Apple is making a joke about 'really liking you', why don't foreign brands take it seriously?

For a long time, Apple’s promotional style has focused on being free-wheeling, whether it’s video or copywriting, it’s really hard to understand if you don’t have “fruitful understanding”. This leads to a result: users who can understand it enjoy watching it, while users who cannot understand it are confused and don’t know what it wants to express.

No, Brother Guozi has gone to great lengths with the Chinese promotional slogan for iOS 18 again. The awkward and difficult-to-understand promotional copy has attracted complaints from many digital bloggers and netizens. Although it is not clear whether this was an honest mistake or intentional, in short, Apple's promotional purpose was achieved.

"It's really you", this slogan is really Apple

Recently, Apple's official website in mainland China has launched the latest iOS 18 introduction page, which shows the new design and new features of iOS 18 in detail. Originally this was a normal thing, but Apple implanted a very strange slogan into the iOS 18 introduction page - "It's really you".

Source: Apple official website

When Xiao Lei saw this sentence, he instantly felt like his cerebellum shrank. I obviously knew every word, but what happened when they were connected together? Can't read it either. At first, I thought it was an error by Apple staff, and it might be corrected soon. But after waiting for half an hour, no official action came. At this moment, I finally understood that this was Apple's "creative" copywriting.

Also feeling uncomfortable were many netizens who expressed doubts on social media: "Apple's marketing copy is really anti-human", "The translation of 'really you' is really outrageous ". Some netizens commented humorously, "It's more like a machine than a machine" and "It's really hard to understand you."

For reference, the iOS 18 promotion copy on Apple’s US official website is “Yours.Truly”, and the “Truly You” on Apple’s official website in China is probably a literal translation, although Xiao Lei can roughly guess what Apple wants to express. It may mean that iOS 18 has richer customized content, such as mobile apps and widgets that can be arranged arbitrarily, but let’s just say that this method of translation does seem a bit difficult to understand.

In contrast, the promotional copy of Apple Taiwan's official website is "Really, very you", while Apple China's Hong Kong official website uses a more direct expression, "Thoroughly, very you". Although these two promotional copywritings are also a bit awkward and difficult to understand, they are easier to understand than "Really You".

Picture source: Apple official website/Hong Kong, China on the left, Taiwan, China on the right

Along with iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia were released. The promotional copy of Apple’s official website in mainland China is “All Rewritten, new benchmark", "sharp as Mac", also full of fruity flavor. From this point of view, there are quite a lot of jokes made by Apple’s translation team. Almost every year, the translation of slogans released by Apple’s official website in mainland China challenges netizens’ Chinese understanding ability.

Source: Apple official website

Do you still remember what the slogan of the iPhone 6 was? Yes, it’s the classic “Bigger than bigger”. There’s nothing wrong with it in English. After all, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are indeed Apple’s first steps towards large-screen phones.

However, at that time, Apple’s official website translated it like this: “Bigger than bigger”. I believe that friends with a little English proficiency would find it difficult to give such a direct translation. In contrast, the translations of "More Than Yu Da" in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, China are much more down-to-earth.

Source: Weibo/iPhone 6 product page

There are many more unexpected Chinese copywritings, such as "Gifts that make mom happy, opened again and again", "Developer "A great thing, a great thing that pleases everyone's heart", "Server, serve the people", "Really laugh, laugh out loud".

Picture source: Weibo/iPad Air product page

These Chinese words that can clearly express what they mean, but do not feel like human speech are all from the product introductions on Apple's official website in mainland China. I don’t know why, but the slogans on Apple’s official website in mainland China are often translated into this weird style of painting, which gives people a strong sense of dissonance. The language and logic are completely different from normal Chinese expressions.

Of course, you can also understand that Apple wants to use unique expressions to create special memory points and form brand memes and recognition. But from a user perspective, I don’t think this is a good thing. The popularity and traffic brought by memes cannot make up for the damage caused to the brand.

Chinese translation is outrageous, and overseas brands frequently overturn

In fact, Apple is far from the only one who is careless about Chinese translation. Many foreign companies also suffer from "translation difficulties." Among them, the most well-known one is probably Microsoft, because there are many strange Chinese translations in Microsoft's Windows operating system, and netizens even created a special term "Microsoft-style Chinese" for them.

"Your computer is restarting, sit back and relax", this is a phrase caused by Microsoft's incorrect translation on the Windows 10 preview installation interface. The original English text is "Sit back and relax". Although this "magic translation" was quickly corrected in subsequent versions, the phrase spread on the Internet and became another phrase used to complain about incorrect translations.

