A Biker's Domain

Many domainers, frustrated in the search for keyword strings in .com, have instead invested in foreign domains in top level extensions (TLDs) and/or country code top level domains (ccTLDs). I do see the future potential for this strategy and have even dipped my own toe in the water sometime back with a couple like Motocicletas.org (spanish for Motorcycles).

The risk of course is messing up on the translations from english to whatever and finding that Bablefish or Google language tools just might not be cutting it. Imagine the horror that these brands experienced upon launching some very expensive advertising campaigns without the necessary translation due diligence.

Here's a few examples where ad campaigns went astray.

The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the Wax Tadpole". General Motors had a fiasco in trying to market the Nova car in Central and South America. "No va" in Spanish means, "It Doesn't Go". Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing Sucks like an Electrolux." Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the "Manure Stick." Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea." Last but not least, when American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish.

I won't be regging anymore foreign language domains without the review of a professional translator.