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  • 1.  Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    Posted 06-14-2012 16:37
    A False Claim:   The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish.

    Summarised from: www.snopes.com, Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2012 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.

    I'm still seeing publications and comments with the incorrect and misleading legend of "The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. I become increasingly concerned about the diligence and responsibility of authors of textbooks and articles. As snopes.com points out, the 'Chevy Nova legend lives on in countless marketing textbooks, is repeated in numerous business seminars, and is a staple of newspaper and magazine columnists who need a pithy example of human folly. Perhaps someday this apocryphal tale will become what it should be: an illustration of how easily even "experts" can sometimes fall victim to the very same dangers they warn us about.'

    Part of the fiction is that     GM executives were baffled until someone finally pointed out to them that "nova" translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. The embarrassed automobile giant changed the model name to the Caribe, and sales of the car took off. Actually Caribe is a Volkwagen model, not a Chevy. The truth is that the Chevrolet Nova's name didn't significantly affect its sales: it sold well in both its major Spanish-language markets, Mexico and Venezuela. (Its Venezuelan sales figures actually surpassed GM's expectations.)

    From snopes.com: The original Chevrolet Nova (initially the Chevy II) hit the U.S. market in 1962. (This car should not be confused with the smaller, front wheel drive vehicle which was produced in 1985 as a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota and also assigned the Nova name.) Between 1972 and 1978 the Chevrolet Nova was also sold in Mexico and several other Spanish-speaking countries, primarily Venezuela. Shortly afterwards the great "Nova" legend arose, a legend which a little linguistic analysis shows it to be improbable:

    First of all, the phrase "no va" (literally "doesn't go") and the word "nova" are distinct entities with different pronunciations in Spanish: the former is two words and is pronounced with the accent on the second word; the latter is one word with the accent on the first syllable. Assuming that Spanish speakers would naturally see the word "nova" as equivalent to the phrase "no va" and think "Hey, this car doesn't go!" is akin to assuming that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name Notable because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn't include a table.

    Although "no va" can be literally translated as "no go," it would be a curious locution for a speaker of Spanish to use in reference to a car. Just as an English speaker would describe a broken-down car by saying that it "doesn't run" rather than it "doesn't go," so a Spanish speaker would refer to a malfunctioning automobile by saying "no marcha" or "no funciona" or "no camina" rather than "no va."

    Pemex (the Mexican government-owned oil monopoly) sold (and still sells) gasoline in Mexico under the name "Nova." If Mexicans were going to associate anything with the Chevrolet Nova based on its name, it would probably be this gasoline. In any case, if Mexicans had no compunctions about filling the tanks of their cars with a type of gasoline whose name advertised that it "didn't go," why would they reject a similarly-named automobile?

    This legend assumes that a handful of General Motors executives launched a car into a foreign market and remained in blissful ignorance about a possible adverse translation of its name. Even if nobody in Detroit knew enough rudimentary Spanish to notice the coincidence, the Nova could not have been brought to market in Mexico and/or South America without the involvement of numerous Spanish speakers engaged to translate user manuals, prepare advertising and promotional materials, communicate with the network of Chevrolet dealers in the target countries, etc. In fact, GM was aware of the translation and opted to retain the model name "Nova" in Spanish-speaking markets anyway, because they (correctly) felt the matter to be unimportant.

    Additional information from snopes.com:
    http://www.novaresource.org/history.htm
    Debunking several urban legends: Ricks, David A.   Blunders in International Business.  Cambridge, U.S.A.: Blackwell, 1993.   ISBN 1-55786-414-4   (p. 35).
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell


  • 2.  Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    Posted 06-15-2012 11:20
    Excellent points, Romie!  Just a couple of updates from a native Spanish speaker who lived in Mexico during the years that both the "Chevy Nova" and the "Nova" branded gas by Pemex could be found easily in the streets:

