{"id":4095,"date":"2025-06-16T14:26:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T13:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/?p=4095"},"modified":"2025-06-16T14:29:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T13:29:59","slug":"lost-in-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/resources\/general\/lost-in-translation\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost in Translation: Why Local Sayings Confuse Your Global Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The other day, I passed a sign on our regular Sunday walk. It read: <strong>\u201cHeavy Plant Crossing.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Heavy-Plant-Original-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Lost in translation\" class=\"wp-image-4097\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Heavy-Plant-Original-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Heavy-Plant-Original-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Heavy-Plant-Original-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Heavy-Plant-Original-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Heavy-Plant-Original-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, if English wasn\u2019t your first language, you might be picturing a monstrous cactus waddling across the road. Or a very determined sunflower with somewhere to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, in UK construction terms, \u201cheavy plant\u201d means machinery; diggers, cranes, that sort of thing. But it got me thinking: how many things do we say at work that make total sense to us\u2026 and absolutely none to someone else?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re all guilty of it. Using local sayings, bits of slang, or expressions we\u2019ve grown up with. But when you\u2019re working across teams, time zones or even just departments, those phrases can land about as well as a &#8220;bull in a china shop&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Take a pie chart. In France, it\u2019s not a pie chart, it\u2019s a <em>camembert<\/em>. In Italy, it\u2019s a <em>torta<\/em>. In Germany, a <em>Kuchendiagramm<\/em>, literally, a cake diagram. Same data. Different flavours. And a strong reminder that not everyone sees the same thing when they hear the same words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few personal favourites: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ll give it some welly.\u201d (Meaning: I\u2019ll put in more effort, not lend you a boot.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBob\u2019s your uncle.\u201d (A perfectly normal way to say \u201cthere you go\u201d in the UK. Utter nonsense to almost everyone else.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s all gone a bit pear-shaped.\u201d (Something\u2019s gone wrong, but not necessarily with fruit.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s easy to forget that what\u2019s familiar to us can be <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/resources\/blogs\/how-to-give-a-presentation-in-english-if-its-not-your-first-language\/\">baffling to someone else<\/a>. And that doesn\u2019t just apply to regional sayings; it\u2019s the same with workplace language. When we say things like \u201clet\u2019s take this offline\u201d or \u201cwe need to move the needle\u201d, we might as well be saying \u201cthe ducks have flown sideways\u201d. That\u2019s not a real phrase, but could you tell?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So what\u2019s the risk? Confusion. Misinterpretation. Delays. More than that, a sense of exclusion. It\u2019s not just about language barriers, it\u2019s about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C7EuGaOoXKh\/\">clarity<\/a>, empathy and connection. If people are quietly Googling what \u201ctouch base\u201d means, we\u2019re not really communicating. We\u2019re just talking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What helps? Speaking like a human. Using words people understand. Swapping \u201caction that deliverable\u201d for \u201clet\u2019s get it done\u201d or \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d for \u201ceasy win\u201d. Better yet, say what you actually mean. And check in with people. If you\u2019re not sure something landed, ask. <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/resources\/blogs\/how-to-present-in-english-to-a-global-audience\/\">Communication isn\u2019t about being clever. It\u2019s about being clear.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If a road sign can leave someone wondering whether triffids are about to cross the street, imagine how a slide full of jargon might feel to someone new to your team. Say what you mean. Say it simply. And maybe leave the \u201cheavy plant\u201d out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The other day, I passed a sign on our regular Sunday walk. It read: \u201cHeavy Plant Crossing.\u201d Now, if English wasn\u2019t your first language, you might be picturing a monstrous cactus waddling across the road. Or a very determined sunflower with somewhere to be. Of course, in UK construction terms, \u201cheavy plant\u201d means machinery; diggers, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":4096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-blogs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lost in Translation: Why Local Sayings Confuse Your Global Team - Body Talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.twentytwo.digital\/ukbodytalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4095\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lost in Translation: Why Local Sayings Confuse Your Global Team - Body Talk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The other day, I passed a sign on our regular Sunday walk. It read: \u201cHeavy Plant Crossing.\u201d Now, if English wasn\u2019t your first language, you might be picturing a monstrous cactus waddling across the road. Or a very determined sunflower with somewhere to be. 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