Humour around the world

1. COMMON MISTAKES IN
TRANSLATION
BAITI SHAUKI

2. Misinterpret meaning
► “No, benefits will be provided anyway”
► is translated as
► “No benefits will be provided anyway.”

3. ► Let’s eat grandpa
► I love baking my family and my friends
► The salad ingredients: lettuce tomato goat cheese

4. Incorrectly identifies abbrv
► Kampung
► Bukit
► Sungai
► SEARCCT
► E.g vs i.e.

5. Leaving out information
► Phone number
► Statistics

6. Culturally inappropriate
► The word ‘mist’ in English signifies something that is elusive, mysterious and
cannot be captured. In German, it means ‘dung’, so you can see why the
Rolls Royce Silver Mist or Irish Mist Liqueur would have serious marketing
problems in Germany. It’s also no wonder that German women wouldn’t
want to use a curler called Mist Stick on their hair!

7. ► An Italian brand of mineral water called Traficante was set up for sure
failure in the Spanish market because of what the translation means: drug
dealer!

8. ► Scandinavian appliances manufacturer Electrolux entered the vacuum
cleaner market in America with the slogan: “Nothing sucks like an
Electrolux.” Enough said.

9. ► Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” campaign confused the
heck out of the world’s Chinese population. The reason: it was translated
as “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.”

10. ► A cold beer on a hot day might be a great idea, but if that beer is Coors
and the country is Spain, then the catchphrase “Turn it Loose” might not
sound like such a great idea – the translation comes out as “Suffer from
Diarrhoea”!

11. Inconsistency
► Worldwide
World-wide
Email
E-mail