Beethoven Essay, Research Paper

Ads Gone Astray

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.”

Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick,” a curling iron, into German only to find out that “mist” is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the “manure stick.”

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).

The Coca-Cola 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 then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent “ko-kou-ko-le,” translating into “happiness in the mouth.”

Thanx to Joe Drapkin

A product ad in a Taiwaneese bicycle trade

publication read: Indescribable…The more

wonderful than you can believe it!

Colgate tried to introduce a new toothpaste in France

with the name “Cue”. That name turned out

to be that of an infamous porno magazine.

Found at the entrance of a Bangkok temple:

It is forbidden to enter a woman even

a foreigner if dressed like a man.

In Hong Kong, this was found on a box for a clockwork toy:

Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life.

Ooops…An article making a reference to

the Danish magazine Se og H?r, used a Roman “o”

instead of a “?”. This changed the translation of the

magazine title from Look and Listen to Look Whore.

A sign at a Budapest zoo stated:

Please do not feed the animals. If you have

any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.

This detour sign was posted in Kyushi, Japan:

Stop! Drive sideways.

At a hotel in Acapulco a notice read:

The manager has personally passed all the

water served in this establishment.

This sign was posted at a Hong Kong tailor shop:

Ladies may have a fit upstairs.

A sign in a Wal-Mart in Ontario, Canada read:

All vendors bringing diskettes in to

be used on Wal-Mart computers, must

be scanned by the receptionist for viruses!

A sign in the window of a Swedish furrier stated:

Fur coats made for the ladies from their own skin.

A brochure for car rentals in Tokyo read:

When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle

the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if

he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor.

When a gentleman gave a box of Frango Mints to a

Brazilian client, he was dismayed to learn that

in Portuguese, Frango means “chicken”.

From an article by Lynn Beresford

At a dress shop in Hong Kong, a sign stated:

Order your summers suit. Because is big rush

we will execute customers in strict rotation.

These Japanese instructions were found on an air conditioner:

Cooles & heats. If you want just condition of warm

in your room, please control yourself.

This notice was found on the exit door in a restroom

in Basra, Iraq: Have you left your ring? Have you left

your watch? Have you anything of value left?

Travelers beware…this was found at

a Copenhagen airline ticket office:

We take your bags and send them in all directions.

This copy was found in an advertisement for a Hong Kong dentist:

Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.

This sign was found in a Norwegian cocktail lounge:

“Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar”.

When Hunt-Wesson introduced their “Big John”

products in French Canada, they had been translated

as “Gros Jos,” which is slang for “big breasts.”

This description was found on a restaurant menu at a Polish hotel:

“Salad a firm’s own make; Limpid red beer soup with cheesy

dumplings in the form of a finger; Roasted duck let loose;

Beef rashers beaten up in the country people’s fashion.”

“The lift is being fixed for the day During that

time we regret that you will be unbearable”.

Found in a Paris hotel elevator:

“Please leave your values at the front desk.”

A sign in a Belgrade hotel elevator stated:

“To move the cabin, push button for wishing floor.

If the cabin should enter more persons, each one

should press a number of wishing floor. Driving

is then going alphabetically by national order.”

Found on a Swiss restaurant’s menu:

“Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.”

An advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand read:

“Would you like to ride on your own ass?”

A sign in a Rome laundry room read:

“Ladies, leave your clothes here and

spend the afternoon having a good time.”

This was found in a Zurich hotel: “Because of the

impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the

bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.”

A sign posted in Germany’s Black Forest states:

“It is strictly forbidden on our Black Forest camping

site that people of different sex, for instance,

men and women, live together in one tent unless

they are married with each other for that purpose.”

This appeared in an East African newspaper: “A new

swimming pool is rapidly taking shape since the

contractors have thrown in the bulk of their workers.”

This ad for a notebook computer was found in a

Taiwanese magazine: “Take it to take off away from where

other majority has stayed long since. Not only abreast

it keeps you but also ahead of the field of computing.”

Hyundai definitely cannot use the name “Kia” to promote

their cars in Taiwan. Why? “Kia” sounds exactly like

“It’s all ruined! I am dead for sure!” in Taiwanese.

