I work for the state environmental agency in Alabama. I’m translating a booklet I wrote on Household Hazardous Waste into Spanish using the barren remnants of my high school Spanish and BabelFish.
But I’m not liking one translation (If I remembered more, I would probably not like most of this).
Please translate to colloquial Spanish:
DO NOT DUMP, BURY OR BURN YOUR LEFTOVER PRODUCTS AND CONTAINERS!
and does “DESECHOS PELIGROSOS DE LA CASA” sound right for Household Hazardous Waste??
Well, the translation I gave, assuming it is correct, would probably be Spanish (españa). I would suggest you enlist another State employee who’s primary language is Spanish, preferably from Mexico, to help with the translations. This probably isn’t going to cost anything.
Babelfish is not a good translator and some of the results are really laughable.
Congratulations to the State of Alabama in reaching out to it’s newly acquired Spanish population. Just don’t provide them with a Spanish translation of the 10 Commandments (:D)
I think it should be “¡No DESCARGUE, ENTIERRE O QUEME SUS PRODUCTOS Y CONTENEDORES de SOBRAS!” That is, I think the intent is to have “leftover” refer to both products and containers.
OK, make way! let me see…
Oh… Mighty Girl is right. However I would suggest something a bit more refined:
“No tire, entierre o queme sus desperdicios y/o envases.”
Desperdicios is more like leftover products, followed by “y/o” and/or “envases”; “contenedores” suggests large containers, not something you find in an average house.
What Ale said. Although I am a native speaker I don’t speak Spanish of the Mexican variety, so I don’t know if in Mexico they say contenedores or envases. The y/o touch could be overkill if you are addressing a somewhat less educated audience.
Ah, and I am also not sure y/o would be the correct usage. I implies that is in addition, it should imply that is not one nor the other. So I guess I recall my previous vote for y/o.
As urban1z said: Try to find a native speaker to translate it. If you can´t, at least get someone to proofread it.
Babelfish is not really a reliable tool. It´s probably even worth paying someone to proofread it, the benefits of the people actually understanding and following the instructions in the leaflet surely outweigh the costs of a translation/proofreading.
Oh most definitely! PLEASE do not use Babelfish for translation. It SUCKS! Get yourself someone whose Spanish is above average, and I mean above average native speakers. Spanish can be tricky even for the educated native Speaker.
Let me get this straight. You work for a government agency, and they’re too cheap to hire a professional translator for this job, so you’re left asking a bunch of strangers for help on an internet message board?
For what, exactly, do the good citizens of Alabama pay their taxes?
Although I am a native speaker I don’t speak Spanish of the Mexican variety, so I don’t know if in Mexico they say contenedores or envases. The y/o touch could be overkill if you are addressing a somewhat less educated audience.