    1. Pemex's "Nova" gas has been discontinued and "Magna" has been the cheaper brand (low-octane, around 87) for a decade or two (one credible version is that "Nova" still had lead on it, but the enactment of more stringent regulations at the end of the 20th Century made Pemex switch to the lead-free "Magna"; see a picture of a contemporary gas pump here: http://www.mexadventure.com/MexicoTravel/Fuel.cfm; I'm sorry I could not immediately find an exact date in which "Magna" substituted "Nova" but I feel pretty confident that this happened before I started my doctoral-level education at the end of the 1990s).  Still, the argument that Mexicans had no compunction about filling their tanks for decades, with a brand of gas named "Nova" is absolutely valid.
    2. As a "Romance language", Spanish has inherited many words from ancient Latin, "nova" (i.e., new) being one of them.  In elementary school, many children learn that an "estrella nova" (literally a "new star") is a night luminary that suddenly experiences very visible activity (see http://www.astromia.com/glosario/nova.htm for a Spanish-language basic website explaining this term in some detail; want to see more sites with similar content?  Check http://www.bing.com/search?q=estrella+nova+astronomia&go=&qs=n&form=QBRE&pq=estrella+nova+astronomia&sc=0-13&sp=-1&sk=; a related term is a "supernova", which also experiences very visible activity, but to a much greater scale).  
    One could argue that a vehicle is not the type of product that one would want to see shining and exploding like a so-called "new star", but -getting back to the main point-these words again support the fact that the word "nova" is not a term that native Spanish speakers would confuse with the sentence "No va" (yes, it is a full sentence with an implicit subject, for those of you English grammarians that are not used to considering a conjugated verb as a full thought)!!  Bad choice of name for a car?  Arguably, but I absolutely loved the analogy with the word "Notable" in English below!!!  If the word "Nova" was ever an issue, it must have been for non-native speakers of Spanish! 

    Can't tell you how many times I've rolled (or just closed) my eyes after hearing this "classic example of poor cross-cultural marketing" in a wide variety of contexts (classroom, cocktail conversations, etc.).  Unfortunately, this is not the only example of "perpetuating falsehoods" in our disciplines, but if we clear this one this decade, perhaps we have made some progress...

    If your professional interests motivated to reading all of this note, I wish you, dear colleague, a great weekend!!!


    Miguel
    _____________________________
    Miguel R. Olivas-Lujan, Ph.D.   .:.   Professor   .:.   Administrative Sciences
    Clarion U of Pennsylvania   .:.   840 Wood St.   .:.   Clarion, PA 16214
    Tel: +1.814.393.2641   .:.   Fax: +1.814.393.1910
    Call for chapters on Social Media in Management 
    Series Editor, Emerald's Advanced Series in Management 
    Let me know your thoughts on Dr Olivas' blog 


    From: Romie Littrell <littrellaom@YAHOO.CO.NZ>
    Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:37:22 -0700
    Subject: Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    A False Claim:   The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish.

    Summarised from: www.snopes.com, Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2012 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.

    I'm still seeing publications and comments with the incorrect and misleading legend of "The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. I become increasingly concerned about the diligence and responsibility of authors of textbooks and articles. As snopes.com points out, the 'Chevy Nova legend lives on in countless marketing textbooks, is repeated in numerous business seminars, and is a staple of newspaper and magazine columnists who need a pithy example of human folly. Perhaps someday this apocryphal tale will become what it should be: an illustration of how easily even "experts" can sometimes fall victim to the very same dangers they warn us about.'

    Part of the fiction is that     GM executives were baffled until someone finally pointed out to them that "nova" translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. The embarrassed automobile giant changed the model name to the Caribe, and sales of the car took off. Actually Caribe is a Volkwagen model, not a Chevy. The truth is that the Chevrolet Nova's name didn't significantly affect its sales: it sold well in both its major Spanish-language markets, Mexico and Venezuela. (Its Venezuelan sales figures actually surpassed GM's expectations.)

    From snopes.com: The original Chevrolet Nova (initially the Chevy II) hit the U.S. market in 1962. (This car should not be confused with the smaller, front wheel drive vehicle which was produced in 1985 as a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota and also assigned the Nova name.) Between 1972 and 1978 the Chevrolet Nova was also sold in Mexico and several other Spanish-speaking countries, primarily Venezuela. Shortly afterwards the great "Nova" legend arose, a legend which a little linguistic analysis shows it to be improbable:

    First of all, the phrase "no va" (literally "doesn't go") and the word "nova" are distinct entities with different pronunciations in Spanish: the former is two words and is pronounced with the accent on the second word; the latter is one word with the accent on the first syllable. Assuming that Spanish speakers would naturally see the word "nova" as equivalent to the phrase "no va" and think "Hey, this car doesn't go!" is akin to assuming that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name Notable because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn't include a table.

