The most famous funny translation fails include a Welsh road sign that displays an out-of-office email, a Chinese restaurant named “Translate Server Error,” and a tourism website that renamed Tulum “Jumpsuit.” Those three really happened. Several other classics, including the Chevy Nova story, turn out to be myths.
We checked 15 of the best-known stories against fact-checkers, news reports and reference works, then sorted them into three piles: verified, unverified and flat-out myth. Some marketing-class favorites did not survive. Explore our translation services for details.
Key Takeaways
- Nine of the 15 famous translation fails on this list are documented, and six are unverified, only partly true or myths.
- The Chevy Nova “no va” story is false: the car sold well in Mexico and Venezuela.
- The funniest verified fails usually come from skipping one step: a human who reads both languages checking the final text.
- Software output and error messages end up in print when nobody on the project can read the result.
What Are the Funniest Translation Fails of All Time?
Here is the full list at a glance, with how much of each story holds up.
| # | Case | What supposedly happened | Verified? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swansea road sign (2008) | Welsh half of the sign is an out-of-office email | Verified |
| 2 | Cardiff pedestrian sign (2006) | English says “look right,” Welsh says “look left” | Verified |
| 3 | “Translate Server Error” restaurant (2008) | A software error message printed as the English name | Verified |
| 4 | VisitMexico website (2020) | Place names translated: Tulum became “Jumpsuit” | Verified (officials alleged sabotage) |
| 5 | Jimmy Carter in Poland (1977) | Interpreter turned polite remarks into awkward ones | Verified |
| 6 | HSBC “Assume Nothing” (2009) | Tagline rendered as “Do Nothing” in some countries | Verified (press reports) |
| 7 | Mitsubishi Pajero | Name is rude slang in Spanish, so it became Montero | Verified |
| 8 | Beijing menus (2008) | Dishes such as “bean curd made by a pockmarked woman” | Verified |
| 9 | The “canals” of Mars (1877) | Italian canali became English “canals” | Verified |
| 10 | Coca-Cola in China (1928) | Name read as “bite the wax tadpole” | Partly true (shop signs, not the company) |
| 11 | KFC in China (1980s) | Slogan became “eat your fingers off” | Unverified |
| 12 | Pepsi “Come Alive!” (1960s) | Slogan promised to raise ancestors from the dead | Unverified |
| 13 | Chevy Nova | Flopped because “no va” means “doesn’t go” | Myth |
| 14 | Electrolux “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux” | A Swedish firm stumbled over English slang | Myth (the pun was deliberate) |
| 15 | JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” (1963) | Kennedy called himself a jelly doughnut | Myth |
Which Funny Translation Fails Really Happened?
1. The road sign that was out of the office
In 2008, council staff in Swansea, Wales, emailed a translator for the Welsh version of “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.” A reply arrived in Welsh, and it went straight onto the sign. It read: “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.” Nobody who could read Welsh saw it before printing.
2. Look right. No, left.
Two years earlier, a sign in Cardiff told pedestrians in English to “look right.” The Welsh line beneath it, edrychwch i’r chwith, means “look left.” Funny, until someone steps off the curb.
3. Welcome to Translate Server Error
A photo that spread online in July 2008 shows a Chinese restaurant sign with the characters 餐厅 (“dining hall”) above the English name “Translate Server Error.” The likely story: translation software failed, and its error message was taken for the answer. Explore our risks of rushed translation for details.
4. Mexico’s tourism site translates the map
In August 2020, the English version of VisitMexico.com began translating place names as if they were ordinary words. According to an Associated Press report, Hidalgo became “Noble,” Guerrero became “Warrior,” Torreón became “Turret,” Aculco became “I Blame,” and the beach town of Tulum became “Jumpsuit.”
The Tourism Department apologized, suggested the errors were an attempt to damage the site’s image, and said it had filed a criminal complaint.
5. Jimmy Carter’s very friendly trip to Poland
President Carter visited Poland in 1977 with interpreter Steven Seymour. As TIME recounts, Carter said he wanted to learn about the Polish people’s desires for the future, and the Polish version suggested that he desired the Poles. A remark about leaving the United States for the trip came out as abandoning it forever.
6. HSBC tells customers to “Do Nothing”
HSBC’s private bank used the tagline “Assume Nothing.” In February 2009, the Financial Times reported (as relayed by WealthBriefing) that the line had been mistranslated as “Do Nothing” in some countries, and that the bank was spending $10 million on a rebrand.
7. The SUV with two names
Mitsubishi named its Pajero after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas cat. In Spanish, though, pajero is a crude insult. In Spain, Latin America and North America the same vehicle is sold as the Montero. Call it a fail avoided. Explore our common translation mistakes to avoid for details.
8. Beijing’s Olympic menu cleanup
Before the 2008 Olympics, Chinese authorities issued recommended English names for more than 2,000 dishes. As Slate explained at the time, word-for-word menus had been offering visitors “bean curd made by a pockmarked woman” (a spicy Sichuan tofu dish named after its legendary cook) and “ants climbing a tree” (minced pork on bean thread noodles).
