January 2001 (Newstream) -- Recently Pepsi's slogan, "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" was translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese. Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada as "Gros Jos" before finding out that the phrase, in slang, means "big breasts!"
These translation mistakes are just a few of the "oops" detailed in Lingo Systems' (www.lingosys.com) "The Guide to Translation and Localization." According to John Watkins, editor of the guide and COO of Lingo Systems, while these are funny stories, "Failing to gain market share because your product, or its documentation, "feels" foreign is really not a laughing matter." The guide, at less than a hundred pages, is remarkably comprehensive in the key factors influencing globalization and localization.
Multinational Companies Need a Global Perspective
Language and corporate culture issues similarly challenge multinational companies facing mergers and acquisitions. According to Ernie Turner, President of LIM (www.LIMltd.com) (Leadership in International Management), "The top reason mergers fail is the focus on due diligence of the legal and financial factors, neglecting the human aspects of the merger." Mr. Turner suggested that the greatest challenges facing
multinational companies are, "the need for leaders possessing the skills, behaviors, and mindsets required of those who are to lead their company in the changing global realities, and the need to develop a global cadre of leaders who are capable of instilling the organizational culture as they work across national borders."
Workshops
Three highly functional daylong workshops geared for multinational companies will be held in Seattle on February 27th, New York on March 2nd, and Miami on March 9th.