    Although "no va" can be literally translated as "no go," it would be a curious locution for a speaker of Spanish to use in reference to a car. Just as an English speaker would describe a broken-down car by saying that it "doesn't run" rather than it "doesn't go," so a Spanish speaker would refer to a malfunctioning automobile by saying "no marcha" or "no funciona" or "no camina" rather than "no va."

    Pemex (the Mexican government-owned oil monopoly) sold (and still sells) gasoline in Mexico under the name "Nova." If Mexicans were going to associate anything with the Chevrolet Nova based on its name, it would probably be this gasoline. In any case, if Mexicans had no compunctions about filling the tanks of their cars with a type of gasoline whose name advertised that it "didn't go," why would they reject a similarly-named automobile?

    This legend assumes that a handful of General Motors executives launched a car into a foreign market and remained in blissful ignorance about a possible adverse translation of its name. Even if nobody in Detroit knew enough rudimentary Spanish to notice the coincidence, the Nova could not have been brought to market in Mexico and/or South America without the involvement of numerous Spanish speakers engaged to translate user manuals, prepare advertising and promotional materials, communicate with the network of Chevrolet dealers in the target countries, etc. In fact, GM was aware of the translation and opted to retain the model name "Nova" in Spanish-speaking markets anyway, because they (correctly) felt the matter to be unimportant.

    Additional information from snopes.com:
    http://www.novaresource.org/history.htm
    Debunking several urban legends: Ricks, David A.   Blunders in International Business.  Cambridge, U.S.A.: Blackwell, 1993.   ISBN 1-55786-414-4   (p. 35).
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell


  • 3.  Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    Posted 06-15-2012 16:44
    Miguel is absolutely right and it is also amazing to me how this "urban myth" has such staying power. I have seen it in several textbooks (whose authors will go un-named! ;-).



    David H. Kent, PhD
    Chair, Department of Management
    Ageno School of Business
    Golden Gate University
    536 Mission St.
    San Francisco, CA 94105

    Tel. (415) 442-6523
    Fax. (415) 442-6579

    >>> Miguel Olivas-Lujan <molivas@clarion.edu> 06/15/12 8:24 AM >>>
    Excellent points, Romie!  Just a couple of updates from a native Spanish speaker who lived in Mexico during the years that both the "Chevy Nova" and the "Nova" branded gas by Pemex could be found easily in the streets:

    1. Pemex's "Nova" gas has been discontinued and "Magna" has been the cheaper brand (low-octane, around 87) for a decade or two (one credible version is that "Nova" still had lead on it, but the enactment of more stringent regulations at the end of the 20th Century made Pemex switch to the lead-free "Magna"; see a picture of a contemporary gas pump here: http://www.mexadventure.com/MexicoTravel/Fuel.cfm; I'm sorry I could not immediately find an exact date in which "Magna" substituted "Nova" but I feel pretty confident that this happened before I started my doctoral-level education at the end of the 1990s).  Still, the argument that Mexicans had no compunction about filling their tanks for decades, with a brand of gas named "Nova" is absolutely valid.
    2. As a "Romance language", Spanish has inherited many words from ancient Latin, "nova" (i.e., new) being one of them.  In elementary school, many children learn that an "estrella nova" (literally a "new star") is a night luminary that suddenly experiences very visible activity (see http://www.astromia.com/glosario/nova.htm for a Spanish-language basic website explaining this term in some detail; want to see more sites with similar content?  Check http://www.bing.com/search?q=estrella+nova+astronomia&go=&qs=n&form=QBRE&pq=estrella+nova+astronomia&sc=0-13&sp=-1&sk=; a related term is a "supernova", which also experiences very visible activity, but to a much greater scale).  
    One could argue that a vehicle is not the type of product that one would want to see shining and exploding like a so-called "new star", but -getting back to the main point-these words again support the fact that the word "nova" is not a term that native Spanish speakers would confuse with the sentence "No va" (yes, it is a full sentence with an implicit subject, for those of you English grammarians that are not used to considering a conjugated verb as a full thought)!!  Bad choice of name for a car?  Arguably, but I absolutely loved the analogy with the word "Notable" in English below!!!  If the word "Nova" was ever an issue, it must have been for non-native speakers of Spanish! 

