Lost in Translation: 7 Famous Missteps and How Professional Translation Could Have Helped

Translation errors can be embarrassing, or disastrous, for companies looking to reach a global audience. There are over 7,000 languages spoken around the world and as such the need for accurate, and culturally aware translations continues to grow.

In this article, I’ll analyze 7 famous translation mistakes made by major corporations and brands. Next we’ll look at how each error occurred, what the consequences were, and how hiring professional human translators could have avoided problems. Any business expanding into new linguistic territories can learn from the past.

The Importance of Professional Translation

The global economy is still growing very fast. Marketing and communications need to fit diverse demographics. Localizing content, products, and services all depend on translation.

However, automated translation fails to account for linguistic nuances and cultural contexts. Professional human translation provides:

Fluency – Only human insight can properly interpret tone, diction, syntax, idioms, etc. Machines cannot yet match these skills.
Accuracy – Human translators have comprehensive expertise regarding terminology, industry standards, regional differences, etc.
Cultural awareness – Human judgment understands appropriate adaptations in imagery, colors, symbols, gestures, customs, beliefs, etc. Localization requires cultural fluency.

Without a proper understanding of these elements and certified translation services, translations will range from awkward to completely inaccurate. The consequences become amplified on international stages.

7 Famous Translation Missteps

Major brands have suffered public embarrassment, angered customers, and lost revenue from translation debacles. Examining past mistakes offers cautionary tales:

1. Coca-Cola – “Hello, death” Slogan

Coca-Cola’s attempt to mix two languages has landed it in a soup. Aiming to mix English and the language used by the Indigenous population of New Zealand, te reo Māori, the company inadvertently inscribed “Hello, Death” on one of its vending machines. Mate means friend in English; however, in Maori, it translates as “death.”

Consequences:

Public embarrassment
Damage to brand image
Loss of customer trust

Solution: Consult native speakers earlier in the process. Carefully research how taglines translate, including potential idiomatic misunderstandings.

2. Braniff International – “Fly Naked” Campaign

Braniff Airlines ran commercials in newspapers, on radio, and on television, stressing the fact that all-leather seats were standard on its planes in 1987. First to expose an accidental double entendre were Spanish-language radio commercials on the Florida market. Braniff has changed their “fly in leather” tagline to fly “en cuero,” which sounds like Spanish slangs for “fly naked.”

Although others conjectured the error was a deliberate marketing ploy meant to draw notice, the executive who created the advertisement said the double meaning was unintentional.

Consequences:

Angered South Spanish customers
Perceived as offensive
Damaged company reputation

Solution: Consider cultural norms and modesty standards before adopting provocative marketing concepts. Tailor appropriately.

3. KFC – “Finger-Lickin’ Good” Issues

In the 1980s, KFC adapted its famous slogan into Mandarin to cater to the Chinese market. However, this effort produced a sentence that sounded less than appetising.

“Finger-lickin’ good” became more like, “Eat your fingers off.”

Chinese patrons thus came across an unusually gruesome idea instead of picturing the wonderful pleasure of savoring KFC’s chicken.

Consequences:

Reduced brand appeal
Lost revenue

Solution: Adapt slogans to maintain branding essence without direct word-for-word translation. Adjust imagery and concepts to suit local customs.

4. Pepsi – “Come Alive with Pepsi” Blunder

When Pepsi entered China in the 1980s, its “Come Alive with Pepsi” slogan translated as “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave”. The horrifying mistranslation led to widespread avoidance of the product.

Consequences:

Scared away consumers
Hurt sales numbers
Took years recovering

Solution: Verify translations through focus groups with native speakers. Catch glaring issues early.

5. Electrolux – “Nothing Sucks Like An Electrolux”

A tagline meaning “nothing cleans better” in Scandinavian languages translated into English as the less optimal “nothing sucks more than an Electrolux”. Without checking different linguistic interpretations, the vacuum maker suffered embarrassment.

Consequences:

Provoked ridicule in the international press
Damaged brand reputation
Cost money rebranding

Solution: Cross-check translations with bilingual focus groups before launch. Consider connotations.

