Cultural blunders

The article Expanding Abroad? Avoid Cultural Gaffes, in The Wall Streer Journal, pinpoints the problems that may arise due to cultural differences when doing business.

For those businesses that commit a cultural blunder, fixing the situation can be costly.

The price tag hit seven figures at Toronto-based AlertDriving, a firm that provides online driving training courses to companies with vehicle fleets.

Between 2005 and 2007, AlertDriving, incorporated as Sonic e-Learning Inc., expanded into more than 20 countries before realizing that the product had cultural flaws. The dialogue in the lessons had been poorly-translated and the driving instruction failed to address geographic nuances. For example, AlertDriving teaches that the center lane is the safest on a multi-lane highway, but that is untrue in Dubai, where the center lane is used exclusively for passing. [...]
The company spent about $1 million over 18 months revamping its existing product line, honing language dialects and local driving habits

Some translation blunters in trademarks:

• When translated into Chinese, Pepsi's Come alive with the Pepsi Generation became "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave."

• Coca Cola’s 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 eventually found a phonetic equivalent translating more pleasantly into “happiness in the mouth.”

• Ford had a problem in Brazil with the Pinto. Pinto was Brazilian slang for tiny male genitals. Ford renamed the automobile Corcel, meaning "horse".

• Coors slogan, "Turn it loose," in Spanish became "suffer from diarrhea."

• Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno magazine.

• Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux once launched an American ad campaign by proclaiming, “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”

• Clairol introduced its "Mist Stick" curling iron to the German market; then discovered that "mist" is slang for manure.

• Honda introduced their new car "Fitta" into Nordic countries in 2001. The word "fitta" was used in vulgar language to refer to a woman's genitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. The new car was renamed "Honda Jazz".

• In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into "Schweppes Toilet Water".

Translators and localization experts needed ; )

Do you know about other translation /localisation blunders?
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