This article is in partnership with Day Translations.

You don’t need a TikTok account to appreciate how much we need human translators, especially when it comes to localise content in a different country.

For the sake of this argument, I have been browsing through my local TikTok Shop listings: I am based in Ireland so the official language is English, although Irish or Gaelic is also an official language, albeit spoken by only about a third of the population. This factor is important to know when localising content as you need to adapt to what people are used to seeing and reading. However, without actual knowledge of local culture, you are risking to apply a “one size fits all” approach to translated content.

Here are some examples of badly translated product descriptions on TikTok Shop Ireland which demonstrate that machine translation on its own is not fit for purpose and can even cause some costly mistakes, such as missed sales, mistrust from buyers, reworking existing listings to adapt the language and so on.

Example 1: Is This Really an Ironing Board?

Instead of saving the best for last, here is the most glaringly wrong translation of a product listing.

As you can see from the picture, this is certainly not an ironing board.

You may want to trust AI with every single task imaginable, but you still need human eyes to verify that the information is correct. Image recognition has improved so much in a short time, however if an image is labelled incorrectly it could lead to costly mistakes for a business as well as potential harm to customers.

In this case no one checked that the translated description matched the product image and while it may look funny at first, for someone who is visually impaired this is not a joke.

Example 2: A Macrame Hanging Basket Set

Macrame was fashionable in the 1960s and 1970s and it has made a comeback as a “Bohemian” style for a range of accessories.

This product description however does not mention macrame, which would have clearly described the item. Not only that, but the listing still contains untraslated elements in German, which the general public may not be familiar with. I studied German at University and, off the top of my head, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what “Obstaufbewahrungskorb” means.

The half-translated German description does nothing to make customers understand what th product is. In fairness, a decent translation into English was added “multi-layered hanging basket”, but even then the translated text does not convey exactly what the product is.

Example 3: From English To German

The product’s translated description is decent but the original prompt “from English to German” is clearly visible in the listing.

The lack of capitalisation at the beginning of the product description and the weird punctuation, mostly without spaces, betrays that the translation was made by a machine and it was not checked and edited by a human.

Example 4: Is This a Beauty Product?

At first glance, with cute pastel colours in the packaging and gold letterings, this product looks like many others you would find in a beauty store.

In fact, the packaging screams face moisturiser or face mask, or possibly a make up remover/cleanser.

Because this product is listed on TikTok Shop Ireland, some marketing genius thought it would be clever to only translate the description into Gaelic. However, in Ireland only about one in three people speak Gaelic, with the majority of population only speaking English on a daily basis.

So, when you look at the product description and you are not fluent in Irish, you may think you are buying a cleanser or other beauty product. However, the tube contains a sparkly gel with niacinamide (a form of vitamin B), an ingredient often found in toothpaste.

The listing only says “bright white teeth with niacinamide” and does not mention toothpaste. One of the pictures is labelled in Italian and Gaelic: the Italian label translates as “the old packaging” and the Gaelic label translates as “improved quality without price adjustment”. The new packaging is only slightly modified, with the existing blue to pink gradient showing more blue, while the gold colour at the bottom had been removed.

This is a whitening toothpaste that is manufactured in China and then is distributed and resold on globabl platforms at varying prices.

Example 5: It’s a Trolley

The final example is a simple trolley that you can use to move heavy items, but from the translated product description you might think you are buying some kind of advanced robot who can do the heavy lifting for you.

If you read “electric stair climbing dolly”, what product do you think that is? Or if you read “stair climbing hand truck” what do you expect the product to be?

The translated product description aims to reach as many customers as possible using SEO, but does it really convey what the item actually is?

It’s not rocket science, it’s a trolley.

Final Thoughts

If you are a business aiming to distribute and/or resell products internationally, don’t rely solely on automated translations and prompts. You need to consult experts in translation and localisation to ensure that your products are described correctly and that you don’t contravene existing legislation on distance selling.

All pictures are screenshots from TikTok Shop Ireland