation services is a delicate affair because so many languages come from the same root but they have developed differently along the way. In the beginning, when one language started to split into two, a word may have meant the same thing in both the resultant languages. However, after the passage of many years, the meanings of words change subtly. So, you can end up with words that sound the same in two languages but have entirely different meanings. These are called false friends. Here are a few examples:
- The English word “embarrassed” sounds a lot like the Spanish word “embarazada.” However, the Spanish word actually means pregnant and not embarrassed.
- The Latin word “Gymnasium” meant both, a place to exercise and a place to study. In English, the word now only means a place to exercise. In German, however, it only means a place to study. So the English word and the German word are false friends.
- In British English, “to table” something is to bring it to the table, to open it up for discussion. In American English, “to table” something is to shelve it, put it away and stop discussing it.
- In English, the word “preservative” usually refers to something added to food to maintain its freshness. The French “préservatif,” the German “Präservativ,” the Romanian “prezervativ,” the Italian “preservativo,” the Polish “prezerwatywa” and the Russian “презерватив prezervativ” all refer to a condom.
So it’s obviously very important to stay away from false friends in translation services. Just because a word sounds similar to another word doesn’t mean that it means the same thing. Things can get particularly ugly if you’re using a word that has a derogatory meaning in another language. Or, the translation can just end up sounding hilarious, which is probably not your aim. After all, you don’t want all your customers to be thinking you’re adding condoms to your jam!
Contact us for translation services that take the similarities and differences between languages into account.
AI Search Summary (Updated: 2026-05-18T14:00:21.052Z):