“THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS BAD PUBLICITY”

Attributed to Phineas T. Barnum, a 19th-century variety act and circus owner, this phrase can be applied to any number of things. But certainly not to tourism. When poorly executed, tourism translation can have unforeseen consequences that are often contrary to those expected. There are many examples of organisations (from local authorities to tourist agents) entrusting this work to machine translators that will produce literal translations of the services on offer.

For example, in Seville, an English-speaker may expect La Casa de Pilatos (a palace dating from 1490 that combines the style of the Italian Renaissance and Spanish Mudejar, and considered typical of Andalusian palace style) to be a gym offering Pilates classes. This embarrassing confusion is the result of an inaccurate translation that turned a priceless historic building into a banal Pilate’s House.

While such mistakes are prevalent in the tourism sector, they remain unacceptable. At Traductanet we surround ourselves with the most skilled professionals, and together we ensure the work we produce is of high quality, effective and reliable.

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