Marketing translations

Cracking an international market is a goal of most growing corporations. It
shouldn't be that hard, yet even the big multi-nationals run into trouble
because of language and cultural differences. For example, observe the following
examples below.


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. Coke 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."


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."


Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-licking' good" came
out as "eat your fingers off."


The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem - Feeling Free," got
translated in the Japanese market into "When smoking Salem, you feel so
refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty."


When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was
apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go." After the company figured
out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to
the Caribe.


When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to
say, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." However, the company
mistakenly thought the Spanish word "embarazar" meant embarrass. Instead the ads
said that "It won�t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."


An American t-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the spanish market which
promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired "I Saw the Pope" in Spanish,
the shirts proclaimed "I Saw the Potato."


Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious
porno magazine.


In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into
Schweppes Toilet Water.