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16:59 Nov 10, 2009
French to English translations [Non-PRO] Medical - Medical: Health Care / Home first aid kit
Tryng to find an equivalent for "bobo" as this is for a marketing text for a healing ointment for children (something like Savlon, I think) but the customer wants an equivalent for "bobo" in this context and I can't think of a "child-like" equivalent!! Thanks in advance!!
OK, this is by no means a translation of bobo, but could nevertheless be a way round this problem. It's hard to think of any real translation that fits both the child's lexicon and market speak, as well as explaining what the cream is supposed to do.
Sometimes you have to think outside the box - especially with marketing!
I agree with you Colin. At first glance this did look like an obvious candidate for downgrading. Unfortunately, there are those who all too often jump in willy-nilly and do this without giving the question any proper thought. I could vote this PRO, but fear that would rather look as though I'm only in it for the points :)
However, this does raise another serious issue: which is that downgrading a question to NON-PRO considerably reduces the number of potential Answers, since many people simply aren't interested in answering Non-pro questions, and indeed, set a filter against them. Having had 1 or 2 of my own questions downgraded, I know the detrimental effect this can have on the quality and diversity of answers provided.
There have been extensive discussions on the forums about removing the Pro/Non-Pro distinction.
IMO, this one is more marketing and less translation. We all "know" what it means, but have not found the best way to say it with the appropriate marketing spin.
Given the extent of this discussion and the fact that 9 presumably professional translators have failed to agree on a suitable translation, I fail to see how this question can be classified as NON-PRO as defined in the Proz rules (Are you sure that this question could be answered by any bilingual person without the aid of a dictionary?).
Just for the record, "booboo" has two meanings in US English - a scrape, etc., and a silly, trivial mistake as in UK English. We use it both ways in NY (East Coast).
There is no direct equivalent to 'bobo' in British English. The first time I heard the word was when I was a temporary playground assistant at a French primary school, and at first I had no idea what 'bobo' meant.
At home I've got a 'boîte à bobos', which is simply a place where medicines, elastopasts, etc are kept.
As you can see, there is even a disagreement among those of us in the US. It may be regional. Certainly boo-boo is very common and current in California. And, using google uk and restricting my search to British pages, I found children's healthcare products under the name boo-boo. http://www.shinyshack.com/product.php?prid=211902
That's ok Lionel, in fact I did not say it was for the British market and I should have done, interesting point, and it's true that boo-boo is slang for a silly trivial mistake in uk english
Due to numerous comments of colleagues, I would like to excuse me for "non US" colleagues. I thought "boo-boo" was OK for UK as well, but, interestingly enough (for me) I learn it is different. So, again, my proposal is based on US language. Point. Many thanks
I take it you're looking for something that is as universally understood in English (UK) as "bobo" is in French - rather than an invented word or expression...?
In the US, boo-boo (or booboo) is what most small children (and their parents) would understand. A BandAid/Hansaplast/sticking plaster is a boo-boo strip. A child's ice pack, kept in the freezer, is a boo-boo bag. Lots of ghits for boo-boo cream; not so many for ointment.
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +4