2006 February - Latin-Know: The Latino Marketing Report

Sharkbait: McDonalds Bizarre Bilingual Viral Game

28

February

Not much to say here, other than that the new McDonalds’ online viral game is (aside from just weird) available in Spanish as well as in English.

Go to the Sharkbait web site (www.filetofish.com) to try your hand at keeping your delicious Filet-o-Fish sandwich away from ravenous sharks, fiending for that processed fish flavor. If this were a real life situation, I would starve as I wasn’t able to keep it away from the relentless sharks for more than 2 seconds. Then, when you’re bored of this nonsense, click on the “en español” link and you’ll find that it’s exactly the same. It’s translated (Mexican Spanish, mind you — I think the campaign was produced by a Texas agency) and the “I’m lovin’ it” tagline is “Me encanta“.

Via >>> Adrants

Local Language Flubs: Muni massacres Spanish

27

February

Jennifer01:28 pm6 comments

I’ve often talked about the horrible language mistakes and translation tragedies of marketers’ lame attempts to target the U.S Latino market in its native language. It’s a symptom of marketers’ belief that a) Spanish is just not important enough to do right or b) anyone who claims to be “native Spanish speaker” necessarily speaks or writes the language well.Here’s a local example (an announcement by our beloved transit system, Muni) that is truly a massacre of the Spanish language, and in my opinion insulting to those it’s attempting to target (click for larger image) sent to me by a Spanish-speaking friend:

Many of these are laughable, others just pathetic, but to some extent harmless. What’s really worrysome here is that this is not an ad, but rather a public announcement. Granted, one can conclude what the messages are here, but what if the flubs were (and they certainly could have been) more serious, going beyond spelling mistakes to actually confusing or misleading the reader?Not too surprising from an entity like Muni, whose “mistakes” aren’t only in how they target Spanish-speakers but in their mere day-to-day operations. What’s also disturbing is a side-by-side comparison of the English sign and the Spanish one :

Apparently Muni believes that using double the words will make it easier for Spanish riders to understand the message, when in reality all it does is confuse. Shame on the poor soul who translated this, and all of the signs in the Muni trains. Just atrocious.

Spotted any language crimes on ads in your city? Snap a photo and we’ll publish them here on Latin_Know!

Technorati Tags: spanish, latinos, hispanics, muni, san francisco, translation

Latin-Know: The Latino Marketing Report

Comments and insights on marketing and communications campaigns targeting the US Latino / Hispanic community.

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February 2006

Sharkbait: McDonalds Bizarre Bilingual Viral Game

28

February

Local Language Flubs: Muni massacres Spanish

27

February