We live in an age when there is a lot of talk about robots equipped with artificial intelligence taking over the jobs now performed by human beings.
在我們生活的時代中，有很多關于人工智能機器人接管當前由人類完成的工作的討論。

Indeed, there have been many huge strides made in machines helping humans with daily tasks. Spell-checking programs help editors avoid typographical mistakes. Autopilot programs help pilots avoid “pilot error”, which can be fatal.
的確，在機器幫助人類完成日常事務方面，已經取得了巨大的進步。拼寫檢查程序能夠幫助編輯避免排版錯誤。自動駕駛程序可以幫助飛行員避免致命的“駕駛錯誤”。

Still, computerized spell checks aren’t always good at detecting the incorrect use of a correctly spelled word. Airlines have had to retrain human pilots who became too dependent on having machines doing the flying — a dependence that can cause disaster.
不過，計算機拼寫檢查并非總能很好地檢測出拼寫正確的單詞的錯誤用法。航空公司不得不重新培訓過于依賴機器飛行的飛行員，此種依賴可能會造成災難。

So, too, it goes with translation and interpretation, those most delicate of language arts.
而口筆譯這門最為精妙的語言藝術也是如此。

It’s easy to make mistakes. When I was in a college summer program in Mexico, we used to laugh at English-speaking students who would use the word embarazada to mean embarrassed. It’s true that they sound alike. But what the students were saying was that they were pregnant.
翻譯是很容易出錯的。我在墨西哥參加大學暑期項目的時候，我們常常嘲笑說英語的學生，他們會用西語embarazada這個詞來表示“尷尬”（embarrassed）。兩者聽起來的確很像。但學生們所說的是他們“懷孕”了。

When my wife and I went to dinner at a nice restaurant in Shanghai, I noticed with some discomfort that “husband” was on the menu. I never learned what exactly that was but, not wishing to tempt fate, I ordered something else.
記得我和妻子去上海一家美食餐廳吃飯時，我不安地發(fā)現“丈夫”出現在菜單上。我不知道那到底是什么，我不想冒不必要的險，于是點了別的東西。

No doubt we soon will move beyond the rudimentary apps and computer programs that help us bumble through communication with speakers of languages we don’t know well. The mistakes created using today’s programs are epic, and the risks are increased exponentially by slang or regional expressions.
不成熟的應用程序和計算機程序幫助我們使用自己不太懂的語言勉強交流。毫無疑問，我們很快就會對這些程序升級。當下的應用程序出現的翻譯錯誤猶如史詩般壯觀，而且俚語和方言表達將會使錯誤風險呈指數倍增。

Marketing is where translation can turn into hilarity or even failure for a business.
在銷售領域，翻譯可以成為笑料，或者甚至導致生意失敗。

One example that has always given me a chuckle is Colgate, the name of a famous toothpaste produced by a US giant consumer products company, Colgate-Palmolive.
一直讓我咯咯笑的例子是著名的高露潔牙膏，它由美國大型消費品公司高露潔棕欖生產。

The toothpaste is also marketed in Latin America, which for the most part raises no eyebrows. But in some parts of South America, especially in Argentina and Uruguay, a nonstandard verb form is used that turns the name of the toothpaste into “Go hang yourself”.
高露潔牙膏也在拉丁美洲市場銷售，這里的絕大部分地區(qū)是不會出現問題。但是在南美洲的一些地區(qū)，尤其是阿根廷和烏拉圭，由于使用不標準的動詞形式，使得牙膏的名字變成了“Go hang yourself（吊死自己）”。

The Coca-Cola Co explains on its website that when the company began selling their flagship soft drink in China in 1927, they found shopkeepers had used a variety of Chinese characters that sounded like the brand — without considering the meaning. One meant “female horse fastened with wax,” and another, “bite the wax tadpole”. A myth grew that the company had used those names, it says.
可口可樂公司在其網站上解釋說，1927年，當公司開始在中國銷售其招牌軟飲時，他們發(fā)現店家們使用了和品牌名發(fā)音相似的各種漢字，并不考慮其含義。一種是“騍馬扣蠟”，另一種是“蝌蚪啃蠟”。據稱，可口可樂公司還曾使用了這些名字。

