Dear all: Thank you for your interesting conversation. I would like to add a note as well. As far as I know, an article named "If the world were 100 people" has been written in at least two textbooks. You can check the content here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6eTr4ldDYg. It says that only 7 people out of 100 (7% of total population) have access to the internet. By December 31, 2011, 32.7% of world population has access to the internet, according to the following. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. Sincerely, Mina Lee On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 10:03 AM, Ciravegna, Luciano < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Dear all > > a small note - the Mitsubishi Pajero sells in Spanish speaking countries > as "Montero", due to the fact that the word "paja" is commonly used to mean > the act of male masturbation, and hence "pajero" could be interpreted as a > person who engages in such practice rather often. In this case someone at > Mitsubishi must have noticed. > > Yours, > > Dr Luciano Ciravegna > PhD The London School of Economics > www.lucianociravegna.com > ------------------------------ > *From:* Romie Littrell [[log in to unmask]] > *Sent:* 16 June 2012 01:51 > > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* Re: [AIB-L] FW: [AIB-L] Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet > Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates > as "doesn't go" in Spanish > > Tunga is correct. The Ford Pinto was never sold in Brasil, even under > another model name. Marcelo de Castro Bastos informs (and confirmed > elsewhere): The Ford Corcel was a totally unrelated product, the result of > a joint project by the Brazilian subsidiary of Willys Overland and French > automaker Renault (Willys used to make Renault cars, like the Dauphine and > Gordini, under license in Brazil.) When Ford acquired Willys's Brazilian > operation, they inherited the almost-finished project and decided to launch > it under their own brand. They MAY have considered to use the "Pinto" brand > on it, but saner heads prevailed and decided on the "Corcel" name in order > to keep to the "horse" theme Ford seemed to like at the time. The "Pinto" > name was never used in Brazil. > > This site has a random collection of communication on these topics: > http://www.i18nguy.com/translations.html > > Romie Frederick Littrell, BA, MBA, PhD, FIAIR > Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand > IV. 1st stanza, War is Kind and Other Lines, Stephen Crane, 1899 > A little ink more or less! > It surely can't matter? > Even the sky and the opulent sea, > The plains and the hills, aloof, > Hear the uproar of all these books. > But it is only a little ink more or less. > > --- On *Sat, 16/6/12, Kiyak, Tunga <[log in to unmask]>* wrote: > > > From: Kiyak, Tunga <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: [AIB-L] FW: [AIB-L] Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet > Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates > as "doesn't go" in Spanish > To: [log in to unmask] > Received: Saturday, 16 June, 2012, 10:32 AM > > That’s most likely an urban legend as well. The claim is that Ford > Pinto was renamed and sold as Ford Corcel after the blunder was noticed. > The problem with that is that Corcel was actually introduced in Brazil in > 1968 (and developed in Brazil by a company that was later acquired by > Ford). That’s 2 years BEFORE Ford Pinto was ever marketed (it was > introduced in the US in 1970). > > > > Doing some quick Googling, there is some brief research about the Ford > Pinto claim at http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=619 and it reaches > the same conclusion… > > > > Tunga > > > > > > *From:* Ghoshal, Animesh [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > *Sent:* Friday, June 15, 2012 18:10 > *To:* Kiyak, Tunga; [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* RE: [AIB-L] FW: [AIB-L] Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet > Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates > as "doesn't go" in Spanish > > > > Thank you, Romie and Tunga, for alerting us to the possibility that some > of the “facts” used textbook discussions of the cultural aspects of > international business are not quite factual. > > > > I wonder if anyone has investigated the claim that the Ford Pinto had to > be renamed in Brazil after Ford realized that in Portuguese slang pinto is > a small male appendage. Is this also an urban legend? > > > > Animesh Ghoshal > > > > *From:* Kiyak, Tunga [mailto:[log in to unmask]]<http://UrlBlockedError.aspx> > *Sent:* Friday, June 