The Name of the Game თემის ავტორი: Peter Motte
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Peter Motte 
ბელგია
Local time: 04:49
წევრი (2009)
ინგლისური -> ჰოლანდიური
+ ...
"The Translation Gate", "The Translation Company", "Translations.com" ... These are only a few examples of names of translation agencies which all look alike.
Is it a lack of inspiration?
When somebody's name is "Motte" and his agency is called "Translation Agency Motte", there is a certain logic behind it: it's just his name so you know who you're dealing with, and his activity, so you know what he does.
But "Corporate Translations Inc." ? "Intertranslations Ltd."? "Translati... See more "The Translation Gate", "The Translation Company", "Translations.com" ... These are only a few examples of names of translation agencies which all look alike.
Is it a lack of inspiration?
When somebody's name is "Motte" and his agency is called "Translation Agency Motte", there is a certain logic behind it: it's just his name so you know who you're dealing with, and his activity, so you know what he does.
But "Corporate Translations Inc." ? "Intertranslations Ltd."? "Translation Expert Inc."? "Fluent Translations".
It looks as if we only have to be a bit patient before some company called "We do translations" comes up.
Oh, wait: that actually does exist! Besides "WeRtranslations", by the way.
I can understand that a company's name at least hints at its activities, but all these names are so incredibly generic that they don't have any individuality anymore. They all look entirely interchangeable and in no way would suggest that they might be of particular interest to potential clients. It's even a hell of a job to remember the names.
Maybe that's their aim: be as uninteresting as possible and so interchangeabel that it feels as if you don't make a choice when you pick them out. As if you buy coffee without caring which brand it is.
Fact is, however, that most people do care which brand of coffee they buy. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Daniel Frisano
იტალია
Local time: 04:49
წევრი (2008)
ინგლისური -> იტალიური
+ ...
| So what's your favourite name for an agency? | Nov 15, 2017 |
Reminds me of a business called "LdB Creative Studio, by Luigi De Bernardi", or something like that. Duh.
Anyway, yes, lack of personality is so dull. Maybe some choose this kind of name to try to improve (in vain, I suspect) their chances to be found by search engines.
There are however some interesting names out there. I remember working for Ubiqus, that's a cute name.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
ესპანეთი
Local time: 03:49
წევრი (2007)
ინგლისური
+ ...
| If it's their aim, it's faulty logic AFAIC | Nov 16, 2017 |
Peter Motte wrote:
They all look entirely interchangeable and in no way would suggest that they might be of particular interest to potential clients. It's even a hell of a job to remember the names.
Maybe that's their aim
I think there's at least one of them that I wouldn't go near with the proverbial pole - or then again, I may have got the names confused. But that's the problem: Unless I'm sufficiently interested in a job to research the company behind the name (and have sufficient time), I'll simply steer clear of all of them - just in case! You never know whether some plus factor that is their sole identifier might turn out to be a minus  .
| | | | Kay Denney
საფრანგეთი
Local time: 04:49
ფრანგული -> ინგლისური
| search engines | Nov 16, 2017 |
Daniel Frisano wrote:
Reminds me of a business called "LdB Creative Studio, by Luigi De Bernardi", or something like that. Duh.
Anyway, yes, lack of personality is so dull. Maybe some choose this kind of name to try to improve (in vain, I suspect) their chances to be found by search engines.
There are however some interesting names out there. I remember working for Ubiqus, that's a cute name.
Yes indeed, it's to increase their chances of cropping up on page 1 when you type "translation agency".
Don't know if any of you have noticed, but newspapers are the same now: a headline is a three or four word summary of the event covered. Gone are the nifty puns and enigmatic headlines of old.
I suppose it's a WYSIWYG thing.
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
ესპანეთი
Local time: 04:49
ესპანური -> ინგლისური
+ ...
| Now there's a good name ... | Nov 16, 2017 |
...WYSIWYG.
As for the headlines, no, no, no. Depends on the paper - you have any amount of puerile headlines in The Sun and the others, for example:
I can imagine Prince Harry in some picture or other where he's screwing up with something or other, and the headline would scream "HIS ROYAL HOPELESSNESS!" or something or other.
Headlines in my part of the world are usually restricted to the like of:
Iberia's profits take off (endlessly, believe... See more ...WYSIWYG.
As for the headlines, no, no, no. Depends on the paper - you have any amount of puerile headlines in The Sun and the others, for example:
I can imagine Prince Harry in some picture or other where he's screwing up with something or other, and the headline would scream "HIS ROYAL HOPELESSNESS!" or something or other.
Headlines in my part of the world are usually restricted to the like of:
Iberia's profits take off (endlessly, believe me, or "not taking off" - and they also get "landing" in as well)
No toast for La Rioja wines in 2017
etc.
BUT headlines are alive and well in the Financial Times Weekend, and good ones too. Can't find this week's just now, but there was one a while back for an article on a couple who bought up a wood as an investment, and then found there were loads of poachers, tree diseases, invasive plants etc. to contend with - "Copse and robbers".
[Edited at 2017-11-16 16:10 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nikolaki
საფრანგეთი
Local time: 04:49
ფრანგული -> ინგლისური
| Gotta keep up the tradition | Nov 17, 2017 |
Only yesterday, I was translating a historical piece about how, in 1956, the previously skeptical Moshe Dayan was won over to the concept of anti-tank missiles when a demo round hit the tank he was driving on the first attempt. Gave me the chance to use the title : "Moshe Dayan smitten with an anti-tank missile".
To get back to the main question, has anyone patented "TranslationsЯUs" yet?
Especially for the Russian market, of course.
[Edited at 2017-11-17 09:31... See more Only yesterday, I was translating a historical piece about how, in 1956, the previously skeptical Moshe Dayan was won over to the concept of anti-tank missiles when a demo round hit the tank he was driving on the first attempt. Gave me the chance to use the title : "Moshe Dayan smitten with an anti-tank missile".
To get back to the main question, has anyone patented "TranslationsЯUs" yet?
Especially for the Russian market, of course.
[Edited at 2017-11-17 09:31 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nikolaki
საფრანგეთი
Local time: 04:49
ფრანგული -> ინგლისური
| And if you thought my last one was feeble… | Nov 17, 2017 |
… I've just remembered one from ages ago, from a book about the engineer and political economist Jules Dupuit, who spent much of his life in the city of Angers, France.
The title of the last chapter in the French was "Derniers souvenirs angevins" – so it just had to be "Look back in Angers", innit ?
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
ესპანეთი
Local time: 04:49
ესპანური -> ინგლისური
+ ...
I'm smitten too, Nikolaki! And with Translationsяus, too.
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