A train company has been criticised for producing an Olympics security poster which reads as “gibberish” in Arabic.
First Capital Connect sent posters to 13 stations printed in English and seven other languages.
But the Council for Arab-British Understanding called the Arabic lettering “ridiculous” and unreadable since the characters are not joined up and are back to front.
A spokesman for First Capital Connect, which operates the Thameslink line from Bedford to Brighton and services into East Anglia, said the English message had been translated by a professional translator.
“However, our supplier substituted one font for another so that the wrong alphabet was used for the Arabic message, rendering it meaningless.” More.
See: BBC
Comments about this article
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:42
Hebrew to English
"However, our supplier substituted one font for another so that the wrong alphabet was used for the Arabic message, rendering it meaningless."
I don't quite get how changing fonts is supposed to have done 'that' to the text. Reeks of a desperate excuse to me to try to save face.
United States
Local time: 07:42
English to Arabic
+ ...
After checking that cited source article in UK, may one mention that one of the major defects in that [ahem] translation service firm was that its PC used for word-processing and printing that Arabic text did not have any Arabic language support installed. That support feature would have included the usual right-to-left (RTL) drivers so that the Arabic characters would have been correctly connected and displayed in print, instead of that mangled mess. Accordingly, whichever... See more
After checking that cited source article in UK, may one mention that one of the major defects in that [ahem] translation service firm was that its PC used for word-processing and printing that Arabic text did not have any Arabic language support installed. That support feature would have included the usual right-to-left (RTL) drivers so that the Arabic characters would have been correctly connected and displayed in print, instead of that mangled mess. Accordingly, whichever Arabic font was first used, or substituted later, is not an issue.
Where was a bilingual editor when one was so basically needed? Sigh....
Regards,
Stephen H. Franke
San Pedro, California
[Edited at 2012-07-20 23:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
France
Local time: 16:42
Member (2010)
English to Arabic
+ ...
This a common DTP issue that we face with our clients. They have not the right DTP software to accept Arabic "cursive" writing and, the most important, they have not the right RTL perception of the document.
The best solution we found is to take responsibility for the entire life-cycle, translation and "ready to print" delivery of the final document (with Arabic DTP).
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:42
Hebrew to English
You'd have thought they'd have got someone to read it as a final stage just before printing, which would have avoided this.
As usual, taking shortcuts in translation just seems no big deal to these people.
Member
Arabic to English
+ ...
And now there's this from Westfield Shopping Centre, right next to the Olympic site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18971686
"Cringeworthy" indeed, and I agree that there is no excuse for it.
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:42
Hebrew to English
It's shameful that they had to be advised:
"It advised that Arabic posters should be checked by a speaker of the language."
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:42
Member (2007)
French to English
+ ...
How ridiculous! These people have no idea, instead of using software, why don't they use the services of a decent translator and proof reader!
Canada
Local time: 10:42
English
+ ...
However, normal versions of Adobe’s Creative Suite—even the absolute latest version—can’t handle RTL unless you buy a special ME version. (This is despite the fact that they have a special CJK version for Chinese and Japanese but normal versions can... See more
However, normal versions of Adobe’s Creative Suite—even the absolute latest version—can’t handle RTL unless you buy a special ME version. (This is despite the fact that they have a special CJK version for Chinese and Japanese but normal versions can still handle CJK—you just can’t control the typesetting.) This is one thing that I never understood.
Perhaps—if Adobe software really is involved—this high-profile screw-up will finally force Adobe to include proper RTL support in normal versions of CS? ▲ Collapse
Member
Arabic to English
+ ...
How ridiculous! These people have no idea, instead of using software, why don't they use the services of a decent translator and proof reader!
As mentioned by some of the above posts, chances are that they did use a real translator but forgot (deliberately or otherwise, to cut corners) about the DTP/formatting requirements. The translation itself is correct and the formatting issue is real enough (not just for Arabic). They didn't bother with a proofreader though and merely cut out elements of the process of producing the translation. Very sloppy work.
As pointed out by Ty, "It's shameful that they had to be advised:
"It advised that Arabic posters should be checked by a speaker of the language." "(at the end of the article)
I suspect there'll be plenty more where that came from over the next few weeks. Enjoy the circus!
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:42
German to English
+ ...
Does anyone have any information on who supplied the translations (and the DTP services)?
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