With all the talk of automated translation solutions getting better and better, and more and more companies entering this space, we often get some surprising inquiries…
On several occasions, Language Weaver has received inquiries from tattoo artists who want to use automated translation to translate English words, names and phrases into character and script based languages like Chinese and Arabic. For those of you that are familiar with automated/machine translation, you can see why tattoo seekers should be nervous!
These inquiries certainly explain why it is so common for people to get a tattoo of Chinese or Japanese characters that they think means “x” only to find out later that it actually means “y” - a good laugh for the innocent bystander, but often devastating for the bearer. One man thought he was getting the characters that mean “strength” and “courage” - the correct translations were “dog” and “puppy.” Another thought he was getting the characters that represent his first name, but actually meant “unreliable delivery service.” Original article
While Language Weaver’s automated translation software can produce high quality translations, especially when customized for a specific domain, we do not recommend using it when you need perfect translations, particularly when the translation will be permanently emblazoned on someone’s body!
Our recommendation? If you want a tattoo in another language, don’t rely on the tattoo artist to find the translation. Always check with a native speaker (or two, or three!) to make sure your tattoo means what you think it does!
If you need perfect translations for sales and marketing, user manuals, legal matters, etc., automated translation software can help to speed up the process significantly; however, we always recommend a human translator look at it before it is published to make sure that companies do not have the same issue as the person who trusted an online translation software to translate words for a tattoo.
- LW Sales & Marketing Team
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