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"Would you like to ride on your own ass?" |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 30 May 2006 |
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Funny mistranslations.
Thailand: an ad for donkey rides asked "Would you like to ride on your own ass?"
Even big companies make huge mistakes while translating into foreign languages. Check out how Coca-Cola and KFC mistranslated their brand names to Chinese.
- The name Coca-Cola in China
was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, the Coke company did
not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the
phrase means "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax"
depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 Chinese
characters and found a close phonetic equivalent, ko-kou-ko-le, which
can be loosely translated as "happiness in the mouth".
- When translated into Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan
"finger-lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off".
- In a Hong Kong supermarket: "For your convenience, we recommend
courageous, efficient self-service".
- Outside a Hong Kong tailor's shop: "Ladies may have a fit upstairs".
- In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: "Teeth extracted by the
latest Methodists"
- On the box of a clockwork toy made in Hong Kong: "Guaranteed to work
throughout its useful life"
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 31 May 2006 )
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Newsflash |
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The European Parliament awards paid translation traineeships to university graduates.
Paid
traineeships are awarded solely to graduates of universities or
equivalent institutions. Their purpose is to enable trainees to
supplement the knowledge which they acquired during their studies and
to familiarise themselves with the activities of the European Union
and, in particular, the European Parliament.
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