15, 2012 4:08 PM > *To:* [log in to unmask] <http://UrlBlockedError.aspx> > *Subject:* Re: [AIB-L] FW: [AIB-L] Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet > Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates > as "doesn't go" in Spanish > > > > I number of us had engaged in a similar discussion back in May 2002 on > Global Interact Network (GINLIST – a now defunct discussion list). There > were several translation examples that we discussed as urban legends; the > Chevy Nova example, the Coca-Cola being translated into Chinese as "bite > the wax tadpole", and Pepsi’s campaign in Taiwan being translated as "Pepsi > will bring your ancestors back from the dead" as well as others. > > > > A few of us tried to track the citations in the textbooks to their > original sources and quickly went nowhere. At the end, we found several > books that simply cited each other or mentioning these cases as anecdotes > without any credible references. The earliest mention of the Chevy Nova > ‘blunder’ we could find was a WSJ article from January 13, 1977 written by > a staff reporter discussing the business of technical translation. The > conclusion of the discussion was that these are all urban legends that have > been victims of ‘consensual validation’. Once a first few cites came up, > lazy writers who only do cursory research use those citations as validation > of the statement as a fact and publish them. Additional such publications > only strengthen the false validation process. > > > > What’s so surprising is that the Snopes article was already up online in > 2002, so the case has been researched and classified as urban legend for at > least a decade. Yet it continues to be mentioned frequently as a brand > blunder. > > > > Tunga > > -- > > Tunga Kiyak, Ph.D. > > Managing Director > > Academy of International Business (AIB) > > > > *From:* Blanco, R Ivan [mailto:[log in to unmask]]<http://UrlBlockedError.aspx> > *Sent:* Friday, June 15, 2012 15:47 > *To:* [log in to unmask] <http://UrlBlockedError.aspx> > *Subject:* [AIB-L] FW: [AIB-L] Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet > Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates > as "doesn't go" in Spanish > > > > Romie, > > > > Finally someone writes about this myth! I have been saying the same for a > long time to my students in International Business and Cross-Cultural > Management because all textbooks use that as an example of blunders in > language, and the Nova thing became a classic which no one had questioned > before. I lived in Venezuela during the introduction of the Chevy Nova and > it was a very well accepted car in that market as mentioned in your e-mail. > I have said to my students and to anyone else willing to listen that in > Spanish speaking countries “nova” will be associated more with the word > “nuevo” (which means new), because the Latin root of “Nuevo” is pretty > close to “Nova.” > > > > Thanks for sharing! > > > > Ivan Blanco > > > > > > > > *From:* Romie Littrell [mailto:[log in to unmask]]<http://UrlBlockedError.aspx> > *Sent:* Thursday, June 14, 2012 3:35 PM > *To:* [log in to unmask] <http://UrlBlockedError.aspx> > *Subject:* [AIB-L] Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold > poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as > "doesn't go" in Spanish > > > > *A False Claim:* The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking > countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. > > Summarised from: www.snopes.com, Urban Legends Reference Pages © > 1995-2012 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson. > > I’m still seeing publications and comments with the incorrect and > misleading legend of “The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking > countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. I become > increasingly concerned about the diligence and responsibility of authors of > textbooks and articles. As snopes.com points out, the ‘Chevy Nova legend > lives on in countless marketing textbooks, is repeated in numerous business > seminars, and is a staple of newspaper and magazine columnists who need a > pithy example of human folly. Perhaps someday this apocryphal tale will > become what it should be: an illustration of how easily even "experts" can > sometimes fall victim to the very same dangers they warn us about.’ > > Part of the fiction is that GM executives were baffled until someone > finally pointed out to them that "nova" translates as "doesn't go" in > Spanish. The embarrassed automobile giant changed the model name to the > Caribe, and sales of the car took off. Actually Caribe is a Volkwagen > model, not a Chevy. The truth is that the Chevrolet Nova's name didn't > significantly affect its sales: it sold well in both its major > Spanish-language markets, Mexico and Venezuela. (Its Venezuelan sales > figures actually surpassed GM's expectations.) > > From snopes.com: The original Chevrolet Nova (initially the Chevy II) hit > the U.S. market in 1962. (This car should not be confused with the smaller, > front wheel drive vehicle which was produced in 1985 as a joint venture > between General Motors and Toyota and also assigned the Nova name.) Between > 1972 and 1978 the Chevrolet Nova was also sold in Mexico and several other > Spanish-speaking countries, primarily Venezuela. Shortly afterwards the > great "Nova" legend arose, a legend which a little linguistic analysis > shows it to be improbable: > > First of all, the phrase "no va" (literally "doesn't go") and the word > "nova" are distinct entities with different pronunciations in Spanish: the > former is two words and is pronounced with the accent on the second word; > the latter is one word with the accent on the first syllable. Assuming that > Spanish speakers would naturally see the word "nova" as equivalent to the > phrase "no va" and think "Hey, this car doesn't go!" is akin to assuming > that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name * > Notable* because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn't include a table. > > Although "no va" can be literally translated as "no go," it would be a > curious locution for a speaker of Spanish to use in reference to a car. > Just as an English speaker would describe a broken-down car by saying that > it "doesn't run" rather than it "doesn't go," so a Spanish speaker would > refer to a malfunctioning automobile by saying "no marcha" or "no funciona" > or "no camina" rather than "no va." > > Pemex (the Mexican government-owned oil monopoly) sold (and still sells) > gasoline in Mexico under the name "Nova." If Mexicans were going to > associate anything with the Chevrolet Nova based on its name, it would > probably be this gasoline. In any case, if Mexicans had no compunctions > about filling the tanks of their cars with a type of gasoline whose name > advertised that it "didn't go," why would they reject a similarly-named > automobile? > > This legend assumes that a handful of General Motors executives launched a > car into a foreign market and remained in blissful ignorance about a > possible adverse translation of its name. Even if nobody in Detroit knew > enough rudimentary Spanish to notice the coincidence, the Nova could not > have been brought to market in Mexico and/or South America without the > involvement of numerous Spanish speakers engaged to translate user manuals, > prepare advertising and promotional materials, communicate with the network > of Chevrolet dealers in the target countries, etc. In fact, GM was aware of > the translation and opted to retain the model name "Nova" in > Spanish-speaking markets anyway, because they (correctly) felt the matter > to be unimportant. > * > Additional information from snopes.com: > *http://www.novaresource.org/history.htm > Debunking several urban legends: Ricks, David A. *Blunders in > International Business<http://www.snopes.com/sources/business/blunders.htm> > *. Cambridge, U.S.A.: Blackwell, 1993. ISBN 1-55786-414-4 (p. 35). > > Romie Frederick Littrell, BA, MBA, PhD, FIAIR > Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand > IV. 1st stanza, War is Kind and Other Lines, Stephen Crane, 1899 > A little ink more or less! > It surely can't matter? > Even the sky and the opulent sea, > The plains and the hills, aloof, > Hear the uproar of all these books. > But it is only a little ink more or less. > > ____ > AIB-L is brought to you by the Academy of International Business. > For information: http://aib.msu.edu/community/aib-l.asp > To post message: [log in to unmask] <http://UrlBlockedError.aspx> > For assistance: [log in to unmask] <http://UrlBlockedError.aspx> > AIB-L is a moderated list. > > ____ > AIB-L is brought to you by the Academy of International Business. > For information: http://aib.msu.edu/community/aib-l.asp > To post message: [log in to unmask] > For assistance: [log in to unmask] > AIB-L is a moderated list. > ____ > AIB-L is brought to you by the Academy of International Business. > For information: http://aib.msu.edu/community/aib-l.asp > To post message: [log in to unmask] > For assistance: [log in to unmask] > AIB-L is a moderated list. > ____ AIB-L is brought to you by the Academy of International Business. 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