Once I bought some gadget at the hardware store and when I got it home, I
read that it was "fabriqe au dinde" (made in Turkey) meaning in French the
turkey bird not the Turkey country (Turkei).

I read once the possibly apocryphal story that when Coca Cola first tried
to introduce their drink into China, it was back in the 1980s when coke was
using the "Coke Adds Life" slogan. They were surprised when sales boomed
from day one, then discovered that the translation was interpreted as
meaning "Coke brings your ancestors back to life." The corrected the
translation to find that their new translation was interpreted as "bite the
wax tadpole."

Sales of Chevrolet's Camaro didn't fare so well in Spanish-speaking
countries where it was interpreted to mean "shrimp" and I am sure that
everyone recalls hearing about their Nova car as being interpreted as "No
go."

Jim

On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 6:40 PM, Eric Caron <ecaron1@comcast.net> wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> One of my Christmas presents  this year was a battery booster found from a
> link provided on this list. I love languages and am currently doing a poor
> job learning French so please don’t take the following comments in any way
> but respectful.
>
> My product was made in China.  I asked my girlfriend to read the
> instructions so i could record them for future reference.  this turned out
> to be impossible   because my girlfriend could not stop laughing at the
> unusual language created through translation.
>
> My favorite line was about what to do after connecting the battery
> booster.  It said something like “tighten Key and launch  vehicle.”
> Launching a vanagon  is truly something I would like to see!
>
> I create my own amusing language with dictation on my computer and
> unfortunate spell checker choices. some of which are probably in this
> message!
>
> Does anyone have any translation quotes they would like to share?
> Once my vanagon touches down I’ll loosen the key and come in to check them
> out.
>
> Eric Caron
> 85 GL Auto Westfalia
> Currently circling the planet 2 miles up
>