ANECDOTES CONCERNING CULTURAL DIFFICULTIES IN

INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS

Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 10:41:50 EDT
<...>
Subject: It looses something in the translation



>> IT LOSES SOMETHING IN THE TRANSLATION
>> 
>>  1. Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into
>> Spanish where it was read as
>>      "Suffer from diarrhea."
>> 
>>  2. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used
>> the following in an
>>      American campaign: 
>>      Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.
>> 
>>  3. Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling
>> iron, into German only to
>> find
>>      out that "mist" is slang for manure. 
>>      Not too many people had use for the "manure
>> stick."
>> 
>>  4. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa,
>> they used the same
>>      packaging as in the US, with the beautiful
>> Caucasian baby on the label.
>>      Later they learned that in Africa, companies
>> routinely put pictures on
>> the
>>      label  of what's inside, since most people
>> can't read.
>> 
>>  5. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called
>> Cue, the name of a
>>      notorious porno magazine.
>> 
>>  6. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed
>> shirts for the Spanish market
>>     which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of 
>>     "I saw the Pope" (el papa), the shirts read "I
>> saw the potato" (la papa).
>> 
>>  7. Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation"
>> translated into
>>      "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the
>> grave", in Chinese.
>> 
>>  8. Frank Purdue's chicken slogan, "it takes a
>> strong man to make a
>>      tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as
>> "it takes an aroused man
>>      to make a chicken affectionate."
>> 
>>  9. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as
>> "Ke-kou-ke-la",
>>      meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse
>> stuffed with wax",
>>      depending on the dialect. Coke then researched
>> 40,000 characters to find
>>      a phonetic equivalent "ko-kou-ko-le",
>> translating into "happiness in the
>>      mouth."
>> 
>> 10. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in
>> Mexico, its ads were
>>       supposed to have read, "it won't leak in your
>> pocket and embarrass
>>       you."
>>       Instead, the company thought that the word
>> "embarazar" (to impregnate)
>>       meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't
>> leak in your pocket and
>>       make you pregnant."