Found in Translation

Whetting (and Wetting) Your Appetite
Plenty of companies get international brand names wrong. And when we say
wrong, we mean so wrong that their product name becomes a laughingstock.
This is especially true when it comes to food items.
If you don’t believe us, allow us to offer you a nice glass of Fart, a frosted
mug of Fat, or a refreshing sip of Pee Cola to prove our point. Contrary to
what you might think, these are not beverages invented by five-year-olds.
They’re actual product names for a juice drink in Poland (Fart), a beer in
Sweden (Fat), and a soft drink in Ghana (Pee Cola).
There are certain foreign products that cause even the most stoic among us
to break a smile. Other examples of beverages that just “don’t translate well”
for the English-speaking market include the likes of Erektus (a Czech sports
drink), Dickmilch (a German yogurt drink), Bra (a Swedish yogurt), and
Baldanis (a French liqueur).
Feeling hungry? It isn’t just drinks that are poorly named for global
marketing. Equally cringe-worthy names have been given to plenty of other
items, such as Bimbo (Mexican sandwich bread), JussiPussi (Finnish dinner
rolls), Prick (Brazilian potato chips), and Only Puke (a Chinese snack food). If
these foods are too bland, you can always add flavor to your meal with a
packet of Çemen (a Turkish sauce) or a can of Shitto (a spicy pepper sauce
from Ghana).

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If you still have room for dessert, you can indulge in some chocolate candy,
such as Asse (Japanese), Big Nuts (Belgian), Crap’s (French), Creamy Ball
(Japanese), or Plopp (Czech). And in case you’d like to stick with English-
language products, if you’re an American, you can always open up a can of
spotted dick (a British dessert). Or, if you’re British, you can eat some Fannie
Mae Candies (“fanny” is an innocent enough word in American English, but
for the British, it’s a vulgar word for female genitalia).
Yes, these are all actual product names from different countries around the
world. Granted, many of them changed their names long ago, after realizing
that the names looked funny to foreigners, but others (like Bimbo bread and
spotted dick) are popular enough in their home countries that there is no sign
of them changing anytime soon.
On the other hand, if you have a friend or relative who is fond of
forwarding “interesting” email messages to you, chances are that you’ve heard
about some other food product names that, when translated into other
languages, didn’t do so well. For example, perhaps you’ve heard the one about
Coca-Cola supposedly translating its name into Chinese as “bite the wax
tadpole”? Here’s the truth behind that tale. In 1928, when Coca-Cola first
started selling its products in China, the company had not actually selected the
symbols to represent its name yet. However, shopkeepers began creating signs
to emulate the sounds of the product. Some of these characters resulted in some
nonsensical meanings, and “bite the wax tadpole” was reportedly one of the
many combinations that resulted.
But the characters that Coca-Cola ultimately registered for its Chinese
trademark in 1928 represented a rather pleasant concept, something along the
lines of “allowing the mouth to rejoice.” No matter how good it may taste,
there is certainly much to be said for choosing a product name wisely, so that it
works not only in the local market, but in translation. At the very least, a good
translation can prevent consumers from putting an item back on the shelf
before they even give it a try.