    Can't tell you how many times I've rolled (or just closed) my eyes after hearing this "classic example of poor cross-cultural marketing" in a wide variety of contexts (classroom, cocktail conversations, etc.).  Unfortunately, this is not the only example of "perpetuating falsehoods" in our disciplines, but if we clear this one this decade, perhaps we have made some progress...

    If your professional interests motivated to reading all of this note, I wish you, dear colleague, a great weekend!!!


    Miguel
    _____________________________
    Miguel R. Olivas-Lujan, Ph.D.   .:.   Professor   .:.   Administrative Sciences
    Clarion U of Pennsylvania   .:.   840 Wood St.   .:.   Clarion, PA 16214
    Tel: +1.814.393.2641   .:.   Fax: +1.814.393.1910
    Call for chapters on Social Media in Management 
    Series Editor, Emerald's Advanced Series in Management 
    Let me know your thoughts on Dr Olivas' blog 

    Description: log for email


    From: Romie Littrell <littrellaom@YAHOO.CO.NZ>
    Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:37:22 -0700
    Subject: Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    A False Claim:   The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish.

    Summarised from: www.snopes.com, Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2012 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.

    I'm still seeing publications and comments with the incorrect and misleading legend of "The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. I become increasingly concerned about the diligence and responsibility of authors of textbooks and articles. As snopes.com points out, the 'Chevy Nova legend lives on in countless marketing textbooks, is repeated in numerous business seminars, and is a staple of newspaper and magazine columnists who need a pithy example of human folly. Perhaps someday this apocryphal tale will become what it should be: an illustration of how easily even "experts" can sometimes fall victim to the very same dangers they warn us about.'

    Part of the fiction is that     GM executives were baffled until someone finally pointed out to them that "nova" translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. The embarrassed automobile giant changed the model name to the Caribe, and sales of the car took off. Actually Caribe is a Volkwagen model, not a Chevy. The truth is that the Chevrolet Nova's name didn't significantly affect its sales: it sold well in both its major Spanish-language markets, Mexico and Venezuela. (Its Venezuelan sales figures actually surpassed GM's expectations.)

    From snopes.com: The original Chevrolet Nova (initially the Chevy II) hit the U.S. market in 1962. (This car should not be confused with the smaller, front wheel drive vehicle which was produced in 1985 as a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota and also assigned the Nova name.) Between 1972 and 1978 the Chevrolet Nova was also sold in Mexico and several other Spanish-speaking countries, primarily Venezuela. Shortly afterwards the great "Nova" legend arose, a legend which a little linguistic analysis shows it to be improbable:

    First of all, the phrase "no va" (literally "doesn't go") and the word "nova" are distinct entities with different pronunciations in Spanish: the former is two words and is pronounced with the accent on the second word; the latter is one word with the accent on the first syllable. Assuming that Spanish speakers would naturally see the word "nova" as equivalent to the phrase "no va" and think "Hey, this car doesn't go!" is akin to assuming that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name Notable because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn't include a table.

    Although "no va" can be literally translated as "no go," it would be a curious locution for a speaker of Spanish to use in reference to a car. Just as an English speaker would describe a broken-down car by saying that it "doesn't run" rather than it "doesn't go," so a Spanish speaker would refer to a malfunctioning automobile by saying "no marcha" or "no funciona" or "no camina" rather than "no va."

    Pemex (the Mexican government-owned oil monopoly) sold (and still sells) gasoline in Mexico under the name "Nova." If Mexicans were going to associate anything with the Chevrolet Nova based on its name, it would probably be this gasoline. In any case, if Mexicans had no compunctions about filling the tanks of their cars with a type of gasoline whose name advertised that it "didn't go," why would they reject a similarly-named automobile?

