Language Faux Pas - Lost in Translation

Bad translations are always funny but can mean that you have to pay careful attention to the context. When foreigners choose their words in ways that make no sense or misinterpret idioms it can make us laugh and can give them a good anecdote; however, when the same thing happens to an international company trying to make an impact in a foreign market the results can be much more serious.

We can see poorly translated copy everywhere if we look for it, especially on the internet. Sometimes, translations are so bad it seems like they have been made on purpose. The Japanese are notorious for their uncanny ability to take the English language and twist it into the most hilarious phrases. The fact that most Japanese students have English language studies on their CVs suggests that this has more to do with their sense of humour than their comprehension skills.

Mistranslations can occur for a variety of reasons:

• lack of understanding of the subject matter.
• lack of experience of the culture or language in which the text is written.
• lack of experience of the culture or language into which the text is translated (translators usually only translate into their native language but not always).
• lack of editorial support (a good editor can catch almost all the really big mistakes).

A juice to die for!

Big Companies Do It Too!

You would be excused for thinking that most translation errors are made by small companies unable to afford professional translators. While this is often the case, sometimes even companies with plentiful resources have fallen foul of mistranslations. Well-known companies such as Parker, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Colgate and General Motors have all found themselves in embarrassing situations as a result of a language faux pas. Here are a few examples:

• The Parker Pen had a particularly rough start in Mexico. The ads that accompanied its launch were supposed to read: 'It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you', but ended up reading: 'It won't leak in your pocket and get you pregnant', owing to the mistranslation of the word embarazar in Spanish.
• Pepsi might have upset quite a few people in China with their slogan: 'Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation'. When released in China it actually read: 'Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave'.
• The Chinese seem to have bad luck with cola beverages. The Coca-Cola name in China first read Kekoukela, which means: 'Bite the Wax Tadpole', or: 'Female Horse Stuffed with Wax', depending on what part of China you're in. Obviously, neither of these options were particularly flattering to the most popular beverage in the world.

The only way to avoid embarrassing mistakes of this kind is by learning the language well. It's advisable to travel abroad to spend a time immersed in the language too. For instance, to learn French, there is no substitute for French courses in France, where your teachers will be natives and you will have plenty of opportunity to practise. This will be much more effective than a French language course anywhere else. Just be careful not to make a faux pas.