Muriel Vasconcellos Jan 20, 2014:

The question to ask We should ask ourselves, Why are we translating this text? The answer here is that our client requested the translation so that people who don't speak the source language will understand its content (as opposed to a back-translation, which is for purposes of comparison). It's our duty to convey the entire meaning. We can't expect that readers will guess the meaning of anything, as they could easily guess wrong. This has been drummed into me over and over again.

Charles Davis Jan 20, 2014:

I am in sympathy with Muriel's position here, with the very minor qualification that I would do it the other way round: original Spanish name first and then translation in brackets. Of course I wouldn't provide a translation of El Corte Inglés, but this Mexican institution, though technically an incorporated body, is clearly a trade association, whose name is meaningful. It may well be useful to the reader to know what the name means, and although you might say that they can guess it, I think linguists can easily lose sight of how obtuse, by their standards, non-linguists can be about language. It's quite possible, for example, that if you don't translate it, a reader will think that it's concerned with products for infants (or even infantile products), which it isn't.

There are good reasons for the rule about not translating company names, but nearly every rule needs to be applied with pragmatic professional judgement; that is one of the things we're being paid for. My approach tends to be that if I feel a translation might be useful, I include it; those who don't need it can ignore it, but those who do will be grateful that I bothered.

philgoddard Jan 20, 2014:

It *is* a corporation, hence the A.C. A corporation is an incorporated body, which might be a for-profit company or partnership, or a non-profit association.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/corporation

Muriel Vasconcellos Jan 20, 2014:

It should be translated I have yet to encounter a client who prefers to leave the name of an association in the original language. It's our duty to translate the meaning, followed by the original name in square brackets, usually in italics. This rule does not apply to a corporation. In the current case I would translate the name without the A.C. in English but include A.C. in the Spanish that follows in italics and square brackets. The rule about corporations would not apply here because clearly it's an association.

Charlie Higgins Jan 20, 2014:

Children's Products "Infantiles" should be translated as "Children's" not "Infant"