How do you translate “I hope this email finds you well” into Dutch?
Quick quiz for speakers of Dutch!
How do you translate: "I hope this email finds you well"?
Answer: you don't.
You just skip that introductory sentence and go straight to the next one.
Because we Dutch speakers like to come straight to the point.
We don't like "fluff".
At most, we will use a super short introductory phrase, like "Naar aanleiding van" ("Further to") or "In antwoord op" ("In reply to"), but even those phrasings sound formal.
Why?
It is a cultural difference.
Speakers of English may consider it impolite that we leave out a short friendly greeting to start an email - but that is just the way we like to approach things in Dutch.
Translation involves deviating from the source when necessary
When we translate, we should not follow the source text blindly, especially when speaking to our customers. We should always keep in mind what our customers like, and how our tone appeals to our audience specifically.
Technology increasingly makes it hard to make translations sound natural.
Machine translations and AI will just translate the sentence "I hope this email finds you well" literally, which will always sound unnatural.
And even professional human translators using common translation software will need to override the warnings and error messages they receive when they leave the segment blank - which takes guts (translation agencies, for instance, may complain that the translation is incomplete when they receive the file).
It is just one example - you get the idea. Technology can help make a quick translation, but best practices from Copywriting and Marketing 101 get lost in the process. And your communication efforts may damage your brand and reputation if your readers feel your text sounds clunky and you are not in touch with their situation.
If you want natural-sounding translations that will make your readers feel you understand them, and if you want marketing material that converts, an experienced human translator will help you build that relationship with your potential customers and ultimately help you increase your revenue.