From craig_creado@il.us.swissbank.com Tue Mar 22 07:52:28 1994
To: neil_schreiber@il.us.swissbank.com, sam_baugher@il.us.swissbank.com,
        dennis@cs.wm.edu, sharon@cs.wm.edu, brunstro@cs.wm.edu,
        perrone@cs.wm.edu, rumman@cs.wm.edu, tracey@cs.wm.edu,
        adam@vlsi.cs.caltech.edu, jotten@mrj.com, umeshm@microsoft.com,
        cyrus_pardiwala@notes.pw.COM, craig_creado@il.us.swissbank.com
Subject: something gained in the translation



Begin forwarded message:

>From "American Demographics" magazine:

Here's a look at how shrewd American business people translate their
slogans into foreign languages:

When Braniff translated a slogan touting its upholstery, "Fly in
leather," it came out in Spanish as "Fly naked."

Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was
read as "Suffer from diarrhea."

Chicken magnate Frank Perdue's line, "It takes a tough man to make a
tender chicken," sounds much more interesting in Spanish: "It takes a
sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate."

When Vicks first introduce its cough drops on the german market, they
were chagrined to learn that the german pronunciation of "v" is f -
which in german is the gutteral equivalent of "sexual penetration."

Not to be outdone, Puffs tissues tried later to introduce its product,
only to learn that "Puff" in german is a colloquial term for a whorehouse.
The English weren't too fond of the name either, as it's a highly
derogatory term for a non-heterosexual.

The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. "No va"
means "it doesn't go" in Spanish.

When Gerber first started selling baby food in africa, they used the same
packaging as here in the USA - with the cute baby on the label.  Later
they found out that in Africa that companies routinely put pictures on
the label of what's inside since more people can't read.

When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they
translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally.
The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from
the Grave."

When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something
that when pronounced sounded like "Coca-Cola."  The only problem was that
the characters used meant "Bite the wax tadpole."  They later changed to
a set of characters that mean "Happiness in the mouth."

A hair products company, Clairol, introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling
iron,into Germany to find out that mist is slang for manure.  Not too
many people had use for the manure stick.

---------------------------------------------------------------

|
| Here are some signs and notices written in English that were discovered
| throughout the world.
|
|   In a Tokyo Hotel:
|           Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not
|           a person to do such a 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 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 a hotel in Athens:
|           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 Russian Orthodox monastery:
|           You are welcome to visit the cemetary 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 corriders during 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 tailer shop:
|           Ladies may have a fit upstairs.
|
|   In a Bangkok dry cleaners:
|           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 150,000 Soviet
|           Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over
|           the past two years.
|
|   A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:
|           It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site
|           that people of different sex, for instance, men and women,
|           live together in one tent unless they are married with each
|           other for that purpose.
|
|   In a Zurich hotel:
|           Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the
|           opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the
|           lobby be used for this purpose.
|
|   In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist:
|           Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.
|
|   In a Rome laundry:
|           Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon
|           having a good time.
|
|  In a Czechoslovakin tourist agency:
|           Take one of our horse-driven city tours - we guarantee no
|           miscarriages.
|
|   Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand:
|           Would you like to ride on your own ass?
|
|   In a Swiss mountain inn:
|           Special today -- no ice cream.
|
|   In a Bangkok temple:
|           It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed
|           as a man.
|
|   In a Tokyo bar:
|           Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts.
|
|   In a Copenhagen airline ticket office:
|           We take your bags and send them in all directions.
|
|   On the door of a Moscow hotel room:
|           If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome
|          to it.
|
|   In a Norwegian cocktail lounge:
|           Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.
|
|   In a Budapest zoo:
|           Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable
|           food, give it to the guard on duty.
|
|   In the office of a Roman doctor:
|           Specialist in women and other diseases.
|
|   In an Acapulco hotel:
|           The manager has personally passed all the water served
|           here.
|
|   In a Tokyo shop:
|           Our nylons cost more than common, but you'll find they are
|           best in the long run.
|
|   From a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner:
|           Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in your
|           room, please control yourself.
|
|   From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo:
|           When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn.
|           Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles
|           your passage then tootle him with vigor.
|
|   Two signs from a Mojorcan shop entrance:
|           - English well speaking
|           - Here speeching American.
|
|