Why adaptation outperforms translation

Translation apps certainly do an acceptable job for legal documents and corporate boilerplate word for word. But for marketing, advertising, public relations, and internal motivational, training, and other strategic communications, adaptation is definitely more effective.

Pioneering linguist Edward Sapir explains why. “The fact of the matter is that the real world is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group,” he wrote. “No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same worlds with different labels attached.”

English also offers more depth and more versatility than French

In the second edition and final print edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (1989), some 600,000 word forms are defined. The most comprehensive and fully updated dictionary of the French language, Le Grand Robert de la langue française, has just over 150,000. English often has a number of words for gradations of meaning and key nuances, where French only has one. In French, for example, the word for “experiment” and “experience” is the same: expérience. (The online OED currently has 850,000 entries and is updating or adding new words at the rate of 15,000 a year.)

Key reasons why adaptation is more effective than translation:
• Translation simply converts French words into English words
• Adaptation replaces French words with the most appropriate choices among English equivalents
• Adaptation creates English content to convey the true essence of the French
• Adaptation includes relevant English idioms to improve impact and relatability
• Adaptation also adjusts figures of speech so they can work in English whenever possible
• Adaptation carefully takes all possible English word connotations into consideration

If the translated English versions of your original French material are not doing the job for your audience, give adaptation a try. You’ll see the difference right away ... and so will they.