Health Insurance Case study
Background
As part of a well-being campaign, our client compiled, wrote, and designed an “Eating Healthy Recipe Booklet” using recipes from different countries.
The Challenges
We discovered that some of the recipes wouldn’t make sense to a Hispanic reader. For example, a recipe for rice pudding included using leftover ingredients such as plain white rice, which, in most Hispanic countries, is not common. In another recipe, the preparation method used a cute, child-friendly English term but when this term was translated into Spanish it carried an unintended sexual reference for several Spanish-speaking countries.
Our Solutions
Applying our systematic Intercultural Advantage approach to the translation, we informed the client that Hispanics normally cook rice with salt-based seasonings making it inappropriate for a desert dish. The client decided to replace the recipe. And for the second recipe, we formed a team of translators from different Spanish speaking countries who were able to isolate the unintentional sexualized term and then replace it with an equally cute, but neutral term.
Benefit to the client
Our client was able to effectively share recipes with healthy, flavorful ingredients in an engaging manner with their target audience. They were also spared the awkward embarrassment, and possible legal consequences, of unintentionally using sexual words in material meant for children.
Lessons Learned
We can never take material and “just translate” it. It always requires a thorough reading of the source text to make sure that the material itself is appropriate. We can have a perfect, literal translation of a recipe, but if the ingredients in the recipe aren’t even part of a specific culture’s cupboard, what good will it do? We transfer this lesson to all our projects and make sure that the fundamental essence of the material is translated in addition to the words.
- Client Testimonial
- I loved (working with) them!! Fast, efficient, helpful, always available, flexible to our changing needs. My experience was extremely happy!
L. P.,
Merck