    This legend assumes that a handful of General Motors executives launched a car into a foreign market and remained in blissful ignorance about a possible adverse translation of its name. Even if nobody in Detroit knew enough rudimentary Spanish to notice the coincidence, the Nova could not have been brought to market in Mexico and/or South America without the involvement of numerous Spanish speakers engaged to translate user manuals, prepare advertising and promotional materials, communicate with the network of Chevrolet dealers in the target countries, etc. In fact, GM was aware of the translation and opted to retain the model name "Nova" in Spanish-speaking markets anyway, because they (correctly) felt the matter to be unimportant.

    Additional information from snopes.com:
    http://www.novaresource.org/history.htm
    Debunking several urban legends: Ricks, David A.   Blunders in International Business.  Cambridge, U.S.A.: Blackwell, 1993.   ISBN 1-55786-414-4   (p. 35).
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell
     </molivas@clarion.edu>


  • 4.  Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    Posted 06-15-2012 18:56
    Thanks Miguel, in searching for real problems to use as examples of brand translation problems, I found these to be un-refuted, so far:

    Gerber, of baby food fame, is also the French word for vomiting, which limits its appeal in many countries.
     
    GE's product "GPT" (Gravel Pack Tool) is pronounced in French as "J'ai pété," or I have farted.
     
    A US T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I Saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato" (la papa).
     
    A Chinese manufacturer of men's shirts and underwear translated their brand into "Pansy" in English for export to the US market.
     
    Simba is the undisputed top brand of potato chips in South Africa; however, while simba means "lion" in Swahili, it is a term for "feces" in Zulu.
     
    Mazda's Laputa minivan in Spanish immediately brings to mind puta, a word for prostitute; distributors in Santiago, Chile asked Mazda to rename the vehicle.

    (Note: While "pinto" is Brasilian Portuguese slang for male genitals, the Ford Pinto (under any name) was never sold by Ford in Brazil.)
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell
    From: Miguel Olivas-Lujan <molivas@CLARION.EDU>
    To: IMD-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Sent: Saturday, 16 June 2012, 3:19
    Subject: Re: Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    Excellent points, Romie!  Just a couple of updates from a native Spanish speaker who lived in Mexico during the years that both the "Chevy Nova" and the "Nova" branded gas by Pemex could be found easily in the streets:

    1. Pemex's "Nova" gas has been discontinued and "Magna" has been the cheaper brand (low-octane, around 87) for a decade or two (one credible version is that "Nova" still had lead on it, but the enactment of more stringent regulations at the end of the 20th Century made Pemex switch to the lead-free "Magna"; see a picture of a contemporary gas pump here: http://www.mexadventure.com/MexicoTravel/Fuel.cfm; I'm sorry I could not immediately find an exact date in which "Magna" substituted "Nova" but I feel pretty confident that this happened before I started my doctoral-level education at the end of the 1990s).  Still, the argument that Mexicans had no compunction about filling their tanks for decades, with a brand of gas named "Nova" is absolutely valid.
    2. As a "Romance language", Spanish has inherited many words from ancient Latin, "nova" (i.e., new) being one of them.  In elementary school, many children learn that an "estrella nova" (literally a "new star") is a night luminary that suddenly experiences very visible activity (see http://www.astromia.com/glosario/nova.htm for a Spanish-language basic website explaining this term in some detail; want to see more sites with similar content?  Check http://www.bing.com/search?q=estrella+nova+astronomia&go=&qs=n&form=QBRE&pq=estrella+nova+astronomia&sc=0-13&sp=-1&sk=; a related term is a "supernova", which also experiences very visible activity, but to a much greater scale).  
    One could argue that a vehicle is not the type of product that one would want to see shining and exploding like a so-called "new star", but -getting back to the main point-these words again support the fact that the word "nova" is not a term that native Spanish speakers would confuse with the sentence "No va" (yes, it is a full sentence with an implicit subject, for those of you English grammarians that are not used to considering a conjugated verb as a full thought)!!  Bad choice of name for a car?  Arguably, but I absolutely loved the analogy with the word "Notable" in English below!!!  If the word "Nova" was ever an issue, it must have been for non-native speakers of Spanish! 

