Lost in Translation

Disclaimer

For those that are easily offended by the language discussed below, please do not fixate on the terms but pay attention to lessons shared as they may help you grow in ways you never considered.?

More of us need to venture out beyond our borders but be cautious.?

We feel comfortable by being with those that are like us, but we grow by associating with those that are different.?

As we enter summer vacations. a word of caution, future travelers need to properly prepare to avoid future embarrassments by learning slang terms or international customs before traveling.? And even when you thought you did, you still may learn something new.

From outsiders perspectives, Americans are famous at being so complacent within our own culture and rarely work to understand others. This can be very costly and threatens our position as world leaders so we must become internationally savvy or run the risk of committing embarrassing mistakes.?

Chevrolet lost millions of dollars by trying to sell Chevy Novas in Latin america. The US found out the hard way trying to sell a car called a NOVA- NO VA means No Go in Spanish. They were unable to create? new customers. Pet Dairy found out that selling PET milk in France would not work because PET in French means flatulence. In Italy, be careful crossing your legs and pointing your feet at other people. In Italy that is an insult. In India, when you ask a yes/no? question they say yes and shake their head at same time but mean yes. While teaching a class in Mumbai, I was so confused when the whole class of 30 engineers said yes but shook their heads as if saying no.??

The United States and the United Kingdom? countries all speak English but with slang word additions their versions are? oceans apart.

??(Warning? human anatomical slang terms? used below)

Back in 2012, I was invited to speak at two Australian engineering conferences on how to fight the maintenance crises to? groups of 600 attendees each.? While growing up in Lexington, everyone knew me as a skinny and shy kid. Well after years of talking to various groups and becoming passionate to address serious challenges in the depletion of our engineering and technical workforce. I was so excited to visit Australia to see both the eastern side in Brisbane and western side in Perth. Prepared extensively to make sure my hosts were pleased with my content and delivery. Little did I know that one little slip up would define my presentation and cause the biggest embarrassment of my public speaking career and that mistake created a following for me. So to help others from Davidson Local avoid committing this faux pas is why I am sharing this experience.?

I love Australians and Kiwis (citizens from New Zealand). They are not arrogant but very good hearted, fun loving folks who love to laugh at Americans, a lesson I learned the hard way.?

So I gave my sessions on How to Fight the Maintenance Crisis at both Brisbane and Perth conferences without a hitch or so I thought until…

On the last day at the Perth conference hotel I walked through a bar area on a short cut to the hotel elevators to go to my room and get my bags to fly home but was stopped by 4 guys.. One guy called me over and said “Mate we need to talk to you before you leave to speak to other parts of Straya.” Little did I know that 2 of those guys went out through the hotel and said to other attendees we got the Yank in the bar, you want to see some fun? In just a matter of minutes they had recruited over 60 others to watch me get a lesson in speaking Australian.?

So for a couple of minutes 2 guys were explaining to me that although my session was good, that I need to know what you say in America is not what you should say Down Under. They said that over and over to delay me so that the others could watch. I kept asking what I did say, and they would not respond, Well mate, we know you didn’t know so don't worry about it.?

After a couple of minutes of this stalling and upon the arrival of 60 others to watch this, I was getting frustrated and embarrassed so I finally exclaimed,”What did I say?”?

One said,” Well mate when you told us that we got to get our kids off their fannies and do something more than play on their phones, You need to know the meaning of a fanny in the states is not the same as a fanny Down Under and other UK.? The whole crowd was busting out laughing but none said what a fanny meant until I screamed out of frustration so what does a fanny mean Down Under?? One of the new guys that showed up said “Well mate, a fanny is the female butt on the front”. That's when full embarrassment hit me. I was wondering if I was going to get paid or not. I realized I said the equivalent in the US, our youth need to get off their vaginas.OMG- I would have probably been escorted off stage on the spot. ? Oh my god, the reason I said fanny to begin with was to be milder than saying get kids off their butts or arses, so I used the word fanny out of total ignorance of how? other countries use that expression.

Attendees all saw the shock and embarrassment on my face and tried to make me feel better even though they were all having great fun at my expense. To calm me down, they said “Don't worry mate, we still don't know what all you Yanks do with all those packs of fannies over there. We all know you didn't do it on purpose. Don't worry mate, we understand.”?

?After a 26 hour return flight, I checked my email and discovered over 40 emails from Australia wanting copies of the “Fanny Speech.” That one word defined my whole session, oh my God. But it got me business.? Some of those attendees still stay in touch and have been active in trying to correct the problems that caused the Maintenance Crisis so despite misspeaking I am grateful to have endured the language lesson Down Under.

Hope that more? get a chance to travel or encounter more people via zoom? and discover more international lessons as well.? We all need to travel or at least learn via zoom because how can the US lead the world if we don't see it?? We just need to plan, prepare and make new friends to guide us along the way.?

Bon Voyage