Language & Words
Translation Fails & Blunders Quiz
Marketing disasters, diplomatic mishaps, and hilariously wrong translations.
Marketing disasters, diplomatic mishaps, and hilariously wrong translations.
When HSBC bank launched its "Assume Nothing" campaign internationally, it was mistranslated as "Do Nothing" in several countries β forcing a $10 million rebranding effort. From Pepsi accidentally promising to raise ancestors from the dead to diplomatic mistranslations that may have shaped the course of World War II, this quiz covers 50 of the most infamous, hilarious, and consequential translation blunders in history.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll discover marketing slogans gone horribly wrong, diplomatic mistranslations with world-changing consequences, religious translation errors immortalized in art, and the everyday blunders that make language so wonderfully unpredictable.
Some of the most notorious include Pepsi's "Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation" being translated in China as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead," KFC's "Finger Lickin' Good" becoming "eat your fingers off," and HSBC spending $10 million to rebrand after "Assume Nothing" was mistranslated as "Do Nothing" worldwide.
This is largely an urban legend. While "no va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish, the Chevy Nova actually sold quite well in Latin America. Spanish speakers would not naturally parse "Nova" as "no va," just as English speakers don't hear "notable" as "no table."
The Japanese word "mokusatsu" in 1945 may have been the most consequential mistranslation ever. When Japan's Premier used it to respond to the Potsdam Declaration, it was translated as "reject" rather than its intended meaning of "withhold comment" β possibly influencing the decision to drop the atomic bomb.
Last updated: April 2026