corporations.  It shouldn't be that hard, yet even the big
       multi-nationals run into trouble because of language and
       cultural differences.  For example...
       The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as
       Ke-kou-ke-la.  Unfortunately, the Coke company did not
       discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the
       phrase means "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse
       stuffed with wax" depending on the dialect.  Coke then researched
       40,000 Chinese characters and found a close
       phonetic equivalent, "ko-kou-ko-le," which can be loosely
       translated as "happiness in the mouth."
       In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan "Come alive
       with the Pepsi Generation" came out as "Pepsi will bring your
       ancestors back from the dead."
      Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "finger-lickin'
      good" came out as "eat your fingers off."
      The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem - Feeling Free,"
      got translated in the Japanese market into "When smoking Salem,
      you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty."
      When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South
      America, it was apparently unaware that "no va" means "it
      won't go."  After the company figured out why it wasn't
      selling  any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the
      Caribe.
      Ford had a similar problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The
      company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for
      "tiny male genitals".  Ford pried all the nameplates off and
      substituted Corcel, which means horse.
      When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its
      ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and
      embarrass you."  However, the company mistakenly thought the spanish
      word "embarazar" meant embarrass.  Instead the ads said that "It wont
      leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
      An American t-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the
      spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit.  Instead of the
      desired "I Saw the Pope" in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed "I Saw the
      Potato."
      Chicken-man Frank Perdue's slogan, "It takes a tough man to
      make a tender chicken," got terribly mangled in another Spanish
      translation.  A photo of Perdue with one of his birds appeared on
      billboards all over Mexico with a caption that explained "It takes a hard
      man to make a chicken aroused."
      Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French
      Canada as Gros Jos before finding out that the phrase, in
      slang, means "big breasts."  In this case, however, the name
      problem did not have a noticeable effect on sales.
      Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name
      of a notorious porno mag.
      In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the
      name into Schweppes Toilet Water.
      Japan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it
      entered English-speaking markets and began receiving requests for
      unusual sex tours.  Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon
      Tourist Company changed its name.
      In an effort to boost orange juice sales in predominantly
      continental breakfast eating England, a campaign was
      devised to extoll the drink's eye-opening, pick-me-up
      qualities. Hence the slogan, "Orange juice. It gets your pecker up."