When Translation Costs A Contract
Some people may not want to spend hard-earned money on a proper translation.
They may argue that it is not necessary. “After all, what harm can be done by an amateur translation?”, they might ask. What does it matter if a person doesn’t speak the native language of their host country? Hey, give people a break. Go easy, OK?
Many people will forgive a lot of errors if someone is trying to learn another language, especially if they are keen to learn. If you are positive about a culture in which you are living and are willing to laugh at yourself, you will probably get away with many mistakes. Patience is also a virtue and it’s never a good idea to be in a hurry when doing business in multiple languages.
However, there are some recent examples of translation errors costing real money in the world of football or soccer. Carlos Tevez, an Argentine soccer (or football!) player in England, has been particularly outspoken in his opposition to learning English. While maybe you can’t specifically point to money lost, if the hometown fans can’t understand the player when he speaks, it seems only logical that they don’t know him as well and don’t fight as hard to keep him on the team. Fans want to watch a player and buy his jersey if they like him. This is, ultimately, what makes the business of sports work.
Recently, Fernando Torres, a Spanish national playing in England made the headlines when he claimed that he was wrongly translated into English from an interview he gave in his native Spanish. Some of his statements pointed to some of his teammates being “lazy.” He claimed his comments were mistranslated and that his statements were being wrongly characterized. In this case, the club called for the original transcript so that they could have it translated again by a professional translation company. The findings in this case could end up costing Mr. Torres in real pounds, but even at this point, it has cost a considerable amount of goodwill.
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