Submitted by Lu Hua Li

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.”

In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water

translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.

Ford Motor Company had a similar problem in Brazil

when the Pinto flopped. Apparently “Pinto” is Brazilian

slang for “tiny male genitals.” Ford had all the nameplates

pried off and replaced with Corcel, which means horse.

You may have heard about General Motors being unable

to sell the Chevy Nova in South America because,

in Spanish, “no va” means “it won’t go.”

When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico,

its ads were supposed to say, “It won’t leak in your

pocket and embarrass you.” However, a translator for

the company mistakenly translated “embarrass” to the

Spanish word “embarazar.” Instead the ads said that

“It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

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.

John F. Kennedy’s famous Berlin Wall speech was hailed as

a masterpiece. However, those with even an elementary knowledge

of German had to laugh heartily when our president reached

the climax of the speech by stating: “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

Instead of dropping the indefinite article to say that he was a

Berliner, he announced to all that he was, in fact, a jelly doughnut.

A professor at a German University opted to translate

his own thesis which began: “Philosophy of

science can be done in several manners…”

A Hungarian doctor writes on soccer injuries:

“The fixation of a serious arterial bleeding

belongs between the most important and most

urgent treatments during the first aid.”

For some unknown reason, a Chinese gentleman was employed

to translate the instructions for a push-button radio from German

into English: “Very close to translamissing station you may

find useful to put the high low sensistivity to low.”

On the back of a Moscow hotel room door:

“If this is your first visit to the

U.S.S.R., you are welcome to it.”

Before the fall of the iron curtain, a Soviet weekly advertised

to tourists: “A Moscow Exhibition of Arts by 15,000 Soviet

Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over the

past two years.” The article also told readers about another

popular tourist attraction: “You are welcome to visit

the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers,

artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.”

A Risk Evaluation Questionnaire from the California State

Compensation Insurance Fund was partially filled out in their

office prior to sending it to us to be signed. The detailed

description of our business included: “Translation Services

Bureau, translate and interrupting any language.”

A sign advises guests at an Acapulco Hotel:

“All the facilities in this room are made for a comfortable

stay in the hotel. In case of lost objects or bad use

of the installations, the maid should be affected.”

A sign posted at what used to be a German Caf? in Berkeley

read: “This rest room is for use of our only customer.”

No wonder they went out of business!

The sign on the mini-bar of a Paris hotel encourages guests:

“Help yourself off the refrigerator.”

Clairol hair products attempted to introduce their

“Mist Stick” curling iron in Germany only to discover

that “mist” is slang for “manure.” Not many

customers were interested in buying a manure stick.

When Vicks first introduced their cough drops in Germany,

they neglected to do a name evaluation which would have uncovered

the fact that the German “v” is pronounced “f” thereby

making Vicks the guttural equivalent of “sexual penetration.”

The Coors beer slogan, “Turn it loose” was

mistranslated into Spanish as: “Suffer from diarrhea.”

A CEO for a fast-food chicken chain stated in English:

“It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.”

A non-native Spanish speaker translated this statement as:

“It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate.”

 Braniff Airlines translated their slogan which bragged

about their upholstery: “Fly in leather.” It was

mistranslated into Spanish by a non-native speaker as

“Fly naked.”



 Chinese:

 The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax” depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 Chinese characters and found a close phonetic equivalent, ko-kou-ko-le, which can be loosely translated as “happiness in the mouth”.1, 5

 When translated into Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan “finger-lickin’ good” came out as “eat your fingers off”.1

 In a Hong Kong supermarket: “For your convenience, we recommend courageous, efficient self-service”.6

 Outside a Hong Kong tailor’s shop: “Ladies may have a fit upstairs”.6

 In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: “Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists”.6

 On the box of a clockwork toy made in Hong Kong: “Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life”.6

 English:

Bibliography

You are also confirming that you have written this paper, and are not violating any ? Copyright Laws. If you want to be given credit for your work, and you should!!! Please include your name. There is nothing wrong with submitting your paper. Teachers have no right to get upset with you for publishing your work. IT’S YOURS