Localisation Faux Pas


*Localisation Faux Pas* (Archive) August 2004**
The car manufacturer, Honda, had to hastily rename its ‘Fitta’ model for the Scandinavian market in 2001 after discovering that Fitta is a colloquial term for a woman’s private parts in no less than three Nordic languages. The model was renamed the ‘Honda Jazz’. Rival company, Ford also thought the better of using the brand name Pinto for one of its models in Brazil when it transpired that this is Brazilian slang for “small male genitals”. This was not quite the right image for a macho South American driver! (Adapted from: The Scottish Institute of Translation and Interpreting, Translation Howlers http://www.itiscotland.org.uk/howlers.htm.)