Strange differences in translations - mistakes or marketing tricks?

[anna3101]

Hello all,

I'm sure you've come across products that had labels/ingredient list/user manual translated to several languages.

What puzzles me is that occasionally I find very strange differences between these. I mean - labels are not poetry or drama, so the parallel translations should basically be the same, for as long as the language vocabulary/structure allows it.

But then I look at a packet of dried apples in the supermarket. It's a German brand and it has at least 10 languages on the back of the package. It says "Ingredients: apples, sulfur dioxide" - in German, in French, in English, in Spanish.. and then suddenly it's just "Ingredients: apples" in Polish. What? Isn't that giving false information to consumer?

Another example - we have a microwave in our office, and on its top there's a long label with "Warning: surface may be hot" in at least 7 different languages. I can say for sure that it's this and nothing else for English, German, Italian and Spanish. But then in French, all of a sudden, it says "Warning: surface may be hot, make sure young children are not allowed near". Hmm. Why is that? Don't they care about German-speaking "young children"? Or do they think French mums are much more likely to leave their poor little ones near a blazing hot device and then just go away??

And it goes on and on. Just today I've discovered that one of my shirts has a long label inside, with most European languages in there, and for all of those I know it says "Distributed by an Italian-based company X". However, in Russian all of a sudden it's no longer "distributed" but "manufactured", and that's a blatant lie - the shirt was manufactured in India.

Does anybody know what's all that about?

Thanks!

Ania

[czarina84]

In the US, when someone has an add-on to a warning label, it's because something happened.  The company doesn't want to be held responsible for careless people not using common sense.  For example, most places where you get coffee with be labeled-"WARNING-HOT COFFEE".  Most people who see this are thinking, "of course it is hot.  I didn't order iced coffee."  This is because of a lawsuit filed years ago when someone spilled coffee on themselves and they were burned.  The person claimed they didn't realize the coffee was hot.  They won the lawsuit.  As for the apples, it worries me a little that they didn't put the sulfur dioxide, too.  What else aren't they putting on there?  Maybe the laws are different in each country. 

[anna3101]

Actually, that's what's been always puzzling me when it comes to the US and its legal system. How did it happen that people can take other people and companies to court for any little insignificant thing? I've heard about many cases similar to the one you've mentioned, and it has always shocked me to the core. If somebody is plain stupid, why should someone else reimburse them for their stupidity? Seriously, that's simply not fair - and laws and courts are supposed to be fair. If tomorrow some guys stabs his friend with a knife, then should the producer put "Do not use for stabbing" label? And if some girl doesn't have enough brain cells in her head and dries her hair with a hairdryer while still in the bathtub, does it mean the company manufacturing hairdryers is responsible for her untimely death? Honestly, it feels sad that people want to hold somebody else responsible when the only one responsible is them.

[czarina84]

Actually, that's what's been always puzzling me when it comes to the US and its legal system. How did it happen that people can take other people and companies to court for any little insignificant thing? I've heard about many cases similar to the one you've mentioned, and it has always shocked me to the core. If somebody is plain stupid, why should someone else reimburse them for their stupidity? Seriously, that's simply not fair - and laws and courts are supposed to be fair. If tomorrow some guys stabs his friend with a knife, then should the producer put "Do not use for stabbing" label? And if some girl doesn't have enough brain cells in her head and dries her hair with a hairdryer while still in the bathtub, does it mean the company manufacturing hairdryers is responsible for her untimely death? Honestly, it feels sad that people want to hold somebody else responsible when the only one responsible is them.

I agree completely.  It's not over every little thing; just anything that they find a loophole to justify it.  I also hate the fact that lawyers are allowed to bring up things from someone's past that have nothing to do with the case and say it counts toward "credibility".  Luckily, I have never been in a courtroom other than my friends getting married, but my heart goes out to people who have been wronged but lost their case because of something small in their past that came back to haunt them.  Our legal system is so corrupt.  There is no fairness in our courts anymore.  I wanted to be a lawyer when I was seven.  Then I took some classes in high school and found out that those who are supposed to defend our rights are bigger criminals than the ones they defend.  It was a terrible letdown.  Legally, a lawyer can't even ask if his/her client is actually guilty. 

[anna3101]

Let's hope this will change someday. I am not sure if there exists a country where there are no huge problems with the legal system but I don't want to give up hope.