6. Parker Pens – Cultural Taboo Imagery

Here is just another example of how poorly an advertising slogan was translated. Under the tagline “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you,” Parker Pen was marketing a leak-proof pen.

Apparently, the translator was misled by a false friend (one of the challenges of translating) and rendered “embarrassed” using the Spanish “embarazar.” Sadly, although sounding similar, “embarazar” really means “to impregnate.”

Parker Pen thus guaranteed that their writing tool would not leak in your pocket and cause pregnancy.

Consequences:

Deep offense taken
Huge loss of potential revenue

Solution: Research cultural and linguistic imagery taboos within target demographics. Strictly avoid sensitive subjects.

7. Mitsubishi Motors – “Wanker” Name Issue

Mitsubishi has experienced another instance of translation gone wrong in advertising. Inspired by the Pampas cat, whose Latin name is “Leopardus pajeros,” they launched an automobile type called the Pajero in 1982.

Sadly, the word “pajero” in Spanish means “wanker,” which typically isn’t something you want to write about on your automobile. Mitsubishi thus gave the automobile the brand “Moderno” for the markets in Spain, Northern and Latin America. Most likely a brilliant concept.

Consequences:

Provoked ridicule from the media
Hurt pickup truck sales
Took years to recover the market share

Solution: Verify that translated names cannot imply mechanical issues. Check for multiple meanings crossing linguistic lines.

Current Industry Standards for Business Translation

With today’s need for fast, agile communication across time zones, how can global organizations maintain high translation quality? Best practices include:

Build an in-house multilingual team or establish long-term partnerships with language services vendors who become an integrated extension of internal teams.
Translation management system (TMS) software can help streamline workflow, terminology, assets, and vendor management from a central location and keep everything consistent.
Use certified linguists who are native speakers of the language you translate into, understand regional differences, and translate from their native language, not the other way around.
Request formal translation with ISO quality standards on their implementation for translation as these processes are clear for different stages of translation, review, proofreading and approval.
For languages that require extremely fast turnarounds on high volumes of content, machine translation plus human editing will be enabled for cost efficiency.
For marketing collateral, branding campaigns and high-value content, prioritize working with individual human translators over machine translation alone to prevent misinterpretations.
Require back-translation for any final translated assets, having a second independent linguist translate back into the original language to double-check accuracy.

Following rigorous quality assurance processes reduces the risk of translations losing their intended meaning.

Cost of Translation Services

Depending on factors like language combination, specialty, project complexity and speed, professional human translations cost an average rate of 0.15−0.20 per word. At the higher end, certified legal/financial/medical translations can be $0.50+ per word. Quality is paramount when clients read translated materials meant to inform complex decisions.

Meanwhile, machine translation generates more inconsistent output but costs a fraction of professional pricing. On average, machine translation runs 0.03−0.07 per word depending on the language pair and corrections required. While fast and cost-efficient for simple content, relying solely on machines can be risky for publicity materials requiring nuanced writing.

Companies weighing human expertise versus scalable automation must consider potential ROI. Every misstep that goes public could mean thousands in lost revenue, plus rebranding costs. What price can be put on avoiding damaging PR blunders? For critical communications, professional translation is well worth the investment, providing safeguards that machine translation lacks.

Key Takeaways

As demonstrated above, translation missteps produce damaging, expensive consequences. By learning from past blunders, companies can preemptively avoid public embarrassment and lost revenue.

Consult native linguists early in the adaptation process
Tailor branding and marketing to suit local cultural norms
Double-check potentially problematic phrases and imagery
Focus test translations on actual target demographics

With the right technology and partners in place, international businesses can scale content affordably to meet global needs without sacrificing quality or meaning lost in translation.

Ultimately, professional translation is about prioritizing, and the ROI in terms of risk mitigation and future proofing of brand integrity worldwide. The localized content keeps the international customers engaged over a long period. High quality translation, done right, generates returns that more than cover up front costs and avoids the disastrous consequences of taking the easy path and cutting corners.

The key to a successful multilingual strategy is preventing preventable mistakes, and with a little diligence and care, brands can succeed across borders, rather than get lost in translation.