When a company is looking to communicate accurately in Spain’s co-official languages, having a good Basque translator, Spanish-Catalan translator, or Catalan translator isn’t just about translating the language itself; it’s about context, nuance, and precision. False friends, words that look or sound similar across languages but have different meanings, quite often lead to confusion and mistakes. A professional translation agency in Bilbao or a translation agency in Madrid is well aware of this: in these language combinations, being bilingual isn’t enough.
False friends between Spanish, Catalan and Basque: more common than you’d think.
Some of the most frequent mistakes made between Spanish, Catalan, and Basque stem from words being translated literally despite having different meanings in each language:
- Catalan – Spanish: “Èxit” in Catalan means ‘exit’, not ‘success’. Translation errors are often seen in signage, such as “sortida d’èxit” mistranslated as “successful exit” instead of “emergency exit”. Errors like these can have serious consequences, especially in a technical or security-related context.
- Basque – Spanish: The word “gazta”, which means “cheese”, has been mistranslated as “expense” in machine translations that haven’t been reviewed by a human. Only experienced professional Basque translators can spot errors like these.
Why can machine translations not pick up on them?
Machine translation tools usually don’t pick up on false friends unless they’ve been trained on specialized corpora. There’s an even greater risk when working with PDFs or other closed formats. That’s why it’s standard practice for a human Spanish translator to go over texts, even when dealing with machine-generated content, in technical or legal contexts in particular.
What’s more, cultural context is key; just one mistranslated word can alter the tone of a message, cause confusion, or even have legal consequences.
The role of professional translators: beyond the language itself
A good Spanish translator, Basque translator or Spanish-Basque translator is able to pick up on these nuances. It’s not just about translating accurately; it’s about knowing when to stay away from literal translations. Which is why professional linguistic expertise is of utmost importance in educational, institutional, legal, or branding content.
In multilingual environments, placing your trust in a translation agency in Bilbao or Madrid like Blarlo ensures accurately translated texts that have been adapted to the nuances of each language. Blarlo is the translation agency for you if you’re looking for technically minded, native-speaking translators that understand the subtleties of Spain’s co-official languages. Get in touch!
