I’ve talked about translating marketing and advertising copy on this blog before. Have you ever wondered how some of your favorite ads would read if the agencies had hired Dieter to write the copy? Well, now you can see for yourself!
One of my favorite magazines, Vanity Fair, has worked some Google Translate magic on copy from a few well-known advertising campaigns. The iPad ad is my favorite (although the race with Hershey’s Kisses was a close one!).
• English: “Imagine being able to page through websites, write an email, flick through photos, or watch a movie. All on a big, beautiful Multi-Touch screen. With just the touch of a finger.”
• English-German-English: “You write watch bodies to the side through websites, e-mail, flick through photos, or a movie. All on a big, beautiful multi-touch screen. With just one finger.”
Sadly, much of the marketing and advertising copy that goes through the commodity translation process does not read much better than this. So, if you don’t want your marketing and advertising copy to sound like a sketch from Saturday Night Live, best to call in a professional translator-copywriter with experience adapting marketing and ad copy. In the meantime, run a few of your favorite ads through Google Translate and back again for a few laughs!
