Marketing is becoming increasingly competitive as companies scramble to get their message across to potential customers overseas. Sometimes, businesses fail to use the right marketing translation services to deliver a culturally aware translation, resulting in anything from confusion to ridicule, depending on the mistake. The potential for errors in marketing translation appears greater than with many other types of translation. This is likely because slogans and branding used in English marketing are often highly idiomatic. Translating them into another language involves more than direct translation, it also requires strong cultural understanding and contextual knowledge.
Over the years, there have been numerous translation blunders that are probably remembered more clearly by the companies that made them than by the audiences who saw them. In some cases, they are simply amusing. A well known example involved a Pepsi advertisement. In English it read, ‘Pepsi brings you back to life’, but when translated into Mandarin it reportedly became ‘Pepsi brings you back from the grave’.
Another slogan appeared on a t-shirt in the United States, created to promote a t-shirt design company and marketed to the large Spanish speaking community during the Pope’s visit. The error involved the gender of the Spanish word ‘papa’. The slogan was intended to say ‘I saw the pope’ (el papa), but instead read ‘I saw the potato’ (la papa).
These companies may be remembered more readily than those that produce accurate and culturally appropriate translations, but whether that attention translates into commercial success is another question. Similar issues occur when marketing materials created in other languages are translated into English using services that have not fully considered cultural context. One often cited example involved the Swedish company IKEA, which sought to highlight the mobility of a wheeled desk. The product name chosen caused unintended humour in English speaking markets, generating laughs but potentially limiting its appeal.
The key to effective marketing when expanding into overseas markets is to take translation seriously. Working with professional translators who hold recognised individual certification can help ensure translations are accurate, culturally appropriate, and aligned with the intended message.
