Translation faux pas9/21/2023 I'm being facetious here because I've found many instances of the legend on various localization blogs, with no one questioning whether it is true or not. To describe the offending phrase, let's just say this is the supposed mistranslation in Spanish describing a mother's natural built-in process of feeding a baby with an internal milk supply. Our next example is just about as famous as the previous one, but it took a bit of digging to find the truth! Many of us have heard about the legend that got started because of an embarrassing translation of the Dairy industry's famous slogan, Got Milk®. The Dairy industry's cautionary tale Legend #2: Was the "Got Milk®" Spanish translation an embarrassing and costly error? MYTH or TRUTH? (Mostly) Myth! □ In certain markets the stakes are even higher like in China, where "names have a deep significance". Why is this important? In a perfect world, every brand would take the time and care to develop appropriate names and slogans for each market. Mercedes-Benz, symbolic: For the German luxury automotive brand, the translation is Bēnchí 奔驰, which has a similar sound to the original name Mercedes-Benz and uses two characters meaning "run quickly".Red Bull, literal: For the popular energy drink brand name, it's a literal translation of the name Red Bull as Hóngniú 红牛, meaning "red bull".Ferrari, phonetic: For the Italian luxury sports car brand name, the translation uses characters that match phonetically: Ferrari = Fǎlālì 法拉利.Here are some interesting examples of each type! Transforming foreign brand names into appealing Chinese names is a big undertaking to the point of being an art form, where phonetics, literal meanings, and symbolic interpretations may be used. ✔︎ Put them together, it's Coca-Cola®! 可口可乐 (kě kǒu kě lè) = permit happiness in the mouth Chinese brand naming explained ✔︎ Here are the preferred characters: 可(kě) permit, 口(kǒu) mouth, 乐 (lè) happy How was the translation improved? (see Simplified Chinese – Improved, below) ✔︎ Put them together, it's close to the Bite the Wax Tadpole legend! 口蝌口蜡 (kǒu kē kǒu la) = mouth tadpole wax ✔︎ Using pinyin and dictionaries, I found these characters for the original sounds: 口(kǒu) mouth, 蝌 (kē) tadpole, 蜡 (la) wax How was the funny original translation derived? (see Simplified Chinese – Original, below) We can take a look at how the characters were derived by using a Chinese Pinyin keyboard, I've found characters by typing the sounds, and by cross-checking online Chinese dictionaries, I can confirm these fun findings! It's fascinating to see where this all came from. With a more appropriate meaning but having similar sounds, the chosen trademark was ke-ko-ke-le which uses the much more marketable "allowing the mouth to rejoice" (also known as "mouth happiness"). The story goes on that the meaning was improved by choosing other characters. The early brand names for Coca-Cola were created by selecting Chinese characters to match the sounds ko-ka-ko-la, and the legend has it that the resulting meanings were nonsense including "bite the wax tadpole". One of the classic faux pas stories is about Coca-Cola, which reportedly goes back to the 1920s when the product was introduced in China. The art of translating brand names and slogans into Chinese Legend #1: Was Coca-Cola® first translated as "bite the wax tadpole"? MYTH or TRUTH ? (Mostly) Truth! In the definition of Faux Pas that I'm using, I mean embarrassing errors rather than gaffes such as wrong word order or missing font (to learn about localization gaffes, see my previous article: 5 favorite localization gaffes to know, and avoid). A Faux Pas is “a significant or embarrassing error or mistake, especially: a socially awkward or improper act or remark” (Credit: Merriam-Webster) In this article we’ll confront a couple of Localization Legends in search of myth or truth, find out where they came from, and most importantly, explain the valuable lessons they represent whether true or not. The funny language blunders that could cost you the business!Įverybody loves a good faux pas story about mistranslations or warped slogans, and the localization industry has some classics.
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