Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Un clavo saca otra palabra: TACKall must tackle their translation issues

TACKall, a flooring supply distributer, has a few linguistic screws loose. 
TACKall manufactures and distributes the best commercial grade flooring and carpet installation supplies...TACKall is committed to provide the best quality products at the most economical way. Quality and service will be the main goals TACKall strieve to reach and maintain. We take care of our people, value our relationships and fight to better the environment."
Their mission statement may seem locked tight, (unlike the rest of their bio which is filled with misspelling and punctuation errors,) but my bilingual hermanos who read the translation will see como metieron la pata /how the company put their foot in their mouth and did not live up to their statement. 
The City of Industry folks transformed a nail, as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, is a slender usually pointed and headed fastener designed to be pounded, into a nail that is attached to the ends of your fingers. 
The correct word for nail in Spanish clavo. 
By no means am I crucifying the company but I am sure some Spanish speakers would want to show them what a middle finger nail looks like.  Maybe the company should hire day laborers who actually utilize these supplies as language consultants before they put their "best quality products" out.