Source: Weibo/Windows 10 preview installation interface

Windows has been in China for more than 20 years. In the process of Chinese culture, Microsoft has made many such The "golden sentence" that catches people off guard is of course an expression of high emotional intelligence. The low emotional intelligence is the wrong translation of machine translation without manual verification.

These Microsoft-style Chinese strive to create a warm and considerate feeling, but the slightly rude translation makes people's inner doubts and blood pressure rise simultaneously.

"Roll back to the previous version", roll back and roll back have completely different meanings, this translation is obviously not polite.

Source: Weibo/Title when Win10 preview version is downgraded

"Don't say we didn't warn you...", a warning from Microsoft, this is a rude upgrade warning But it will scare away users.

Source: Weibo/WP Warning before upgrading to preview version

"Countdown to happiness", domineering CEO style, Windows updates cannot be rejected at all.

Source: Weibo/Win10 Pop-up window before forced update

"Windows 10 is not for all of us, but for each of us", we can still see that Windows The "literary accomplishment" of System God Translation and a humble and conceited self-introduction is a big step for Microsoft to compete for the Mao Dun Literature Award.

Source: Weibo/Windows 10 promotional page description

There are too many similar Microsoft-style Chinese, I believe every Windows user can understand it. To put it simply, most of the Microsoft-style Chinese translations come from Bing's machine translation. Although it is not very readable, it cannot be regarded as an incorrect translation in a strict sense. Occasionally, there are typos entered by Microsoft employees, and Microsoft did not have dedicated personnel to check it in the later stage. As a result, the word order, tense, idiomatic words, and layout are not in line with the usage habits of Chinese users.

This is also the main reason why foreign companies such as Apple and Microsoft have low-level translation errors.

Apple and Microsoft should pay more attention

On the surface, the mistakes made by some companies when translating into Chinese are due to a lack of understanding of Chinese culture and a lack of careful review during the translation process. But in fact, these strange Chinese translations reflect that companies do not pay enough attention to translation work.

Localization is a problem that all transnational businesses need to face, and to judge whether a company’s localization is sufficient, the first issue is translation. However, some companies often ignore the importance of translation when entering the Chinese market, resulting in many ridiculous translation errors. These mistakes not only damage the company's brand image, but also affect communication with consumers.

First of all, translation is not only the conversion of language, but also the transmission of culture. A successful translation should be able to accurately convey the meaning of the original text, while taking into account the cultural background and usage habits of the target language. For example, some Western slang or puns may not have corresponding expressions in Chinese. If they are directly translated, not only will they not achieve the desired effect, but they may cause misunderstandings.

Source: Apple official website

Secondly, the quality of translation directly affects the market acceptance of the product. In a highly competitive market environment, consumers' choice of products often depends on details. A translation full of errors can easily make consumers doubt the quality of the product, thus affecting their purchasing decisions.

Furthermore, translation errors may also involve legal risks. In some cases, incorrect translation may violate local laws and regulations and cause unnecessary trouble to the enterprise. For example, if some product manuals are not translated properly, they may mislead consumers, lead to improper use, and even cause safety accidents.

As the leading brands in their respective fields, Microsoft and Apple should pay more attention to translation work and invest sufficient resources and energy when carrying out localization. This includes hiring professional translators, conducting strict quality control, and working with local cultural experts to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of the translation. Only in this way can companies reduce obstacles in cross-cultural communication and win the trust and support of consumers.

Finally, companies should also establish an effective feedback mechanism to collect and process consumers’ opinions and suggestions on translation in a timely manner. This not only helps companies continuously improve translation quality, but also shows respect and attention to consumers.

What behind the strange Chinese translation is the lack of attention paid by enterprises to localization. As localization work becomes more and more perfect, these "barbaric growth" XX-style Chinese will eventually become the memory of the Internet. Xiaolei looks forward to Apple Next time, the Chinese promotional copy will be understandable to users.

In the first half of 2024, the technology world is turbulent.

Large models are accelerating, AI mobile phones, AI PCs, AI home appliances, AI search, AI e-commerce...AI applications are emerging in endlessly;

Vision Pro is on sale and launched in the Chinese market, setting off another wave of XR space computing;

HarmonyOS NEXT Officially released, the mobile OS ecology has changed;

Cars have fully entered the "second half", and intelligence has become a top priority;

E-commerce competition is becoming increasingly fierce, with lower prices and higher services;

The wave of going overseas is surging, and Chinese brands are embarking on the journey of globalization ;

...

In July, Lei Technology·Mid-year review topic is online, summarizing the brands, technologies and products worth recording in the first half of 2024 in the technology industry, recording the past and looking forward to the future, so stay tuned.

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