Fair Lady pitfall

Posted by Yumiko on Apr 28 2008 | Japanese translation

Nissan has a sports coupe called Datsun 280Z or Fair Lady Z. Fair
Lady Z was the original name given to the car when it was
developed in Japan. Someone probably advised Nissan that, to the
Americans, the name Fair Lady Z doesn’t match the car. So the company picked
a different name for the U.S. market.

This illustrates a potential pitfall in naming a product or service in another language. If
you are translating your website into another language, it is worth consulting someone to avoid this “Fair Lady” pitfall. (By the way, “Fair Lady Z” sounds fine to the Japanese people’s ears as a name of a sports coupe, mainly because it is in English. It is similar to any French words sounding sophisticated to the Americans. )

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