We are all familiar with the results of bad translation work. During a recent project, we came across the following unfortunate misuse of a word: “The Finance Minister frequently exposes himself in public.” Google Translate has a lot to answer for.

Here at Gilpie HQ, we are all too aware that word-for-word renderings just don’t work. In fact, good translation is about much more than conveying the meaning of the original piece. A good translation must flow naturally and maintain the correct mood and tone. It must also speak to the target audience.

This means a skilled translator must not only possess excellent language skills, but an in-depth understanding of the culture he or she is writing for. It is important to know, for example, that the Hong Kong Chinese appreciate direct messages while the Mainland Chinese respond to more flowery, descriptive language.

Effective translation is a creative process that requires a great deal of skill. We like to refer to it as the fine art of ‘Transcreation’, a term coined by authors Louise Humphrey, Amy Somers, James Bradley and Guy Gilpin in their book, ‘The Little Book of Transcreation’. Over the next two weeks, we will be taking a look at some transcreation projects we have worked on, as well as some famous examples from the annals of marketing history.

Our three-part series (point here for Part 1 and 2) on common differences between British and American English closes with an examination of the collective noun, a word referring to a group of people or things.

The team have finished the project (British) / The team has finished the project (American)

Senior management are meeting next week / Senior management is meeting next week

Spain are the reigning World Cup champions / Spain is the reigning World Cup champion

Note in the last example how the last word is changed to champion. American-English speakers tend more than British-English speakers to form sentences in which the subject and verb strictly agree. Brits allow exceptions to this normally ironclad grammar rule to emphasise (emphasize?) the collective noun’s implied multiple parts over its singularity. For example, a team, by its very existence, has multiple members, hence ‘The team are…’ is deemed acceptable.

The sporting world prompts collective noun-verb structures aplenty. As football/soccer fans know, Manchester United are perennial powerhouses (‘They won again, unfortunately’). But most tennis mavens agree that Davis Cup is the greatest team competition in the sport. Then there are teams with single names, such as American pro basketball’s Miami Heat, whose fans, regardless of their English tradition, are known to proclaim, ‘They should be NBA champions!’.

As these examples illustrate, even fluent English speakers can be of two minds grammatically when it comes to following the British or American style. The situations presented in this entry are more heard than seen, as conversational English is more permissive of the collective noun than, say, a spellchecking function, which enforces subject-verb agreement of a purer form.

Whichever English you fancy, one guideline always applies: mind your audience. By writing in a style that resonates with your intended reader, you’ll likely be effective in the way that you intend.

See British English vs American English (Part 1): A Brief History
and British English vs American English (Part 2): Spellings and Pronunciations

As one might expect of editors, we Gilpies spend our days steeped in a world of words, keenly polishing and perfecting all kinds of corporate communications.

Recently I noticed that the number of words you can type using just your left hand far exceeds what the right hand can muster. Lengthy examples illustrate the divide:

Left hand only

reverberated

desegregated

stewardesses

cataracts

crevasse

freebase

reverted

Right hand only

polyphony

lollipop

While typing out the ‘lefty-only’ word rebated, I noticed that its letters can be re-arranged to spell berated and debater. This type of word play is known as an anagram. Another example is listen, which can become silent, tinsel, enlist and inlets.

Curious to create anagrammatic phrases, I came up with these two referring to local institutions:

I take the MTR = he ate Mr Kitt

a Star Ferry ride = dry rats are rife

Are rats even dry? And let’s presume Mr Kitt was a pastry.

The first entry in this series examined the history behind British and American English variations. Now let’s look at different spellings of English words encountered every day. First up: words whose different spellings are reflected in their different pronunciations.

speciality (British) / specialty (American)

aluminium / aluminum

learnt / learned

Plain-old tradition accounts for most such variations. And as if this quirky phenomenon weren’t vexing enough, there are many words with different spellings that are pronounced identically:

emphasise (British) / emphasize (American)

colour / color

licence / license

Here’s a sentence revealing the British-American divide in its head-spinning splendour/splendor:

Demonstrating wise judgement/judgment, his mum/mom organised/organized the labour/labor groups and authorised/authorized cheques/checks to the counselling/counseling centre/center.

It helps to remember which letters of the alphabet trigger these different spellings. As Brits well recognise and Americans also recognize, the letters s and z regularly interchange. And there’s u, which Brits frequently favour inserting after o, a practice Americans view with less favor. As for word endings, Brits tend to double the l before ‘-ing’, while Americans finish with ‘e-r’, not ‘r-e’.

Intriguingly, there is no shortage of words whose spelling has remained intact despite different pronunciations. Tomato, garage and respite come immediately to mind.

See British English vs American English (Part 1): A Brief History