Archive for April, 2007
Funny Stories: Lost in Translation
Here are several funny stories about bad translations and how they led to massive embarassment:
Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux were embarassed to find lackluster sales when they used the following slogan in an advertising campaign in America: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”
In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water. Zesty!
Coke in China? The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax” depending on the dialect. The Coca-Cola corporation then researched 40,000 Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent, “ko-kou-ko-le,” which can be loosely translated as “happiness in the mouth.” Much better.
That’s One Amazing Soft Drink. In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” came out as “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.” Whoops.