Lost in Translation

The English language can be tricky stuff, not just for non-native speakers. Here's a sampling that provides insight into why international relations are sometimes rocky. Tourists beware.

The English phrase, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” was translated into Russian and then back into English as, “The wine is good but the meat is rotten.”

For its U.S. ad campaign, Sweden’s Electrolux used: “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”

In China, Coca-Cola was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la, which turns out to mean “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax,” depending on the dialect.

In Taiwan, Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” came out as, “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.”

In China, KFC’s “finger-lickin’ good” came out as “eat your fingers off.”

“Salem—Feeling Free” became, “When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty” in Japan.

Chevy Nova sales were soft in South America until marketers realized “no va” means, “it won’t go.”

Brazilian slang for Pinto means “tiny male genitals,” so Ford pried all the nameplates off their cars and substituted Corcel, which means horse.

Parker Pens’ ballpoint ad, “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you,” mistranslated “embarrass” in Mexico to come out, “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

A Miami T-shirt maker’s Spanish version of “I Saw the Pope” proclaimed, “I Saw the Potato.”

Frank Perdue’s slogan, “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken,” ran with his photo on Mexican billboards: “It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused.”

In a Tokyo Hotel: “Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to do such thing is please not to read notis.”

In a Bucharest hotel lobby: “The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.”

In a Leipzig elevator: “Do not enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up.”

In a Belgrade hotel elevator: “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.”

In a Paris hotel elevator: “Please leave your values at the front desk.”

In an Athens hotel: “Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 a.m. daily.”

In a Yugoslavian hotel: “The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.”

In a Japanese hotel: “You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.”

In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery: “You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.”

In an Austrian hotel catering to skiers: “Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.”

On the menu of a Swiss restaurant: “Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.”

On the menu of a Polish hotel: “Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.”

Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop: “Ladies may have a fit upstairs.”

In a Bangkok dry cleaner: “Drop your trousers here for best results.”

Outside a Paris dress shop: “Dresses for street walking.”

In a Rhodes tailor shop: “Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation.”

From the Soviet Weekly: There will be a Moscow Exhibition of Arts by 15,000 Soviet Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over the past two years.”