And What Does It Mean in Farsi?

By Desa Philadelphia

You've probably heard the one about the Chevy Nova: General Motors' effort to market the car in Spanish-speaking countries--where no va means "doesn't go"--is a legendary blunder. And cross-language advertising is a bigger challenge than ever, as the first American company that tries to use the word pet in a French ad will find out. Intel is known for its cutting-edge technology, but the original translation of its Pentium IV chip was too edgy for Koreans; it means "chip of death." Kentucky Fried Chicken found good news and bad news when it went global with its "finger-lickin' good" slogan. In Chinese, it came out as "eat your fingers off" and was not appetizing. But in Iran, as luck would have it, "so good you'll eat your fingers" is a traditional Farsi compliment.

Translation screw-ups by companies like Perdue (slogan "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken" read "It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused" in Mexico), Puffs ("whorehouse" in German) and Gerber ("to throw up" in French slang) might seem merely funny. But misunderstandings can hit the bottom line. In 1997--at risk of a worldwide boycott by Muslims--Nike recalled 38,000 pairs of its "Bakin" basketball shoes because the logo resembled the word Allah in Arabic. And it's not just English speakers who miscommunicate. If Electrolux made shoddy vacuum cleaners, it wouldn't be one of the world's most successful home-appliance makers. But the Swedish company first entered the English-speaking market with this boast: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."

--By Desa Philadelphia