Comments about ‘International Business: In global airline marketing, idioms must be handled carefully’

I must mention the strangest gaffe I heard over the news years ago that some firms in Japan had some translation blunders using English connotation. One classic example of the blunder would be a packaging product, fresh breath spray, labeled "Wet Lips."

Years ago I heard about a restaurant in Japan that had a sign claiming that all the water they served had been "passed by the chef". The image that brings to the minds of English-speakers is probably not what was intended. All this makes me wonder what some of the foreign phrases we see written REALLY mean!

Chevrolet cars were selling very well in Brazil, except for the Nova. Portuguese translation for No Va is "no go".

The Coca Cola company tried to market their products using a phontic equivalent. Unfortunately it came out meaning "bite the wax turtle".