When cultural differences lead to awkwardly hilarious mishaps

Cultural diversity makes our world a fascinating place. Exploring and learning about these differences enriches our lives.

Sometimes though, communications get lost in translation and can lead to embarrassing and funny outcomes.

Germany

When Vicks introduced its product in Germany, the marketing team was surprised to learn that the German pronunciation of ‘Vicks’ was the same as the German word ‘ficks’, which means, well, what you think it means.

Adverts offering ‘ficks’ to ease your sore throat and cough were not well received and they had to change their product name to ‘Wick’. 

Mexico

The brand Parker Pens' slogan is ‘Parker Pens won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you’. They marketed their product in Mexico and translated their slogan to ‘No te embarazará chorreándose en tu bolsillo’. 

Unfortunately ‘Embarazá’ doesn't quite mean what they thought it did, so the slogan translated to ‘Parker Pens won’t leak in your pocket and impregnate you.’

Argentina

Learning to tango in Buenos Aires? Dancers beware! Argentinian culture prescribes a list of rules as part of ballroom tango etiquette. The ‘rules’ are in place mostly to avoid unfortunate accidents on the dance floor, but are also a set of conventions that have been passed down through generations of dancers.

A ‘tanda’ is a set of (usually 3) songs and etiquette states that you may dance one, maybe two ‘tandas’ with a man.

Any more than that and you are telling the man you want to get down and dirty off the dance floor too! He will definitely be waiting for you after the night to go for ‘un cafecito’. But drinking coffee all night long will be the last thing he'd expect...

France

We all love zee French accent. And stereotype or not, we imagine the French to be amazing lovers and risqué in bed. But when I heard my friend declaring “I need a ‘cock’” one day in the office, I was taken aback.  

However, thankfully before any man rushed to her rescue, it soon became obvious what she meant when she came back with a Coca Cola in hand.

South Africa

C.U.M Books. Need I say more?

The acronym stands for ‘Christelike Uitgewers Maatskappy’, which means Christian Publishing Company in Afrikaans; a nationwide bookstore that sells Christian-related products. 

Okay, sure. I should get my mind out of the gutter, and yes, the pronunciation isn’t the same. But... Really?

Wales

The Welsh word for ice is ‘rhew’, which sounds similar to ‘rhyw’ – the Welsh word for sex.

So order wisely.

US and Canada

Although uncommonly called so, a ‘rubber’ in North America can be used in place of ‘condom’. Pencil users take note! This misunderstanding might not be so easily erased from your mind.

Japan

Japan wins the prize for the worst sex-related cultural blunders.

When teaching primary school kids about Valentine’s Day and the English terms that go with, in every class, the word ‘arrow’ instigated snickers and giggles. I finally had to ask why.

As it turns out, they use the word ‘ero’ when speaking about anything to do with erotica.

Japan is famous for using English words incorrectly and superfluously. The principal of a school I taught at once arrived at an after-work party with a t-shirt branding the words ‘eat me out’.

She asked me what it meant and I really couldn’t bring myself to explain it to her. Another t-shirt shows a recently hatched chick with the words ‘I’ve just been laid’.

In the '90s, Panasonic decided to brand their new PCs using a cute and friendly popular icon. They chose Woody Woodpecker. They named their new PC ‘the Woody’ and since it was a touch screen, they're marketing campaign proudly branded 'Touch Woody'.

When an American employee notified the marketing team of the sexual connotation, they made a last minute change to ‘Woody Touch Screen’ but maintained the name of their automated online support system of the ‘Internet Pecker’.

Politeness is the essence of Japanese culture and it translates heavily into their lexicon. The phrase ‘iite ii desu ka’ in Japanese means ‘can I go?’ in its literal sense, but during sex, means ‘can I climax?’

The phrase sounds very much like another Japanese sentence ‘itai desu ka’, which means ‘does it hurt?’

The back and forth dialogue leaves much to be imagined...

Do you have any funny stories that sprung from cultural misunderstandings? Send them to us!