The mere thought of a corporate mission statement coming across my desk for translation is enough to make me cringe. This month’s issue of Fast Company (Nancy Lublin’s “Do something” column) talks about why most mission statements are “dumb” and what can be done about it.
According to Lublin, it all comes down to having a BHAG (or “big hairy audacious goal” — a phrase coined by James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1994 book Built to Last). BHAGs are quantifiable — an element missing from many corporate mission statements.
Which raises an interesting issue when it comes to translating corporate mission statements from French to English. I don’t care what anyone says — I don’t think the real reason that these babies are so hard to translate from French to English is due to the notorious “poetic excesses” of business French. It is because — devoid of any measurable, concrete objectives — these mission statements are simply ineffective, even in their original French versions.
When translated into English, these meaningless, jargon-filled mission statements are often even worse, with enough verbal gymnastics on the part of the translators to leave you tongue tied.
I took a stroll through the websites of companies listed on the CAC 40 to see for myself. Here are a couple of the gems I found:
Original French version
Accor réinvente depuis plus de 40 ans ses métiers au rythme du monde qui l’entoure pour proposer à ses clients des produits innovants et de qualité dans l’hôtellerie et les services.
English Translation
Accor has constantly reinvented, for more than 40 years, its businesses to keep pace with the world around it, with the goal of providing innovative, high-quality products to Hotel and Services customers.
In addition to the fact that the entire statement is a calque of the original French syntax, what bothers me about this one is the use of the present perfect — “has reinvented” – to accommodate the 40-year history of the company mentioned in the original. The result is something not very forward-looking, leaving the reader with a sort-of mental hiccup at the end…so what?
Original French version
L’un des premiers énergéticiens au niveau mondial, GDF SUEZ est présent sur l’ensemble de la chaîne de l’énergie, en électricité et en gaz naturel, de l’amont à l’aval. En inscrivant la croissance responsable au cœur de ses métiers (énergie, services à l’énergie et environnement), le Groupe se donne pour mission de relever les grands défis : répondre aux besoins en énergie, assurer la sécurité d’approvisionnement, lutter contre les changements climatiques et optimiser l’utilisation des ressources.
GDF SUEZ s’appuie sur un portefeuille d’approvisionnement diversifié et un parc de production électrique flexible et performant pour proposer des solutions énergétiques innovantes aux particuliers, aux collectivités et aux entreprises.
English translation
One of the leading energy providers in the world, GDF SUEZ is active across the entire energy value chain, in electricity and natural gas, upstream to downstream. The Group develops its businesses (energy, energy services and environment) around a responsible-growth model to take up the great challenges: responding to energy needs, fighting against climate change and maximizing the use of resources.
GDF SUEZ relies on diversified supply sources as well as flexible and highly efficient power generation in order to provide innovative energy solutions to individuals, cities and businesses.
The issues with this one are multiple:
- Industry jargon (like “upstream” and “downstream”) incomprehensible to a good portion of the company’s target markets (businesses and individuals — municipal utility managers might understand — but would they care?)
- Some awkward moments due to a rather direct translation from the French (”develops its businesses [. . .] around a responsible-growth model to take up the great challenges”)
- The crux of the mission statement is all the way at the end ( “…in order to provide innovative energy solutions to individuals, cities and businesses.”) after the reader has probably already clicked away to more interesting pages of the corporate website
So, what does a “BHAG” mission statement look like? Lublin cites Microsoft’s well-known mission statement “A computer on every desk and in every home, all running Microsoft software” and the more recent mission statement from Amazon Kindle, “Every book ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds.”
I bet those translate really well in to other languages!
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }