We’ve all read the stories of translations gone badly, especially when it come to marketing. Companies give names to products that work well in the source language but can cause problems in a target language. Copywriters under tight deadlines don’t always have time to ponder what their headlines may sound like in another language or if the headlines are applicable in another culture. This especially applies if it wasn’t part of the original scope of work. Can we expect the copywriters to think far enough ahead that the tagline or headline for an ad might catch on and spread worldwide? My opinion is that’s what the translators and the localization experts are for. We’re the ones who are paid to know and when we don’t know, do our research.

One famous example of a product name supposedly gone awry: the Chevy Nova. The story goes that it didn’t sell well in Spanish-speaking countries. My first thought when I heard this in my marketing class in college was “How did the translators, the proofreaders, the writers not do their research?” Well, it appears neither had my marketing professor or so many others who have retold that story. It’s fake according to more than one resource.

Here’s just one resource: http://www.duetsblog.com/2012/07/articles/branding/that-story-about-the-chevy-nova-its-a-no-go/

Blackberry is example of a company who tried to do their research, not only from a linguistic standpoint but also from a cultural point of view. Take a look at their global site and shift between the countries and languages: http://global.blackberry.com/sites.html. When the images, colors, or product names wouldn’t work in a certain cultural setting, they changed them. Their translations may not always be successful, but they put time and thought into localizing their site.

Do you have examples of translation gone right? It’s just as important to see those examples as it is to know what went wrong. How much research do you do when you take on a new project?