PART II

The continuing globalization of corporate brands makes correct translations all the more important nowadays for U.S. companies, as does the fast-growing Hispanic market in the U.S. itself.

When U.S. milk processors decided to take their successful "Got Milk" campaign to a Spanish-speaking audience, they managed to avoid the pit-falls that Coke had encountered decades earlier. Quickly realizing the catchy slogan wouldn't go down so well in Spanish - the literal translation means something like "Are you lactating?" - the Milk Processor Education Program tapped Siboney USA, a Spanish-language advertising agency, to do an adaptation of the campaign.

"In order to succeed, translated ad copy must be crafted as if it were originally written in the target language," says Ms. Elting of TransPerfect Translations. She recommends using native speakers, who know the culture, particularly idiomatic expressions, in order to get across the meaning of the message rather than just a literal rendering of it.

The message the milk processors and Siboney eventually settled on was "Mas Leche, Mas Logro." The slogan, which means, "More Milk, More Achievement," was specifically crafted to appeal to "Hispanic moms," says Victor Zaborsky, spokesman for the Milk Processor Education Group in Washington, D.C.

But clearly the degree of precision shown by the milk processors isn't yet the rule. "Companies still are not putting the money into foreign-language copy that they should be," Ms. Elting says. "They might allocate a year and spend millions on a campaign in the U.S., and maybe a week or two weeks and thousands of dollars on a foreign campaign."

Of the respondents to the June survey, 35% thought advertisements for food products were the worst translation offenders, while 20% pointed to ads for pharmaceuticals, 13% ads for baby products and 12% ads for soda and other beverages. About 35% of respondents said that newspaper advertisements were the most likely to have translation errors, while 31% pointed to television ads. Magazines were cited by 27%, billboards by 15% and radio by 12%.