实验室品牌?

[Lu]

I'm translating a short text about infant formula (and am finally learning not to call it baby powder), Chinese to English. Most of it is no problem, but this sentence puzzles me:

 

实验室背景，强大品牌力；

为数不多的实验室品牌，借助XYZ实验室专利益生菌，塑造品牌独特卖点

 

Is 实验室 used as an adjective here? It's the only way I can kind of make it work.

My translation now is:

'A strong brand, rigourously tested:

One of the few brands tested in the laboratory. The use of XYZ patented probiotics gives the brand a unique selling point.'

 

Any help on this is appreciated.

[Christa]

Don't know if I can be of help but it seems like an adjective to me...

[Lu]

Yeah, that's what I thought too. But it's the first time I've seen such a word used as an adjective - I'd expect 实验性 or something like that. So I thought I'd ask.

[roddy]

I'm wondering if "scientifically formulated" might get there. But it's odd in such close proximity to 'brand'. Is this a public facing ad, or something internal / corporate?

[Lu]

It's for their website, so public-facing, but not an ad as such. 'Scientifically formulated' has the right connotations, but that's not really what it says I think, and while the formula probably is indeed scientifically formulated, I'm hesitant to claim that, not knowing that much about the brand.

[somethingfunny]

So I guess 实验室品牌 would literally be "laboratory - brand".  Why have you gone for "tested in the laboratory" rather than "developed in the laboratory"?

[Lu]

There is no real good reason for that. I just made the best of it until I got more information. Got confirmation from a native speaker elsewhere that it is indeed an adjective here, and that it implies the brand has its own lab.

[hbuchtel]

It’s funny as translators that we feel somehow responsible for the veracity of the text we are translating...

 

I found it a great challenge when doing a favor for a friend to translate the grandiose claims made of an herbal diabetes medicine marketed by their uncle in the Czech Republic...

 

I think your your translation is as accurate as it needs to be. The original text puts me in mind of some late night tv ad...for example:

 

http://www.asseenontvus.com/curactin/

[Lu]

6 hours ago, hbuchtel said:

It’s funny as translators that we feel somehow responsible for the veracity of the text we are translating...

Well, it's not really that. If you make grandiose claims, I'll happily translate them as is. I'm not going to check whether you really have a lab or what those scientific articles actually say about your product. After all, it has your name on it, not mine. But I don't want to introduce claims you don't make.

 

Example: let's say someone writes 我翻译过几十本小说。 Normally I would translate 几十 as 'dozens'. But what if this person has in fact only translated 20? Enough to say 几十, but not enough to say 'dozens'. (So in this case I'd ask the person if they had perhaps translated anything else that might conceivably count, and if so, translate it as 'over twenty books'.) (Not the perfect example, but I hope you see my point.)

 

And occasionally I will translate away mistakes, but only if that doesn't change the flow of the text. If the mistaken fact is important for the argument or the story, too bad for the author, it stays.