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What To Do With Corporate Jargon?
When translating business and marketing material into English, corporate jargon is almost always part of the text and is often an issue for a translator. Most dictionaries and guides tell you that you should not use any kind of jargon when translating, but real-life business English still does.
What is corporate jargon?
Robie Blair explains it well on his website (http://www.robietherobot.com/buzzword.htm) with a Bingo card. Below you can see his five words / phrases under each ‘Bingo’ letter. He advises you to print the chart, take it to the next meeting and play Bingo.
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Corporate Buzzword |
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B |
I |
N |
G |
O |
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benchmark empower exploit monetize evolve |
out-of-the-box virtual innovative collaborative e-business |
Drinking the Kool-Aid layoff Vertical fast track Institutionalized thinking |
compelling seamless interactive distributed dynamic |
on my radar Move the Needle proactive, not reactive emotional bandwidth stretch the envelope |
During your next meeting, if you want to think outside the box, or you want to leverage a best practice, loop in or empower a co-worker, incentivize a task, or be dynamic, please think before adding this jargon into a document that later requires translation.
When you hear such MBA buzzwords or terms on a constant basis you get used to them and start applying them without thinking. Some of the words are exported to other countries and then ‘nationalized’ by adding a different ending to it or giving them a local pronunciation. When such terms are exported to countries that use different genders for their words, it is interesting to see what gender they will apply. Who decides whether a term is masculine or feminine?
When such jargon shows up in documents for translation, then translators scratch their heads how best to translate them and which ones to use. There is a very fine line of how much corporate jargon can be included in a translation without sounding clichéd. If used carefully, they can make a translation into English sound very authentic. Clients know what real business English sounds like, and appreciate it when their text sounds business-like.
As with everything in life, moderation is key.
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