LIST OF AMERICAN SLOGAN TRANSLATIONS INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Here is a look at how shrewd American business people translate their
slogans into foreign languages:

1. When Braniff translated a slogan touting its upholstery, "Fly in
Leather," it came out in Spanish as "Fly Naked."

2. Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read
as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

3. Chicken magnate Frank Perdue's line, "It takes a tough man to make a
tender chicken," sounds much more interesting in Spanish: "It takes a
sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate."

4. When Vicks first introduce 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."

5. 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.

6. The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. No Va"
means "It Does Not Go" in Spanish.

7. 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."

8. Then 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."

9. A hair products company, 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.

10. When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the
same packaging as here in the USA - with the cute baby on the label. Later
they found out that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the
label of what actually is inside the container since most people can not
read.
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From: kidprov@onramp.net (brad newton)
Subject: translation humor

I thought you would be interested in an addition to your list of humorous
translations from English into other languages. MENSA, the organization for
the extremely intelligent (and from time to time the extremely arrogant),
is the Spanish word for stupid (gender female).
Have a great new year.
Brad
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More slogan goofs:

Bacardi concocted a fruity drink with the name "Pavian" to suggest French
chic...but "pavian" means "baboon" in German.

Parker Pens translated the slogan for its ink, "Avoid Embarrassment - Use
Quink" into Spanish as "Evite Embarazos - Use Quink"...which also means,
"Avoid Pregnancy - Use Quink."

Jolly Green Giant translated into Arabic means "Intimidating Green Ogre."
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From Terry.Pollard@DWNPLAZA.NCOM.nt.gov.au Mon Dec 9 13:21:11 1996

In Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good" came
out as "eat your fingers off."

The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem - Feeling Free," got
translated in the Japanese market into "When smoking Salem, you feel so
refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty."

An American t-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market
which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired "I Saw the Pope" in
Spanish, the shirts proclaimed "I Saw the Potato."

Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada as Gros Jos
before finding out that the phrase, in slang, means "big breasts." In this
case, however, the name problem did not have a noticeable effect on sales.

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

Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it entered
English-speaking markets and began receiving requests for unusual sex
tours. Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Company
changed its name.

In an effort to boost orange juice sales in predominantly continental
breakfast eating England, a campaign was devised to extoll the drink's
eye-opening, pick-me-up qualities. Hence the slogan, "Orange juice. It gets
your pecker up."
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From: Leslie Maxwell

American manufacturers of Pet condensed milk introduced their product into
French markets without realizing that "pet" in French means "to break
wind."

A native English speaker drew laughs from Mexican customers when she
offered them samples of Fresca soda pop. "Fresca" means "lesbian" in
Mexican slang.

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