One Hour Translation Blog

Misfired translations happen quite a lot. Whether it roots from negligence in the worldwide translation industry’s part or just a lack of certain elements in human translation that many a professional translation company is unaware of (that is, cultural awareness and the importance of adaptation and localization), they usually end up in websites spoofing poor translation practices or articles such as this.

Indeed, companies and the translation services under their employ should take a good look at some of the mishaps, blunders, and bloopers that their lot has committed over the years due to cultural unawareness and simple carelessness. These are just a few examples of professional translation gone wrong.

• Oil with Attitude: One clear example of imprudence comes in the form of an American cooking oil’s brand name. It was promoted in a Latin American country under the infamous moniker of “Jackass Oil” when translated into Spanish.

• Latino Heat: Here’s another Latino advertising gaffe for you. An American telephone company attempted to promote its services and products to Latinos by producing a commercial wherein a Latina wife orders her husband to call a friend in order to tell her that they’ll be late for their dinner appointment.

The patriarchal and laidback Latino community didn’t understand the advertisement at all because their use of time wouldn’t need a call about lateness and husbands weren’t ordered around by their wives.

• Dog Perfume: A men’s cologne magazine ad featured an idyllic, rural scene with a man and his pet dog. The commercial bombed in Islamic countries because that culture considered dogs to be dirty and unclean.

• The Killer Car: Here’s a translation service botch that neither machine nor human translation is likely to catch. Another U.S.-based company in the motor industry tried to market a car named “The Matador” to Puerto Rican audiences. Unfortunately, the name connotes to “killer” in that country, so it’s not particularly popular in a nation full of dangerous roads and streets.

• Coffee Blockade: Here’s an example of cultural differences that’s not about advertising and marketing. If a Saudi businessman offers you a cup of coffee, don’t refuse it. An American executive learned that the hard way; his faux pas was considered quite rude, and the business negotiations between his company and the person he unintentionally snubbed were subsequently stalled.

• Scope and Grope: A popular commercial in Europe was considered outright scandalous in Japan. The ad featured a bathing woman, her husband entering the bathroom, and touching her. The Japanese community felt the commercial to be in poor taste, thought the husband was invading his wife’s privacy, and reckoned the whole state of affairs as inappropriate behavior even for a married couple.

• Fore: The number “four” is an unlucky number in Japan that’s comparable to “thirteen” in the western world. Coincidentally, the pronunciation of “four” in Japanese sounds like “death” as well. This double-whammy of cultural booboos ensured that a golf manufacturing company’s packaged four-pack golf balls remained unpopular in that part of the orient.

Helmsley Tombstone: Leona Helmsley once compared her Helmsley Palace Hotel in New York to the Indian Taj Majal (which is both a mausoleum and a tourist attraction in one).

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