Myths Debunked: Bad Translation Apocrypha

When I first saw the headline of today's post in Global Watchtower, "Chevy 'Nova': Updating Bad Translation Apocrypha", I thought for certain that Common Sense Advisory was planning to debunk a few of the old mistranslation myths that have been floating around. Instead, Don DePalma compiled yet another list of some of the bad translations that frequently get passed around for chuckles, and he included a few good ones that have not yet been overused as examples, while candidly admitting that we all list these errors just to improve search engine rankings. Well, in order to learn of a few mistranslation myths that have been debunked, you'll have to visit Snopes.com or i18nguy.com.

Many websites, including Engrish.com, highlight bad translations. Here is the most popular list that has been passed around. Many of these claims, including the claim about the Chevy Nova, have since been debunked on the websites listed above.

These are the nominees for the Chevy Nova Award. This is given out in honor of the GM's fiasco in trying to market this car in Central and South America. "No va" means, of course, in Spanish, "it doesn't go". (debunked)

• The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?"
• Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
• Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux." (mostly debunked)
• Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "Manure Stick." (partially corrected)
• When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the labels of what's inside, since many people can't read. (debunked)
• Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine. (debunked)
• 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).
• Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.
• The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", 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 "kokou kole", translating into "happiness in the mouth." (partially debunked)
• 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." 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!"
• When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish! (partially debunked - it was actually Braniff Airlines targeting the US Hispanic market)

Does anyone know of other mistranslation rumors that have been debunked? If so, please share.

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To see another perspective on translation humor, check out Don L.F. Nilsen's article about translations that are intentionally humorous: "Better than the Original: Humorous Translations that Succeed".