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Lost In Translation: Cross-cultural Marketing Mess Ups
By Cynthia Fedor | November 24, 2008
Oh man, I recently came across a funny blog post on Gizmodo. It commented on a road sign from Swansea, 
Wales, where all official road signs feature both the English-language and Welsh-language version of the message. Apparently, the sign maker printed the Welsh-language translator’s auto-reply email message on the sign: “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.” Oops!
Ken Magill of Direct Magazine blames the translator for the mess up:
“While it’s certainly tempting to blame the government sign maker for this snafu, I blame the Welsh translator. After all, if the sign maker could understand the auto-reply, he would have no need for a translator, would he.”
When I worked for a well-known Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer, I saw so many failed attempts to translate printed user manuals, brochures and POP displays from Japanese to English. That resulted in piles of unusable inventory, a waste of money and a good laugh.
Cited in a BBC article regarding the translated sign mishap, Dylan Lorwerth of Golwg Magazine offers this advice:
“It’s good to see people trying to translate but they should really ask for expert help… Ideally, they [the marketing messages] should be written separately in both languages.”
Really, take his advice if you’re marketing your products and services to multiple cultures and/or countries. If you don’t, you might end up on sites that make fun of your failed attempts.