The company compromised a little on the phonetics and decided on Ke Kou Ke Le, which has the more pleasing meaning of “to permit the mouth to be able to rejoice” in Mandarin.
可口可樂公司在發(fā)音上做了點妥協，決定采用“可口可樂”，這四個字在普通話中表示“讓嘴巴快樂”，含義更美好。

Inc.com contributing editor Geoffrey James compiled a list of some of the epic fails in global branding. Here are a few examples:
因科網站編輯杰弗雷?詹姆斯整理了一份有史以來最失敗的品牌國際化清單。這里有幾個例子：

?Clairol branded its curling iron for hair with the name Mist Stick in German, even though “mist” is German slang for manure.
克雷洛爾在德國用“Mist Stick”來命名電卷發(fā)器，而“mist”在德語俚語中表示肥料。

?Coors beer translated its Turn It Loose slogan into Spanish by using a colloquial term for having diarrhea.
庫爾斯啤酒將其廣告語“Turn It Loose（放松一下）”翻譯為西班牙語，而其使用的一個口語詞匯有腹瀉之意。

?Mercedes-Benz entered the Chinese market using the homonym Bensi, meaning “rush to die”.
梅賽德斯-奔馳使用同音異義詞“Bensi（奔死）”進入中國市場，意思是“奔赴死亡”。

?The slogan for Pepsi Cola, Pepsi Brings You Back to Life, was debuted in China as “Pepsi brings you back from the grave”.
百事可樂的口號“Pepsi Brings You Back to Life”，在中國首次亮相時被理解為“百事可樂把你從墳墓中帶回來”。

?Nike had to recall thousands of shoes because a decoration meant to resemble fire on the back resembled the Arabic word for Allah.
耐克不得不召回成千上萬雙鞋子，因為鞋上一個代表火焰的裝飾同阿拉伯語單詞真主（Allah）相像。

James notes, however, that his list does not include what is often called the most famous translation blunder — that selling the Chevrolet Nova under that name in Spanish-speaking countries led to poor sales. (No va means “won’t go” in Spanish.) That’s because it didn’t happen. No va in Spanish is distinct from Nova, which retains its original Latin meaning of “suddenly bright star” in English and Spanish as one word.
然而，詹姆斯指出，他所列名單不包括通常被認為最著名的翻譯失誤——在西班牙語國家用“錯誤”譯名銷售雪佛蘭新星汽車被認為會導致銷量不佳。（在西班牙語中，No va的意思是“不會走”。）那是因為這個失誤并不存在。西班牙語中No va與Nova有所不同，Nova保留了拉丁語最初的意思，即“突然閃亮的星星”，在英語和西班牙語中是一個詞。

The fact-checking site Snopes says the Nova sold from 1972 to 1978 in Mexico and several other Spanish-speaking countries with no apparent problem.
事實查證網站Snopes表示，從1972年至1978年，Nova在墨西哥和其他一些西班牙語國家的銷售沒有明顯問題。

Also, Mexico’s national oil company, Pemex, also has used the name in marketing gasoline.
此外，墨西哥國家石油公司也在汽油銷售中使用了這個名字。

譯者：李皓青（實習生）
審校：董靜 丹妮
音頻編輯：焦?jié)?br>來源：CHINA DAILY 微信公眾號：

About the author & broadcaster

Matt Prichard is a copy editor and writer who works on the front page team of China Daily. He has lived in China for more than four years, in Shanghai and Beijing. Before that, he had a 30-year career as a reporter and editor in the United States and Latin America. He has an ABJ from the University of Georgia and did postgraduate work at the Universidad Nacional del Sur in Argentina. He speaks Spanish fluently and is still learning Mandarin.

Contact the writer at mattprichard@chinadaily.com.cn