    Can't tell you how many times I've rolled (or just closed) my eyes after hearing this "classic example of poor cross-cultural marketing" in a wide variety of contexts (classroom, cocktail conversations, etc.).  Unfortunately, this is not the only example of "perpetuating falsehoods" in our disciplines, but if we clear this one this decade, perhaps we have made some progress...

    If your professional interests motivated to reading all of this note, I wish you, dear colleague, a great weekend!!!

    Miguel
    _____________________________
    Miguel R. Olivas-Lujan, Ph.D.   .:.   Professor   .:.   Administrative Sciences
    Clarion U of Pennsylvania   .:.   840 Wood St.   .:.   Clarion, PA 16214
    Tel: +1.814.393.2641   .:.   Fax: +1.814.393.1910
    Call for chapters on Social Media in Management 
    Series Editor, Emerald's Advanced Series in Management 
    Let me know your thoughts on Dr Olivas' blog 

    From: Romie Littrell <littrellaom@YAHOO.CO.NZ>
    Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:37:22 -0700
    Subject: Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    A False Claim:   The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish.

    Summarised from: www.snopes.com, Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2012 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.

    I'm still seeing publications and comments with the incorrect and misleading legend of "The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. I become increasingly concerned about the diligence and responsibility of authors of textbooks and articles. As snopes.com points out, the 'Chevy Nova legend lives on in countless marketing textbooks, is repeated in numerous business seminars, and is a staple of newspaper and magazine columnists who need a pithy example of human folly. Perhaps someday this apocryphal tale will become what it should be: an illustration of how easily even "experts" can sometimes fall victim to the very same dangers they warn us about.'

    Part of the fiction is that     GM executives were baffled until someone finally pointed out to them that "nova" translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. The embarrassed automobile giant changed the model name to the Caribe, and sales of the car took off. Actually Caribe is a Volkwagen model, not a Chevy. The truth is that the Chevrolet Nova's name didn't significantly affect its sales: it sold well in both its major Spanish-language markets, Mexico and Venezuela. (Its Venezuelan sales figures actually surpassed GM's expectations.)

    From snopes.com: The original Chevrolet Nova (initially the Chevy II) hit the U.S. market in 1962. (This car should not be confused with the smaller, front wheel drive vehicle which was produced in 1985 as a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota and also assigned the Nova name.) Between 1972 and 1978 the Chevrolet Nova was also sold in Mexico and several other Spanish-speaking countries, primarily Venezuela. Shortly afterwards the great "Nova" legend arose, a legend which a little linguistic analysis shows it to be improbable:

    First of all, the phrase "no va" (literally "doesn't go") and the word "nova" are distinct entities with different pronunciations in Spanish: the former is two words and is pronounced with the accent on the second word; the latter is one word with the accent on the first syllable. Assuming that Spanish speakers would naturally see the word "nova" as equivalent to the phrase "no va" and think "Hey, this car doesn't go!" is akin to assuming that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name Notable because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn't include a table.

    Although "no va" can be literally translated as "no go," it would be a curious locution for a speaker of Spanish to use in reference to a car. Just as an English speaker would describe a broken-down car by saying that it "doesn't run" rather than it "doesn't go," so a Spanish speaker would refer to a malfunctioning automobile by saying "no marcha" or "no funciona" or "no camina" rather than "no va."

    Pemex (the Mexican government-owned oil monopoly) sold (and still sells) gasoline in Mexico under the name "Nova." If Mexicans were going to associate anything with the Chevrolet Nova based on its name, it would probably be this gasoline. In any case, if Mexicans had no compunctions about filling the tanks of their cars with a type of gasoline whose name advertised that it "didn't go," why would they reject a similarly-named automobile?

    This legend assumes that a handful of General Motors executives launched a car into a foreign market and remained in blissful ignorance about a possible adverse translation of its name. Even if nobody in Detroit knew enough rudimentary Spanish to notice the coincidence, the Nova could not have been brought to market in Mexico and/or South America without the involvement of numerous Spanish speakers engaged to translate user manuals, prepare advertising and promotional materials, communicate with the network of Chevrolet dealers in the target countries, etc. In fact, GM was aware of the translation and opted to retain the model name "Nova" in Spanish-speaking markets anyway, because they (correctly) felt the matter to be unimportant.

