Here at Absolute Translations – providers of professional and reliable translation services for over 15 years, tattoo translations are a relatively new offering. Tattoos have risen in popularity thanks to the likes of David Beckham and Rihanna. As a result, a fifth of British adults are inked currently and plenty are thinking of getting one.
However, getting a tattoo is a lifelong commitment so you want to know that the ink you’re getting is correct. Everyone has heard the horror stories of people who go to the studio looking for a tattoo in a foreign language. However, it turns out to mean something completely different – and can sometimes be offensive. Below are three hilarious tattoo translation fails which show exactly why you should always use certified translation services:
A man called Roald wrote to Hanzi Smatter – a blog dedicated to Asian tattoos which are incorrect. He asked the owner of the blog to translate his wife’s tattoo as she wasn’t sure if it really said what she had wanted. Ironically, the tattoo actually said: “I married a moron!”. We imagine he wasn’t happy with the answer!
A Canadian man wanted to get a tattoo of his surname into Russian. Therefore, he put ‘Botrokoff’ into Google Translate and printed off what it said to give to the tattoo artist. Little did he know that it actually said ‘No translation’ rather than his last name. This left him with an incredibly awkward tattoo. Not only was the tattoo incorrect but it spanned the whole width of his back, meaning he would need an extremely big cover-up.
A girl went into a tattoo parlour and wanted to get her boyfriend’s name tattooed on her back. She wanted the words ‘I love…’ before it. This sentence was to be written using Hebrew so the girl used Babylon’s translation software to translate the tattoo. Rather than being a sweet (and permanent) message to her boyfriend, the tattoo actually read: “Babylon is the world’s leading dictionary and translation software.” We can’t imagine she was very happy when she found out what the tattoo meant. However, this is a good example of why specialist tattoo translation services are essential, as opposed to translation software.
As the above translation fails show, it is important to have your tattoo translated before you get inked. If you’re considering getting a tattoo in a language you’re not familiar with, you can send us a picture of the text or design for us to translate. After all, the tattoo artist may not be a speaker of the desired language and will not be able to pick up any mistakes. We also translate and certify tattoos for people going into the police or the army.
For more information about our certified tattoo translation services, get in touch with our team on 0333 577 0767.
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