For translators in stress

[Guest guest]

Help!

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Two translators on a ship are talking.

"Can you swim?" asks one.

"No" says the other, "but I can shout for help in nine languages."

 

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Language Barrier

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Two highway workers were busy working at a construction site when a big car

with diplomatic license plates pulled up.

"Parlez-vous français?" the driver asks them. The two workers just stared.

"Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" The two continued to stare at him.

"Fala português?" Neither worker said anything.

"Parlate Italiano?" Still no response.

Finally, the man drives off in disgust.

One worker turned to the other and said, "Gee, maybe we should learn a

foreign language..."

"What for? That guy knew four of them and what good did it do him?"

 

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Ad slogans - "Loco"lization

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Here is a look at how shrewd American business people translate their

slogans into foreign languages:

 

When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they

translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally.

The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from

the Grave."

 

When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something that

when pronounced sounded like "Coca-Cola." The only problem was that the

characters used meant "Bite The Wax Tadpole." They later changed to a set of

characters that mean "Happiness In The Mouth."

 

The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. "No Va" means

"It Does Not Go" in Spanish.

 

Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as

"Suffer From Diarrhea."

 

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).

 

When Vicks first introduced its cough drops on the German market, they were

chagrined to learn that the German pronunciation of "v" is "f," which in

German is the guttural equivalent of "sexual penetration."

 

Not to be outdone, Puffs tissues tried later to introduce its product, only

to learn that "Puff" in German is a colloquial term for a whorehouse.

 

Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into German only to

find out that "mist" is German for manure. Not too many people had use for

the "manure stick".

 

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.

 

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"The ability to speak several languages is an asset, but the ability to keep

your mouth shut in any language is priceless." -- ITI Bulletin, 6, 7, 1990