The POWER of translation

Hi people~ I found some really funny translations that was made by whoever translated it~

Japanese:

1. The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem - Feeling Free," got translated in the Japanese market into "When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty".

2. A warning to motorists in Tokyo: "When a passenger of the foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet at him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage, then tootle him with vigor.".

3. In a Tokyo bar: Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts.

4. In a Tokyo hotel: Is forbitten to steal hotel toweles please. If you are not person to do such thing is please not to read this notice.

5. In a Japanese hotel room: Please to bathe inside the tub.

6. In a Japanese hotel: You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.

7. Diversion sign in Kyushi, Japan: Stop - Drive Sideways.

8. English text on products made in Japan solely for Japanese consumers:
Message printed on an eraser: "Mr. Friendly Quality Eraser. Mr. Friendly Arrived!! He always stay near you, and steals in your mind to lead you to a good situation.". On the bottom of the eraser is a further message: "We are ecologically minded. This package will self-destruct in Mother Earth.".

9. On Coke cans: "I FEEL COKE & SOUND SPECIAL".

10. Text on a shopping bag picturing dancing elephants: "ELEPHANT FAMILY ARE HAPPY WITH US. THEIR HUMMING MAKES US FEEL HAPPY."

11. Text on a shopping bag showing yachts on a blue sea: "SWITZERLAND: SEASIDE CITY".

12. A range of products by a company called Cream Soda used to have the slogan: "Too fast to live, too young to happy".


Chinese

13. 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".

14. When translated into Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off".

15. In a Hong Kong supermarket: "For your convenience, we recommend courageous, efficient self-service".

16. Outside a Hong Kong tailor's shop: "Ladies may have a fit upstairs".

17. In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: "Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists".

18. On the box of a clockwork toy made in Hong Kong: "Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life".

19. Taiwan: the translation of the Pepsi slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" came out as "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead".

Thai:

20. An ad for donkey rides asked "Would you like to ride on your own ass?".

21. In a Bangkok dry-cleaners: Drop your trousers here for best results.

22. In a Bangkok temple: It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.*


Spanish - New~

23. When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it won't go". After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.

24. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you". However, the company's mistakenly thought the Spanish word "embarazar" meant embarrass. Instead the ads said that "It wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant".

25. An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired "I Saw the Pope" in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed "I Saw the Potato".

26. Chicken-man Frank Perdue's slogan, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken", got terribly mangled in another Spanish translation. A photo of Perdue with one of his birds appeared on billboards all over Mexico with a caption that explained "It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused".

27. In an Acapulco hotel a sign read "The manager has personally passed all the water served here".
The Mitsubishi four wheel drive marketed in Australia as the "Pajero" was the cause of great emabarassmentt in Spain where "Pajero" means "masturbater".

Russian - New~

28. On the door of a Moscow hotel room: If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it.

29. In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery: You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists and writers are buried daily except Thursday.

30. A translated sentence from a Russian chess book: A lot of water has been passed under the bridge since this variation has been played.

Enjoy~

Tell People Which Sentence(s) is/are your favorite and which made you laugh! Stir up the craziness~


I did not compile it~ 0johaven did

I LOVE this kind of things. Thank you! (And thanks to 0johaven too!)

In a Japanese hotel: You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.

Poor, poor chambermaids! XD

Text on a shopping bag showing yachts on a blue sea: "SWITZERLAND: SEASIDE CITY".

XD It reminds me of something... When I was in Switzerland with my best friend, we went to an asian restaurant, and on the menu was something translated as "Tentacule Moustache" (Tentacle Moustache in english, not really different). It was weird, especially because there wasn't any squid or anything like that in the dish. xD

I will update the list with more translations if you like them~ XD

Please!

Yea! Poor chambermaids! Imagine all the guests trying to take advantage of them!

"Tentacule Moustache" --> what's the moustache? Tentacles should be octopus or squid... moustache will be... the black ink? Hahahah

I thought no. 2 was funny~ the "art" of pressing horns XD

no. 7 is kinda fun too~ how do you drive sideways XD

I've also updated the list!

ROLFMAO! Literally, really. XD Those are all crazy!! How did you get it?! XDD

Thank you for sharing anyway!!

I stumbled across the list compiled by the person I mentioned in the parent post and thought of sharing them with all of you~! In fact, I really came across them by chance when I was researching on some school work (Yea~ I was trying SOOO HARD to control my laugher)~ XD

I reallly like 19 and 29~ So surreal yet hilarious! Pepsi~ the miracle drink! Wahahhaaha

Hahahahahah~ The Engrish website is so cool~!
Thanks for Sharing Frisk~

LOL~ Hilarious!
This is an interesting fact for me since I'm learning English.... Actually this can be a great topic for research or thesis... XD

Hahaha~ actually I wrote two papers on this topic for my translation modules too~ It's hilarious and interesting (and entertaining)!