    Additional information from snopes.com:
    http://www.novaresource.org/history.htm
    Debunking several urban legends: Ricks, David A.   Blunders in International Business.  Cambridge, U.S.A.: Blackwell, 1993.   ISBN 1-55786-414-4   (p. 35).
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell




  • 5.  Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    Posted 06-16-2012 04:21
    Hello, re the Nova example. I my executive sessions I only use it when there are  Spanish speaking people in the group since they almost always explain the no va element . I use this then to show that this example just shows on how working and in this case marketing across cultures is a very subtle art and science. Even if this example is a myth it shows what could happen.
    Thanks anyway for keeping ideas going, Jean
    Jean Vanhoegaerden
    Member of faculty




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    From:        David Kent <dkent@GGU.EDU>
    To:        <IMD-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU>
    Date:        16/06/2012 05:43
    Subject:        Re: Perpetuating falsehoods:   The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish
    Sent by:        International Management Discussion List <IMD-L@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU>



    Miguel is absolutely right and it is also amazing to me how this "urban myth" has such staying power. I have seen it in several textbooks (whose authors will go un-named! ;-).



    David H. Kent, PhD
    Chair, Department of Management
    Ageno School of Business
    Golden Gate University
    536 Mission St.
    San Francisco, CA 94105

    Tel. (415) 442-6523
    Fax. (415) 442-6579

    >>> Miguel Olivas-Lujan 06/15/12 8:24 AM >>>
    Excellent points, Romie!  Just a couple of updates from a native Spanish speaker who lived in Mexico during the years that both the "Chevy Nova" and the "Nova" branded gas by Pemex could be found easily in the streets:

    1.        Pemex's "Nova" gas has been discontinued and "Magna" has been the cheaper brand (low-octane, around 87) for a decade or two (one credible version is that "Nova" still had lead on it, but the enactment of more stringent regulations at the end of the 20th Century made Pemex switch to the lead-free "Magna"; see a picture of a contemporary gas pump here: http://www.mexadventure.com/MexicoTravel/Fuel.cfm; I'm sorry I could not immediately find an exact date in which "Magna" substituted "Nova" but I feel pretty confident that this happened before I started my doctoral-level education at the end of the 1990s).  Still, the argument that Mexicans had no compunction about filling their tanks for decades, with a brand of gas named "Nova" is absolutely valid.
    2.        As a "Romance language", Spanish has inherited many words from ancient Latin, "nova" (i.e., new) being one of them.  In elementary school, many children learn that an "estrella nova" (literally a "new star") is a night luminary that suddenly experiences very visible activity (see http://www.astromia.com/glosario/nova.htm for a Spanish-language basic website explaining this term in some detail; want to see more sites with similar content?  Check http://www.bing.com/search?q=estrella+nova+astronomia&go=&qs=n&form=QBRE&pq=estrella+nova+astronomia&sc=0-13&sp=-1&sk=; a related term is a "supernova", which also experiences very visible activity, but to a much greater scale).  
    One could argue that a vehicle is not the type of product that one would want to see shining and exploding like a so-called "new star", but -getting back to the main point-these words again support the fact that the word "nova" is not a term that native Spanish speakers would confuse with the sentence "No va" (yes, it is a full sentence with an implicit subject, for those of you English grammarians that are not used to considering a conjugated verb as a full thought)!!  Bad choice of name for a car?  Arguably, but I absolutely loved the analogy with the word "Notable" in English below!!!  If the word "Nova" was ever an issue, it must have been for non-native speakers of Spanish!

    Can't tell you how many times I've rolled (or just closed) my eyes after hearing this "classic example of poor cross-cultural marketing" in a wide variety of contexts (classroom, cocktail conversations, etc.).  Unfortunately, this is not the only example of "perpetuating falsehoods" in our disciplines, but if we clear this one this decade, perhaps we have made some progress...

    If your professional interests motivated to reading all of this note, I wish you, dear colleague, a great weekend!!!