9. The translation that put canals on Mars
In 1877, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli described lines on Mars as canali, a word that can mean natural channels. English reports called them “canals,” which implies somebody dug them. American astronomer Percival Lowell then wrote three books arguing that Martians had built irrigation works. The Mariner 4 spacecraft settled the matter in 1965: no canals.
Which Famous Translation Fails Are Actually Myths?
10. Coca-Cola and the wax tadpole (partly true)
When Coca-Cola reached China in 1928, shopkeepers made their own signs using any characters that sounded like “ko-ka-ko-la.” Some combinations read as “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse fastened with wax.” The company never used those names, Snopes notes. Its registered version, kěkǒu kělè, means roughly “to allow the mouth to be able to rejoice.”
11. KFC: “eat your fingers off” (unverified)
KFC opened in Beijing in November 1987, and the story goes that “finger lickin’ good” came out as “eat your fingers off.” The tale fills listicles, but we could not find the original ad, a photo or a contemporary news report. Treat it as unconfirmed. Explore our translation errors in global business for details.
12. Pepsi raises the dead (unverified)
Pepsi’s “Come Alive! You’re in the Pepsi Generation” campaign ran from 1963–1967. Legend says the translation promised to bring your ancestors back from the grave. Snopes found that tellers cannot agree on whether this happened in China, Thailand or Germany, and no account names a specific language or shows the ad.
13. The Chevy Nova that “doesn’t go” (myth)
The story: Spanish speakers refused a car whose name sounds like no va, “it doesn’t go.” The facts, according to Snopes: the Nova sold well in Mexico and Venezuela from 1972–1978, and Venezuelan sales beat General Motors’ expectations. Mexico’s state oil company even sold a gasoline called Nova. To a Spanish speaker, nova and no va are no more alike than “notable” and “no table” are to you.
14. “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux” (myth)
This is often told as a Swedish company tripping over American slang. In reality the slogan ran in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and the pun was chosen on purpose. It was never a translation at all.
15. JFK the jelly doughnut (myth)
On June 26, 1963, John F. Kennedy told West Berlin, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” A Berliner is a jelly doughnut in parts of Germany, so the joke says he declared himself a pastry. His German was correct: the article ein is normal when you speak figuratively, and Berliners themselves call the pastry a Pfannkuchen. The doughnut story traces back to a 1983 spy novel, Len Deighton’s Berlin Game.
Why Do Translation Fails Happen?
The verified cases share a few causes: Explore our professional document translation services for details.
- No bilingual review. The Swansea, Cardiff and restaurant signs were approved by people who could not read one of the two languages.
- Word-for-word translation. Dish names and place names carry history and culture, not dictionary meanings.
- Unchecked software output. A tool will happily turn “Guerrero” into “Warrior.”
- Live pressure. An interpreter, like Carter’s in Poland, gets no second draft.
- Names that travel badly. Your brand name may be a word somewhere else.
For more on how brands adapt their message abroad, see our post on translation in global marketing strategies.
What These Stories Mean for Your Own Translations
A mistranslated road sign gets laughs. A mistranslated contract or birth certificate gets rejected, delayed or disputed. The fix is the same in every case above: a qualified person who knows both languages and the subject reads the final text before anyone else sees it. That is the main argument for human translation, especially for official paperwork and marketing copy. Our translation services pair your document with a human translator who works in that language and field, so your message arrives as itself and not as an out-of-office reply.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most famous translation fail?
The Chevy Nova story is probably the most repeated: the car supposedly flopped in Latin America because “no va” means “doesn’t go” in Spanish. It is also false. The Nova sold well in Mexico and Venezuela in the 1970s. Among fails that truly happened, the 2008 Swansea road sign showing a translator’s out-of-office email is one of the best documented.
Is the Chevy Nova translation story true?
No. Snopes rates it false. The Nova sold well in Mexico and Venezuela between 1972 and 1978, and sales in Venezuela exceeded General Motors’ expectations. Spanish speakers do not read the single word “Nova” as the two-word phrase “no va,” and Mexico’s state oil company sold a gasoline called Nova. Explore our accurate business translation services for details.
Did Pepsi really promise to bring ancestors back from the dead?
Nobody has proven it. The story claims that Pepsi’s 1960s “Come Alive!” slogan was mistranslated, but versions disagree on whether it happened in China, Thailand or Germany, and none names the language or shows the ad. Snopes lists the claim as unsubstantiated, and Pepsi has neither confirmed nor denied it.
Why are there so many funny translation fails on signs and menus?
Signs and menus are short, made quickly and often produced by small businesses or busy offices with no bilingual staff. The text gets run through software or sent off by email, and whatever comes back is printed without a second look. If the person approving it cannot read the other language, even an error message can end up in large letters.
How can a business avoid a translation fail?
Use a professional human translator who is a fluent speaker of the target language and knows your subject, and have a second bilingual person review the final layout before it is printed or published. Check brand and product names for unwanted meanings in each market, and never publish software output unread.
Keep Your Message Out of the Blooper Reel
Translation fails are fun to read about and no fun to star in. If you want a human translator to handle your next document, website or campaign, chat with our team for a quote or call 1-800-230-7918. We would be glad to help you say exactly what you mean.
