Translations done badly continued . . . again . . .

Now we move into the domain of badly translated signs, posters and other important information. Many British people will remember the rather amusing debacle with the Welsh road sign. For anyone that is not familiar with the story I will explain it now. Sign makers in Wales needed to make a sign that stated “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.” Faced with the dilemma of translating the phrase the sign maker called in the experts to help them in their time of need. They sent the phrase, to be translated, to a professional translator. I know what you’re thinking this all seems very logical and sensible and thus far it is but then things start to unravel. Unfortunately the translator was not in his office and an automated reply was sent stating that “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated” but it was written in Welsh. The sign maker not having any working knowledge of Welsh took this to be his desired translation and promptly added it to the sign. According to the stories there were some incredibly confused Welch people walking around wondering why they should care that someone was not in their office and that translations should still be sent. Here is a photo of the sign in question:


To read more about this story follow this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7702913.stm

Other amusing stories from the world of bad translation include the fiasco that Pepsi had when translating their slogan into Chinese. It would seem to be a fairly easy translation as the slogan was “Pepsi gives you zest for life”. This was very professionally translated into Chinese and read “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”. A truly amazing drink if it was capable of doing these things however I highly doubt that it was but you never know so keep drinking that Pepsi!! Another famous disaster comes from Pepsi’s rival, Coca Cola, who wanted their name to be put into Chinese characters. Unfortunately it rendered there name useless as it now read “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”. All in all a success I feel. Just a couple more examples to keep you giggling for the rest of the day. Most people have heard of the “Jolly Green Giant” sweetcorn but has anyone heard of “Intimidating Green Monster” sweetcorn. No? Well this is how “Jolly Green Giant” was translated into Arabic. Personally I know which one I would choose. Finally one of the best mistakes in my opinion was made by the “Coors” beer company when they had their slogan “Turn it Loose” translated into Spanish. Unfortunately once in Spanish it then read “Get Diarrhoea”! Successful I think not, although it depends what you want from your beer.
amusement:1 and translators: 0