In the past few years, numerous business owners and governments have realized that language translation is challenging. Unfortunately, they have learned it the hard way that translation mistakes can be awfully embarrassing and may cause losses in billions.
Like most translation blunders, recent linguistic missteps are cringe worthy and some are humorous. This article is a reminder that it is important to take required precautions while working in another language. Hopefully, professional help and some extra care will make the coming year, a year of translation success!
An example of a funny translation blunder
(Image Citation: abc-lang.com)
Here is our list of top 3 blunders in the past few years that gathered‘attention.’
The Lumia Incident
According to reports, it was a conscious blunder. Mobile giant Nokia was aware of the fact that Lumia is an obscure Spanish word. Regardless of that, they chose to name its new range of mobile phones ‘Nokia Lumia.’ The cellular company took this decision the moment it realized that most Spanish speakers are not aware of the old meaning of the word. However, the risk didn’t turn out to be safe. When the press discovered the old definition of the word, the buzz spread globally.
The Rihanna Incident
This is an old story, but still deserves a mention. In one of the articles published in a popular Dutch magazine ‘Jackie,’ an article referred to singer Rihanna with a combination of sexist and racist insults. The article, except the offensive words, was written and published in Dutch. Although, the magazine claimed that it did not know the exact meaning of the words because they were written in a different language, the editor had to apologize and resign over this incident.
Finding the Chinese Police Incident
The job of police is to help people. However, this is not the case in China, at least, according to one of the sign boards. In an awfully failed attempt to be helpful, one signboard in China read, “difficult to find police.” Can you guess what they wanted to say? Well, what they meant was, “In case of difficulty, call the police.”
We all make mistakes; however, on a global level, even a minute translation error can greatly affect a brand and its reputation. Consulting a professional translation company could have saved these big brands a lot of money and resources. Now that’s what we call prudent advice!
Have any interesting stories? Share with us in the comments section.