WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages • Hacker News Board

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#171

Post by ch4s3 » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:28 PM UTC

TallGuyShort wrote: post #165

gus_massa wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One detail to consider about Spanish is that each country has it local variation, so there are some words that are totally safe in some countries but have a totally different unwanted meaning in others. For example "coger" means "pick" in Span and "fuck" in Argentina. (If you say it in Argentina with a Spanish accent the you will not get into troubles, but the people will give a subtle weird look and someone will exp…

(Valgarity alert for Spanish speakers!) Indeed. "Coger" is not found, but more universal vulgarities such as "puta", "verga", "mierda" are found.

¿Donde coges el autobús? - ranges from practical to vulgar and confusing.

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#172

Post by amyjess » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:32 PM UTC

elros wrote: post #52

djrogers wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of phonetic matching is a problem - the most (in?)famous example of this was the Chevy Nova, which phonetically sounds like 'doesn't go' in spanish.

Regarding the Chevy Nova, I always found that story very hard to believe. While it may seem plausible for someone who does not speak Spanish, someone who does would quickly note the fact that "no va" is pronounced /no'βa/ (stress on the second syllable) while Nova would be pronounced /'no.βa/ (stress on the first syllable). These two sounds would not be perceived by a Spanish speaker as being the same.

Yes, I've heard that saying "Nova" is read as no va is like saying "notable" is read as "no table".

(of course, the classic Spanish screw-up is the Mitsubishi Pajero, which has no excuse whatsoever: that's unambiguously the Mitsubishi Wanker)

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#173

Post by itsybitsycoder » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:34 PM UTC

BasDirks wrote: post #127

Dutch: http://www.taalkabaal.nl/scheldwoorden/indexa.php Have fun. Some of these are spelled incorrectly, so run them through a spell-checker. While I'm at it, let me translate some personal favourites. I realize they are quite long and unlikely candidates for the next hot SF start-up, but why keep knowledge away from the masses: adderengebroedsels - offspring of vipers argeologisch kontfossiel - archaeological ass f…

I want to start a razor startup now just so I can call it Janksnor.

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#174

Post by tsotha » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:35 PM UTC

If only Miyazaki would have had this when he named Laputa: Castle in the sky

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#175

Post by foldr » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:36 PM UTC

Abraln wrote: post #131

gus_massa wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One detail to consider about Spanish is that each country has it local variation, so there are some words that are totally safe in some countries but have a totally different unwanted meaning in others. For example "coger" means "pick" in Span and "fuck" in Argentina. (If you say it in Argentina with a Spanish accent the you will not get into troubles, but the people will give a subtle weird look and someone will exp…

It's definitely very important to realize that Spanish-speaking countries, while nominally speaking the same language, are very different. Spain has an entire verb tense that is not in Mexican Spanish. And unconfirmed example I have heard is pico de gallo. In Mexican Spanish it means something that's not too dissimilar from salsa, yet in some parts of South America, pico means penis. I heard there was an issue with a…

>Spain has an entire verb tense that is not in Mexican Spanish.

Are you sure you mean tense? The verb has an additional form in each tense because of vosotros, but there are no additional tenses so far as I know.

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#176

Post by glibgil » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:41 PM UTC

"cu" gets a pass. https://translate.google.com/#pt/en/cu

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#177

Post by konne88 » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:42 PM UTC

I would have expected "Coq" to fail.

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#178

Post by notNow » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:45 PM UTC

temuze wrote: post #162

This is great! There are certain puns/combos that would be really hard to catch though. For example - the Ford Nova. In Spanish, it literally translates to "no va" "doesn't go". Terrible name for a car. I'm unsure how to make this understand the context of the product, but that would be the next step

But "nova" in Portuguese means "new" so I guess Ford was in the safe side with that product name.

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#179

Post by notNow » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:46 PM UTC

olympus wrote: post #102

I saw this and immediately thought of an old story where General Motors tried to sell the Chevy Nova in South America. It hardly sold at all in South America even though it was a hugely popular car in North America. The reason turned out to be that "No va" in Spanish translates to "won't go" so GM was basically trying to sell a sporty car with a misleading name. Unfortunately this website wouldn't have helped GM sell…

But I guess it sold like hot cakes in Brazil, didn't it?

Re: WordSafety – Check a name for unwanted meanings in foreign languages

#180

Post by ajonit » Tue, Aug 25, 2015, 8:47 PM UTC

You seem to have a good grip on Hindi words :) This is a good idea. Last I heard, Accenture spent good amount of $$$ to verify the name in several languages before fixing on that name!