    Miguel
    _____________________________
    Miguel R. Olivas-Lujan, Ph.D.   .:.   Professor   .:.   Administrative Sciences
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    Call for chapters on Social Media in Management
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    Let me know your thoughts on Dr Olivas' blog


    From: Romie Littrell <littrellaom@YAHOO.CO.NZ>
    Date:     Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:37:22 -0700
    Subject:     Perpetuating falsehoods: The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish

    A False Claim:   The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish.

    Summarised from:     www.snopes.com, Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2012 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.

    I'm still seeing publications and comments with the incorrect and misleading legend of "The Chevrolet Nova sold poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because its name translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. I become increasingly concerned about the diligence and responsibility of authors of textbooks and articles. As snopes.com points out, the 'Chevy Nova legend lives on in countless marketing textbooks, is repeated in numerous business seminars, and is a staple of newspaper and magazine columnists who need a pithy example of human folly. Perhaps someday this apocryphal tale will become what it should be: an illustration of how easily even "experts" can sometimes fall victim to the very same dangers they warn us about.'

    Part of the fiction is that GM executives were baffled until someone finally pointed out to them that "nova" translates as "doesn't go" in Spanish. The embarrassed automobile giant changed the model name to the Caribe, and sales of the car took off. Actually Caribe is a Volkwagen model, not a Chevy. The truth is that the Chevrolet Nova's name didn't significantly affect its sales: it sold well in both its major Spanish-language markets, Mexico and Venezuela. (Its Venezuelan sales figures actually surpassed GM's expectations.)

    From snopes.com: The original Chevrolet Nova (initially the Chevy II) hit the U.S. market in 1962. (This car should not be confused with the smaller, front wheel drive vehicle which was produced in 1985 as a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota and also assigned the Nova name.) Between 1972 and 1978 the Chevrolet Nova was also sold in Mexico and several other Spanish-speaking countries, primarily Venezuela. Shortly afterwards the great "Nova" legend arose, a legend which a little linguistic analysis shows it to be improbable:

    First of all, the phrase "no va" (literally "doesn't go") and the word "nova" are distinct entities with different pronunciations in Spanish: the former is two words and is pronounced with the accent on the second word; the latter is one word with the accent on the first syllable. Assuming that Spanish speakers would naturally see the word "nova" as equivalent to the phrase "no va" and think "Hey, this car doesn't go!" is akin to assuming that English speakers would spurn a dinette set sold under the name Notable because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn't include a table.

    Although "no va" can be literally translated as "no go," it would be a curious locution for a speaker of Spanish to use in reference to a car. Just as an English speaker would describe a broken-down car by saying that it "doesn't run" rather than it "doesn't go," so a Spanish speaker would refer to a malfunctioning automobile by saying "no marcha" or "no funciona" or "no camina" rather than "no va."

    Pemex (the Mexican government-owned oil monopoly) sold (and still sells) gasoline in Mexico under the name "Nova." If Mexicans were going to associate anything with the Chevrolet Nova based on its name, it would probably be this gasoline. In any case, if Mexicans had no compunctions about filling the tanks of their cars with a type of gasoline whose name advertised that it "didn't go," why would they reject a similarly-named automobile?

    This legend assumes that a handful of General Motors executives launched a car into a foreign market and remained in blissful ignorance about a possible adverse translation of its name. Even if nobody in Detroit knew enough rudimentary Spanish to notice the coincidence, the Nova could not have been brought to market in Mexico and/or South America without the involvement of numerous Spanish speakers engaged to translate user manuals, prepare advertising and promotional materials, communicate with the network of Chevrolet dealers in the target countries, etc. In fact, GM was aware of the translation and opted to retain the model name "Nova" in Spanish-speaking markets anyway, because they (correctly) felt the matter to be unimportant.

    Additional information from snopes.com:
    http://www.novaresource.org/history.htm
    Debunking several urban legends: Ricks, David A.       Blunders in International Business. Cambridge, U.S.A.: Blackwell, 1993.   ISBN 1-55786-414-4   (p. 35).
     
    Hope for the USA? "If something is unsustainable, it will stop."--Herb Stein, an economic adviser to Richard Nixon
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z.,     romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell

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